Defense

WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration continued efforts to replace Pentagon advisers with loyalists as it tapped former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others Monday to replace ousted members of the Defense Policy Board, an independent outside body. Weeks after former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright were removed in a sudden purge of longstanding experts, Gingrich…

WASHINGTON — Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy could stay on as the service’s top civilian for as long as one year under the Biden Administration, several people close to the president-elect’s transition team told Defense News. The move, if it happens, would likely make McCarthy the rare political official from the Trump team expected to be held over in the Biden administration. The decision…

WASHINGTON — Boeing, General Atomics and Kratos will create prototypes for the Air Force’s Skyborg program and have a mere five months to build the first test vehicles of the autonomous combat drone. As part of the Skyborg program, the Air Force hopes to build a family of low-cost, attritable drones that can be reused, but are cheap enough that losses in combat can be financially and…

WASHINGTON — Congress is seeking to block the Air Force from retiring any of its A-10 Warthog attack planes, KC-135 refueling tankers and RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drones this fiscal year. On Dec. 3, the House and Senate Armed Services committees put forward the conference report of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act — a final version of the defense bill that includes…