“The Russians are really good at this, better than us,” said the UK’s Maj. Gen. Felix Gedney, who just wrapped up a year as deputy commander of Operation Inherent Resolve. “We saw a very clever, assiduous information campaign aimed at discrediting the campaign of the coalition. And I would argue in many of our nation’s capitals, we didn’t realize we were being played.”

“We’re not going to pretend it’s easy,” Rear Adm. Keith Blount, assistant chief of the Naval Staff told reporters. “But this isn’t unfathomably difficult for us. We are enjoying going back into the big time, and this is one of those big steps on that ladder. It’s hugely exciting and should be reassuring to those back home and to those on this side of the Atlantic.”

102 F-35As (Air Force) for $89.2 million apiece, down 5.4 percent from LRIP 10;
25 F-35Bs (Marines & Royal Navy) for $115.5 million each, down 5.7 percent; and 14 F-35Cs (US Navy) for $107.7 million each, down 11.1 percent.

Israel faces increasingly tight restrictions on its Foreign Military Financing from the U.S., as Breaking D readers know. In the past, when the US provided Israeli with grants under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, Israel could convert 25 percent of the aid from dollars into shekels to buy Israeli products and support local R&D. The… Keep reading →

TEL AVIV: Exclusive clubs tend to hide behind closed doors. The Five Eyes is the most exclusive club — one whose door is closed to Israeli companies trying to sell their systems to European countries any time an American company is in the competition, Israeli sources say. For example, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has been… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Navy has discovered problems with the welds on 12 nuclear missile launch tubes, some for America’s $122.3 billion Columbia-class submarine program and others for the Royal Navy’s Dreadnought submarines. The issue is serious enough that Rep. Joe Courtney, top Democrat on the House seapower subcommittee, told me “the warning flags are up.” There is… Keep reading →

Double the buy rate on F-35A starting in 2020 and plan on a minimum of 200 B-21 bombers built in rapid fashion. That will begin to get to the Air Force that America needs to meets the challenges of the future.

The relationship between India and the U.S. is one both sides want to nurture, but Russian military sales, the demands both sides are making over production, and and other tough issues remain to be ironed out.

There’s been a great deal of dismissive skepticism among the cognoscenti gathered here.

The future of the RAF is on display at the Farnborough Air Show. With the F-35, the RAF is part of the multi-domain airpower transformation and will work closely with European allies, notably in reshaping Northern Tier Defense. With the Typhoon, the RAF is seeking a modernized aircraft reworked to compliment the F-35 but with a yet undetermined relationship with its European partners. And the A330MRTT and A400M aircraft, as well as MBDA missiles, are part of a broader context of resolving Brexit.