Northrop Grumman was pushed aside today by Lockheed Martin as it picked Raytheon to build perhaps the F-35’s most important sensor, the Distributed Aperture System. “It’s a major upset,” Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group said when I asked him to discuss the decision.

UPDATED: Did Thomas Say AC-130 or EC-130??? Does It Matter? GEOINT: The Compass Call is supposed to be one of America’s foremost electronic warfare weapons, but the EC-130s flying near Syria are being attacked and disabled “in the most aggressive EW environment on the planet,” the head of Special Operations Command said here today. “Right now… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The pushback to President Donald Trump’s global steel and aluminum tariffs — announced Thursday —  has been swift and blunt. Republicans, Democrats, top defense officials, Trump advisors and trade groups have all made public their misgivings, saying the taxes could actually prove harmful to national security, and end up costing the Pentagon money. But… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: I vividly remember Chris Bogdan’s first public appearance as the effective head of the F-35 program. It was at the Air Force Association’s annual September conference in 2012 and he said, very simply and quite passionately that the relationship between contractor Lockheed Martin and the Joint Program Office was “the worst I’ve ever seen.”… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: A little Pentagon contract announcement offers the latest indication of the course of the secretive B-21 program. The announcement last Tuesday of a $36 million modification to an existing contract is the key. It’s for a new 45,900 square foot “coatings facility” at Northrop Grumman’s facility at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, CA.… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Just hours after the President-Elect tweeted F-35 costs were “out of control,” sending manufacturer Lockheed Martin‘s stock price into a nosedive, the first two F-35s to be based abroad landed in their new home country, Israel. Is the famously hard-nosed Israeli Defense Force deceived about what they’re getting for their money? Or is the… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Hope for the best; prepare for the worst. It’s a standard military prescription for dealing with a sometimes hostile and usually unpredictable world. It’s also what an African-American chum told me this morning was his plan for life under President Trump. This guy is a fellow Chicagoan and Cubs fan, so he knows how to… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Adds ACC Carlisle, CSAF Goldfein, SecAF James JPO Bogdan Comments PENTAGON: Critics of the F-35 warned it was too heavy. They warned its stealth wasn’t good enough. They warned stealth, however good, wasn’t enough against advanced detection methods. They warned its range was too short and its weapons load too light. They warned it was… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Adds Ayotte Comment WASHINGTON: The Air Force is considering not one, but two replacements for the aging A-10 Warthog close air support plane. But analysts wonder why, given that the service is already building a new bomber (the B-21), a new tanker (the KC-46), a new fighter (the F-35A), they would want to build two Close… Keep reading →

The Department of Justice just told the Department of Defense to back off, and DoD did. It’s a rare public confrontation between two major government departments, especially over a subject as politically volatile as mergers and acquisitions, where the Pentagon had wanted more authority in a process Justice and the Federal Trade Commission currently control —… Keep reading →