MIAMI — A defense contractor at the center of one of the biggest bribery scandals in U.S. military history is expected to face additional charges following his return to the United States from Venezuela as part of a broader prisoner swap between the two countries, a federal prosecutor said Thursday.
Leonard Glenn Francis, who is nicknamed “Fat Leonard,” faced a federal judge for the first…
Beyond the Osprey: DARPA wants high-speed vertical takeoff X-plane
December 28, 2023
WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working with four companies to design an experimental vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft that can fly at speeds far faster than the V-22 Osprey.
The collaboration comes as the U.S. military considers how it…
Navy creates program office to manage nuclear carrier defuelings
November 30, 2023
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…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army picked two of the world’s largest defense contractors to develop spying and jamming payloads for drones that can be catapulted from a moving vehicle or larger aircraft.
The service’s Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, or PEO IEW&S, on Nov. 29 named Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman as the winners of other transaction…
Air Force awards Boeing $2.3B contract for 15 more KC-46s
November 29, 2023
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.
Northrop exit from UK satellite bid recasts big-ticket Skynet 6 race
November 29, 2023
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…
Pratt to start receiving F-35 engine upgrade contracts in early 2024
November 29, 2023
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon expects to start issuing early next year the first in a series of sole-source contracts to Pratt & Whitney to upgrade the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s engines.
In a notice posted online Monday, the government said the follow-on contract actions to RTX-owned Pratt & Whitney will begin in the second quarter of fiscal 2024, and continue through the end of December…
Early Ford carrier maintenance costs lower than planned, Navy says
November 29, 2023
ARLINGTON, Va. — The first-in-class aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford may cost less over its life than planned because of reduced maintenance costs, a program manager said today at an American Society of Naval Engineers conference here.
Capt. Brian Metcalf said the new…
Ice Ice Baby: Raytheon uses diamonds to keep radars cool
November 27, 2023
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…
WASHINGTON — The first production F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with an early, incomplete version of the software powering a key upgrade was flown last week at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas, facility, the company told Defense News.
The Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office is considering whether a strategy of loading interim versions of the Technology Refresh 3 software into the latest…
