News
Esper’s balancing act in Pensacola: showing support after shooting while encouraging training foreign allies-
Six weeks after a Saudi trainee killed three sailors in a shooting spree that has since been termed a terrorist attack, the community around Naval Air Station Pensacola — including 140 Saudi students still on base — is trying to adjust to normal life.
Trump says he doesn’t consider brain injuries sustained by US troops during Iran missile barrage ‘serious’-
President Trump said Jan. 23 that he didn’t consider the traumatic brain injuries reported by U.S. troops following an Iranian rocket attack to be serious.
U.S. ‘likely’ to deploy anti-missile system to protect American troops in Iraq-
The Pentagon is likely deploying a missile-defense system to Iraq in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on an Iraqi base housing American troops earlier this month, U.S. defense officials tell Fox News.
Business
General Atomics demos Gray Eagle’s role in multidomain ops-
Gray Eagle-maker General Atomics announced it has wrapped up a first round of demonstrations, completed in November, that showed the unmanned aircraft’s capability to support systems considered critical for future warfare. Such systems include long-range precision fires, or LRPF, technology under development by the U.S. Army as it looks to modernize its weapons and equipment to fight in highly contested and strongly defended environments.
Viasat wins Air Force contract worth up to $90M for new radios-
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Viasat a contract worth as much as $90 million to provide special warfare airmen new handheld radios, according to a Jan. 21 press release from the company.
India makes initial bid selections for $7 billion submarine project-
India on Jan. 22 announced the selection of domestic and foreign defense companies for the construction of six diesel-electric submarines with air-independent propulsion technology as part of an effort worth more than $7 billion.
Fincantieri wins nuclear fusion contract-
The Italian state shipyard that supplies the country’s warships and builds littoral combat ships in the United States with Lockheed Martin has won a contract worth nearly €100 million (U.S. $111 million) to enter a new business — nuclear fusion.
Defense
Army secretary wants to slow transfer of military hospitals to DHA, retain medical research-
As the Defense Health Agency continues to assume management of all Army, Navy and Air Force medical facilities, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy is calling for a temporary halt to the takeover.
Esper says ‘no decisions’ have been finalized on AFRICOM changes-
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is not backing down on potentially shifting U.S. forces out of Africa despite a week of negative reactions from members of Congress — but the secretary did say that “no decisions” have been finalized on a potential shifting of forces.
DARPA just took a big step towards turning a C-130 into a flying drone carrier-
The Defense Department just took a major step towards making the dream of a flying drone carrier a reality.
Entire Navy Tomahawk missile arsenal will upgrade to Block V-
The Navy’s arsenal of Tomahawk cruise missiles will all become a Block V configuration, with older models to be retired and demilitarized, according to the program manager.
Air Force needs fleet able to fight 2 major wars: CSBA-
To meet Chinese and Russian threats, the Air Force needs to increase and modernize its combat air power, including more use of advanced, long-range drones and force multipliers such as its nascent battle management, command and control system for multi-domain operations, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.