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Valerie Insinna Profile picture
Valerie Insinna
@ValerieInsinna
Air Force and Pentagon news for @breakingdefense . St. Louis native. Mother of @ImpalerCat. #1 Fan of the giant stuffed bear in the Pentagon florist. She/her.
Nov 4, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Pentagon Acquisition Exec Bill LaPlante says he was sitting in traffic and, "I think to myself, 'Ok, I'm the chief acquisition nerd talking to people at 3:30 on a Friday afternoon. what is the judgement of those people that are in that room?'" He's calling you a loser and he is correct.
Jul 23, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Everyone is talking about giving A-10s to Ukraine, but I talked to a former A-10 pilot and a former F-16 pilot for this story and they gave some good reasons why A-10s are not a panacea. Here’s a quote from Larry Stutzriem, a former A-10 pilot currently with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, that didn’t make my story: “[A-10s] are extremely vulnerable… they're big and they're slow…” (1/)
Feb 9, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Have I been saying "embed" wrong this entire time? These people keep saying EMbed instead of emBED and it's freaking me out.
Aug 8, 2021 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
Stumbled across one of my least favorite things this morning: People discussing what “real” Italian food is, and why “Americanized” Italian food is disgusting in comparison.

My aunt just gave me a collection of recipes passed down from my Sicilian family, so I figured I’d share Here’s one Italian American classic that is sure to be controversial from the get go. Oatmeal in the meatball mix. “Ramono cheese.” Calling all pasta macaroni in the recipe even when the author is bilingual lol.
Aug 6, 2021 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Breaking news: If the Air Force doesn't accelerate change, it may--in fact--lose.

Exclusive, must credit. I told @ImpalerCat if he didn’t stop scratching the couch I was going to make him listen to CSAF talk about the strategic threat and Image
Mar 27, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
“There Will Be Blood” tho 🖤🖤🖤 These desolate vibes, I love them
Mar 12, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I don’t want to reward Tucker Carlson with views so I’m not linking video, but I did watch it and this summary of some of his comments is accurate.

Which to me begs the question of, “why is Tucker obsessed with pregnant pilots?” I didn’t realize that this needed to be said but pregnancy does not bestow superhuman pilot powers, nor does it take away a person’s ability to be an effective pilot. We don’t need to study whether we need a separate Air Force of pregnant women because that’s obviously stupid.
Nov 12, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
I'm just a girl

On twitter

Asking everyone to have a more nuanced view about the problems caused by the military industrial complex One of the things that really frustrates me about progressive politics is that there seems to be a lack of interest or knowledge about understanding how military equipment is purchased and why.
Nov 11, 2020 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
I know I’ve been quiet about this today, but I’m so honored and ...honestly still a bit floored to be given the @PressClubDC Dornheim award for defense coverage for the package of F-35 reporting @DavidLarter , @AaronMehta and I worked on together. .@AaronMehta and @DavidLarter have said a lot of nice things about me today, but honestly I don’t know if the project would have come together without their help reporting and writing this very large package of stories, which you can read here:

defensenews.com/smr/hidden-tro…
Oct 9, 2020 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Good morning kids! Let's do some math.

A lot of you asked me why Lockheed Martin only has to compensate the government $70M instead of the $183M initially estimated for spare parts log issues.

I finally have a response from DCMA. Let's walk through it:

defensenews.com/air/2020/09/29… First, let's take a look at the $183M dollar figure, which was DCMA's revised estimate for the issue after the Pentagon's inspector general initially estimated more than $300M.

DCMA got that number by assuming that Lockheed would pay $11,000 per issue for all 16,666 EEL problems
Oct 7, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
I low key love all of these but especially the Gamorrean dancing to Pitbull’s “Calle Ocho”

I felt that one deep in my core, I’m literally crying Tagging @AthertonKD @AaronMehta @mikegruss @reporterjoe @Aviation_Intel because I need you all to suffer
May 14, 2020 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Ok, we need to fact check a couple things here, starting with President Trump's assertion that the F-35 is made "all over the world" because Obama and other presidents thought it would be a good thing.

That's bending the truth at best. By the time President Obama had stepped into office in 2008, the supply chain for the F-35 would have pretty much in stone. Its first flight was in 2006, but many suppliers would have been lined up before the contract was awarded in 2001.

nytimes.com/2019/08/21/mag…
Aug 25, 2019 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
Hi, I’m the author of this piece. Not trying to pick on this guy, but I’ve been getting a lot of mail/messages from both F-35 supporters and haters demanding to know why I didn’t talk about [insert topic here], and I wanted to address that. First things first: I’m Valerie, and I’m the air warfare reporter for @defense_news . I’ve had this job for three years, but even before then I’ve been covering defense technologies/budgets for years.

defensenews.com/author/valerie…
Jun 12, 2019 • 13 tweets • 6 min read
EXCLUSIVE: The F-35 has 13 "category 1" deficiencies, the designation DoD gives to a program's most technical serious issues. @defense_news is exploring each in depth, becoming the first news outlet to obtain this information.

Not all will be fixed before full rate production. @defense_news Let's start with the one that is the most damning.

When the F-35B and C operate at supersonic speeds and at certain elevations, there is a risk of damage to the aircraft's stealth coating or structure.

defensenews.com/air/2019/06/12…
Jun 19, 2018 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
I've seen a lot of mainstream outlets putting out #SpaceForce pieces with headlines like, "Trump wants to put soldiers in space" or that question whether Trump got the idea from a movie.

Sick joke, brah. But you aren't helping educate people and you're spreading misinformation. I have had so many people read stories in the mainstream press and ask me why Trump is doing this bc the stories provide no context and treat Space Force like a joke.