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SpaceX had to file suit before winning its first defense orders from the Pentagon. The Pentagon is seeking to enlist Silicon Valley startups in its effort to fund and develop new weapons technology and more-nimble suppliers, as the U.S. races to keep pace with China’s military advances. The push to tap private capital comes in the midst of concern that U.S. defense-industry consolidation has led to dependence on a few large companies that rely on government funding for research and is hampering innovation. Meanwhile, China has pulled ahead in some key technologies, ranging from small drones to hypersonic missiles, helped by Beijing’s use of external public-private guidance funds, according to current and former Pentagon officials.

☆ Pentagon Refocuses Spending on Weapons to Deter China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The Pentagon unveiled plans on Monday to boost spending on munitions to deter China and backfill supplies sent to Ukraine, though defense contractors are still struggling to match the extra demand. The fiscal 2024 budget request includes a 12% rise to $30.6 billion in planned spending on missiles and rockets and the factories to build them in an effort to catch up on years of deferred purchases.

☆ U.S. Approves Potential Taiwan Arms Sale Worth $619 Million
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Lockheed Martin makes the F-16 jet fighters that the U.S. approved for Taiwan. The State Department has approved a $619 million sale of hundreds of missiles to Taiwan to arm new U.S.-made F-16 jet fighters the island is expecting to receive by mid-decade. The proposed sale, which State Department informed Congress about on Wednesday, comes as tensions rise between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan and other issues. China considers the self-ruled island part of its territory and has threatened to take it by force.

☆ NATO Presses to Add Weapons to Counter Russia’s Ukraine Invasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Doug Cameron | Daniel Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year was the shock European leaders needed to finally follow the U.S. in boosting military spending after years of talking about increases. Now NATO members must turn those promises into military gear—and fast—because Kyiv’s forces are burning through Western gear at rates never envisioned, while the threat of conflict with China increases.

☆ Boeing Halts 787 Dreamliner Jet Deliveries Due to Documentation Issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Andrew Tangel | Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner in production late last year. Boeing Co. has halted deliveries of 787 Dreamliner jets because of a documentation issue, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and industry officials. The plane maker hasn’t handed over a Dreamliner since Jan. 26 from the production line or from the dozens stored awaiting delivery, said aviation data provider Ascend by Cirium. Boeing last week said it had paused assembly of new jets.

☆ Chinese Balloon and Mystery Objects Raise Question of Who Controls ‘Near Space’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.S. says the suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down Feb. 4 violated sovereign U.S. airspace. But when it crossed the U.S. at altitudes as high as 65,000 feet, the balloon floated into the murky zone aloft where no international consensus exists about which, if any, nation wields control. U.S. allegations that China has operated a fleet of suspected spy balloons over 40 countries have renewed a debate over the governance of airspace above the altitudes traversed by commercial aircraft. And the balloon and other objects of unknown or undisclosed nature and purpose shot down from lower heights have focused attention on a nation’s right to eliminate perceived threats at any height.

☆ Boeing, Airbus Sell 470 Planes to Air India in Record Deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Benjamin Katz | Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Air India Ltd. ordered 470 jets from Boeing Co. and Airbus SE , marking the largest deal for commercial aircraft in aviation history and coming as airlines scramble for jets to meet surging demand for air travel. The airline said it has agreed to purchase 250 Airbus jets. It also ordered 220 Boeing planes, according to the White House, which announced the Boeing side of the deal.

☆ Why Norad Didn’t Spot Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Norad chief Gen. Glen VanHerck said there is a ‘domain awareness gap’ in the system. The officers staffing North America’s first line of defense against hostile intrusions admit it has gaps: the Cold War-era command hadn’t been watching for balloons. The system of radars, sensors and other intelligence tools overseen by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad, didn’t detect the suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down off South Carolina on Feb. 4, but it has been busy ever since.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. military downed a “high-altitude object” spotted in the sky over Alaska, the White House said Friday, the second time in less than a week that an Air Force jet fired on a craft that had intruded into U.S. airspace. The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a “reasonable threat to the safety of civilians,” John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters at the White House.

☆ U-2, Cold War Flashpoint, Comes Out of the Shadows for Chinese Balloon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Pentagon turned to an aircraft first designed during the early days of the Cold War to monitor the suspected Chinese spy balloon as it traveled through U.S. airspace. U-2 Dragon Lady reconnaissance planes, which helped track the balloon on a weeklong trek across North America, are capable of flying at altitudes around 70,000 feet and beyond that are unreachable by other known U.S. Air Force aircraft.

WASHINGTON—The military command in charge of U.S. air defenses failed to detect suspected Chinese surveillance balloons before the recent intrusion and learned about them later from intelligence agencies, the general overseeing the command said Monday, acknowledging a gap in defenses. Gen. Glen VanHerck , commander of Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, contrasted those previous lapses in detecting balloons with the airship the military tracked and shot down Saturday. He described a surveillance gap and said the U.S. is trying to determine why the earlier flights went undetected.

☆ Pentagon Used Its Highest-End Fighter, Reliable Missile to Down Chinese Balloon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Doug Cameron | Michael R. Gordon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

One of two Air Force F-22 Raptors flying near the Chinese surveillance balloon just off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday before it was shot down. Pentagon officials faced a difficult task in bringing down the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon flying at high altitude and without endangering lives and property on the ground. They turned to the Air Force’s most advanced fighter jet and a well-tested missile to do it. To complete the mission, defense officials had to shoot down a craft that had been flying as high as 65,000 feet on its weeklong traverse of North America, above than the ceiling of most Air Force jets, and do it so that the debris would fall within the U.S. territorial waters off the coast, not international seas.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean, days after it was spotted crossing the U.S. and adding to already high tensions between Washington and Beijing. An Air Force F-22 Raptor jet fighter on Saturday downed the balloon with a single AIM-9X Sidewinder missile off the coast of South Carolina at 2:39 p.m. ET within U.S. territorial waters, officials said. The jet fighter was flying at 58,000 feet, below the balloon, which had been flying as high as 65,000 feet.

WASHINGTON– U.S. fighter planes shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, days after it was spotted crossing the U.S. and leading to renewed tensions with Beijing. The downing took place off the Southeast coast on Saturday afternoon, U.S. officials said. Updates to follow as news develops. Write to Michael R. Gordon at michael.gordon@wsj.com, Nancy A. Youssef at nancy.youssef@wsj.com and Doug Cameron at Doug.Cameron@wsj.com

Balloons get less attention as tools of possible Chinese espionage than cyber theft and paid informants. But outfitted as floating monitoring stations, they shed an image as old-fashioned vehicles. The flight path of a high-altitude Chinese balloon spotted this week over the Western and Central U.S. put into stark relief hardening views in Washington that Beijing is America’s top spying threat.

The Pentagon said on Thursday that it was tracking the balloon flying high over the U.S. The Pentagon tracked what officials described as a Chinese reconnaissance balloon over the continental U.S. this week, days before a planned China visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to repair relations. Here’s what we know:Where was the reconnaissance balloon seen? The balloon was observed by someone on a commercial aircraft earlier this week flying over Montana, after having transited over the Aleutian Islands and Canada, according to a U.S. official. The Pentagon said the balloon traveled over several ‘sensitive’ areas.

☆ U.S. Expected to Send Ukraine Longer-Range Smart Bombs in Next Aid Package
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Nancy A. Youssef | Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The next batch of U.S. military aid for Ukraine that could be announced as soon as Friday is expected to include longer-range smart bombs for the first time, people familiar with the matter said. The new smart weapon is a Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb, or GLSDB, a precision-guided 250-pound bomb that is strapped to a rocket. It has a range of 94 miles, which is farther than any bomb the U.S. has so far provided to Ukraine.

☆ Military Chip Maker Mercury Systems Up For Sale
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

One of the Pentagon’s top manufacturers of microchips is up for sale, just as the defense industry faces a shortage of crucial semiconductors that executives said could stretch for another two years. Mercury Systems Inc. said its board has launched a strategic review, a move widely viewed by analysts as a precursor to a possible sale after activist investors pushed for change at the Andover, Mass.,-based company.

☆ Why Ukraine Hasn’t Been a Boon to U.S. Defense Companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Despite the importance of Lockheed Martin’s Himars rocket launchers to Ukraine’s defense against Russia, the company expects annual sales to fall. The quantities of arms the U.S. is sending to Ukraine are eye-catching: thousands of artillery shells and missiles, and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, just to name a few. The total security assistance package, now worth more than $27 billion, should in theory mean a big payday for major weapons producers. Yet the largest ground war in Europe since World War II isn’t translating into boom times for U.S. defense contractors. Hobbled by supply chain disruptions, a tight labor market and a Pentagon procurement process that can take years, arms makers have been struggling to respond to the soaring demand.

☆ Boeing Plans to Hire 10,000 Employees in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The plane maker accelerated hiring last year to deal with a surge in retirements that led to 8,000 staff departingBoeing Co. said it plans to hire 10,000 employees this year, about half the number it hired in 2022. In 2022, Boeing made 23,000 hires as it battled attrition and thousands of workers retired, and the company worked to boost deliveries of its 737 MAX and 787 jetliners.

☆ Southwest Airlines Earnings Hit by Holiday Meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Southwest said booking trends for March looked better and boosted its planned flying capacity expansion in 2023. Southwest Airlines Co. reported a fourth-quarter loss after a cascade of cancellations in the final week of the year threw its operation into chaos and stranded thousands of passengers. The largest carrier of U.S. domestic passengers said Thursday that it expects another loss in the first quarter as customer cancellations rose at the start of the year and bookings decelerated.

☆ Boeing Reports Quarterly Earnings Fall, Plans to Increase Jet Production
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Boeing Co. reported another quarterly loss but maintained plans to increase jet production and deliveries this year despite lingering supply-chain challenges. The aerospace company’s fourth-quarter profit and sales both fell short of analysts’ expectations. It didn’t report additional charges for production missteps and shortfalls that have contributed to losses over the past three years.

☆ Boeing Reports Quarterly Loss, Plans to Increase Jet Production
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Lockheed Martin Earnings Boosted by Ukraine-Driven Sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Doug Cameron | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Lockheed Martin Corp. said the Pentagon has sped up purchases of weapons headed to Ukraine, though supply-chain challenges continue to restrict production. The world’s largest defense company by sales is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the $27 billion in military equipment committed by the U.S. to Ukraine, though so far only $6.6 billion is under contract to industry. Defense executives have cited shortages of labor and components, as well as the need for more certainty that if companies invest more to boost capacity, orders will flow.

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