The first F-35s to be delivered with a set of upgrades known as Technology Refresh 3 will initially be used for training flights, but will not be ready for combat until 2025, Lockheed Martin said in an earnings call Tuesday. Lockheed chief executive Jim Taiclet told investors the company is focused on fully implementing TR-3…
Category: Military
US Army faces uphill battle to fix aviation mishap crisis
FORT NOVOSEL, Ala. — In the first half of fiscal 2023, more than a dozen U.S. Army aviators died in helicopter crashes, a startling number that prompted an aviation-wide standdown in April 2023. The Army, after a thorough review, eventually lifted the standdown. But five months later, an MH-60 Black Hawk stealth helicopter belonging to…
When will AUKUS allies receive US export control exemptions?
The U.S. may grant Australia and Britain a long-sought export control carveout for AUKUS in the coming months, but not as fast as some lawmakers wish while they wait on a congressionally mandated certification the State Department must issue first. The three AUKUS allies view an Australian and British carveout to the International Traffic in…
Army may swap AI bill of materials for simpler ‘baseball cards’
The U.S. Army is revising its artificial intelligence bill of materials effort following meetings with defense contractors. The service last year floated the idea of an AI BOM, which would be similar to existing software bills, or comprehensive lists of components and dependencies that comprise programs and digital goods. Such practices of transparency are championed…
As Turkish ship heads to Japan, industry eyes Eastern exports
A Turkish military vessel set sail April 8 for a nearly five-month deployment to Japan and other nearby countries. The navy deployed its Ada-class corvette TCG Kinaliada to both celebrate the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Japan, as well as commemorate the 134th anniversary of the sinking of the Ottoman frigate ErtuÄŸrul…
China dissolves Strategic Support Force, focused on cyber and space
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — China has disbanded and replaced its Strategic Support Force, a pivotal component of the People’s Liberation Army’s modernization efforts. The Strategic Support Force, or SSF, was created on Dec. 31, 2015. It existed for a little more than eight years. After China dissolved the SSF on April 19, it established an…
UK government unveils $620 million top-up in Ukraine aid
LONDON — The British government has pledged to significantly increase spending on weapons for Ukraine as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak starts a two day visit to Germany and Poland. A £500 million ($620 million) package of weapons is being added to a promise in January that Britain would contribute funding of £2.5 billion this financial…
Now is not the time to scale back on the B-21 bomber program
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin made headlines when he hedged about the ultimate size of the B-21 Raider buy, explaining that new technologies may supplant the aircraft by the late 2030s. “I think there are other technological advancements that we would see to be…
As the US Air Force fleet keeps shrinking, can it still win wars?
In February 2017, then-Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein issued a warning. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Goldfein rattled off all the missions the Air Force must undertake: defending the U.S. against attack, operating two legs of the nation’s nuclear triad, projecting air power around the globe…
Lockheed Martin eyes Patriot interceptor production in Spain
MILAN — Lockheed Martin has forged a partnership with a Spanish firm for the production of interceptor missile parts for the Patriot air-defense system, a move that could help alleviate a bottleneck in manufacturing the sought-after systems. “Lockheed Martin has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Grupo Oesia to enable potential future production of…
How L3Harris is shoring up its small satellite supply chain
The Space Development Agency’s plan to field hundreds of missile warning and communication satellites in the coming years is still in the early days of execution, but one lesson defense firms are drawing from the effort is the importance of fostering a reliable supply chain. L3Harris is one of those companies. The Melbourne, Fla.-based firm…
Congress’ Pentagon budget increase is in need of transparency
Buried deep in the funding tables of the recently passed fiscal 2024 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, lawmakers added over 1,000 separate program increases to the Pentagon’s procurement and research accounts. With few exceptions, there is no public record of which lawmaker proposed which increases, or why, or at what long-term cost to taxpayers. The…
Polish president wants NATO nukes for deterring Russia
WARSAW, Poland — Polish authorities are in talks with the United States about the possibility of including the Polish Air Force in NATO’s nuclear sharing program, according to Polish President Andrzej Duda. “This has been a topic of Polish-American talks for some time now. I have held talks on this issue several times. I will…
Navy looks to apply jet readiness gains to surface ship fleet
The U.S. Navy’s supply corps will spend the next two years applying lessons from the service’s aircraft fleet to surface ship readiness. After a 2018 effort pushed the Navy’s F/A-18E-F Super Hornet fleet from a mission-capable rate near 50% to the Pentagon’s goal of 80%, Naval Supply Systems Command tried to apply those lessons to…