Defense

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is evaluating Israeli defense company Rafael’s shoulder-launched, short-range version of its Spike missile and demonstrated the capability at the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment 2021 earlier this month, according to a company statement. “This assessment was the first live-fire demonstration of SPIKE SR on US soil,” the statement said. The experiment…

PARIS – The French Air and Space Force will be getting 12 new Rafales to replace those being removed from its inventory to sell to Greece, Defense Minister Florence Parly said on Friday. The announcement comes a few weeks later than originally planned. Florence Parly had told the National Assembly’s Defense Commission last fall that the order would be placed with Dassault Aviation, the…

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is dealing with excessive rotor blade vibrations in its latest variant of the Boeing-manufactured Chinook cargo helicopter as it heads into a limited-user test during the first half of the calendar year, according to a report by the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester. The new Advanced Chinook Rotor Blade, or ACRB, on the CH-47F Block II aircraft “produces excessive…

WASHINGTON — With the Jan. 27 announcement of a new $275 million charge on the KC-46, Boeing has now paid as much in cost overruns for the troubled program as the U.S. Air Force invested in the tanker’s development. The new charge, which the company reported as part of fourth-quarter 2020 earnings, means Boeing has now paid more than $5.0 billion out of pocket to pay for the myriad…