DefenseNews

Army numbers smallest since WWII — what units face cuts in 2024?

The new year will likely prove to be one of significant force structure changes for the Army, according to its senior leaders. Although the service has maintained for years that embracing multidomain operations will require it to “transform” its force structure into one leaders believe is suited to tomorrow’s battlefield, back-to-back recruiting shortfalls led top officials to admit by…
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DefenseNews

Navy creates program office to manage nuclear carrier defuelings

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has established a new program office to plan and manage aircraft carrier inactivations, defuelings and dismantlements, as the service readies for that work to become more common. The Navy still hasn’t fully completed the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier it decommissioned: the former Enterprise was inactivated and defueled at HII’s Newport News…
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DefenseNews

Air Force awards Boeing $2.3B contract for 15 more KC-46s

WASHINGTON — The Air Force has awarded Boeing a $2.3 billion contract for 15 more KC-46A Pegasus refueling tankers. The award, announced by the Pentagon Tuesday evening, brings to 153 the number of KC-46s Boeing has on contract to build for the United States and allies.
DefenseNews

Northrop exit from UK satellite bid recasts big-ticket Skynet 6 race

LONDON — Defense contractors have been given until March next year to submit bids to provide the U.K. military with a new generation of wideband communication satellites as part of the Ministry of Defence’s Skynet 6 program. Procurement officials for Skynet 6 released an invitation earlier this month to Airbus Defence and Space, Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space with instructions to…
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DefenseNews

Ice Ice Baby: Raytheon uses diamonds to keep radars cool

WASHINGTON — Diamonds may be forever and a girl’s best friend. They may be the centerpieces of crowns and countless heist films. They may even motivate treasure hunters to plumb the icy grave of the RMS Titanic. But can they revolutionize battlefield sensors? Raytheon thinks so. The company, a division of RTX, said it won $15 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or…
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