Senior Reporter, Congress and Defense Industry, Breaking Defense
Valerie covers the congressional and defense industry beat for Breaking Defense. Valerie has extensive national security reporting expertise, having served as the air warfare beat reporter for Defense News for five years. During that time her work was recognized by numerous awards, including the prestigious National Press Club Michael A. Dornheim Award for defense journalism. Valerie most recently covered commercial aerospace for Reuters. She also previously worked at Defense Daily and National Defense Magazine.
The aerospace giant showed off an armed MQ-25 model outfitted with two Lockheed Martin-made Long Range Anti-Surface Missiles during the Sea Air Space conference earlier this week.
After the counter-uncrewed systems, AFRICOM said it would spend another $228 million on “high-risk intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” to shore up current “unacceptable risk” to US interests on the continent.
The air base defense priority is the largest of the three items EUCOM listed, with almost $67 million needed for additional sensors that would plug into the Air Force’s base defense network.
“Now it [the Columbia-class submarine] is delayed by at least a year, leaving no more margin for failure for the rest of the decades-long procurement and delivery schedule,” said Rep. Ken Calvert, chair of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
“It’s a unique situation. There’s absolutely no intention to make any other changes, moving things out of the Guard,” said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.
“I want something that’s going to fly for a couple hundred hours. The last hour it’s either a target or a weapon. … But I’m not going to sustain them for 30 years,” said Rear Adm. Stephen Tedford, the Navy’s program executive for unmanned systems and weapons.
“The question is, how do you manage what you might call the transition from the legacy systems to modern systems?” John Plumb, assistant secretary of Defense for Space Policy, told reporters.
The annual unfunded lists typically provide Capitol Hill with ammo for boosting the defense budget —particularly to buy weapons made in the districts of lawmakers on the defense committees.
With programs like MTC, Millennium Space Systems is redefining what it means to be an operational prime – rapidly delivering operational small sat constellations on rapid timelines.
With programs like MTC, Millennium Space Systems is redefining what it means to be an operational prime – rapidly delivering operational small sat constellations on rapid timelines.
