UPDATED with Carter statement, Electric Boat clarifications, Hill comment ELECTRIC BOAT, GROTON, CT: Shipbuilders are fixing the biggest problem on one of the Pentagon’s top priorities, the Navy’s nuclear submarine fleet. As Defense Secretary Ashton Carter toured the Groton shipyard and talked up the importance of submarines, Electric Boat officials told reporters they’re fixing faulty welds… Keep reading →

ABOARD SECDEF CARTER’S PLANE: In many ways, today marks the final exorcism of the Vietnam War as America turns to the much greater challenge of a rising, militarizing China — and as Hanoi seeks just enough US help to balance Beijing without provoking it. President Obama is in Hanoi and Defense Secretary Ash Carter in New Haven. Yesterday,… Keep reading →

NATIONAL HARBOR: The Navy wants to start building the upgraded “frigate” version of its controversial Littoral Combat Ship a year earlier, the frigate program manager said. The fixed-price, winner-take-all competition will “tentatively” happen in 2018 instead of 2019. To make that earlier date, Capt. Dan Brintzinghoffer said at the Sea-Air-Space conference here, the Navy will… Keep reading →

UPDATED with SecDef, HASC, & SASC comments WASHINGTON: Last night, the White House issued a veto threat against the draft defense bill that just went to the House floor, which takes an $18 billion bite out of the Overseas Contingency Operations fund. This afternoon, Defense Secretary Ash Carter blasted both the House draft of the National Defense Authorization Act… Keep reading →

PETERSEN AFB: As he welcomed America’s first female combatant commander, NORTHCOM‘s new leader Gen. Lori Robinson, Defense Secretary Ash Carter detailed publicly some of the cyber attacks against Daesh — what his deputy called “cyber bombs” — that US forces have launched in recent months. “We’re using these tools to deny the ability of ISIL leadership… Keep reading →

SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE: Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who spent five years pushing the National Reconnaissance Office and the military to work more closely together, saw the effects today during a tour of the JICSPOC, the experimental effort to improve battle management of America’s satellites. Inside the heavily guarded secure facility where most of America’s satellites are flown and… Keep reading →

SILICON VALLEY: Defense Secretary Ash Carter changed the leadership today of his flagship office trying to improve relations with entrepreneurs and major companies here. At the same time, Carter reorganized the Defense Innovation Unit (Experimental) — DIU(X) — to link it directly to his office, largely bypassing the traditional Pentagon acquisition system. In a prepared statement… Keep reading →

SOMEWHERE OVER THE ATLANTIC: Airborne refueling is a key American capability. It makes US fighters, bombers and transport planes able to fly almost anywhere they can find a place to land. It’s also technically complex and requires great skill on the part of the boom operator and the crew of both the receiving aircraft and… Keep reading →

EUCOM HQ: As he addressed reporters today during the European Command change of command ceremony here, a visibly moved Defense Secretary told us he had just learned an American soldier died in Iraq. Carter had few details but he said this: “But it shows you, it’s a serious fight that we have to wage in… Keep reading →

STUTTGART, GERMANY: HASC Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry, responding to comments by Defense Secretary Ash Carter which we reported yesterday, rejected criticisms about a spending gimmick the House Armed Services Committee chairman hopes to use to improve readiness for the U.S. military. Thornberry was reacting to comments Carter made en route to Stuttgart for the European Command… Keep reading →