WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy wants to buy a next-generation large surface combatant by the end of the 2030s, but its not being built for a new kind of sensor or weapon system. The newly dubbed DDG(X) is being built for power.
The Navy has, or course, built ships around advancements in engineering systems before: Nuclear power or steam engines, for example, have led to big leaps in naval design.
Do the earliest Arleigh Burke-class destroyers still have legs? The US Navy thinks so.
January 14, 2021
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy has a problem: The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer program was too successful.
Between 1991, when the Navy commissioned the USS Arleigh Burke, and 1998, when it commissioned the USS Mahan, the service built the class at a pace of three per year.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army’s future battle command system that will link sensors and shooters across the battlefield has been cleared for production, a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed to Defense News Jan. 13.
As part of a long and bumpy road, the Army delayed the…
WASHINGTON — The world’s two largest defense companies have joined a growing number of American industrial titans pausing their political donations after Lockheed Martin and Boeing announced Wednesday they would halt contributions following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. capitol.
A third major defense contractor, BAE Systems, also announced Wednesday that it was pausing political spending in…
Drone maker to pay $25M over military gear parts
January 14, 2021
PORTLAND, Ore. — Aerial drone manufacturer Insitu will pay $25 million to settle allegations that its military drones were outfitted with used components instead of new ones.
U.S. attorney Brian Moran said cases such as this one should be seen as a warning to defense…
MELBOURNE, Australia — Hanwha-led Team Redback officially launched its Redback infantry fighting vehicle on Tuesday ahead of delivering three for evaluation trials as part of a risk mitigation effort for the Australian Army.
The infantry fighting vehicles are undergoing…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s top officer has laid down the gauntlet: The service must deliver two new classes of surface ships on time.
After 20 years of what two leading lawmakers last year called “absurd acquisition debacles,” the Navy is changing its approach. Instead of building ships and technologies in concert — as it did with the Zumwalt-class destroyer, the littoral combat…
US Navy rolls out new strategy for expanding Arctic operations
January 12, 2021
JUNEAU, Alaska — The U.S. Department of the Navy released details of a new strategy for operations in the Arctic as competition for resources among nations increases in the region.
Members of Alaska’s congressional delegation have expressed support for the increased…
WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman has paused its political donations to members of Congress, the first defense prime to do so as a wave of corporate entities react after the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill.
“We are pausing political action committee giving and evaluating the…
WASHINGTON — To rebuild American sea power and face a growing Chinese threat, the U.S. Navy must get a larger share of the Defense Department’s budget, the top Democrat and Republican on the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee said Monday at the annual Surface Navy Association meeting.
Reps. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., and Rob Wittman, R-Va., respectively the chair and ranking…
