CORRECTED: Loren Thompson Now Says Moran Not Likely To Take HAC-D WASHINGTON: While most media watch the White House race, defense contractors and Pentagon bureaucrats are keeping a close eye on a few key chairmanships on Capitol Hill who will control billions of dollars in funding for weapons and services. Todd Akin currently chairs the… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Added Comment By GOP Strategist John Ullyot About Obama Being In Strong Spot To Negotiate End of Sequestration If Reelected. WASHINGTON: All eyes are on the presidential vote tomorrow, with the country seeming to thrum with anticipation, fear and relief. What will all this sturm und drang mean for defense? Before we reveal our… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Lockheed offers official reply to Gen. Bogdan. (8 a.m. Tuesday) NATIONAL HARBOR: The likely new leader of the Joint Strike Fighter program opened what looks to be a new era — at least rhetorically — today offering large dollops of what he called “straight talk” about both Lockheed Martin’s performance and the government’s. Maj.… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL: Senate Armed Services Committee leaders released a 100-plus-page report on the administration’s Asia strategy today, including — perhaps inadvertently — four pages of comments from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Congress commissioned the study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the authorization bill for fiscal year 2012. SASC chairman Sen. Carl… Keep reading →

FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW: One of the topics dear to the hearts of Beltway bandits, defense lobbyists and — let’s be honest — reporters, is always who will run things after the November elections. Few people wise in the ways of Washington I know are willing to predict what will happen when the people vote. But… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: House Armed Services Committee chairman Buck McKeon seethed with frustration at Senate Democrats today when asked about Senate Armed Services chairman Carl Levin‘s proposals for a “grand compromise” to avert sequestration. McKeon doubted any kind of grand bargain could happen this year, before or after the election, and said that the best plausible scenario… Keep reading →

The Senate Armed Services Committee turned its spotlight last November on the problem of sup-par and counterfeit Chinese-made parts used in U.S. weapons programs, including Boeing’s new P-8A aircraft, the Marine Corps’ V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, and the Navy’s Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine. Sens. Carl Levin and John McCain hammered away at China’s involvement and… Keep reading →

THE CAPITOL [updated 9:40 pm with details from Senate press release]: The Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously passed its mark-up of the annual defense spending bill, rejecting all proposed cuts to the Air National Guard, cutting the Defense Department’s civilian and contractor workforce by 5 percent over five years, and restricting aid to Pakistan. The… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: State governors are complaining to Congress about Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s offer to give the Air National Guard two dozen C-130 aircraft and add back almost 1,200 jobs, saying it isn’t enough. The president’s budget originally proposed cutting 5,100 Air Guard jobs; last week, Panetta offered to restore 1,179 (by the governors’ count) and… Keep reading →

The Obama administration late Thursday announced yet another attempt to settle the prolonged and increasingly bitter clash with Japan over the controversial and expensive plan to relocate thousands of U.S. Marines off the crowded island of Okinawa. Senior defense and State Department officials said the revised agreement would strengthen the critical alliance between the U.S.… Keep reading →