Charting the 'third offset'

Inside Defense's Tony Bertuca reported this week that the Pentagon is requesting $3.6 billion in fiscal year 2017 and $18 billion over the next five years to invest in the so-called "Third Offset" strategy meant to stem the erosion of U.S. superiority on 21st century battlefields:

Though more than $6 billion in Third Offset capabilities being developed are classified, the Defense Department provided a breakdown of broad areas where the money would be spent over the course of the future years defense program.

Firstly, DOD seeks to invest more than $3 billion over the FYDP for "weapons and concepts for surface-strike and air-to-air combat to negate" the anti-access/area-denial investments being made by Russia and China, according to a statement from DOD spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson.

"These include upgrades to a number of existing weapons and enhancements to ongoing efforts to develop new weapons," she continued.

Inside Defense's Jason Sherman drew up a chart that pretty much sums it all up: