On today’s program, sponsored by HII, Byron Callan of the independent Washington research firm Capital Alpha Partners joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the latest headlines and looks at the week ahead.
Did space just get short-shrift at this week’s summit? Naming China as the No1 threat, U.S. military officials did just confirm the existence of on-orbit weapons and that it will prepare for combat on and around the moon. Or were there other less-sexy agenda items that directly affect the space industrial base? Laura Winter speaks with Dean Cheng, Senior Fellow, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.
Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink reveals that the United States has placed weapons in orbit, and the new Space Force Chief of Space Operations, Gen. Douglas Schiess, lays out his priorities. Laura Winter speaks with Col. Charles Galbreath, USSF (Ret.), Director, Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence; and Col. Jennifer Reeves, USAF (Ret.), Senior Fellow at the same institution.
On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Business Roundtable, sponsored by Bell, Dr. “Rocket” Ron Epstein of Bank of America Securities and Richard Aboulafia of the AeroDynamic advisory consultancy join host Vago Muradian to discuss a bumpy week on Wall Street as bond yields rise along with diesel prices that are up 77 percent over the past year; President Trump hosts Xi Jinping in Washington for a state visit; Washington wants China to return an F-35 fighter cockpit canopy and weapons bay door that ended up in Hong Kong on its way to the United States from Australia for repair; the agreement Denmark, Greenland and the United States signed to allow more American bases on the world’s largest island; the Pentagon presses ahead with another framework agreement with Lockheed Martin, this time for the Air Force’s AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile that would succeed Raytheon’s Advanced Air-to-Air Missile; and Turkish Airlines’ order for 150 new 737 Max jetliners from Boeing.
Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week…is the country and the Navy at risk of missing its generational moment to ride White House and bipartisan support to more capability and greater size? Will the specter of building ships overseas ultimately be the issue that squanders bicameral good will? Naval Strategist and known innovator retired Commander Gregory Glaros joins us to discuss why building in foreign yards could be a Big Beautiful Mistake.
On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute think tank, Michael Herson of American Defense International, former DoD Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security, and former Pentagon Comptroller Dr. Dov Zakheim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss Pentagon officials engaging defense authorizers and appropriators to make the case for their budget; rise in bond yields and gas prices in the wake of the Iran war; Steve Witkof’s meeting with Iran’s Abbas Arakchi; Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and threats of strikes on US forces if Washington intervenes; highlights from the leader addresses at the UN General Assembly; Xi Jinping’s state visit, US-Denmark Greenland agreement; Russian elections as Ukraine hammered Moscow’s refineries and much more.
One of the biggest headlines coming out of last week’s Air, Space, Cyber conference was a deal in which hypersonic airplane company Hermeus would build Pratt & Whitney F100 fighter engines. So we brought back Hermeus’s executive chairman, AJ Piplica, to explain how this happened and why it’s happening, along with what else is new at their company. Plus: Do you know where your F-35 canopy is? Powered by GE Aerospace!
On today’s Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Dr. Michael O’Hanlon, the Philip H. Knight Chair in defense and strategy as well as the director of foreign policy research at the Brookings Institution, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss his latest book — “To Dare Mighty Things: U.S. Defense Strategy Since the Revolution” published in January by Yale University Press.
On today’s Land Warfare program, sponsored by American Rheinmetall, Sam Bendett of the Center for Naval Analyses and Dr. Eugene Rumer, the director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the latest on the Ukraine war and trends for future ground conflict.
On today’s Look Ahead program, sponsored by HII, Byron Callan of the independent Washington research firm Capital Alpha Partners joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the Sept. 24 summit between President Trump and China’s Xi Jinping; changing defense sentiment; implications of the deal the president claims gives US more rights in Greenland than the 1951 agreement between Washington and Copenhagen; more takeaways from the Air & Space Forces Association’s annual Air Space Cyber conference and tradeshow, including more Iran war lessons; the Air Force’s plan for 500 Collaborative Combat Aircraft and 500 Massed Modular Aircraft; the service’s interest in new F16 Fighting Falcon jets by Lockheed Martin to fill out its aging force structure; RTX’s deal with hypersonic aircraft maker Hermeus to produce F100 engines; the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ new report, “The Defence of Europe in a New Era: An Assessment;” and a look at the week ahead and in Washington and beyond.