DefenseNews

White House mum on jailed Defense News correspondent

June 22, 2023
Senior White House officials said press freedom would be among the topics discussed this week by President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in private meetings, but would not commit to specifically intervening in the case of Defense News contributor Vivek Raghuvanshi. Raghuvanshi, a journalist and freelancer to Defense News for more than three decades, was jailed in mid-May by…
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DefenseNews

RTX wins $118 million Army order for drone target sensors

June 21, 2023
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army tapped RTX, until recently known as Raytheon Technologies, for a batch of advanced targeting sensors destined for installation aboard drones. The order for the Common Sensor Payload Version 3, or CSP v3, is worth as much as $118 million and stems…
DefenseNews

Lockheed backs next-gen engine for F-35, drawing rebuke from Pratt

June 21, 2023
WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin’s decision to publicly back a new next-generation engine for the F-35 — breaking with the Pentagon’s move to upgrade the fighter’s current Pratt & Whitney-made engines — drew a forceful rebuke from Pratt. Greg Ulmer, executive vice president for aeronautics, said in a Wednesday interview with Breaking Defense at the Paris Air Show that the company…
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DefenseNews

Raytheon rebrands as RTX

June 20, 2023
Defense contractor Raytheon Technologies shed its century-old name this week as the next step in an overhaul of its corporate strategy. The company unveiled its new three-letter moniker, RTX, in a LinkedIn post on Monday. The rebranding comes three years after Raytheon…
DefenseNews

F-22 flight training begins at Virginia base after years in limbo

June 19, 2023
The Air Force has started teaching student pilots to fly the F-22 Raptor fighter jet at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, the service said June 14. It’s a new start for the F-22 training enterprise after Hurricane Michael destroyed the mission’s sole home at Florida’s Tyndall Air Force Base in 2018. “We want to get them in the mindset of what it’s like to be in a fighter squadron…
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French Army taps Nexter to build tank-busting kamikaze drones

June 19, 2023
PARIS — The French military has selected Nexter to develop new drones equipped with anti-tank warheads for the army, with a goal to demonstrate the new capability by the end of 2024, the company announced June 19. The French Defense Innovation Agency – an agency similar…
DefenseNews

House committee may conduct greater oversight of Navy ship maintenance

June 16, 2023
WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee’s members may take a more active oversight role on Navy ship maintenance, after one lawmaker was “bitterly disappointed” the service let some of its cruisers “decay” amid high demand. Rep. Rob Wittman, who sits on the committee’s sea power panel, told Defense News he is frustrated with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday and…
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