DefenseNews

US approves sale of F-16 jets to Turkey, F-35s to Greece

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has approved the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey following the Turkish government’s ratification this week of Sweden’s membership in NATO. The move is a significant development in the expansion of the alliance, which has taken on additional importance since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The State Department notified Congress of its approval of the…
Read more
DefenseNews

Upgraded F-35 deliveries slipping to fall 2024, Lockheed says

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin’s production of the latest upgraded F-35 Joint Strike Fighters is slipping further behind schedule, and deliveries likely will not resume until the third quarter of 2024, the company said Tuesday. Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet told investors in an…
DefenseNews

Lockheed to test Patriot and Aegis integration in live-fire test

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin will test this spring whether it can successfully integrate the U.S. Army’s latest and most capable variant of the Patriot missile with the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Combat System. By the end of the year, Lockheed will have spent roughly $100 million on the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) integration effort so far, according to Tom…
Read more
DefenseNews

What the Navy is learning from its fight in the Red Sea

Thirteen years ago, the current head of the Navy’s surface fleet was captaining the destroyer Carney. Even in 2010, airborne drones were a threat for which his ship had tactics and munitions at the ready, Vice Adm. Brendan McLane, now the head of Naval Surface Forces, told…
DefenseNews

US Navy’s four unmanned ships return from Pacific deployment

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy completed its first deployment of four unmanned ships, which spent five months in the Pacific testing concepts for how to integrate their capabilities into crewed fleet operations. The unmanned surface vessels — Sea Hunter, Sea Hawk, Mariner and Ranger — departed Southern California on Aug. 7 and returned Jan. 15. The Sea Hunter and Sea Hawk originate from a…
Read more
DefenseNews

Navy accepting Landing Ship Medium proposals for FY25 contract award

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is seeking proposals for its Landing Ship Medium program, which one Marine Corps leader called a top priority for the Navy-Marine amphibious team. The services are “on pace to procure in ’25, deliver it in 2029,” Maj. Gen. Marcus Annibale, the director of expeditionary warfare on the chief of naval operations’ staff, said Wednesday at the Surface Navy…
Read more