WASHINGTON: The Navy has ordered that vacuum cleaners be emptied after a fire in one caused up to $500 million in damage to the nuclear submarine USS Miami while the boat was in drydock being serviced. The fire at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Maine, started in a vacuum cleaner that had apparently sucked up something hot… 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: The F-22 will fly in operations if it’s needed while the Air Force keeps a close eye on the oxygen problem, Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter said today. “The answer is, yes. The aircraft will be used operationally if need be,” Carter said in response to a question during a morning appearance at the… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: On the margins of the $550-plus billion defense budget, the Army and the defense industry are quietly working on a program that could potentially replace 3,000 geriatric armored vehicles. So far, in this year’s budget, Congress is going along, but the real money — and the real battle — loom in the years to… Keep reading →

THE CAPITOL [updated 9:40 pm with details from Senate press release]: The Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously passed its mark-up of the annual defense spending bill, rejecting all proposed cuts to the Air National Guard, cutting the Defense Department’s civilian and contractor workforce by 5 percent over five years, and restricting aid to Pakistan. The… Keep reading →

With its launch of a new, faster intercontinental missile, Russia appears to have sent a message to NATO and the United States that it isn’t sitting still in the face of what it says is the threat posed by the alliance’s new missile defense system. This new, faster missile — supposedly called the Avant Garde… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The military Reserves and National Guard have spent a decade operating with unprecedented intensity alongside the regular active-duty force in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, as budget cuts loom, their leaders are fighting hard to keep the funding needed to keep their edge in both training and equipment. Going back to the sleepy days of… Keep reading →

Army Reserve Chief Stultz @ SAC-D: "I’m not satisfied our modernization strategy is going to meet my needs for the immediate future, no sir" SydneyFreedberg

WASHINGTON: At 10 o’clock today, the Administration’s push to pass the Law of the Sea treaty will come before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. If history is any guide, that’s as far as it will ever get. Committee chairman Sen. John Kerry declined to give odds on ratification, saying that would be “premature”: “I just… Keep reading →

Ayotte re sequestration (http://aol.it/K5YGSp): "It is the elephant in the room …. we cannot afford to kick this can to the lame-duck." SydneyFreedberg