Washington: With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, the U.S. military will need a rapidly mobile, highly lethal force that can respond to any national security crisis around the globe. The Marine Corps is that force and will be for the foreseeable future, according to service Commandant Gen. James Amos. In a letter… Keep reading →

Washington: The Marine Corps says it needs more amphibious ships. Now, thanks to a new working group, they will finally have the numbers to prove it. The working group, started today by Marine Corps Combat Development Command, will take information from upcoming amphibious exercises and use that data to as it presents the service’s arguments… Keep reading →

Washington: The Navy says it will be able to crank out two new Virginia-class submarines within 60 months, or almost two years faster than in the past. The Naval Sea Systems Command has already begun construction on SSN 787 this month, which NAVSEA officials anticipate will be completed within 65 months, according to a command… Keep reading →

Washington: A Lockheed Martin-built aerial cargo drone is one step closer to hitting the skies above Afghanistan this fall, after completing a key Marine Corps evaluation this month. The Marine Corps recently ran the K-MAX through a five-day Quick Reaction Assessment test in Yuma, AZ. The tests put the helicopter-like drone through a number of… Keep reading →

UPDATED Cherry Point, NC: The Marine Corps is pushing some of its fighter aircraft to the breaking point, as the service waits for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Marine Corps fighter squadrons in Afghanistan have racked up thousands of flight hours on their legacy F/A-18 Hornets, scraping the ceiling of the 9,000 to 10,000-hour cap… Keep reading →

Washington: Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead is betting that unmanned underwater systems will be the future for the Navy, and he is already taking steps to ensure that future becomes reality. As questions circulate over the feasibility of the Navy’s shipbuilding plans and the viability of its current surface fleet, unmanned underwater vehicles… Keep reading →

Washington: The program manager for the Navy’s Fire Scout rotary wing unmanned air system and the admiral responsible for UAVs rejected much of a highly critical review of the drone by the Pentagon’s top operational tester. The director of the Defense Operational Test and Evaluation office said all of the drone’s flights during training took… Keep reading →

Washington: Swedish aerospace firm Saab is taking on U.S. defense industry heavyweight Boeing and other American firms to land the the rights to a lucrative Navy unmanned drone deal. Partnered with prime contractor Computer Science Corporation, Saab is pitching its Skeldar vertical-lift unmanned aircraft for the Navy’s Close-Range Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance program. The Navy… Keep reading →

Patuxent River NAS: With all the cost overruns, schedule delays and political wrangling over the F-35 program, Boeing has been trying to pitch the F-18 Super Hornet to countries that be growing weary of all this turmoil. For more news and information on the swiftly-changing defense industry, please sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter.… Keep reading →

Washington: While the Navy hasn’t made up its mind whether to build its new Ford-class aircraft carrier, one senator doubts whether the service can afford the half-billion dollar base meant for the new ship. In a letter sent to the Government Accountability Office today, Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia questioned the Navy’s plan to stand… Keep reading →