The supposedly “historic” high-level delegation the Trump administration was supposed to be sending to the Farnborough Air Show keeps getting less and less historic.

While Washington struggles to update its arms export policies, China is spreading its influence, one drone sale at a time.

With an Executive Order and a new study due soon that promises to take a hard line against Chinese imports, the Trump administration is opening a new front, while protecting the US defense industry.

The push from Capitol Hill follows a year of the Pentagon promising to do more, and do it quickly, when it comes to developing and buying next-generation technologies.

The Pentagon is moving out quickly to get in front of Chinese advances in artificial intelligence, and is rushing a plan up to Capitol Hill to work with the intel community more closely.

WASHINGTON: The Air Force does not plan to cut its planned purchase of 1,763 F-35As — in fact, it’s not even not considering doing so — but it is pushing hard to bring down the sustainment costs of Lockheed Martin‘s prize program, the Air Force Chief of Staff told reporters this morning. “We are all… Keep reading →

SAN DIEGO: Newport News Shipbuilding is reaping “huge savings” on the next Ford-class carrier, the Kennedy, through “creative” use of digital models instead of paper plans, the new head of Navy acquisition told reporters today. It’s an approach that can increase efficiency and reduce costs on all big Navy programs, said assistant secretary James “Hondo”… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL: The Pentagon, clearly looking ahead to bolster the defense industrial base, is taking steps to ease and speed Foreign Military Sales, and it has a pilot program underway to reduce the time it takes to execute program acquisition. But let’s be clear: this is not an acquisition reform story; it’s an acquisition improvement… Keep reading →

AUSA: Ellen Lord, the former Textron executive now heading the Pentagon’s acquisition shop, revealed today in her first public appearance since her confirmation that she is making fundamental changes in how the Office of Secretary of Defense starts and manages military weapons programs. This comes on top of internal Army reforms announced here by the… Keep reading →

AUSA: On the last day of this enormous trade show, the acting Army Secretary made a point of reaching out to the defense industry. Ryan McCarthy promised action on a host of issues important to business, from R&D investments to intellectual property, as well as offering more details on sweeping acquisition reforms internal to the… Keep reading →