Defense
The chief of naval operations has penned an opinion column that has military analysts buzzing over whether it signals the Navy may be the first military branch to jettison the costly F-35 stealth fighter jet. – Washington Times
Six Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee have signaled they would consider using revenue from closing tax loopholes to avert pending cuts to the military. – DEFCON Hill
Quickly running out of legislative days before the August recess, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) is continuing to take the optimistic view that the Defense authorization bill would come to the Senate floor in July. – DEFCON Hill
Major contractors like Lockheed Martin have warned they are obligated to put out notices this fall to the employees that if a deal is not reached by the year’s end, thousands may be laid off. Its timing, right before the November election, has made it into a major campaign issue in towns like Johnstown across the country where military contractors are major employers – CNN’s Security Clearance
Despite the gloom and doom from the Pentagon, the hand-wringing from Republicans and the resistance to changing the so-called sequester from Hill Democrats, the conventional wisdom among people involved in negotiations is that there will probably be a compromise to avoid the $500 billion in cuts. – Politico
Lawmakers are growing frustrated with the Air Force’s inability to figure out why pilots suffer from oxygen deprivation while flying the F-22 Raptor and are raising the possibility of congressional hearings into the matter. – DEFCON Hill
Pentagon officials are satisfied with the pace of flight testing in the nine-nation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. However, the initiation of pilot training has once again slipped and prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s production pace fell behind owing to a recent strike at the company’s Fort Worth final assembly plant. – Aviation Week
Lockheed Martin has finally begun delivery of the latest lot of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft to the Pentagon after a roughly six-month delay. – Aviation Week
A recent Pentagon Inspector General (IG) report takes the Army to task for failing to implement cost controls on a service contract with General Dynamics Land Systems. The contract covers logistics support for the Stryker vehicle family. – Defense News
U.S. military personnel and their dependents believe lifetime healthcare coverage isn’t worth the high price the Pentagon pays for it, preferring instead pay hikes over other potential benefits changes. – DOTMIL
Missile Defense
Russia is standing by its position on the terms for antimissile collaboration with the United States, Moscow’s envoy to Washington said in a Monday report from ITAR-Tass – Global Security Newswire
Cybersecurity
The commander of the military’s new U.S. Cyber Command said digital attacks are evolving from disrupting network functions to destructive strikes. – Washington Free Beacon
Cyberspace is an inherently unstable realm where traditional strategic concepts of deterrence and defense break down – and it’s the United States that has the most to lose from that instability, warns a forthcoming report from the Cyber Conflict Studies Association. – AOL Defense
The War
A senior al Qaeda adviser who had close ties with the terrorist group’s leaders, OBL and Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been released from a prison in Mauritania, according to U.S. officials. – CNN’s Security Clearance
You Know What extremists are more concerned with defending against foreign intrusion than foisting 7th centuryism on the world, according to a new study of extremist texts. The study suggests that a Western approach of claiming extremists are seeking world domination is misdirected, and instead should seek to counteract claims of victimhood. – CNN’s Security Clearance
While 44 can’t control every contingency on the ground, he (and Congress) has a responsibility to craft a winning narrative. When we fail to step up and define ourselves, the extremists will be happy to do it for us. – CNN’s Security Clearance
