Foreign Military Sales and Offsets: Where Defense Margins Actually Erode
Offset commitments and local production terms attached to FMS deals push costs onto contractors well after the headline contract value is announced.
Nils Andersen
How the Pentagon Budget Cycle Actually Works, Year by Year
The defense budget runs on a two-year clock that starts inside the building long before Congress votes — and a missed appropriations bill, not a design flaw, is what most often freezes program money.
Henrik LarsenHow a Pentagon Program Moves From Requirement to Fielding
Asha VenkataswamyAnalysis: What the B-21's Flight-Test Pace Says About the Fielding Schedule
Two aircraft in an open, instrumented test campaign since November 2023 — the program is flying earlier than its predecessors did, but the fielding date still rests on testing no one can compress.
Nils AndersenThe briefing
What changed, what the primary record says, and what remains uncertain.
How Continuing Resolutions Delay and Inflate the Cost of Pentagon Programs
Henrik LarsenHow Milestone C Decides Whether a Weapons Program Reaches Production
James WellingtonHow Other Transaction Agreements Work, and Why DoD Obligated $18 Billion in FY24
Aleksandr KomarovHow Multiyear Procurement Works: Five Program Years, Six Findings, One Cancellation Bill
Asha VenkataswamyWhy a Stopgap Budget Bill Can Freeze a Defense Program in Its Tracks
Asha VenkataswamyHow the Pentagon Uses Other Transaction Agreements to Skip the FAR
Nils AndersenAviation
How Milestone C Turns an Aircraft Program From Prototype to Production
The Pentagon's production go/no-go gate, explained through the Air Force's T-7A Red Hawk trainer, which cleared it in April 2026 a year behind its original plan.
Nils AndersenMeasuring Radar Cross Section: Chambers, Ranges and dBSm
Nils AndersenHow the Military Measures a Helicopter's Remaining Life
Nils AndersenWhy Supersonic Flight Over Land Is Banned in America
Nils AndersenInside the Air Force Split: Procurement vs. Sustainment Dollars
Nils AndersenInnovation
JADC2 and the Data Link Problem: Link 16, MADL and the Interoperability Gap
James WellingtonLaser Weapons at Sea: Why 60 Kilowatts Flew First and 300 Kilowatts Is the Threshold
James WellingtonNavigation Without GPS: Inertial Systems, Quantum Sensors and the Jamming Threat
James WellingtonDigital Twins in Aircraft Programs: What They Actually Deliver to Sustainment
James WellingtonResponsive Space Launch: How TacRS-3 and Victus Nox Reset the Clock
James WellingtonPolicy
STANAGs Explained: How NATO Standardizes Allied Equipment
July 30 · Henrik Larsen
NEPA and the Ranges: How Environmental Law Shapes Weapons Testing
July 7 · Henrik Larsen
Special Access Programs: How Congress Watches Secrets It Cannot Name
June 14 · Henrik Larsen
DPA Title III: The Cold War Tool Washington Uses to Rebuild Production
May 23 · Henrik LarsenIndustry
Small-Business Set-Asides: How the Pentagon Buys From Small Firms
Roughly a quarter of federal contract dollars flow to small businesses under rules that reserve entire competitions for them — a system with its own thresholds, programs, and failure modes.
Asha VenkataswamyBook-to-Bill and Backlog: Reading a Defense Company's Real Health
Asha VenkataswamyWhen a Prime Buys a Startup: What Happens After the Deal Closes
Asha VenkataswamyChips for Weapons: Why Military Microelectronics Don't Lead the Market
Asha VenkataswamySolid Rocket Motors: A Two-Supplier Industry Under Sustained Load
Asha VenkataswamyDefense News
F-47 Program Builds Test Aircraft on Schedule for 2028 First Flight
Asha VenkataswamyThe Navy's Final Flight IIA Destroyer Has Been Delivered
Asha VenkataswamyCNO: Virginia-Class Deliveries Run Five Boats Behind the Two-a-Year Plan
Asha VenkataswamyMDA's Project Maverick Seeks an Interim Answer to Hypersonic Threats
Asha VenkataswamyAir Force Clears the T-7A for Production After Milestone C
Asha VenkataswamyGovernment News
September 30 Looms Over the FY2027 Funding Fight
August 6 · Nils Andersen
The House Race to Pass the FY2027 NDAA
July 15 · Nils Andersen
Committees Begin Writing the FY2027 NDAA
June 22 · Nils Andersen