Navy awards $76.6 billion for Virginia, Columbia-class submarines
The U.S. Navy announced that it is awarding contracts for another round of ballistic missile and fast-attack submarines. The Defense Department is granting a collective $76.6 billion to General Dynamics Electric Boat for five Columbia-class submarines and to both General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington...
Average VA disability payments rose nearly 40% in past 14 years, study finds
An analysis of Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation since 2010 found that the average annual payments to veterans climbed by nearly 40% while the percentage of veterans who receive payments almost doubled. Researchers at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University...
B-21 Raiders set to be ‘on the ramp’ at Ellsworth Air Force Base in 2027
The U.S. Air Force’s B-21 Raiders are on track for a 2027 delivery to a South Dakota base, an Air Force official said. B-21 Raiders, the service’s long-range stealth bombers currently in initial production, will be “on the ramp” at Ellsworth Air Force Base next...
USS George Washington arrives in Vietnam amid China-Philippines strain
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington arrived Thursday in Da Nang, Vietnam, for a scheduled port visit, the service announced. The ship, along with over 5,000 sailors, sailed from the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea last week, several days after a July...
US strikes $58.6 billion Patriot missile deal amid rising stockpile concerns
The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptor missiles, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain U.S. weapons stockpiles. The U.S. has supplied large quantities of weapons to allies while also...
Space food for soldiers: Advanced military rations promoted in NDAA
The House version of next year’s defense budget bill revives a push to use emerging technology to make military rations lighter and more portable. While the standard Meal, Ready-to-Eat, or MRE, delivers nutritionally complete chow in a package weighing 1.5 pounds or less, that adds...
Coast Guard seizes 2,380 pounds of marijuana near Bahamas
The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Charles Sexton and local forces seized an estimated 2,380 pounds of suspected marijuana worth approximately $2.8 million Saturday near Great Inagua, Bahamas. The Charles Sexton crew and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force boarded a suspected drug-smuggling vessel...
Ukraine’s F-16s are being worn out from intercepting Russian drones
Ukraine’s F-16 fighters have become a crucial defense against Russian drones, but repeated interceptions are wearing out the country’s small fleet. Ukrainian F-16s have destroyed more than 2,500 Geran and Gerbera one-way attack drones, wrote airpower expert Justin Bronk in an analysis of the Ukraine...
House-passed defense bill includes controversial US-Israel tech measure
The House of Representatives passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act last week, leaving in place a controversial provision that would encourage co-development and co-production between the U.S. and Israeli defense industrial bases. The House’s version of this provision, known as Section 219,...
US Marine Corps welcomes delivery of final MV-22B Osprey
A staple of the skies during the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Marine Corps’ MV-22B Osprey began its final chapter in service on Tuesday with the delivery of the last model. With the acceptance of the 359th — and final — tiltrotor aircraft,...
