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• Confronted with ‘eye-opening’ costs, SecNav vows to root out waste

  09-04-2025 21:33 via defenseone.com
  
  NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Two weeks into the Navy’s top job, John Phelan is wrestling with eye-popping program costs and “unacceptable” shipbuilding delays. “Every missed milestone in shipbuilding and maintenance is a risk to our national security. The need to rebuild and modernize our fleet is now more urgent than ever and has become, in my mind, a national emergency,” said Navy Secretary John Phelan during a keynote speech at the Sea-Air-Space conference on
  
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• Next wave of Air Force drone wingmen could be cheaper, official says

  25-04-2025 01:48 via defenseone.com
  
  The Air Force’s next batch of Collaborative Combat Aircraft will likely be on the “low-end” for both cost and capability, a service official said Tuesday—not more advanced than the first, as earlier statements had suggested.Work is already underway on “increment two” of the CCA program, which former-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall had previously described as more advanced and expensive than “increment one.” But now officials are suggesting that f
  
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• DIU barrels ahead with tri-regional expansion plans

  25-04-2025 01:39 via defenseone.com
  
  The Pentagon’s innovation arm wants to expand its regional footprint, with new hubzones in Kentucky, Minnesota, and Montana to boost outreach with tech companies. “We're really humbled and excited by the opportunity at DIU to be that on ramp for commercial and dual-use technology into the department. And one of the ways that we do that is by having people out in the regions,” Liz Young McNally, the Defense Innovation Unit’s deputy director for commercial operations,
  
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• Top US defense primes record minimal tariff impact in Q1 earnings

  24-04-2025 22:39 via breakingdefense.com
  
  The six largest US defense firms all reported quarterly results this week, and the potential impact of tariffs was front and center.
  
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• China’s military aims to harness the coming ‘ChatGPT for robotics’

  24-04-2025 22:02 via defenseone.com
  
  Earlier this month, more than 12,000 runners raced through the streets of Beijing in a half marathon—accompanied by more than 20 humanoid robots. While the prize money for the first robot to cross the finish line was a paltry CNY5,000 ($691), the competition is emblematic of a larger race just beginning in technology and even warfare.  A world of human-like robots has long been a staple of science fiction, extending from their first mention in Karel Čapek's play, R.U.R.
  
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• A ‘Pathfinder’ for the Army: FLRAA will be a first for MOSA in helicopter design

  24-04-2025 21:55 via breakingdefense.com
  
  [Sponsored] MOSA and the digital backbone give the Army a vendor-agnostic path to make aircraft system modifications from the outset of Future Vertical Lift.
  
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• Air Force officer sees options for ‘cheaper,’ less ‘exquisite’ CCA drone wingmen

  24-04-2025 21:25 via breakingdefense.com
  
  “I think you’ll see a range of options, from low end to potentially more exquisite,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel said of forthcoming tranches of drone wingmen. “I tend to think that it’s probably going to be closer to this low end thing when we start looking at the further CCA increments.”
  
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• Milestone B delay for Bradley replacement competition will not impact fielding, Army says

  24-04-2025 20:14 via breakingdefense.com
  
  “The [new] Milestone B date will allow the two competing contractors to complete a more comprehensive critical design reviews prior to the milestone decision,” an Army spokesperson said.“The program continues to meet key events to deliver on schedule.”
  
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• Pentagon sets November timeline for largest-ever spectrum sharing demo

  24-04-2025 18:40 via breakingdefense.com
  
  The scale of the upcoming exercise makes it “really exciting,” according to Tom Rondeau from the Pentagon’s FutureG office.
  
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• Ireland cleared to buy $46 million-worth of Javelin launchers, missiles

  24-04-2025 17:24 via breakingdefense.com
  
  The US says the potential deal would aid Ireland’s security and support its participation in international peacekeeping missions.
  
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• The D Brief: WH pressures Ukraine; Hegseth latest; Rare-earths squeeze; Boeing’s no-loss quarter; And a bit more.

  24-04-2025 17:20 via defenseone.com
  
  After at least a week of publicly threatening to abandon Ukraine, the Trump White House is pushing Kyiv to accept an apparently lopsided, U.S.-brokered peace deal that includes recognition of Russia’s illegal 2014 annexation of Crimea, among other sacrifices—but little to no concessions for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Defense One’s Patrick Tucker reports. “If [Ukraine] wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to
  
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• Opportunities abound for DoD and industry when the cyber workforce is trained to a peak level

  24-04-2025 17:11 via breakingdefense.com
  
  [Sponsored] Cybersecurity skills must evolve in near-real time as Zero Day threats continue and AI provides new challenges.
  
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• The $35 billion question: Is SBIR funding delivering for America’s warfighters?

  24-04-2025 16:10 via breakingdefense.com
  
  Congress has an opportunity this fall to clarify the purpose of the Small Business Innovation Research effort, write Jon Chung and Dan Berkenstock.
  
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• Indonesia needs a two-track approach to its foreign-fighter problem

  24-04-2025 15:00 via defenseone.com
  
  This commentary is published in coordination with the 2025 Global Security Forum, of which Defense One is a media partner.The leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah disbanded their al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadist group last June—but the schools that serve as the group’s ideological factories remain active. The Indonesian government must take action to prevent JI members who traveled to fight in Syria from using the schools to galvanize the group’s resurgence.JI had long relied on Islami
  
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• Trump pressures Zelenskyy to accept pro-Russian deal

  24-04-2025 10:35 via defenseone.com
  
  In the clearest sign yet that the White House could soon abandon support for Ukraine, President Donald Trump on Wednesday renewed pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept a U.S.-brokered peace proposal that includes recognition of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, among other sacrifices—but little to no concessions for Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Zelenskyy could have had peace long ago by giving up Crimea,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. &
  
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• Pentagon’s innovation arm looks beyond acquisition reform to speed commercial tech buying

  24-04-2025 05:28 via defenseone.com
  
  NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—The White House has made it clear that it wants to uncomplicate the Pentagon’s labyrinthian acquisition system. But the antiquated process that treats buying quadcopter drones the same as fighter jets is not the only thing that keeps commercial companies from national security work.While the Defense Department must ensure the software it puts on “government systems is secure in the event of various and even more sophisticated attacks,” the potentially
  
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• Boeing’s defense arm is back in the black, but ‘not claiming victory’ yet

  23-04-2025 22:25 via defenseone.com
  
  Boeing’s defense unit reported no losses last quarter, returning to profitability after nearly a year. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg credited progress on several of its thorny programs, but cautioned that the Defense, Space & Security unit is not in the clear yet. BDS, which reported a record total of $4.9 billion losses last year, reported no losses in the first quarter of 2025. The company is making progress on the Air Force’s T-7 trainer and VC-25B presidential jets, with Ortb
  
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• China’s rare-earth mineral squeeze will hit the Pentagon hard

  23-04-2025 21:23 via defenseone.com
  
  China is beginning to restrict exports of rare-earth minerals crucial to U.S. military might—a long-warned-of vulnerability that is becoming an urgent reality.From tungsten in armor-piercing rounds to gallium in radars, the U.S. Defense Department has built a warfighting enterprise with a supply chain that runs straight through China. But recent developments threaten the Pentagon’s ability to maintain that enterprise.In early April, Beijing imposed sweeping export controls on seven r
  
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• Can Hegseth’s push to in-source IT consulting at the Pentagon actually happen?

  23-04-2025 20:02 via breakingdefense.com
  
  Critics said the cost-saving instinct was valid, but parts of a new, sprawling mandate were “unrealistic.”
  
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• Who’s Who in Defense: Mike Rounds, Chairman, Senate Armed Services (SASC) Subcommittee on Cybersecurity

  23-04-2025 19:50 via breakingdefense.com
  
  Mike Rounds chairs the SACS’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, which is responsible for the policies and programs related to cyber forces and capabilities.
  
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• Navy Secretary John Phelan kills Biden-era climate plan

  23-04-2025 18:40 via breakingdefense.com
  
  The original plan was spearheaded in 2022 by the Navy’s then-senior civilian for energy and installations.
  
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• Raytheon, Tawazun sign term sheet to bring Coyote counter-UAS production to UAE

  23-04-2025 17:45 via breakingdefense.com
  
  The US Mission to the UAE said that the term sheet signing was an “exciting step” and that the coproduction “strengthens the security of our countries and enhances our economic cooperation.”
  
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• The D Brief: More loose lips; Troops get detention powers; State’s coming cuts; Primes’ aircraft plans; And a bit more.

  23-04-2025 17:21 via defenseone.com
  
  Forensics of a scandal: Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth reportedly moved information from a general shared on a classified channel and to at least two separate, unsecured chat threads on the messaging app Signal, Courtney Kube and Gordon Lubold of NBC News reported Tuesday, citing three U.S. officials “with direct knowledge of the exchanges.”The information Hegseth shared on Signal originated from Central Command’s Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, who “was doing exactly what h
  
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• Nano-material breakthrough could revolutionize night vision

  23-04-2025 17:00 via defenseone.com
  
  A new way to make large ultrathin infrared sensors that don’t need cryogenic cooling could radically change night vision for the military or even autonomous vehicles. Night vision (thermal) is clunky, power-intensive, and requires cooling components that could be hard to get, especially in the event of a conflict with China. But the U.S. Air Force, Army, and special operations forces have growing needs for night-vision, as do next-generation autonomous vehicle makers. In a study
  
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• To protect undersea cables in the Middle East, US needs a new hub

  23-04-2025 16:50 via breakingdefense.com
  
  Undersea cable cut incidents will eventually spread to the Middle East, retired Vice Adm. Michael J. Connor and JINSA analyst Yoni Tobin argue in this op-ed, so the US must get ready.
  
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• Spain launches $12 billion defense plan to meet NATO’s 2 percent GDP spending target

  23-04-2025 15:37 via breakingdefense.com
  
  Spain has historically lagged in defense spending relative to nearly all other NATO nations, but that could change with a high-dollar and wide-ranging build-up.
  
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• Europe is realigning—but can leaders keep citizens on board?

  23-04-2025 15:00 via defenseone.com
  
  This commentary is published in coordination with the 2025 Global Security Forum, of which Defense One is a media partner.Last month’s Signal chat scandal was the latest of several moves by the three-month-old Trump administration that have—at last—catalyzed European action toward strategic autonomy and defense capabilities. Now European leaders must keep their citizens on board.At the EU and among member states, some of the most entrenched taboos around greater European a
  
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• Saronic expands USV family with ‘Mirage’ and ‘Cipher’

  23-04-2025 11:30 via breakingdefense.com
  
  The vessels are the fifth and sixth autonomous drones the relatively new defense company has unveiled in recent years.
  
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• After NGAD loss, Lockheed says it will ‘supercharge’ F-35

  22-04-2025 23:40 via defenseone.com
  
  In the wake of its loss in the Next Generation Air Dominance competition, Lockheed Martin plans to take the technology from its bid and funnel it into its F-35 program to pitch a lower-cost alternative to the future F-47.“The knowledge and technology development gained from our investments in the NGAD competition strengthened our conviction to enhance the F-35 to a fifth-generation-plus capability. And I challenged the team to deliver 80% of sixth-gen capability at 50% of the cost,”
  
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• Northrop takes $477M loss on B-21 to speed up production, cover materials costs

  22-04-2025 20:36 via defenseone.com
  
  Northrop Grumman is taking a $477 million hit on its B-21 Raider program to fund changes that will allow it to build the new stealth bomber faster than the Pentagon has so far requested.The pre-tax charge, tied to the first five low-rate initial production lots, adds to the $1.56 billion loss the company reported in January on the program. The fresh loss covers expenses tied to  a “process change” intended to boost production rates and an increase in the projected cost and
  
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