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 →

CAPITOL HILL: President Trump’s nominee for the Pentagon’s top policy job appears to be in jeopardy after a bipartisan savaging by Senators John McCain and Elizabeth Warren this morning. At issue: Whether John Rood, who runs international sales at the world’s largest defense contractor, Lockheed Martin, would recuse himself from policy discussions affecting Lockheed’s arms… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: After the markets closed on a sleepy and rainy summer Friday afternoon, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was ousted and DHS Secretary John Kelly named to take his place, and, oh, by the way, a $3.69 billion contract was awarded Lockheed Martin for 50 foreign F-35s and work on the Lot 11… Keep reading →

AM General will sell Afghanistan 1,259 M1151 Humvees plus 414 M1152 models. Humvee maker AM General just announced a $356 million contract to build 1,673 Humvees for Afghanistan. (The US is paying). It goes to show that even after losing the biggest military wheeled-vehicle contract of the century, AM General just keeps trucking along. Last… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL: The head of Air Force acquisition, just back from the Dubai Air Show, said the United States must act fast to make it easier and quicker for allies to buy US weapons through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system. If we don’t, Bill LaPLante said at an event put by on the Lexington Institute,… 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 →

WASHINGTON: As the wars draw down and budgets shrink, the massive Army Materiel Command — 70,000 military and civilian personnel at arsenals, depots, and other facilities in all 50 states — is shifting gears and taking on new missions. Some longstanding efforts are winding down, explained Lt. Gen. Patricia McQuistion, AMC’s new deputy commander, at… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: US foreign military sales are growing so fast the Pentagon can’t keep its PowerPoint slides updated — and they may well grow still more if a Defense Department policy easing exports of unmanned aircraft to 66 countries gets interagency and Congressional approval. When Defense Security Cooperation Agency staff put together a briefing for DSCA… Keep reading →

Washington: Defense giant Boeing is wasting no time pushing its newest attack helicopter onto the international market. Boeing is already fielding informal solicitations from a number of foreign militaries about the newest version of the Army’s AH-64 Apache. Representatives from several foreign militaries visited Boeing’s facility in Mesa, Arizona to commemorate the delivery of the… Keep reading →