Saturday, December 7, 2024
Key Issues MQ-25 Stingray USSF pLEO spending cap JLTV funding
Tony Bertuca is chief editor of Inside the Pentagon, the flagship publication of InsideDefense, where he focuses on defense budget and acquisition policy. He previously worked for the Sun-Times News Group in his hometown of Chicago, IL, and at the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester, NH. Tony has also served as managing editor of Inside the Army. He has a master's degree in journalism from Boston University.
The Senate Appropriations Committee wants the Pentagon to provide Congress with future "surge capacity" costs for critical munitions as well as estimate how much industry cost-sharing or co-investment can be expected to support potential increases in production.
Senate appropriators are highlighting some of the key investments in their fiscal year 2025 defense spending bill, which would increase the Defense Department's budget by 3.3%, or more than $27 billion above what Congress enacted in FY-24.
The Senate Armed Services Committee voted Tuesday to advance two key Pentagon cyber and intelligence nominees.
The newest incarnation of the bipartisan National Defense Strategy Commission has sent a report to Congress echoing a key recommendation of the previous commission: the Pentagon needs more money and lawmakers should act accordingly.
The Defense Department announced a $1.7 billion military aid package for Ukraine that will immediately transfer some U.S. weapons to the battlefield.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak around Washington this week. The House is on August recess and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is traveling in Asia.
House lawmakers questioned a panel of experts yesterday about the poor performance and ballooning costs of Pentagon weapons programs, focusing many of their comments on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which has struggled for years with cost, schedule and performance issues.
The Senate Appropriations Committee will meet next Thursday to mark up its version of the fiscal year 2025 defense spending bill that could add billions of dollars to the Pentagon’s budget request.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the recent U.S. and Canadian forces' intercept of a joint military flight between two Russian and two Chinese aircraft off the coast of Alaska -- the first time jets from those two countries have flown together near U.S. airspace -- is further evidence of the deepening cooperation between Moscow and Beijing.
Vice Adm. Alvin Holsey has been nominated by President Biden to be promoted to admiral and become the next chief of U.S. Southern Command, according to a Pentagon announcement.
The Defense Department is taking action to better assess and report the value of weapon systems and other items provided to foreign allies -- like Ukraine -- under Presidential Drawdown Authority, according to a new Government Accountability Office report detailing DOD's shortcomings in the area.
The Defense Department has released a new Arctic strategy, cautioning that "insufficient investment" in early warning air defense sensors and other military readiness could imperil national security as the region becomes increasingly challenging for the U.S. military due to rising cooperation between Russia and China as well as the effects of climate change.
The Defense Department is working with five unnamed Indo-Pacific nations to establish a new "Regional Sustainment Framework" to maintain, repair and overhaul U.S. military equipment without sending it back to U.S. shipyards or depots, according to a senior Pentagon official.
The Senate Armed Services Committee wants the Pentagon to establish a new advisory panel that would help reform the requirements process used to procure U.S. weapon systems, including a "clean-sheet approach."
Senate appropriators are preparing to mark up a defense spending bill that exceeds the caps mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act by adding $21 billion through "emergency funding."
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI) and Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) filed the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill today.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, released a statement today saying President Biden should end his candidacy for a second term, though the congressman added that he intends to "back him one hundred percent and without reservation" should Biden continue as the nominee.
The Defense Department recognizes it must "correct for years of underinvestment in the industrial base," Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante wrote in an interim National Defense Industrial Base Strategy implementation report released today.
The Defense Department has announced a new $2.3 billion military aid package for Ukraine, mostly funding a large purchase of air defense interceptors.
The Pentagon's Office of Defense Pricing and Contracting (DPC) will now be known as the Office of Defense Pricing, Contracting and Acquisition Policy (DPCAP), according to a new departmental memo.