WASHINGTON: Congress’ failure to enact Super Committee cuts is likely to lead to serious reductions in funding for Pentagon weapon systems, according to one of the most respected defense budget analysts. Todd Harrison, the budget analyst at the respected Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, told a group of reporters eager to go home for… Keep reading →

Boeing and Lockheed are locked in an enduring struggle over the sale of advanced fighters to the U.S. Navy and to other countries. The cost increases and schedule delays that have beset the Joint Strike Fighter program offered Boeing an appealing opening and they have leapt in. The F-18, they argue is a combat-proven aircraft… Keep reading →

Arlington, Va: The Navy and Marine Corps have a plan in place to squeeze more flight time from their older F-18 Hornets, and could use funding for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program to pay for it. Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, deputy assistant commandant for Marine Corps aviation, said today that the services plan to… Keep reading →

Cherry Point, N.C. — After a decade of continuous combat in Afghanistan and with budget cuts looming, the Marine Corps worry whether its air units can meet their missions at home and abroad. But one wing commander tells me that his unit and others will be able to fill that bill now and for years… Keep reading →

UPDATED Cherry Point, NC: The Marine Corps is pushing some of its fighter aircraft to the breaking point, as the service waits for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Marine Corps fighter squadrons in Afghanistan have racked up thousands of flight hours on their legacy F/A-18 Hornets, scraping the ceiling of the 9,000 to 10,000-hour cap… Keep reading →

Patuxent River NAS: With all the cost overruns, schedule delays and political wrangling over the F-35 program, Boeing has been trying to pitch the F-18 Super Hornet to countries that be growing weary of all this turmoil. For more news and information on the swiftly-changing defense industry, please sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter.… Keep reading →

Washington: Boeing, trying to press its case and boost F-18 sales, said today that F-35 partner nations are searching for a plan B for the next-generation fighter, but are waiting until program’s total costs top out before acting. The nine F-35 countries are watching closely to see if costs will continue to grow past the… Keep reading →

Washington: A little-noticed but extraordinary event took place during the Paris Air Show and it had nothing to do with the show. The Senate Armed Services Committee came within a whisker of officially killing the F-35 program. The June 21 vote in a closed committee session came on an amendment offered by Sen. John McCain… Keep reading →

Boeing, sensing that Lockheed Martin’s formerly unassailable sales pitch for the F-35 has been dramatically weakened by the rash of cost and schedule increases, has come to the Paris Air Show eager to convince foreign governments that their F-15 and F-18 are the right thing to buy instead. Boeing has argued that the F-18 E/F… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON — The battle over the defense budget took a new turn, with The New York Times issuing a rare lead editorial about defense in which it called for steep cuts to some of the Pentagon’s biggest weapons programs. In reply, one of the most senior House experts on defense rebutted the paper’s call for… Keep reading →