Defense Contractors

Missileer Tom Amlie, RIP

Navy and Air Force missile expert Thomas S. Amlie has died at 85. His fingerprints – he was part of the simple-is-better school that waxes and wanes in the U.S. military — date back to the Eisenhower Administration:

Tom Amlie worked on the Sidewinder project as a young Navy lieutenant, and he later became technical director at

New Dawn for Marines’ F-35B

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will announce Friday afternoon that the Marines’ F-35B fighter is being taken off “probation” and production will continue. It has been under intense scrutiny due to problems with its STOVL – short takeoff, vertical landing – capability that apparently are being fixed. Seeing as he’s heading …

We Don’t Know Precisely What It Means, Either




…the Navy awarded this $15 million contract (click on it to enlarge) Thursday. “The program seeks to maximize the financial value of the properties and leverage that value with private sector expertise to offset the cost of ongoing operations or obviate the need for capital investments,” the announcement says. Obviate the need for

Tailhook Woes (cont.)




It’s progress, of a sort, when the Navy’s tailhook woes are linked to an actual tailhook – the hook that grabs the arresting cable on an aircraft carrier and lets the plane land safely – and not the debauchery that was common at the Tailhook Assocation’s annual gatherings. That kind of Tailhook trouble exploded into a …

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