Friday, May 10, 2024
Jason Sherman is a reporter for Inside Defense. For more than two decades -- including stints with Defense News and Armed Forces Journal -- he has covered the Pentagon, defense industry, the military budget, weapon system acquisition and defense policy formulation as well as reporting on technology, business, and global arms trade. Jason has traveled to more than 40 countries, studied medieval history at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and lives in Brooklyn.
The Air Force wants to harvest $18 billion for new modernization priorities by divesting 938 aircraft -- including fighters, bombers, cargo planes, trainers, rotorcraft and more -- according to a DOD report that reveals for the first time the scope of plans between fiscal years 2025 and 2029 to finance new capabilities -- such as uncrewed fighters -- out-of-hide.
Japan, Australia and the United States announced plans for a trilateral air and missile defense live-fire exercise -- an "inaugural" event -- that will be folded into the 2027 Talisman Sabre exercise that simulates a highly contested combat scenario in the Indo-Pacific region.
The United States, Japan and Australia have inked a "landmark" agreement to explore trilateral cooperation on efforts to develop collaborative combat aircraft, autonomous systems and composite aerospace materials, the latest development in a growing three-way compact between Washington, Tokyo and Canberra.
The Navy secretary says Pentagon leaders need to reconsider plans to terminate Standard Missile-3 Block IB production in light of recent Red Sea missile defense missions, Iran's missile attack last month against Israel and the likelihood of similar engagements in a potential conflict in the Pacific.
The Defense Department has tapped Boeing's Millennium Space Systems to build eight satellites for the FOO Fighter program -- a project whose exact capability remains classified but is tied to the efforts to rapidly develop a low-earth orbit Resilient Missile Warning and Missile Tracking capability against the most advanced threats.
The Army's Stryker Upgrade program -- a project that as recently as last year enjoyed a $1.2 billion annual budget to up-gun and expand improvements across the armored wheeled vehicle -- is now a billpayer, with service leaders siphoning $1.3 billion from future plans to finance other projects.
The Pentagon plans to pump an additional $1.7 billion -- a 75% increase over last year's plan between fiscal years 2025 and 2028 -- into the secretive shop that prototypes new and surprising ways of using existing technology to bolster conventional deterrence against China and Russia.
The Defense Department is placing a bet on new laser-cooling technology for missile defense capabilities that carries such promise that the Pentagon will not disclose the company associated with the $11 million contract award.
The Army has cut $4.8 billion from planned future spending on the Indirect Fire Protection Capability-High Energy Laser in the service's new five-year spending plan, a dramatic reduction that removes future funding stability for a cruise-missile-killer-and-more project that a key service official says remains a priority.
The Pentagon this summer plans to launch a pair of ultra-fast, maneuvering targets in separate tests to calibrate space-based sensors recently placed in orbit as part of the U.S. military’s latest efforts to assemble a suite of new technologies to counter long-range hypersonic glide vehicles.
Lockheed Martin has bested Northrop Grumman in a contest to build the Next Generation Interceptor, a development that establishes for a generation the beginning of a new order in the U.S. missile defense industrial base that will be filled out soon when a contest between Raytheon and Northrop is settled for the Glide Phase Interceptor.
The Defense Department is wrapping up work on a comprehensive analysis of technologies needed for an Air and Cruise Missile Defense of the Homeland capability, findings slated to influence in particular Air Force and Army spending plans beginning in fiscal year 2026.
The Missile Defense Agency this month will pick a winner between Lockheed Martin and Northrop in the Next Generation Interceptor competition, slicing a year off the original source-selection plan to develop the homeland defense guided missile based on information produced during the first round of the contest.
The Army, after a failed five-year project to rapidly prototype a self-propelled, extended-range cannon, wants to launch a new-start Next Generation Howitzer program, marking a third attempt since the end of the Cold War to build a leap-ahead artillery system -- this time with a goal to counter threats forecasted in 2040 and beyond.
The Army is doubling funding in its updated five-year budget plan for the Integrated Battle Command System in an effort to expedite development of software needed to integrate a list of new sensors, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, the Remote Interceptor Guidance-360 and more.
The Army has set new plans to triple annual spending on Patriot Modifications in fiscal year 2027 as part of a $3 billion increase over five years to improve the capability and readiness of the air defense system, a 174% hike compared to the current future years defense program.
A year after a Chinese stratospheric balloon flew across the United States -- triggering a political furor, discussion about gaps in domain awareness and the eventual combat downing of the airship -- the U.S. military is seeking funding to begin its own high-altitude balloon project to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's sensor technology portfolio that aims to improve the accuracy and timeliness of surveillance and targeting systems is being offered up as a bill payer in the Pentagon's new five-year spending plan, with proposed reductions of more than $900 million when compared to the current blueprint.
The Navy has slashed by more than half planned development of a next-generation fighter aircraft, cutting more than $7 billion for the F/A-XX project between fiscal years 2025 and 2028, indicating funds previously programmed for future years were redirected to finance higher priorities and the new-start project. (UPDATED)
The United States teamed with Australia for the first time in a major ballistic missile defense test, demonstrating interoperability and integration during the intercept of a medium-range ballistic missile as part of a developmental and operational test for the U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency.