* House Republicans are considering postponing their attempt to decry/delay/derail/defang Obamacare to the soon-coming debt ceiling strong arm contest, which may ease the approval of a short-term continuing resolution in the meantime. The Senate has started...
K-MAX: where's Waldo?(click to view full) Unmanned drones for aerial surveillance are routine now. UAV systems that can use weapons are also routine. What isn't routine yet is cargo resupply, but the Marines were asking for it in Afghanistan. That's no easy task,...
* Industry consultant Loren Thompson is convinced defense contractors need to start serious diversification efforts into commercial sectors: "[E]very factor that moves military demand is signaling a prolonged downturn in the market for what defense companies make. The...
10-year helo forecast * The Teal Group released an overview of the worldwide rotorcraft market at the opening of HeliTech 2013. The chart above looks at calculated shares for western manufacturers in the military market to 2022, based on concluded competitions. They...
VC10 & Tornado F3s(click to view full) As of 2002, the RAF had 19 of its 4-engined VC10 aerial tankers in service. These sleek aircraft with the unusual engine arrangement form the backbone of its aerial tanker fleet, and continued to do so for about another decade...
* US Senator Ted Cruz [R-TX] told Fox News that department-specific continuing resolutions, starting with defense, should be considered by Congress to avoid a complete government shutdown, if it comes to that. Sen. Tom Coburn [R-OK] thinks the effort to defund...
HMS Astute &HMS Dauntless(click to view full) On May 20/13, the UK MoD's Chief of Defence Materiel Bernard Gray talked about the Astute program experience during a Public Accounts Committee hearing concerning carrier strike. Actually, he talked about the concept of...
* The Pentagon is brushing up on its shutdown plans as there is less than 2 weeks to go before the US federal government potentially legislates itself out of money. Meanwhile the defense authorization bill won't even be brought to the Senate floor before December. *...
* Conflict between rebel factions in Syria is breaking out. * Roll Call offers a likely scenario for how the back-and-forth between the US House of Representatives and the Senate may unfold in the weeks to come in a way that averts a government shutdown while allowing...