News
USS Boxer shoots down Iranian drone as the U.S., Iran edge closer to conflict-
The amphibious assault ship USS Boxer shot down an Iranian drone July 18 in the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump announced.
Iran denies U.S. destroyed an Iranian drone near Persian Gulf-
Iran on July 19 denied President Donald Trump’s statement that a U.S. warship destroyed an Iranian drone near the Persian Gulf after it threatened the ship — an incident that marked a new escalation of tensions between the countries less than a month after Iran downed an American drone in the same waterway and Trump came close to retaliating with a military strike.
Turkey officially kicked out of F-35 program, costing U.S. half a billion dollars-
The U.S. has removed Turkey from the F-35 joint strike fighter program, and Turkey will lose its production work on the jet by March 2020, following its acceptance of the S-400 Russian-made air defense system July 12.
More troops are heading to the US-Mexico border-
More than 2,000 additional troops could be deployed to the southwest border to help Customs and Border Patrol deal with the flow of migrants into the U.S., according to a July 17 release from the Pentagon.
Business
Trump expressed concern about Pentagon cloud-computing contract-
President Donald Trump recently demanded more information about how the Pentagon crafted a massive cloud-computing contract it’s poised to award to Amazon.com Inc. or Microsoft Corp., in order to decide whether he should intervene.
This is Knight’s Armament’s new machine gun suppressor-
Knight’s Armament Company of Titusville, Fla., unveiled a new suppressor at this year’s Special Operations Forces Industry Conference where members of the SOF community get to interact with vendors and industry partners to preview and try out the latest and greatest in special operations kit and gear.
Why S-400, F-35 can’t get along-
U.S. military officials have repeatedly warned that Turkey’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 anti-aircraft system could compromise the F-35 fighter jet. But they haven’t gone into great detail about how.
GAO: Army Futures Command should step up small business engagement-
In U.S. Army Futures Command’s race to field next-generation equipment, it needs to better engage small businesses vital to the defense-industrial base, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report published July 17.
Defense
Mark Esper wasn’t asked a single question about Afghanistan, where 12 US troops have died this year-
Showing just how far removed the war is from life at home, none of the Senators who questioned Army Secretary Mark Esper during his nearly three-hour confirmation hearing to become defense secretary asked about Afghanistan.
Army rejects Bowe Bergdahl’s appeal accusing Trump of unlawful command influence-
An Army appeals court has rejected Bowe Bergdahl’s claim that President Trump’s public description of him as “a no-good traitor who should have been executed” and other comments on the disgraced soldier’s case constituted unlawful command influence (UCI).
Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft passes through key requirements gauntlet-
The Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft has passed through the gauntlet of the Army Requirements Oversight Council, the one-star general in charge of the service’s Future Vertical Lift modernization efforts told Defense News.
A new issue is delaying destroyer John S. McCain’s return to the fleet-
A Japan-based destroyer sidelined by a deadly collision in 2017 will not return to the fleet because of a new issue that arose in testing after it returned to the water from dry dock, Naval Sea Systems Command confirmed to Defense News.
If Congress punts spending bill, Navy’s new frigate would suffer-
If lawmakers can’t patch together a big budget deal to avoid a debt default and hold off billions in automatic spending cuts across the government, the Navy’s new frigate program could wind up being punted down the road, putting the service’s goal of a 355-ship fleet in jeopardy.
Air Force’s next-gen ICBM program takes another step forward-
The Air Force moved its competition for new intercontinental ballistic missiles to the next stage on July 16, releasing a solicitation for the weapon system’s first five production lots.