The U.S. Army has always struggled with what the elder George Bush once called “the vision thing.” Now that struggle is boiling over. At the latest of a series of conferences on the future of the Army, junior officers openly debated with top generals over how to sell the service to the Congress, the country,… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Iran’s growing military arsenal is about to get a little bigger in the coming months, the country’s defense chief said this week. A new Iranian-built spy plane and satellite are slated to go operational next month, Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi told the official Iranian news agency IRNA yesterday. The new “maritime patrol… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Lockheed Martin Comments On F-35 Testing Finishing Year 15 % Ahead of Schedule PENTAGON: If you want some idea of just how closely the Pentagon’s test and evaluation folks are watching Lockheed Martin’s F-35, just open the newly released annual report and thumb through the 12-plus pages of densely packed information about the aircraft.… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Navy sails on the cusp a new “golden age” of seapower despite the fact that it will have one of the smallest fleets in recent history, a top service leader believes. While actual ship numbers have dropped, the Navy has roughly the same number of large warships — cruisers, destroyers and aircraft carriers… Keep reading →

With the Supercommittee’s wreckage still smoldering in Congress, the prospect of an additional half trillion dollars in cuts to our national defense budget isn’t hypothetical anymore. For an overstretched military needing to reset after a decade of war and the 13 million Americans already looking for work, it’s a disaster. But amazingly, even as expert… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: In an important policy shift, the United States will not adopt a European Union code governing space activities, space debris and international data, a senior State Department official said today. At the tail end of a breakfast today with reporters, Ellen Tauscher,undersecretary of State for arms control and international security, said that the U.S.… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship is now in the irregular warfare business, the top service official in charge of the program said today. Naval Sea Systems Command is developing a new LCS mission package focusing on irregular warfare operations. Those capabilities will fall more toward the humanitarian and disaster relief-types of missions under the… Keep reading →

UPDATED WASHINGTON: The Navy could abandon its long-standing goal for a 313-ship fleet in its new force structure plan to meet the needs of the White House’s new national security strategy. Navy leaders are in the midst of drafting a new force structure assessment, according Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mark Ferguson. That new… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The complexities of the United States diplomatic and military relationships with the People’s Republic of China were on full view today as the U.S. Navy’s leader said he does not need a bigger force to manage our presence in the western Pacific. Adm. Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations, told several hundred people that… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Navy has long touted the Littoral Combat Ship’s multimission abilities to support U.S. forces. But the next-generation warship will also be key role in supporting America’s allies across the globe. The Navy is pursuing an “aggressive fielding” strategy to get the LCS into the fleet, Rear Adm. Thomas Rowden, director of the service’s… Keep reading →