A new system will retrain 20,000 DoD employees to work within the National Defense Strategy, while shifting focus to new areas of the world.

“The US is doing far more than its allies in coming to grips with causing civilian harm,” a human rights NGO representative who has met with Pentagon leaders said. Still, the gap between government estimates and those from groups on the ground is often wide. 

A key Trump ally, Sen. Lindsay Graham, bucks the White House on its proposed $8 billion arms sale.

The $55.6 billion represents closed deals, many of which had in in the works for years. But the focus of the Trump administration pumping up US arms sales to boost domestic manufacturing jobs has led to officials across the Pentagon and State Department to proclaim pushing American kit is a big part of their international engagements.

Trump’s America First policies are paying off for U.S. weapons manufacturers.

WASHINGTON: No Russians. Few Chinese. The F-35. And the man who has led the charge in America’s trade wars, Peter Navarro, at the head the American delegation, with lots of other senior American officials along eager to boost bilateral sales of US weapons and civilian aircraft. Those are the early outlines of what we’ll see at this… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: As President Donald Trump discovered after he cobbled together all those arms sales when he visited Saudi Arabia, selling weapons to foreigners is a complex business, fraught with congressional oversight and an intricate interagency process. As he has with so many other government issues, Trump appears eager to reduce interference from other branches of… Keep reading →

Last week, a bipartisan quarter of senators — Rand Paul, Chris Murphy, Al Franken, and Mike Lee — introduced a joint resolution to block the $1.15 billion sale of Abrams tanks and other major defense articles to Saudi Arabia in light of concerns about the kingdom’s actions in Yemen. In the House, more than 60 representatives signed… Keep reading →

Reports that Israel’s plan to buy a dozen V-22 Osprey tiltrotor troop transports is dead are — as Mark Twain said after reading his own incorrect obituary — greatly exaggerated. A U.S. Letter of Agreement offering a bargain price and early delivery of the first six of 12 Ospreys requested by Israel formally expired on Wednesday amid… Keep reading →

The Swedes who build the Gripen fighter are known for being practical, producing advanced fighters that are relatively cheap (at least compared to almost everyone else). At the Paris Air Show the Gripen folks, SaaB Group. very deliberately floated an interesting idea. Since the Gripen uses fly-by-wire technology and advanced avionics which virtually eliminate the need… Keep reading →