The Defense Innovation Unit is poised to take on more responsibility for coordinating technology efforts within the Pentagon and is working more closely with combatant commands to make sure those capabilities are meeting their needs, according to its new strategy.
The 10-page document, released Feb. 7, outlines DIU’s expanding role and lays out steps the organization is taking to ensure that the…
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…
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 the Center for Strategic and International Studies that examined this exact scenario, China couldn’t invade the neighboring…
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…
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 tanker, the T-7A Red Hawk jet trainer and the MQ-25 Stingray refueling drone. Boeing declined to say how much each program…
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…
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 also started its flight testing at Italian aerospace firm Leonardo’s facility in Philadelphia, the company said.
Boeing…
