Defense Watch

Heather Wilson. President Donald Trump on March 21 formally submitted his nomination of Heather Wilson to become the next Air Force secretary after he announced his intention in late January. […]

Ospreys Delayed. A special operations squadron of CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft scheduled to deploy to Yokota Air Base, Japan, has been delayed four years, the Pentagon announces. The initial three […]

Counter-Drone Work. The Department of Defense is fielding the first “tranche” of equipment to counter hostile unmanned aircraft, but much work remains to be done to tackle the growing threat, […]

DDG-51 Procurement. The final version of the fiscal year 2017 defense appropriations bill, unveiled March 2, would fund three Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) destroyers, one more than the Navy requested. The […]

Diesel Subs? Although the Navy could save money by making part its submarine fleet diesel-powered, Rear Adm. Frederick “Fritz” Roegge, submarine force commander for U.S. Pacific Fleet, expects the submarine […]

Fighter Saga. During President Donald Trump’s Feb. 17 visit to a Boeing plant in South Carolina, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was seen holding a brochure for the […]

Space & Missile Defense. The U.S. Army taps eight firms to compete for $3 billion in work over nine years to develop space, high-altitude and missile defense hardware and software […]

New T-X Entrant. Stavatti Aerospace is entering the Air Force’s T-X trainer competition, according to a company statement. Stavatti will offer its Javelin, a new twin-engine, two-seat, high performance military […]

Defense Budget. The Trump administration tentatively plans to develop a fiscal year 2017 defense budget amendment in parallel with a 30-day readiness review, according to a draft executive order obtained […]

West Coast F-35Cs. Naval Air Station Lemoore in California is scheduled to receive its first four F-35C Lightning II jets Jan. 25. The aircraft will join the recently reactivated Strike […]