The World Trade Organization confirmed its interim ruling last September, finding that Boeing received roughly$5 billion in illegal subsidies for some of its civilian aircraft. Airbus, who designed and built the plane that EADS NA hopes to modify for the coming KC-X airborne tanker program. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, a vigorous Boeing supporter, said […]

Former Air Force Secretary Mike Wynne wants the Air Force to get rid of large surveillance and reconnasisance aircraft such as AWACS and JSTARS, which are vulnerable to attack because of their huge radar cross-sections, and take the money saved and shove it into the Joint Strike Fighter program.

Only a truly authoritarian regime could generate such wonderful irony as China did when an official broadcaster apparently showed footage from the Top Gun movie and portrayed it as film from a recent military exercise. That comes after the PRC’s president Hu Jintao had to tell Defense Secretary Robert Gates in mid-January that he did not know that the the supposedly stealthy J-20 was to have been unveiled during Gates’ visit.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates today warned that the United States must be vigilant in light of a rapidly advancing Chinese military despite efforts to improve relations between the two countries. “Even as the United States pursues a more constructive relationship with China, we and our allies cannot ignore the Chinese military’s recent advances in missiles, […]

The GOP split between Tea Party members and defense stalwarts is something we’ve covered inch by inch since the November elections. So far, no senior Republicans who are members of either the House or Senate armed service committees had spoken out in favor of cutting the defense budget. Now the dam has broken with Sen. Jeff Sessions, veteran member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, speaking out.

The U.S. Army today unveiled its new plan for buying wheeled vehicles over the next 30 years, calling for a 15 percent cut to its fleet of roughly 260,000 trucks, Humvees and MRAPs currently in service by 2017, Maj. Gen, Thomas Spoehr, director of army force development, told reporters today.

Senior Air Force leaders are growing increasingly concerned that Joint Strike Fighter maintenance and operating costs will rise far above previous estimates. A source familiar with the issue said that the Air Force believes a study performed by the Navy one year ago looks increasingly accurate, based on preliminary data the service has compiled.

UPDATED: EADS NA Statement Welcomes Investigation

Seven senators from both parties called on the Pentagon’s Inspector General today, urging him initiate and investigation into what harm might have been done when Air Force officials mistakenly handed Boeing and EADS NA each other’s data about the KC-X tanker competition.

One of the more ingenious arguments against Defense Secretary Robert Gates program cuts and efficiencies was raised during today’s House Armed Services Committee hearing. It went something like that old philosophical question: If a tree falls in a forest but there is no one there to hear it, is there a noise?”

While President Obama appeared to signal in his State of the Union speech that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has made the right moves in cutting Pentagon spending, he also sent a strong signal to lawmakers, threatening to veto any bill containing earmarks. The push for defense cuts that might come from Tea Party supporters and some Democrats would appear to have lost some steam.

The U.S. Navy is coming out swinging at a recent report sent to Congress by the RAND Corporation that claims the sea service’s plans to use alternative energy sources for half its power and fuel needs by 2020 won’t result in “any direct benefit.” The Navy “has serious reservations… about the conclusions in the report.”

The Air Force, having been prodded and pushed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to provide much more surveillance capability for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, reacted quickly and strongly to the report that Gorgon Stare is troubled and unfit for deployment.

It’s not often that a nation does something as dramatic as rescuing 21 of its citizens from pirates on board a freighter, and also marks the occasion with the significant milestone of conducting its first-ever operation in international waters. South Korea did just that on Friday. Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation offers this telling commentary about some of the larger stakes that may have driven South Korea’s president to action.

Gorgon Stare, hailed by the Washington Post as an advanced ISR tool par excellence, should not be fielded now because it works less than the half time it should and is deemed by testers to be “not operationally suitable.” The 53rd Wing of the Air Combat Command at Eglin Air Force Base made the recommendation in an operational utility evaluation.

Everyone in the defense world will watch tomorrow night’s State of the Union address for hints on the direction of the defense budget and just where the White House is positioning itself politically in terms of military cuts.

And the bids are in for the U.S. Army’s latest effort to field a Ground Combat Vehicle to replace its aging Bradley fighting vehicles, with BAE Systems, General Dynamics and SAIC-led teams entering the fray.

A majority of the American public wants budget cuts to come from the Defense Department budget, not from Medicare or Social Security, according to a new poll. The poll asked: “If you had to choose one, which would you be willing to change in order to cut government spending.”