News
West doubles down on aiding Ukraine with heavy weapons
Weeks before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Western officials agreed to send a flurry of offensive armored vehicles to Ukraine’s battlefields that they previously refused to deliver for fear of provoking Russia — heralding a new phase of international support for Kyiv.
Russia is planning a major offensive. Here’s what that might look like.
After facing a string of setbacks nearly a year into its war on Ukraine, Russia is planning another major offensive to make up for its losses on the ground and justify its heavy human cost at home.
Russia is planning a major offensive. Here’s what that might look like.
Business
Turkey F-16 sale in limbo amid Lockheed backlog
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with his U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken in Washington on Jan. 18 to secure a $20 billion arms sale that includes 40 Lockheed Martin Block 70 F-16 fighter jets as well as upgrades to Turkey’s current F-16 fleet.
Northrop, AT&T, Fujitsu relay intel with 5G during testing at new lab
Northrop Grumman, AT&T and Fujitsu said they successfully relayed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data and video using 5G technologies, a critical step toward advanced networking on the battlefield.
Leonardo: If UK wants to meet new medium helo target, industry needs design details
“Clearly the longer these negotiations take … the harder it is for any defense contractor to be able to then say that they’ve got a low-risk solution, [especially] if the end date for delivery doesn’t move,” Adam Clarke, managing director at Leonardo Helicopters UK, told Breaking Defense.
Air Force Research Laboratory awards Northrop Grumann $406M contract to modernize data systems
A defense contractor with a strong Dayton, Ohio,-area presence has been awarded a large contract to modernize the Air Force Research Laboratory’s data sharing and AI operations.
DARPA taps Aurora Flight Sciences for CRANE X-Plane design
The goal of the CRANE program is to pioneer the use of active flow control techniques, that allow a pilot to change the aerodynamics of the plane and thus its performance.
UAE joins South Korea’s military transport aircraft program
South Korea and the United Arab Emirates have signed two memorandums of understanding to improve bilateral defense ties, during a visit by the South Korean president to the Gulf kingdom.
Swedish defense industry bosses eye NATO business dividend
Defense industry chiefs in Sweden, led by Saab’s chief executive Micael Johansson, are lobbying for reform of the country’s strict military materials export laws to help local companies reap maximum advantages from the unaligned Nordic state’s impending NATO membership.
Defense
New name selected for Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon
The Army has announced a name change for its forthcoming individual service rifle. Formerly designated the XM5 to replace the M4 carbine, the Army now plans to call the 6.8mm rifle the XM7.
F-22 cut from US Air Force data-sharing prototype
The U.S. Air Force will drop the F-22 from a communications prototyping effort closely tied to its Advanced Battle Management System, as the service works to pare down inventory of the aging aircraft.
Army advocates say service funding isn’t enough to modernize its forces
The Army carries the lion’s share of the U.S. military’s operational burden but isn’t funded well enough to keep up with the demand, according to a new report from Army advocates that argues the service hasn’t been this squeezed since the early days of the Vietnam War.
Fleet Forces team tackles ‘decoupling’ destroyers from carriers
The U.S. Navy is pursuing several efforts meant to make it easier for the East Coast fleet to deploy ships in new ways — and potentially in greater numbers — to the European theater.
US Navy’s newest submarine leaves Pentagon baffled on when it will be ready
Officials overseeing development of the US Navy’s next-generation submarine to carry nuclear missiles don’t have the information they need to know whether the first vessel in the $132 billion Columbia program can deploy on time in 2031, an unreleased congressional audit found.
Air Force ‘needs to do more’ to address JADC2 concerns, GAO says
The service has made insufficient progress since a 2020 review of its portion of the military-wide tactical network, the Government Accountability Office wrote.
Veterans
Veterans say George Santos used charity to swipe donated funds for sick service dog
Disabled Navy veteran Richard Osthoff has accused Rep. George Santos — under the alias Anthony Devolder — of stealing $3,000 in donations for Osthoff’s dying service dog in 2016.
When VA calls, veterans listen
One of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ most effective outreach efforts may be a simple telephone call to ask veterans if they have any questions.
Space
SpaceX launches GPS satellite on reused NASA rocket
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that successfully carried astronauts to the International Space Station in October found a second life Jan. 18, launching a GPS III satellite in support of the U.S. Space Force’s positioning, navigation and timing mission.
