WHIDBEY ISLAND, WASHINGTON: “Every two weeks, we get another Growler,” Cmdr. Christopher Middleton said at the Navy’s electronic warfare hub here. The Navy target is to buy 114 EA-18G Growler aircraft. And it’s those Growler aircraft that will be the cutting edge of future Naval strikes against future “anti-access area denial” defenses like those being… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The United States and its allies would like to have a “face to face” meeting with Iranian officials before the end of the year, even as they struggle with just what to offer the Islamic Republic. Talks are going on now among the six countries negotiating with Iran – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: China announced over the weekend that it would go ahead with its long-planned launch of its Shenzhou 10 spacecraft in early June 2013, which in and of itself isn’t big news. But it serves to remind the U.S. and Russia and India and all of its neighbors that China continues to press ahead with… Keep reading →

GILLIAM COUNTY, OREGON: Sometimes in this business, you get to see something that’s just plain neat. In this case, it was the ScanEagle (one word), a mini-drone built by Boeing subsidiary Insitu. [Click here for more about Insitu’s uncertain prospects as defense spending declines]. ScanEagle is a UAV so compact it launches from a short… Keep reading →

PENTAGON: Once upon a time there was the Packard Commission, convened during the Reagan Administration to find fixes for the Pentagon’s terrible record in buying weapons. They took too long, cost too much and often didn’t do what they were supposed to do. Since then, things have only gotten worse: weapons continue to cost too… Keep reading →

[updated with quote from Army source] WASHINGTON: The battle over the Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle isn’t only about one war machine and what it may weigh (80-plus tons) or cost ($13 some million). It’s just one front in a larger war over the Army’s armored heart and its role in the nation’s strategy. As budgets… Keep reading →

We offer below a useful set of insights about the new new incoming CEO of Lockheed Martin by defense consultant Loren Thompson. Thompson, a member of the Breaking Defense Board of Contributors, plays a complex role in the defense community — sometimes a consultant, sometimes an analyst — but he is always someone with excellent… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: It is a classic — and sad — Washington story. The most storied general since the Vietnam War, David Petraeus, resigns as director of the CIA late on a Friday afternoon because of an extramarital affair. Petraeus helped revolutionize the ways in which intelligence was used by the US military and greatly improved cooperation… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Added Grim Assessment By Todd Harrison of CSBA WASHINGTON: Hope springs eternal, even here in the nation’s capital. After the election, both President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner made nice noises. And many pundits hailed this, believing either that sequestration would get kicked down the road a fur piece or a Simpson-Bowles’ grand… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: While Army forces in Afghanistan have more bandwidth and gadgetry than ever, bases back home still make do with archaic copper-wire telephone switches. As the war winds down and units increasingly operate out of the US, the challenge for the Army’s CIO is to move the whole service to a single set of compatible,… Keep reading →