Funding for the procurement of the Medium Landing Ship should be prohibited until the Navy secretary ensures the ship's design meets several requirements, according to the recently released House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee’s mark-up of the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill. A section of the draft mark calls for the secretary to certify the ship’s design is “not based on more than 35 percent military specifications,” and would require the secretary to forward a report to...

The Army will have a more firm cost and schedule baseline for the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft once it reaches a milestone B decision later this year, according to service officials. The Army awarded the FLRAA contract to Bell Textron in December 2022 to develop its V-280 Valor helicopter as the eventual replacement for the Black Hawk beyond 2030. However, a bid protest by competitor Sikorsky led to a pause in work on the program until the protest...

The Pentagon's project to develop a new counter-hypersonic weapon cannot be accelerated by a funding increase, which means U.S. forces for the next decade will rely on a pair of advanced guided-missile interceptors that have some capability against ultrafast maneuvering threats in the terminal phase. Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins said the Glide Phase Interceptor program -- a project slated for co-development with Japan -- requires at least another decade of development, despite Congress directing the Pentagon...

The House Armed Services Committee's draft of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill would cut 10 of the Pentagon's 68 requested F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and reinvest about $1 billion in the production of the Lockheed Martin-made aircraft, which continues to see performance and cost challenges. Additionally, the committee’s bill would fence the delivery of 10 more aircraft until the defense secretary submits to the congressional defense committees “certain corrective action plans and acquisition strategies that will improve research,...

House lawmakers are alarmed over the vulnerability of armored vehicles as shown in Ukraine, particularly from unmanned systems, and are asking the Army for a briefing on how it will address new battlefield threats, according to the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee's mark-up of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill. The mark-up follows the Army’s cancellation of the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) program last year and recent reports of Russian loitering munitions destroying main...

Lawmakers are asking the defense secretary, in coordination with the service secretaries, to provide a briefing to the House Armed Services Committee defining what an "attritable unmanned aircraft system" is, according to the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee's fiscal year 2025 authorization mark released today. Although the subcommittee recognizes that the term “attritable unmanned aircraft system” varies by situation, it still found that the Defense Department’s use of the term is “ambiguous.” “Additionally, the committee acknowledges...

The House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee has proposed establishing a drone corps as a branch of the Army in its mark-up of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill. Under the proposal, the drone corps would have primary responsibility for programs and activities involving “small and medium aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems that include such aircraft and counter-UAS systems.” Medium aircraft are defined as those that have a gross takeoff weight of 55 to 1,320 pounds, and...

The House Armed Services Committee's initial mark-up of the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill looks to add $1 billion for the purchase of a second Virginia-class submarine while cutting all procurement funding for the Constellation-class Frigate program. Published today, the draft Chairman’s mark authorizes about $4.3 billion for the procurement of two Virginia boats, adding $1 billion in incremental funding for the second hull. It also removes $300 million from the Navy’s original Virginia funding request, citing “cost growth.”...