As the U.S. Army seeks to drastically ramp up its 155mm munitions production to 100,000 a month by the end of 2025, the biggest concern for the service’s acquisition chief is being able to secure enough explosives to fill them.
“You have to produce enough explosives – either IMX-104 or TNT – to fill that many shells that fast and that production capacity does not exist in the United States…
Communications-technology company Persistent Systems is outfitting the U.S. Air Force’s mobility command with hundreds of radios and erectable antennas to soup up logistics in remote environments and disaster-relief operations.
The MPU5 handheld radios furnished under a…
WASHINGTON — If U.S. military planners’ worst-case scenario arose in the Pacific — having to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion — American military forces would target Chinese amphibious ships.
Without them, according to Mark Cancian, who ran a 2022 wargame for…
Thales inks $2B deal to improve British Royal Navy’s maintenance
February 6, 2024
LONDON — Thales has signed a 15-year deal with the U.K. to use artificial intelligence and virtual reality to improve maintenance of the Royal Navy’s fleet, the Defence Ministry announced.
The £1.8 billion (U.S. $2.3 billion) contract with the French-based company’s U.K. arm got underway Jan. 1 but was only revealed Feb. 2 during a visit by British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps to the…
Boeing pushes back T-7 plans due to faulty parts
February 6, 2024
Boeing said Friday that quality problems with parts slated for the T-7A Red Hawk training jet mean it will delay by several months delivering the next test aircraft to the Air Force.
Boeing is also now planning to start low-rate initial production on the T-7 in mid-2024…
Boeing’s defense unit reported $139 million in total losses on three of its key fixed-price development programs in the last quarter of 2023, the company reported Wednesday.
The firm confirmed to Defense News on Thursday that the losses were on the KC-46A Pegasus refueling…
US Navy works on war response plan amid Red Sea ship surge
January 31, 2024
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is working on a new wartime response plan that would affect how ships and crews prepare and deploy for combat, according to the head of U.S. Fleet Forces Command.
This comes as the Navy experiences firsthand in the Middle East what it requires to sustain a fighting force at sea.
The Navy has pushed additional destroyers into the Red Sea and Eastern Mediterranean…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force’s three-month test of an electric aircraft at Duke Field in Florida wrapped up this month and included a simulated casualty evacuation exercise.
Beta Technologies said in a Monday release that its Alia aircraft took part in a casualty…
WASHINGTON — Boeing expects to start delivering the Air Force’s first field-ready MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters later this year.
In a Friday release, Boeing said it finished construction on the first low-rate initial production Grey Wolf in late December. That helicopter…
Mideast waters challenge unmanned vessels, says US Navy leader
January 30, 2024
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Operational and environmental challenges in Middle Eastern waters are hindering the pace of innovation around unmanned surface vessels, according to the chief of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.
“You bring things out, they look good on a PowerPoint, they look good when they are tested back in the middle of America,” Vice Adm. Brad Cooper said during a…
