News
Dozens of lawmakers warn Defense Department: Don’t whitewash climate change report –
A Department of Defense report on how vulnerable military installations are to floods, rising sea levels, drought and catastrophic storms only mentions “climate change” once — a fact that has irked more than 40 Democratic and Republican lawmakers who have warned the department to keep the term intact.
Business
United Kingdom halts plans for a budget frigate –
The British Ministry of Defence confirmed July 24 that it has halted plans for procuring its low-cost proposed Type 31e general purpose frigate for the Royal Navy on the grounds there were insufficient compliant bids.
France takes delivery of its 5th FREMM –
The Directon Générale de l’Armement took delivery July 18 the fifth multi-mission frigate, marking a step toward an eight-strong fleet which will be the “backbone” of the French Navy, the defense procurement office said.
Textron is no longer working with the Air Force on an airworthiness assessment for the Scorpion jet. But these two companies are –
In 2016, the Air Force opened a new office to evaluate the airworthiness of military aircraft it didn’t plan to buy, thus making it easier for those U.S. companies to sell internationally. Now its flagship effort with Textron’s Scorpion jet has been suspended.
New details about F-15X Boeing is pitching U.S. Air Force –
The single-seat jet is being built to shoot down enemy aircraft, pound targets on the air, and even hit ships at sea.
U.S. general says future UK fighter jet must be compatible with F-35 –
The top U.S. Air Force general in Europe on July 25 said it was critical to ensure any future British fighter jet was compatible with the U.S. F-35 stealth fighter built by Lockheed Martin for a number of U.S. allies, including Britain.
BAE Systems progresses digital shipyard plan for Australia –
BAE Systems is moving ahead with its program to transform naval shipbuilding facilities in South Australia into a digital shipyard that will support the construction of the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN’s) new Hunter-class frigates.
Philippines to bolster airborne counter-insurgency ability with second-hand Broncos, potentially Baslers –
The Philippines is to bolster its airborne counterinsurgency capabilities with the receipt of four surplus Rockwell OV-10 Bronco ground attack aircraft from the United States, and potentially two BT-67 gunships that are being offered by Basler Turbo Conversions.
Defense
Congress is giving officer promotion system a massive overhaul –
Congress is poised to pass the most sweeping reforms to the military’s officer promotion system in almost four decades, a move that would end years of intense debate inside the Pentagon to bring the personnel system in line with many private-sector employment practices.
Congress wants DOD to hold a national cyber response exercise –
If the United States were to fall victim to a large-scale cyberattack that took out critical infrastructure, the Department of Defense could turn to little-used authorities to assist federal civilian agencies with its response.
USAFE chief: Military doing ‘360-degree’ review of basing in Europe –
The top U.S. Air Force officer in Europe said Wednesday that his command is examining how military sites are spread out across Europe as part of a review to identify potential vulnerabilities.
Strategic Command will now oversee nuclear communications –
The communication system which keeps the president in touch with the nuclear triad during a crisis will now be the responsibility of the head of U.S. Strategic Command.
Military services to work together to speed hypersonic weapon development –
The U.S. military’s services will work together to boost development of ultra-high speed weapons capable of penetrating the most advanced air-defense systems in the world, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said July 25.
Pentagon to increase health records contract ceiling by another billion –
The Defense Department plans to raise the ceiling of the contract for overhauling its outdated electronic health record system by an estimated $1.1 billion, agency officials said July 24.
Army doesn’t know what it got in return for $78 million in maintenance fees –
The Army doesn’t know if it got what it paid for on a contract in Afghanistan because officials didn’t properly review nearly $78 million in invoices for maintenance work, a Pentagon watchdog found in an audit released July 25.
Navy seeks $30 million to fix gear that hobbled its new carrier –
The Navy is asking Congress to shift $30 million from other accounts to start repairing a damaged gear on the service’s costliest warship, the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier.
Wide swath of surface navy reforms included in 2019 NDAA conference bill –
The Senate and House armed services committees agreed on several major reforms to Navy’s surface forces as part of the fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act in reaction to the two fatal collisions of warships in the Western Pacific.
Air Force, NASA look to collaborate on deep space medicine –
Representatives from NASA recently visited David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base, California, — one of the largest hospitals in the United States — in order to establish collaboration on studying medicine for deep space exploration, as well as war fighters here on Earth.
Operational testing on the ‘all-weather’ bomb has begun –
Operational testing has officially begun on the “StormBreaker,” Raytheon’s new name for the Small Diameter Bomb II.
Proposal would shift F-16 unit to Air Guard base in Tucson –
The Air Force wants to move an F-16 fighter squadron that trains Taiwanese pilots from one base in Arizona to another.
Marine Corps is scavenging Humvee parts for its JLTV –
The Humvee has long been derided as a “death trap” by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who were subjected to the onslaught of roadside bombs that easily tore through the small lightly armored vehicles.
Veterans
Citing VA reforms, Trump cements his bond with veterans –
“We’ve enacted some of the largest VA reforms in the history of the VA,” Trump said to the veterans group.
VA official should resign over anti-Muslim comments, advocates say –
Officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Wednesday called for the removal of a senior Veterans Affairs official for his past anti-Muslim comments on social media.
House approves plans to create new VA economic opportunity administration –
House lawmakers on July 23 advanced plans to create a new branch of Veterans Affairs operations focused on economic opportunity, a move that advocates say could better highlight employment and education programs at the department.
AP FACT CHECK: Trump exaggerates VA gains in veterans speech –
His newly signed law seeking to expand the private-sector Veterans Choice program will take at least a year to be implemented. The program has also struggled to meet a standard of providing timely medical appointments within 30 days, a problem that even his new VA secretary, Robert Wilkie, has acknowledged might not be fixed soon.