Defense

WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman is initiating the build of a first production representative prototype of its 20mm chain gun dubbed “Sky Viper” for the U.S. Army to evaluate for Future Vertical Lift aircraft, the company said March 10 during a media briefing. The service is already deep into the evaluation of another 20mm weapon system — the XM915 Gatling gun from General Dynamics…

WASHINGTON — The Army National Guard has seen three UH-60 L-model Black Hawk utility helicopter crashes on U.S. soil in just over a year. Two of those happened within the first five weeks of 2021. But despite the pattern of incidents involving Guard Black Hawks, the Army’s aviation director in charge of operations, plans and training told Defense News in a recent interview that he did not…

WASHINGTON ― The House Armed Services Committee chairman has railed at the expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, saying he wants to “stop throwing money down that particular rathole,” with his comments coming just days after the Air Force said it too is looking at other options. “What does the F-35 give us? And is there a way to cut our losses? Is there a way to not keep spending that…

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s surface fleet continues to struggle to keep its ships adequately maintained, according to the Board of Inspection and Survey, an entity responsible for monitoring the condition of the service’s ships. The surface fleet was scored as “degraded” in more than half of the “functional areas” scored by the famously invasive INSURV inspectors, with 11 of 21…