2020 budget

The US Army’s Advanced Hypersonic Weapon, ancestor of several current programs. CAPITOL HILL: The Army has let a hundred high-tech flowers bloom on directed energy and hypersonics, but now it’s time to start pruning. After a two-hour…

WASHINGTON: Critics have long pointed at the F-35’s weapons load of four missiles in stealth mode and said it’s just not enough. That argument seemed to gain weight when the F-15X was recently praised by senior defense officials for…

Bell V-280 Valor, part of the Future Vertical Lift program I’ve got history with the Army. I helped in some small ways to kill Comanche, Crusader and, to a lesser degree, the Future Combat System.Those huge acquisition failures are…

CH-47 Chinooks WASHINGTON: “I’m asking industry is to think about heavy future vertical lift,” Army Secretary Mark Esper told reporters today. “Where I need their heads to be is thinking about future heavy vertical lift, not about how…

CH-47F Chinook NASHVILLE: The fate of the CH-47F Chinook — the latest model of the iconic heavy lift helicopter that first saw service in Vietnam — depends on three facts: The Army cut the planned Block II upgrade of the CH-47 from its…

Army Secretary Mark Esper (left) and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley (right) testify to Congress. THE CAPITOL: The Army’s ambitious modernization plan got a receptive hearing this week from House appropriators, who with their Senate…

Gen. James McConville HUNTSVILLE:  Gen. James McConville is the White House pick to be Army’s next uniformed leader. He’d replace Gen. Mark Milley, whom President Trump has tapped for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If McConville…

JLTV on the Oshkosh production line. HUNTSVILLE: The Army may be buying fewer Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, but manufacturer Oshkosh is still so confident in its armored 4×4 that it’s rolling out a new variant here at the AUSA Global…

An artist’s depiction of an LRASM (Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile) hurtling towards its target. PENTAGON: Just 11 days after sending its fiscal 2020 budget to Congress, the Navy is back with a new $3.2 billion request for more F-35s, more…

Chinese aircraft, missile, and radar ranges over the South China Sea. (Graphic by Center for Strategic & International Studies) (Click to expand) Last year, Acting Defense Secretary Shanahan predicted that the Pentagon’s 2020 budget…