Budget

Commentary

Is America’s military headed down the same path as Russia’s?

Diplomacy that is not backed by military might will fail. It all comes down to credibility behind the words. The U.S. has lost its edge in that regard from both a military capability and capacity perspective.

Most projects on Pentagon’s $5.7B lab ‘wish list’ likely to stay unfunded

The Pentagon's chief technology officer says addressing the lab and testing infrastructure gap is a top priority, but most of this year's unfunded facilities projects are too early in the design process for Congress to consider.

Inside the US Air Force’s race to fund future fighters, bombers and autonomous drones before the next crisis

To prepare for far more contested airspace, the U.S. Air Force is laying the groundwork for a series of radical transformations in how it approaches air combat that could cost at least tens of billions of dollars over the next two decades.

This week in Congress: Military leaders line up to ask for bigger budgets next year

Defense and veterans hearings on Capitol Hill for the week of May 9, 2022.

US Army’s budget lacks plan to buy protection system for Bradley vehicles

The Army is further afield to get a vehicle protection capability in place for its current fleet against rockets and drones, and the service has provided no funding to procure an interim system for its Bradley in the meantime.

How much did engine delays set back the Future Attack Recon Aircraft program?

An Army prototype flight schedule, among other milestones, has slipped due to issues getting the first ITEP engine into testing during the pandemic, budget books show.

Commentary

Moskva’s sinking, the rise of anti-ship cruise missiles and what that means for the US Navy

If a relatively low-cost, short-range missile can destroy one of the largest warships in the Russian Navy, how do we ensure that ships in our fleet are not doomed to the same fate?

US Navy envisions larger fleet despite long-range plans reflecting budget crunch

The Navy is heading toward a fleet size that its top officer admits “nobody likes.”

US Army to choose whether it’ll pursue a hybrid Bradley vehicle in FY23

The Bradley vehicle is already pushed to the maximum when it comes to using power to support everything from running the vehicle to controlling its payloads.

DARPA budget request seeks to bolster ‘critical’ defense technologies

The agency's $4.1 billion budget is closely aligned with DoD's critical technology priorities, particularly in the areas of microelectronics, artificial intelligence and biotechnology.

NORAD boss wants to get creative about defeating cruise missiles

The U.S. commander responsible for North America says he’s open for new ways to defend against cruise missile attacks on the homeland, including electronic warfare and other non-kinetic means.

NORTHCOM wants millions more for AI and data handling

U.S. Northern Command has asked Congress for almost $30 million to buy information technology equipment and to optimize infrastructure for artificial intelligence and machine learning at its joint operations center with the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Army’s $5.1B wish list to Congress would ramp up modernization, infrastructure efforts

Among the items included in the Army's unfunded requirements list are fielding another half of a Brigade Combat Team of Abrams tanks, infrastructure improvements and more money to manage homeland contingencies.

SPACECOM requests more funding for key space domain awareness center

The $74 million request would support projects in support of the National Space Defense Center, an important command-and-control and space domain awareness capability.

More F-35s, Compass Call replacements make it onto Air Force wish list

The unfunded priorities list calls for more electronic warfare aircraft and F-35 fighters, as well as money to help bases recover from natural disasters.

Davis-Monthan’s future in flux after Congress blocked A-10 retirement

Disagreements over the fate of the A-10 Warthog have had a broader impact in Tucson.

DoD seeks ‘huge jump’ in budget for hypersonic test facilities

Industry executives have identified testing infrastructure shortfalls as a major barrier to fielding hypersonic weapons capabilities on a faster timeline.

US NORTHCOM again asks for homeland cruise missile defense funding in wish list

U.S. Northern Command is asking Congress for more funding beyond fiscal 2023 budget request to demonstrate homeland cruise missile defense capability in its unfunded requirements list.

Some lawmakers back Marines in disagreement over Navy amphib force

The two top lawmakers on the HASC seapower subcommittee want to continue LPD amphibious ship construction, which the Marine Corps supports but the Navy wants to cancel.

US Navy wants long-range missiles, more maintenance money in wish list

The Navy doesn't want to buy more ships in FY23, even if more money is made available. It wants more funding for ship and plane maintenance as well as spare parts, and for long-range weapons to use in the Pacific theater.

Air Force seeks more than $5B to shore up outdated infrastructure

Officials plan to draw up a blueprint next year for closing or demolishing existing facilities.

Post-Afghanistan, US Air Force changes Jolly Green II helicopter purchase plans

“The acts of aggression like we’re seeing in Europe, or we might see in the Pacific by [China], put us in a very different scenario from a combat rescue point of view,” says Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.

MDA’s plan to protect Guam relies on field-proven systems

The Missile Defense Agency details its architecture for the defense of Guam against possible ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missile attacks as part of its fiscal 2023 budget request.

Missile Defense Agency seeks $9.6 billion in FY23 budget

The Missile Defense Agency is prioritizing efforts to go up again evolving threats like hypersonic weapons and cruise missiles including funding for a new missile defense architecture on Guam and development of a glide-phase hypersonic weapon interceptor in its FY23 budget request.

Half of Tinker’s E-3 airborne surveillance jets would be cut under Air Force budget proposal

AWACS jets have been in use at Tinker since the 1970s, but are getting harder to maintain and more vulnerable in combat.