A Pentagon task force is reviewing over a hundred tools and services to speed up software acquisition.

Maintainers hook into a plane to find out what’s wrong with it. Smart weapons connect to the plane’s network. The pilot’s helmet mounted display taps into onboard and offboard data. “All these are potential threat vectors we’re concerned about,” Todd said.

Next-Gen OPIR program is moving right along as Lockheed and Raytheon keep their heads down amid funding discussions between the Air Force and Congress.

“Given the DoD’s poor job of presenting how we would move people and what criteria would be used, the congressional pushback is expected,” says one Space Force proponent.

A division-scale exercise next year in Europe, Defender 2020, will be the largest in a quarter-century.

“I don’t trust the Air Force, on its own, given its existing structure to properly prioritize space,” Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith says.

The battery of eight missiles, while primarily meant to test out tactics, will be capable of combat. So will a prototype battery of lasers entering service in 2021.

The HASC wants an independent cost estimate on the F-35 and some detail — any detail — on the plan to replace AWACS. It’s also a little curious about robot tanks.

Successful OmegaA test keeps the program on the path towards a 2021 first launch and a crack at the Air Force’s hotly contested national security launch program. 

The senators’ draft of the annual defense bill puts a new emphasis on technological competition, including industrial policy moves to strengthen US companies.