This year’s Farnborough Airshow is bookmarked by the Euro crisis, and the fates of the Chinese and American economies. On the defense side, there is the end of a land war era for the U.S. and significant uncertainty about how global events will change how countries seek to arm and defend themselves in the years… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: How much will it really cost to shut down the Army’s ill-fated Future Combat Systems program? Up to $1.5 billion, potentially three times the “special termination cost” reported by Inside Defense on Friday. Three years after then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates cancelled the sprawling FCS program — the Army’s ambitious attempt to build a… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Both chambers of Congress have resoundingly rejected the administration’s proposed cuts to the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve – but the language that the House passed is so sweeping that it may inadvertently block the modernization of the very Guard and Reserve forces it was written to protect, according to Hill sources… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: While much of the defense press was focused yesterday on the HASC markup and the SASC hearing about the F-35, my colleague at DoDBuzz spotted a good story about sequestration. Here’s the core of Phil Ewing’s story: Boeing CEO Jim McNerney warned Tuesday that the threat of next year’s automatic, across-the-board budget growth reductions… Keep reading →

NATIONAL HARBOR: UPDATED: Israeli Air Force Flew In CV-22 When In US; UAE May Be First Foreign Sale Last week’s crash in Morocco won’t slow down the V-22 Osprey program, which in 2013 can be expected to win its first foreign sale and is poised for visible growth over the next two years, the Marine… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Landing a V-22 Osprey helicopter-style on the sprawling flight deck of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush was a snap, says Marine Corps test pilot Capt. Dan McKinney. With Lt. Col. David Weinstein, McKinney did it a dozen times on March 20 – six landings in daylight, six at night. After their… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The US plays a “dominant role” in keeping the peace in the Pacific, and that’s a good thing, said Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen — but the US still needs to cooperate with China, not confront or contain it. That’s the word to the wise from one of America’s closest military partners in… Keep reading →

[Updated 2:00 pm with Boeing comment] The chairman of the House subcommittee on strategic nuclear forces slammed the Obama Administration today for what he called its lackadaisical approach to missile defense in the face of rising threats from North Korea, Iran, and – implicitly – China. “We all know that the world is getting less… Keep reading →

If you are one of those people who believes the various conspiracy theories making the rounds about Lockheed Martin’s excessive influence over government decisions, the Pentagon’s fiscal 2013 budget request probably won’t make you feel any better. Having served as an advisor to Lockheed and many of its competitors for a long time, I don’t… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Things could get a lot busier for the Navy’s fleet of Fire Scout drones with the service’s decision to drop plans for a new, medium-range unmanned aircraft. The larger C model version of the MQ-8 Fire Scout might fill some of the requirements left unfilled by the Navy’s decision to cancel the Medium-Range Maritime… Keep reading →