CNO Richardson Wants Aggressive Timelines for New Weapons, Operational Concepts in Updated Navy ‘Design’

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson visits Indonesia to meet with Indonesia navy leadership and to reaffirm the U.S. Navy’s commitment to strengthen the strategic partnership between the U.S. and Indonesia on Oct. 20, 2018. US Navy Photo

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson lays out aggressive acquisition goals and overhauls in how the Navy develops new technologies and implements operating concepts in a sweeping 2.0 revision of his Design for Maintaining Maritime...

https://news.usni.org/2018/12/17/cno-richardson-calls-aggressive-timelines-new-weapons-operational-concepts-updated-navy-design

Boeing Lands Contracts With Upfront R&D Investing

Testing Boeing’s MQ-25A Stingray prototype in St. Louis. Boeing Image

Boeing landed the contract to build the Navy’s unmanned carrier-based refueling aircraft thanks to what company executives described as an aggressive up-front research and development investment.


In August, Boeing beat out Lockheed Martin and General Atomics to win the Navy’s $805-million contract to build the first four unmanned carrier-based tankers, the MQ-25A Stingray. The program ultimately could be worth $13 billion if...

https://news.usni.org/2018/10/25/boeing-lands-contracts-with-upfront-rd-investing

Lockheed: DoD Focused on Lowest Price in Recent Competitions; May Affect LM Participation in Future Bids

An undated picture of five F-35B and a single F-35C. Lockheed Martin Photo

Lockheed Martin officials say their loss to Boeing in three recent aircraft competitions indicates that Pentagon weapon buyers are valuing low price tags over high-tech capabilities, which may lead the company to question its participation in some future competitions.

The company reported strong revenue growth and expected solid earnings in the future, but during a Tuesday morning conference call with Wall Street analysts,...

https://news.usni.org/2018/10/23/37506