WASHINGTON: The U.S must change its standards on what kinds of military hardware it won’t ship to its allies or risk being outgunned and out-manned in future wars, according to a top defense analyst. The Defense and State departments have ramped up cooperation with its allies in recent years through Foreign Military Sales and international… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: There are two anchors of conventional views on the U.S. DoD budget outlook. The first is that it is cyclical and headed down and will follow the same trajectory as defense budgets in the last four cycles since the late 1940s. The second anchor is that the U.S. can and should “pivot” its strategy… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Air Force is turning to its allies for help as it looks to maintain a viable global presence in the face of coming budget cuts, a top Air Force general said today. The service expects to get much smaller as the Pentagon’s struggles to meet the White House deficit reduction goals and possible… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Navy’s strategy to modernize its amphibious fleet will leave the Marine Corps shorthanded despite plans to buy 20 new ships over the next few decades, a Congressional Budget Office report claims. The Navy will hit its goal of 33 amphibious ships under the plan but will not reach the 38-ship fleet the Marines… Keep reading →

Washington: Last fall, the Marine Corps had a plan for what it would look like after Afghanistan. That picture appears increasingly out of focus as the service braces itself for impending budget cuts, the commandant said today. The Marines’ will fall far below the 186,000-man total force it had initially aimed for once combat operations… Keep reading →

Washington: Last week Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the U.S. military would turn into a ‘paper tiger’ if it is hit with a $1 trillion dollar budget cut over the next decade. Today, he described in painstaking detail what exactly that would mean. In a letter sent today to Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member… Keep reading →

Capitol Hill: If you were to boil down a letter from Rep. Randy Forbes to Defense Secretary Leon about AirSea Battle, you might put in three words: Where’s the money? In a very polite Nov. 7 letter, Forbes asks Panetta how he planned to “make Congress part of” the process of implementing AirSea Battle. “More… Keep reading →

Pentagon: It’s official: the Pentagon will get roughly halfway to the Obama administration’s goal of cutting up to $500 billion in defense spending over the next five years. Department officials will finalize details of the $260 billion in cuts “in the coming weeks,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said today. Those will be part of the… Keep reading →

Washington: The Navy is beginning to make good on former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead bet that unmanned drones would be the future of the service. Naval Sea Systems Command delivered the first mini-ship like drones to Navy Riverine Group One stationed at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in Virginia on Nov. 1.… Keep reading →

Patuxent River, Md: The Navy has increased its experimentation with its fleet of combat helicopters to see how they can work with unmanned aircraft. The Navy recently flew Lockheed Martin’s new MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter and the Northrop Grumman’s Fire Scout unmanned aircraft together in joint operations, deputy program manager Robert Kimble told reporters here… Keep reading →