DefenseNews

With F-35 expulsion, Turkey’s top weapons buyer prioritizes TF-X work

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s top defense procurement official, Ismail Demir, said in an April 30 TV interview that the government will prioritize the production of its indigenous TF-X fighter jet amid an estimated loss of $1.4 billion for local industry following the country’s expulsion from the American-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The U.S. decided to exclude Turkey from the…
Read more
DefenseNews

Watchdog expresses concern over using US Navy interceptor for homeland missile defense

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Government Accountability Office is skeptical the Navy’s SM-3 Block IIA interceptor would work as part of a new plan for a layered homeland defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles. In a report released this week, the GAO said the SM-3 Block IIA could “introduce considerable cost, schedule, and performance uncertainty to a program that has just entered…
Read more
DefenseNews

Army Fields First New Air Defense Strykers in Europe

The 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment (5-4 ADA), 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, is the first unit in the Army to receive the Mobile Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) system, April 21, 2021. (Jordan Allen /U.S. Army) U.S. Army modernization officials have fielded the first Mobile Short Range Air Defense, or M-SHORAD, Stryker vehicles in Europe as part of a larger…
Read more
DefenseNews

Biden to nominate Frank Kendall as Air Force secretary

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has officially nominated Frank Kendall to serve as secretary of the Air Force and Gina Ortiz Jones for undersecretary of the Air Force. The announcement, made by the White House on Tuesday afternoon, confirmed reporting by Defense…
DefenseNews

China simultaneously commissions three warships on Navy anniversary

MELBOURNE, Australia — China commissioned 60,000 tons worth of major vessels earlier this month, officially putting into service a new nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, a guided-missile cruiser and an amphibious helicopter carrier on the 72nd anniversary of its Navy. The unprecedented triple commissioning was carried out in a ceremony held at the Yulin naval complex near the city…
Read more