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LOCKHEED CEO SAYS DON’T WORRY ABOUT F-35: You may have seen some headlines recently about mechanical issues with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, but don’t be concerned. That was the message from Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson about the company’s flagship weapons program at the annual Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference for investors on Wednesday. “The whole primer issue that you mentioned was a workmanship issue that we addressed and we’re well past that now,” Hewson told a moderator. A primer defect caused corrosion around fastener holes in about 200 F-35s and prompted the Pentagon to pause deliveries of the aircraft until early this month. “It’s not a big show-stopper, it’s not a big significant issue, and we’ve got to plan with our Joint Program Office, our customer, on how we’ll go back and fix the aircraft that were delivered to address it,” Hewson said. “In fact, it’s not a safety of flight issue, so it can be done over the next couple of years.” She said the majority of the aircraft will be fixed within that two-year period. The defense giant is on track this year to deliver 91 of the fifth-generation fighters, which are poised to be a linchpin of U.S. airpower and account for about 25 percent of Lockheed revenues. DELAYS AND DEFICIENCIES: The F-35 passed a crucial development milestone in April. But the primer was not the only issue generating bad press for the aircraft. A critical Pentagon testing and evaluation report this year pointed to more delays in the aircraft’s marathon development and numerous remaining deficiencies. Among many examples in the report, one test aircraft had “so many repairs it was no longer representative of the production aircraft” and F-35 onboard guns tended to shoot farther to the right than pilots aimed. “Things are highlighted in those reports every year and none of them are new to us or unknown to us and they are just normal technical things that might come up that we address and fix and move forward. So I don’t think there is anything you should be concerned about in that regard,” Hewson said. SHADOW OF SEQUESTER: Another dark cloud remains on the horizon for the program, which is the most expensive in Pentagon history, and it has little to do with the aircraft itself. “The biggest risk that we face and we kind of face it every couple of years in the current environment is sequestration, the budget caps,” Hewson said. A deal struck by Congress to lift defense spending caps expires after the coming fiscal year, meaning the limits could snap into place unless lawmakers act. “If the lawmakers don’t do something for yet another way to alleviate that budget cap, it’s a pretty significant reduction in not only the defense budget but other government entities we do business with,” she said. “I mean we are a strong voice. Every lawmaker I speak to on Capitol Hill says sequestration is bad public policy.” THE TURKEY QUESTION: Lockheed seems set to sell about the expected number of F-35s to the U.S. military this year. The two versions of the National Defense Authorization Act moving through the House and Senate call for setting aside roughly $8 billion to buy 75 to 77 of the aircraft. But lawmakers could still throw a wrench into program sales. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Thom Tillis and James Lankford added an amendment to the Senate bill that would pause F-35 sales to Turkey until their participation is re-evaluated due to the country’s detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson. Turkey, which wants 100 F-35s, is not only a customer but 10 of its companies are involved in production or development. “We’ll see where that process goes in terms of their receipt of aircraft. In fact, their aircraft are in the final production phase right now for their first rollout debut of their aircraft coming out of the Fort Worth factory in a couple of weeks,” Hewson said. NEW YORK STATE OF MIND: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met last night in New York with Kim Yong Chol, the North Korean negotiator who needed a waiver to get into the country because he’s on the Treasury Department’s sanctions list. The two diplomats dined on steak, corn and cheese as they chewed over the prospects for reviving the June 12 Singapore summit between President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. We know what was on the menu, because Pompeo tweeted out some pictures of what he called a “good working dinner,” with Kim. The photos show everyone smiling and clinking glasses, with the New York City skyline visible through the window. The dinner meeting lasted about an hour and a half and a “full day of meetings” are planned for today. The State Department says Pompeo will hold a press availability at the Palace Hotel in New York at 2:15 p.m. The White House said yesterday the goal remains for the summit to take place on June 12 as originally planned. “If it happens, we’ll certainly be ready,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters. “We’re going to continue to shoot for June 12th.” Good Thursday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre), National Security Writer Travis J. Tritten (@travis_tritten) and Senior Editor David Brown (@dave_brown24). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter @dailyondefense. |
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HAPPENING TODAY: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is in Singapore for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue. The weekend gathering of defense officials from the Indo-Pacific region begins with a Friday night dinner (8 a.m. tomorrow Washington time), at which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give the opening address. Mattis speaks Saturday morning (8:30 p.m. Friday Washington time). North Korea and China’s militarization of man-made islands and disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea will be the main items on the agenda, which can be found here. IT’S NOW ‘USINDOPACOM’: Congress was poised to change the name of U.S. Pacific Command, but Mattis beat them to the punch on Wednesday. It will henceforth be known as U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Mattis said during a trip to Hawaii to welcome incoming commander Adm. Phil Davidson. The change is a message of U.S. resolve in the region aimed squarely at China, which is seeking to expand its own influence in the Indian Ocean and Pacific. “The Indo-Pacific has many belts and many roads,” Mattis said in a reference to competitor Beijing’s One Belt, One Road strategy. “Over many decades this command has repeatedly adapted to changing circumstance and today carries that legacy forward as America focuses west,” Mattis said. House lawmakers had included the name change in their version of this year’s yet-unpassed National Defense Authorization Act amid new legislative initiatives to increase the U.S. military presence and joint training with allies in the region. AN OPTIMIST’S VIEW OF AFGHANISTAN: The commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan has been relentlessly upbeat about prospects for peace there, despite a flurry of recent reports from internal Pentagon watchdogs noting the lack of measurable progress in the past year. Last November, Gen. John Nicholson said he agreed with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that we had “turned a corner” in Afghanistan. Yesterday, briefing reporters from his headquarters in Kabul, Nicholson continued to express optimism that despite recent Taliban attacks, the trends were in the right direction, and that the strategy approved by Trump last summer is a “game-changer.’ He cited several factors, including a lower level of violence, the failure of the Taliban to hold any new territory after recent high-profile attacks, and what he described as secret talks with some mid- and senior-level Taliban leaders about accepting a peace offer from Ghani. Nicholson said diplomatic activity has “picked up substantially,” and that “a number of channels of dialogue have opened up between the various stakeholders in the peace process.” “I think what you’re seeing right now is a lot of the diplomatic activity and dialogue is occurring off the stage, and it’s occurring at multiple levels,” Nicholson said. “I don’t want to go any further. My diplomatic colleagues are the ones that are involved in this, and their ability to be successful depends in part upon the confidentiality of the process.” ATTACKS THWARTED: Nicholson’s Pentagon briefing came on the same day suspected Taliban fighters, wearing out-of-date U.S. Army camouflage uniforms with 101st Airborne patches and driving a stolen humvee, tried to gain access to the Interior Ministry in Kabul. “The Afghan guards immediately recognized these as old uniforms, called on the terrorists to exit the vehicle so they could be checked out, and, at the point, the fighting started,” Nicholson said. One of the attackers detonated a suicide vest that killed himself and some of his fellow attackers. One Afghan guard was killed and one attacker was captured. Nicholson called it “another example of a failed enemy attack.” “Over 80 percent of the enemy attacks on district centers have been defeated by the ANDSF, meaning the Taliban failed to take their target, and the 20 percent of the attacks where the Taliban were successful in taking five district centers — all of those district centers have been retaken by the Afghan forces, some of them within hours, and the longest one that any one was in their hands was for 10 days.” 70 TALIBAN LEADERS KILLED: Meanwhile, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan says the U.S. wiped out more than 70 senior Taliban leaders in a 10-day stretch between May 17-26. The largest of the precision strikes came last Thursday, when U.S. long-range artillery rockets targeted a high-level meeting of Taliban commanders, killing more than 50 people, including the deputy shadow governor of Helmand, multiple Taliban district governors, intelligence commanders and key provincial-level leadership from Kandahar, Kunduz, Herat, Farah, Uruzgan and Helmand provinces, according to a U.S. Forces-Afghanistan news release. THE CASE FOR STAYING: “It’s been a long war, but I would note that, in that time, our country has not been attacked from Afghanistan,” Nicholson said. “So our choice is fairly simple: We either keep the pressure on them here, or they bring the fight to our doorstep.” GAO REVIEWS $2.5 BILLION IN PARTNER CT FUNDS: A new report from the Government Accountability Office has identified “weaknesses in DOD’s management” of a program designed to build foreign countries’ counterterrorism forces. The GAO says the Pentagon has not done enough planning to ensure foreign partners are able to absorb and sustain provided equipment. The Pentagon has obligated $3.7 billion of $4.1 billion allocated for the Global Train and Equip program in fiscal years 2009 through 2017, and as of December 2017, had disbursed about $2.5 billion. The GAO recommends formalizing a quality review process for proposals to help decision-makers ensure funding is used efficiently. HUEY REPLACEMENT: In March, a group of six senators wrote Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson to express their concerns about foot-dragging by the service in replacing the aging Vietnam-era UH-1N Huey helicopters used for transport and to guard nuclear Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles at various Air Force bases around the country. The Air Force issued a request for proposals in July, but in February, Sikorsky filed a pre-award protest with the GAO contending overreach by the Air Force in the technical data and computer software requirements. That protest was rejected last week allowing the competition to move forward. Today, Sierra Nevada Corporation will be touting its proposal in a conference call with reporters. The company is pitching an upgraded UH-60L Black Hawk, which it says is equipped with “a revolutionary state-of-the-art glass digital avionics suite and mission-specific equipment.” HIV-POSITIVE TROOPS SUE MATTIS: Two new federal lawsuits are challenging the Pentagon’s policy on HIV-positive troops as a new “Deploy or Get Out” personnel policy looms. Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN are representing an HIV-positive soldier who wants to join the Judge Advocate General Corps and another who graduated from the Air Force Academy and wants a commission. The groups say the military policy barring people with HIV from enlisting, deploying and commissioning is archaic and harmful. “These oppressive restrictions are based on antiquated science that reinforces stigma and denies perfectly qualified service members the full ability to serve their country,” said Scott Schoettes, legal counsel and HIV project director at Lambda Legal. The cases come just as HIV-positive troops who cannot deploy may face separation. The Pentagon personnel policy proposed this year would force the separation of any service members who are unable to deploy overseas or to war zones for 12 consecutive months or more. About 1,200 service members on active-duty and in the reserves in 2017 had tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus, according to the Pentagon’s Defense Health Agency. Both Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN are sponsoring separate lawsuits by transgender troops who oppose a restrictive new policy proposed by the Pentagon. THE RUNDOWN Reuters: At Singapore Regional Defense Dialogue, It Won’t Be All North Korea CNN.com: US Admiral Says China Is Asia’s Biggest Long-Term Threat Washington Times: Muqtada Al-Sadr, Shia Cleric, Calls U.S. An ‘Invader Country’ In Iraq USNI News: Diplomats: EU Wrestling with Iran Nuclear Deal After American Exit Defense News: We spent 3 days on a top FFG(X) contender. Here’s what you need to know. Breaking Defense: Contractor Fined $20M For Defrauding Navy Bloomberg: U.S. Missile Defense System Had Major Accomplishments, GAO Says Defense One: The US Military Has a New Tool to Connect Its Far-Flung African Bases Jerusalem Post: We’ll Hit Iran Anywhere In Syria, Netanyahu Warns USNI News: Photo Gallery: Fincantieri Marine Group Pitches Frigate Design in Baltimore Military Times: Congress on target for dogfight over military aircraft Defense Tech: The Military Still Wants a Belly Gun for the V-22 Osprey Military Times: Is It Worth It To Merge Commissaries And Exchanges? DoD Is Getting Serious About Finding Out |
CalendarTHURSDAY | MAY 31 6:30 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd. Institute of Land Warfare Breakfast with Lt. Gen. Darrell Williams, Director of the Defense Logistics Agency. ausa.org 9 a.m. 1301 K St. Washington Post Discussion with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Trump Administration Foreign Policy and North Korea Talks. Washingtonpost.com 12 p.m. Pentagon Briefing room. Chief Spokesperson Dana White and Joint Staff Director Lt. Gen. Frank McKenzie hold regular Thursday press briefing. Streamed live on www.defense.gov/live. 5 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Book Discussion of “Our Year of War: Two Brothers, Vietnam, and a Nation Divided” with Chuck Hagel, Former Secretary of Defense. csis.org FRIDAY | JUNE 1 8:15 a.m. 775 12th St. NW. Truman Center and Truman Project TruCon18 Annual Conference. trumanproject.org 8:45 a.m. 2301 Constitution Ave. U.S.-North Korea Media Roundtable Breakfast and Conference Call. usip.org 9 a.m. 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Military challenges in the Asia Pacific: US responses to regional competition. aei.org MONDAY | JUNE 4 10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Maritime Security Dialogue: Innovation and the Marine Air-Ground Task Force with Lt. Gen. Brian Beaudreault, Deputy Commandant of Plans, Policies, and Operations; Lt. Gen. Robert Hedelund, Commanding General of II Marine Expeditionary Force; and Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, Commanding General of Marine Corps Combat Development Command. csis.org 11 a.m. 1152 15th St. NW. “Technology Roulette: Managing Loss of Control as Many Militaries Pursue Technological Superiority” Report Launch. cnas.org 12:15 p.m. 740 15th St. NW. From Revolution Muslim to Islamic State: The American Roots of ISIS’ Online Prowess. newamerica.org 12:15 p.m. North Korea’s Smile Diplomacy: Breakthrough or Déjà Vu? defenddemocracy.org TUESDAY | JUNE 5 8 a.m. 300 First St. SE. The Nuclear Deterrent Breakfast Series: NATO and Extended Deterrence and Missile Defense. mitchellaerospacepower.org 11:30 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd. Institute of Land Warfare and the Israeli Institute of Advanced Military Thinking: Lessons from the Yom Kippur War. ausa.org 12:30 p.m. 1777 F St. NW. Northern Syria: The United States, Turkey, and the Kurds. cfr.org 1:15 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. A discussion on priorities for the U.S. Army with Secretary Mark Esper. brookings.edu 1:30 p.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE. U.S.-North Korean Summit: Cancelled or Postponed? heritage.org 3:30 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. The Marshall Plan’s 70th anniversary and the future of development cooperation. brookings.edu WEDNESDAY | JUNE 6 8 a.m. 300 First St. SE. The Nuclear Deterrent Breakfast Series: Missile Defense Perspectives. mitchellaerospacepower.org 8:30 a.m. 800 Florida Ave. NE. Agile in Government Summit. ndia.org 10 a.m. Dirksen 342. Hearing on S. 2836, the Preventing Emerging Threats Act of 2018: Countering Malicious Drones. hsgac.senate.gov 12 noon. 740 15th St. NW. Countering Disinformation and Violent Extremism in the Digital Age. newamerica.org 5 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Book launch of “Peace Works: America’s Unifying Role in a Turbulent World.” csis.org 5:30 p.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd. Institute of Land Warfare Hosts Adm. Kurt Tidd, Commander of U.S. Southern Command. ausa.org THURSDAY | JUNE 7 9:30 a.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. An Action Plan on U.S. Drone Policy. stimson.org 1:30 p.m. 2301 Constitution Ave. The Long Search for Peace in Afghanistan. usip.org |
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