Andrew White

Northrop targeting more European sales for IBCS, with local production pitch

Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom are all countries Northrop is pitching, or plans to pitch, on its Integrated Battle Command System.

UK’s Project ASGARD plots next steps following live trials in Estonia

ASGARD forms part of the British Army’s move to double lethality by 2027, triple it by 2030, and ultimately deliver a “tenfold increase in lethality” over the next decade.

RTX’s HELWS anti-drone laser weapon looking for new use cases

"Because of the size and weight of it, it's relatively easy to move and fit to different platforms. And so that's certainly been discussed a lot," Raytheon exec Alex Rose-Parfitt told Breaking Defense.

Non-operators of F-35 interested in hosting local maintenance for jet: Lockheed exec

Michael Williamson, president of Lockheed Martin International, said non-operators of the F-35 have inquired about building "facilities and repair parts so another F-35 can land at their air bases, be repaired, and fly out.”

Project Vanaheim: How the US and UK are trying to keep up with the UAS threat

Battlefield inventions in Ukraine are already outpacing a joint US-UK counter-UAS effort that is just months old.

GCAP systems partners expect contract by year’s end

“We expect to receive our first international contract this year against relatively stable, high level requirements, which is what's required to disaggregate the work allocation," Andrew Howard, director for Future Combat Air at Leonardo UK, told Breaking Defense.

FLRAA added extra payload capacity to prep for SOF missions

"The Army’s program managers for FLRAA and Aviation looked at PEO-RW’s engineering analysis and considered the weight trades before adding a little bit of weight to the baseline of that aircraft,” A PEO-RW official said.

US special ops gets first Skyraider II close-support planes, eyes bespoke mission sets

Meanwhile an L3Harris exec told Breaking Defense that US Special Operations Command could request more of the prop planes than originally planned.

Newly branded as ‘AV,’ AeroVironment unveils new loitering munition, predicts play for CCA

The new firm's CEO told Breaking Defense the company is focused on being flexible, and delivering mass when asked.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Caine has an ‘algorithm’ for US ‘winning’

In his first public remarks since being confirmed as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine told a room full of special operations officials and industry they “must deliver.”

Harder, faster, smarter: Pentagon special ops official on SOF of ‘tomorrow’

Speaking at SOF Week, the head of DoD’s Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict office said there’s no time for endless tech briefing slides, for example.

AFSOC experimenting with small cruise missiles, new ways to use old kit

"There's a reality that aviation is incredibly expensive," AFSOC head Lt. Gen. Michael Conley said. "So I'm really challenging the team to figure out, what can we do with the things we already have that we haven't done in the past?"

US special ops eye unmanned vessels with missiles after purported Ukrainian strike

Ukraine’s claim of downing Russian jets has raised eyebrows over such a “marsupial” capability, but no one’s officially requested it yet, a SOCOM official said.

Facing ‘fusion of foes,’ special ops leaders envision ‘SOF renaissance’

"In an era where technological advancement is rapidly changing, the character of war and threats are covering globally, our eight decades of experience has tailor-made SOF for strategic competition's return,” USSOCOM chief Gen. Bryan Fenton said in his keynote address at SOF Week.