Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Key Issues GPI timeline Project Convergence FTUAS cancellation
Jason Sherman is a reporter for Inside Defense. For more than two decades -- including stints with Defense News and Armed Forces Journal -- he has covered the Pentagon, defense industry, the military budget, weapon system acquisition and defense policy formulation as well as reporting on technology, business, and global arms trade. Jason has traveled to more than 40 countries, studied medieval history at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and lives in Brooklyn.
The Army is doubling funding in its updated five-year budget plan for the Integrated Battle Command System in an effort to expedite development of software needed to integrate a list of new sensors, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, the Remote Interceptor Guidance-360 and more.
The Army has set new plans to triple annual spending on Patriot Modifications in fiscal year 2027 as part of a $3 billion increase over five years to improve the capability and readiness of the air defense system, a 174% hike compared to the current future years defense program.
A year after a Chinese stratospheric balloon flew across the United States -- triggering a political furor, discussion about gaps in domain awareness and the eventual combat downing of the airship -- the U.S. military is seeking funding to begin its own high-altitude balloon project to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's sensor technology portfolio that aims to improve the accuracy and timeliness of surveillance and targeting systems is being offered up as a bill payer in the Pentagon's new five-year spending plan, with proposed reductions of more than $900 million when compared to the current blueprint.
The Navy has slashed by more than half planned development of a next-generation fighter aircraft, cutting more than $7 billion for the F/A-XX project between fiscal years 2025 and 2028, indicating funds previously programmed for future years were redirected to finance higher priorities and the new-start project. (UPDATED)
The United States teamed with Australia for the first time in a major ballistic missile defense test, demonstrating interoperability and integration during the intercept of a medium-range ballistic missile as part of a developmental and operational test for the U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency.
The Pentagon is seeking new-start authority in fiscal year 2025 to begin buying a man-portable, tube-launched, uncrewed aircraft called the Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO) as part of the Army's Family of Low Altitude Unmanned Systems program -- an effort to give dismounted infantry next-generation tank-killing capability.
The Army is drafting a requirement for a next-generation mobile passive radar -- a version of the Army Long Range Persistent Surveillance system mounted on a tactical truck that can quickly deploy a 60-foot-tall sensor to help detect cruise missiles, aircraft and smaller uncrewed flying systems.
The Defense Department last month designated a single official to oversee the acquisition of technology needed to develop and field a 360-degree, air-and-missile defense capability for Guam, tapping Army Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch to be executive officer in charge of the newly created Joint Program Office in support of the Guam Defense System.
The Defense Department is looking to acquire a handful of new high-flying, ultra-long endurance aircraft -- uncrewed systems with "point-and-click" command and control features that can fly up to seven days -- packed with sensors to provide commanders a flavor of intelligence that is crucial in modern conflict: high-quality, pattern-of-life behavior.
The Army is looking to launch a new-start project in fiscal year 2025 to extend the effective range of directed-energy weapons -- seeking a capability to sharpen the aim of speed-of-light systems in general and specifically to give the laser-armed Indirect Fire Protection Capability a longer reach against cruise missiles.
The Defense Department, which last summer was unable to determine the efficacy of the Long Range Discrimination Radar's ability to detect ballistic missile targets, is pressing ahead with plans to begin early fielding of space domain awareness capabilities as soon as this year.
The Navy has unveiled a $3.8 billion blueprint to begin buying a new fleet of 18 relatively low-cost warships to ferry Marines -- particularly units armed with ship-killing guided missiles -- from shore to shore in a highly contested environment during a fight against China.
The Pentagon is sharpening its plan for a clean-sheet hypersonic defense weapon system, revealing decisions to soon pick a winner in a Raytheon-versus-Northrop Grumman contest, trimming near-term funding by nearly $700 million that is expected to be offset by co-development investments from Japan and delaying fielding by a year to 2035.
The U.S. military has adopted new policy guidance for air and cruise missile defense of the homeland just as North American Aerospace and Defense Command top brass are bracing for Chinese military aircraft this year for the first time to penetrate NORAD's air defense identification zone.
The Defense Department is poised for a major announcement on the Next Generation Interceptor competition -- likely picking a winner in the two-way race between Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman much earlier than planned -- in the wake of a steep funding cut to the project in the Pentagon's fiscal year 2025 budget request.
The Missile Defense Agency wants to build on Guam a new facility to house a state-of-the-art command center the size of New York's Guggenheim Museum to control a new 360-degree enhanced integrated air and missile defense to shield the U.S. territory from Chinese cruise, ballistic and hypersonic missile threats.
The Missile Defense Agency is seeking $10.4 billion in fiscal year 2025, a nearly 8% reduction compared to the $11.3 billion the Biden administration planned before House GOP fiscal hawks last year demanded reduced federal spending, with the program to defend against North Korean nuclear missiles taking a $300 million cut.
The governments of the United States and Japan are finalizing a formal agreement to co-develop a next-generation, ship-launched guided-missile interceptor designed to defeat long-range, hypersonic weapons during the glide phase, according to a senior U.S. military official.
Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins revealed today the agency had no role in the decision to break a more-than-two-decade-long tradition of publicly discussing a new spending request as part of the Pentagon's annual budget rollout.