“Transparency (canopy) supply shortages continue to be the main obstacle to achieving this. We are seeking additional sources to fix unserviceable canopies,” Esper said in response to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee.

A friendly Senate hearing heated up when Sen. Elizabeth Warren told Acting SecDef Esper “you should not be confirmed as Secretary of Defense.”

An Israeli expert said that the critical question is, where will the Turks deploy the Russian system. “If it is deployed near the border with Syria it may endanger air forces that will attack Iranian controlled militias in Iraq,” the Israeli source says.

No one is talking at DoD, State or the White House about today’s delivery of the Russian weapon system. Is the president considering looking the other way?

Last month, the defense ministry issued official inquiries into acquiring both aircraft — but, for now, the budget can buy only one.

The Department of Defense can make smarter and faster acquisition decisions if it uses people more thoughtfully. Instead of involving top-level leaders at every decision point in the acquisition process, senior leaders should determine the organization’s enterprise-level goals, then communicate them to empowered and capable leaders who can decide how best to meet those goals.… Keep reading →

The answer may lie in the limits of Russian electronic warfare, which — while far more potent than US military EW — still relies on raw power more than precise targeting. It may also show the weakness of the warm relationship Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cultivated with Vladimir Putin, which could run aground on Russia’s increasing support for Iran.

The $750 billion defense policy bill sticks with the administration’s topline, but huge fights loom with the House version. Prepare for a long, hot summer.

Israeli experts fear that the Iranian attacks aim to drive a wedge between the US and Europe.

Asked during his briefing here whether 25 by 25 was achievable, Greg Ulmer, head of the F-35 program for Lockheed Martin, said the company would prove itself just as it had by lowering the cost of an F-35A to below $80 million one year early.