Patuxent River NAS: With all the cost overruns, schedule delays and political wrangling over the F-35 program, Boeing has been trying to pitch the F-18 Super Hornet to countries that be growing weary of all this turmoil. For more news and information on the swiftly-changing defense industry, please sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter.… Keep reading →

The next generation of smart grid may be deployed first by the military. The Department of Defense is the largest energy consumer in the US, and is facing many of the same challenges as the rest of the country with aging infrastructure and an increasing need to use renewable fuels. As the forces become more… Keep reading →

I commissioned this story from one of the foremost — if not the foremost — independent authorities on the V-22 because I thought it important to address the basic question: is the V-22 worth the lives and treasure it has cost America? The answer by reporter Richard Whittle — the man who literally wrote the… Keep reading →

It must be summer because list stories are starting to proliferate. Usually, these stories don’t tough the defense world but one came out this morning that does. The website DailyFinance calls for the replacement of Boeing CEO James McNerney. They are nicely scathing in presenting why McNerney should be dumped. Boeing has built a reputation… Keep reading →

The first production version of Boeing’s first P-8A Poseidon took off and completed its first successful flight. The plane flew June 21 from Renton Field, where it is assembled, to Boeing Field in Seattle, where mission systems will be installed. It is the first of six low-rate initial production aircraft for the Navy, part of… Keep reading →

Washington: Boeing, trying to press its case and boost F-18 sales, said today that F-35 partner nations are searching for a plan B for the next-generation fighter, but are waiting until program’s total costs top out before acting. The nine F-35 countries are watching closely to see if costs will continue to grow past the… Keep reading →

If you wanted a clear indicator of just where the Pentagon wants to be in buying weapons for the future, you would do well to pay attention to what Ash Carter, head of Pentagon acquisition, said today about a projected cost overrun faced by the Boeing tanker program. “It’s not our problem because it’s a… Keep reading →

Washington: A little-noticed but extraordinary event took place during the Paris Air Show and it had nothing to do with the show. The Senate Armed Services Committee came within a whisker of officially killing the F-35 program. The June 21 vote in a closed committee session came on an amendment offered by Sen. John McCain… Keep reading →

Paris: Boeing’s military aircraft business expects its international sales to grow by some 5 percent over the next five to seven years, president Chris Chadwick told Breaking Defense. He said Boeing sees “about a five- to seven-year window of opportunity that only comes along once in a while in the international arena.” Most of that… Keep reading →

Paris: Any time one American defense company buys another it can trigger government review for a host of reasons, from antitrust to security concerns. When an American company financed by a foreign entity tries to buy another American company it triggers review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). It is… Keep reading →