The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s total cost is expected to top $2 trillion over its entire life span given the U.S. military plans to fly it longer, inflation is rising, and the Pentagon’s efforts to rein in expenses are largely falling short, a government watchdog said Monday.
That price tag represents an increase from the $1.7 trillion lifetime cost the Government Accountability Office…
Nearly a year prior to a deadline for two competing teams to reach a critical design review phase in the development of a Next-Generation Interceptor for homeland defense, the Missile Defense Agency chose Lockheed Martin to move forward rather than carry both teams through…
Get the US Navy’s frigate program back on schedule
April 16, 2024
The recent review of shipbuilding progress is an important step in correcting the current cost overruns and schedule slippage. However, the U.S. Navy secretary’s rather timid response of only directing the FFG design team to gather at the shipyard was far too timid.
Many…
Sea-Air-Space attendees step out of the naval conference in National Harbor, Maryland, to observe the solar eclipse April 8, 2024. (Colin Demarest/C4ISRNET)
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — This week, U.S. Navy leadership and some of the world’s largest defense contractors flocked to the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center south of the nation’s capital for the 2024 Sea-Air-Space defense…
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $4.1 billion to continue to field, maintain and upgrade its battle command system, according to an April 11 contract announcement from the Defense Department.
The contract period runs May 1…
For those of us who maintain detailed forecasts of the global defense market, there are few times as exciting as the annual release of the new Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) budget and the 30-year ship building plan. The long-range plan lays out the path that must be…
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Navy is using its effort to strengthen the weapons-industrial base as something of a test run for larger spending in the shipbuilding and submarine sectors, a top acquisition official said.
All three areas face similar challenges, such as a lack of output at key suppliers, which prevents prime contractors from increasing deliveries to the Navy.
The service would…
The Army has ordered an aviation “safety stand up,” with additional aviation training across the force following a dozen mishaps that have resulted in 10 fatalities in only the first six months of the fiscal year.
By comparison, the Army had 10 mishaps and 14 fatalities…
The U.S. Air Force has awarded a contract for an airfield on Tinian, a Pacific island military leaders consider crucial to their plans in the region.
Fluor, an engineering and construction company based in Irving, Texas, will receive about $409 million to finish the project…
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Navy has released a road map partly aimed at improving ship construction and repair yards, as the service grapples with how to get its major shipbuilding programs back on schedule.
A week after releasing a shipbuilding review that acknowledged several top ship programs are one to three years behind schedule, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said the service is…
