JDS Myoko (DDG 175) pulls out of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam to support Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2012. US Navy Photo
This week Japan approved its latest five-year defense plan. The Mid Term Defense Plan (MTDP) defines Japan’s defense policy and capabilities for 2014 to 2018. The MTDP is meant to give policymakers, politicians, and the public an understanding of Japan’s defense priorities and the direction national defense is taking. Read More
The last minute budget deal reached by the House and the Senate restores readiness shortfalls for the Pentagon and provides a firmer base of fiscal stability for the Department of Defense, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told reporters in a Thursday press conference. Read More
From the Dec. 16, 2013 Congressional Research Service report: Defense: FY2014 Authorization and Appropriations.
President Obama’s FY2014 base budget request of $552.0 billion in discretionary budget authority for the Department of Defense (DOD) and defense-related programs of other agencies (excluding war costs), exceeds by $53.9 billion the legally binding cap on defense funding for FY2014 that was enacted in 2011 as part of the Budget Control Act (P.L. 112-25). Unless the Budget Control Act (BCA) is amended, either Congress will have to cut the Administration’s National Defense request by $53.9 billion (about 9.8%) to meet the BCA cap of $498.1 billion, or else the BCA law will reduce the appropriation to the level set by the cap through a process of sequestration, beginning in January 2014. Read More
An artist’s conception of the U.K.’s Successor-class future planned ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) released Tuesday. UK Ministry of Defense Photo
The U.K. Ministry of Defense has published the first images of it’s next-generation nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) — Successor-class as well as announced 79 million pounds ($129 million) in new contract awards. Read More
Sailors aboard Japanese destroyer JS KONGO (DDG-173) watch pierside line handlers as the ship moors pierside Naval Station Pearl Harbor on Oct. 15, 2007. US Navy Photo
FBI collects evidence at Building 197 on board the Washington Navy Yard. US Navy Photo
The Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has decided to renovate and restore the site of the Sept. 16 Washington, D.C. Navy Yard shooting, according to a Monday statement from the service provided to USNI News. Read More
USS Freedom (LCS 1), transits the waters of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Freedom’s maiden proof-of-concept deployment on Dec. 13, 2013. US Navy Photo
Congress is asking for additional oversight of the Littoral Combat Ship program as part of the Fiscal Year 2014 defense authorization bill, ahead of a planned Fiscal Year 2015 block buy for 20 more of the ships. Read More
X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) launches from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) on Nov. 10, 2013. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy may be forced to revamp its acquisition strategy for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft program if the House of Representatives’ version Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) sticks. Read More
An F-35C Lightning II aircraft in August, 2013. US Navy Photo
Lockheed Martin is set to deliver a production version of the tailhook for the carrier-based F-35C Joint Strike Fighter after an engineering glitch forced a partial redesign of the system.
An F-35B Lightning II aircraft lands aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD-1) in August, 2013. US Navy Photo
While the U.S. Air Force is catching flack from Congress based on the assumption it will retire its fleet of the Fairchild Republic A-10 Warthog ground attack aircraft due to budgetary pressures for F-35 Joint Strike Fighters (JSF), the U.S. Marine Corps is thrilled to be receiving Lockheed Martin F-35Bs to perform that same close air support (CAS) mission. Read More
