News
U.S. withdraws troops from Libya amid rival militias fighting near capital –
The United States said April 7 it has temporarily withdrawn some of its forces from Libya due to “security conditions on the ground,” as a Libyan military commander’s forces advanced toward the capital, Tripoli, clashing with rival militias.
As NATO banks on Poland, is it becoming the new face of a nervous Europe? –
The U.S. military is slated to deepen its logistics footprint in the former Soviet Bloc country of Poland, and contrary to recent proclamations from the Trump administration, NATO is actually paying for a share of it.
Business
Here’s how F-35 technology would be compromised if Turkey also had the S-400 anti-aircraft system –
The U.S. Air Force was able to bomb Libya with impunity after knocking out its relic of an Integrated Air Defense System, but what if the country had actually maintained a competent IADS network?
Lockheed, Israeli company team up for US Army missile defense radar ‘sense-off’ –
Lockheed Martin and Israeli radar company Elta Systems, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries, are teaming up for the U.S. Army’s upcoming “sense-off” demonstration of possible radars for its Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense System.
FVL: Army, Marines, SOCOM release ambitious specs for future aircraft –
To ensure its Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft can survive a war with Russia or China, the Army wants radically superior speed and range compared to current helicopters. But a joint Request For Information released yesterday shows that the tech-savvy Special Operations Command and the hard-charging Marine Corps want even more.
One year in, collaboration is secret sauce, says GDIT –
On April 3, 2018, General Dynamics Information Technology closed a deal to acquire CSRA, merging the operations of two massive government contractor IT shops and, according to company officials, bringing in a new era of collaboration across the company.
Marines say CH-53K deficiencies are all ‘fixable’ –
The Marines’ top aviator said the new CH-53K heavy lift helicopter has had some struggles during its past year of testing but would emerge from it a capable and reliable asset for the Marines.
Defense
States, military clash on cleanup of toxic chemicals –
The U.S. Department of Defense has quietly begun battling environmental regulators in several states, after the agencies attempted to force the military to clean toxic firefighting chemicals from polluted streams, marshes and aquifers.
Is U.S. Army biting off more than it can chew? We ask its future vertical lift modernization boss –
The fiscal 2020 budget request is out, showing the U.S. Army is ready to put money where its mouth is when it comes to funding two efforts to build, then buy, new vertical lift aircraft — a Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) and a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) — while simultaneously funding new unmanned aircraft and developing a backbone for mission systems and weapons that will be installed across the future fleet.
Investigators probe why barge capsized at secret base –
A barge used to support testing of Navy submarine stealth technology capsized earlier this year in Idaho, officials confirmed this week.
Marine Corps is finally fielding a new 40mm grenade launcher –
U.S. Marines are about to finally get a new grenade launcher to replace the Vietnam War-era M203, a switch the Army made about 10 years ago.
Veterans
Vet employment stays strong in March –
This isn’t the best ever job market for the youngest generation of veterans — but it’s very close.
WWII tank gunner, now 95, pays tribute to the highest-ranking American killed in the European theater –
On March 30, exactly 74 years to the day since Gen. Maurice Rose was gunned down by a German tank commander, Clarence Smoyer rumbled down Wynkoop Street in Denver’s lower downtown perched in the turret of a vintage M3 Stuart tank.
Lawmakers seek treatments for veterans exposed to chemicals –
Veterans with health problems caused by exposure to toxic chemicals known as PFAS would be eligible for federal health care services under legislation proposed in Congress.
Space & Technology
NASA’s seventeen-billion-dollar moon rocket may be doomed before it ever gets to the launch pad –
NASA has been toiling away on a monster rocket for the past eight years — but how much action the skyscraper-size Space Launch System will see once it’s completed is now anybody’s guess.
London to New York in less than an hour –
British engineers have made a major breakthrough in their quest to create a space jet which could travel at 25 times the speed of sound and could get from London to New York in less than an hour.