F-35 Called Significant Deterrence Tool
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The international debut of the F-35 joint strike fighter at two major air shows in the United Kingdom this year will send a pointed warning to bad actors in the region, according to the commander of US Air Forces in Europe, Defense News reports. In remarks to a meeting of the Defense Writers Group in Washington on April 5, Gen. Frank Gorenc characterized the capabilities of the F-35 as a huge boost to deterrence.
The Air Force edged out the Army as the leader in unmanned systems procurement in recent years, a shift driven in part by increasing demand for General Atomics’ MQ-9 Reaper and Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk, according to a new study, Defense News reports. The uptick in Air Force spending on unmanned aerial systems, or UAS, is part of a recent rebound in overall Defense Department investment in unmanned after a peak in fiscal 2012, driven primarily by the pivot to the Asia Pacific region.
Speakers at Aviation Week’s MRO Americas 2016 conference predicted that new technology like “big data” and analytics will dramatically change the world of aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul. The winning business models in a decade will be those that take control of the veritable fire hose of operational data and turn it back into the design and reliability of aircraft, parts, and engines, Aviation Week reports.
The US military’s formulation of a policy on transgender service members needs to move faster, a New York Times editorial says.
The Atlantic publishes an analysis of Chinese and US hacking strategies in “Who Gets to Define the Terms of Hacking?” adapted from Fred Kaplan’s book, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War.
The leaked Mossack Fonseca documents known as the “Panama Papers” have revealed how the families of China’s leaders keep money offshore, the BBC reports. A full analysis of the files by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists shows that nearly one third of the firm’s business came from its offices in Hong Kong and China – making China the firm’s biggest market and Hong Kong the company’s busiest office. The reliance of China’s wealthiest people on offshore investments represents a shift that could destabilize the entire Chinese economy.
February was the best month for hiring since 2006, says U.S. News & World Report about Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released April 5.
Former National Security Agency director Chris Inglis wants encryption on more consumer technologies, NextGov reports. Mr. Inglis says encrypton is “a public good” and “not something that should be reserved for the government.”
Cubic Global Defense, a business unit of Cubic Corp., announced that a Cubic-designed and produced Wide Band Line of Sight (WBLOS) data link system integrated into Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scout recently completed a successful operational assessment, according to a Cubic corporate statement. The MQ-8C Fire Scout is the US Navy’s next-generation unmanned helicopter.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s criticism of NATO has been blasted by his opponents but not everyone thinks he’s off-base in suggesting the alliance needs closer scrutiny, especially with regard to budgeting, The Hill reports. Mr. Trump’s comments were aimed at NATO members who have repeatedly failed to meet the target of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense.
