The Air Force is once again accepting deliveries of the troubled tankers — but the service’s acquisition chief warned Boeing must get its act in order ASAP.

PENTAGON: The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter possesses a remarkable array of sensors and processors to let it find the enemy and help the pilot kill or evade him. But the crucial threat library — known as Mission Data Files — just isn’t being developed and updated quickly enough, Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, head of the F-35… Keep reading →

PENTAGON: Pratt and Whitney, as many assumed, will design and build the engines for the B-21 Long Range Strike Bomber, leaving B-2 bomber engine maker General Electric out in the cold. Air Fore Secretary Deborah Lee James‘ announcement of Pratt’s role, as well as that of six other subcontractors working with prime Northrop Grumman, during… Keep reading →

Yesterday, the Army awarded three companies a $12.7 billion, 10-year contract for over 60,000 manpack radios. But execs at General Dynamics, Harris, and Rockwell Collins shouldn’t pop champagne corks yet. The Army has radically changed how it buys radios in recent years so that what the “winning” companies have actually won, in essence, is the… Keep reading →

ABOARD USS EISENHOWER: After all the talk from senior Navy leaders about the life cycle costs of the Joint Strike Fighter program and the limits of stealth over the last five years, it was intriguing to hear top Navy commanders and pilots praising the performance of the F-35Cs being tested here. The pilots were using the… Keep reading →

From handheld radios to high-tech headquarters, the Army’s top priority is what it calls the network. That’s not one project but a whole array of programs, each complex on its own. They all are supposed to interconnect so it’s no surprise that the Pentagon’s top tester has found plenty of problems. What is surprising in… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Defense contractor General Dynamics has taken hits from the Army, from the Pentagon’s independent Director of Operational Test & Evaluation and from us about its role in the troubled Joint Tactical Radio Systems program. Now, in an interview this morning, the president of GDC4S (that’s General Dynamics Command, Control, Communications, & Computer Systems), Chris Marzilli,… Keep reading →

Part outsider, part incumbent, Harris Corp. is eagerly upsetting applecarts by taking on defense industry colossus General Dynamics and other established contractors in its bid to grab a hat trick in this year’s Army radio competitions. The largest service is expected to make awards in three of its largest communications programs this year as early… Keep reading →

As the Army prepares to choose the new builder of its handheld digital radios, the incumbent contractors are tryiing to convince Congress to keep other companies out. The incumbents are General Dynamics, which publicly apologized to the Army over its half of the program last year, and Rockwell Collins. The Army’s own chief of acquisitions,… Keep reading →