The Swiss want a new anti-missile defense system and asked for bids. We’re hearing the US leaned on Israel so Rafael did not submit a bid. Israel, as this story makes clear, really does want to bid.

WASHINGTON: President Trump’s sweeping review of the national security industrial base — from shipbuilding to microchips, strategic minerals to vaccines — is almost halfway done. A score of working groups across the government, not just the Pentagon, will submit their draft recommendations this month and next, an administration official briefed on the review tells me. Then… Keep reading →

AFA: SAAB, the Swedish maker of the Gripen fighter and aspiring partner of Boeing in building the Air Force’s new trainer, says it will establish a US factory should their team win the T-X contract. Hakan Bushke, SAAB CEO, stood with Boeing Defense CEO Leanne Caret to make the announcement here framed by a full-scale… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Denmark really wants you to know they have a solution for the US Navy’s frigate problem. Pentagon officials are on the record that they’ll consider foreign designs in their quest for a more powerful small warship than the $450–$550 million, 3,400-ton Littoral Combat Ship. The Danish answer: their $340 million, 6,600-ton Iver Huitfeldt “Stanflex”… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: America cannot apply Buy America provisions on a widescale basis and buy the best weapons, no matter how much President Trump and his team may feel otherwise. It’s a simple as that. All the competitors for the Air Force’s next-generation trainer, the T-X, include enormous amounts of foreign content, some including the aircraft. The… Keep reading →