WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s surface fleet, still short of its readiness goal of 75 combat-credible surface ships at any given time, is pursuing new ways to boost its readiness.
Then-Commander of Naval Surface Forces Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, who retired in August, announced in January 2023 the fleet would aim to have 75 mission-capable ships. The ships would be well maintained and the crews…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force’s next-generation tanker was supposed to be the ideal candidate for a fixed-price development program.
Indeed, when Boeing first won the deal to build what’s now known as the KC-46, the defense contractor said it would use a “low-risk…
Bombardier wins US Army contract for new spy plane prototype
January 4, 2024
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army awarded a contract to Bombardier Defense to provide at least one Global 6500 aircraft to serve as a prototype airframe for a new spy plane program, the service announced Wednesday.
The firm-fixed-price contract, awarded Dec. 12, includes an…
Gen. Jim Slife sworn in as Air Force vice chief of staff
January 4, 2024
Gen. Jim Slife stepped into the role of Air Force vice chief of staff at a Dec. 29 ceremony at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, ending the service’s three-month stretch without Senate-confirmed officers in its top two leadership posts.
Slife’s assignment to the Air Force’s second-highest position is part of a wide-ranging shuffle of the branch’s top brass that began in the fall.
New radars and interceptors are headed to soldiers for testing in 2024 as the Army seeks to upgrade its air defense capabilities.
After decades of relying on limited short-range air defense and Patriot batteries with technology dating to the early 1980s, the Army has pushed…
The Marine Corps has so far trained 100 leathernecks as MQ-9 pilots as it seeks to fill out new squadrons with the uncrewed system to extend reach and reconnaissance for its own drone program.
The Corps first leased the MQ-9 Reaper in 2018 and only received funding to…
Army numbers smallest since WWII — what units face cuts in 2024?
December 29, 2023
The new year will likely prove to be one of significant force structure changes for the Army, according to its senior leaders.
Although the service has maintained for years that embracing multidomain operations will require it to “transform” its force structure into one leaders believe is suited to tomorrow’s battlefield, back-to-back recruiting shortfalls led top officials to admit by…
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…
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 nuclear-powered aircraft carrier it decommissioned: the former Enterprise was inactivated and defueled at HII’s Newport News…
