The INSIDER daily digest -- June 1, 2017

The Trump administration's FY-18 defense budget proposal, aircraft carriers and aircraft engines are among the highlights in this Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest.

The Trump administration's FY-18 request has framed the proposed defense buildup as a "guns-versus-butter debate," making it lesslikely to happen, according to one defense analyst:

Analysts leery of Trump administration's promise of defense buildup in FY-19

Pentagon officials have spent the past week both defending the size of the fiscal year 2018 defense budget request and pledging to seek larger spending increases in FY-19, but several defense analysts doubt the Trump administration can live up to its promises for a transformational military buildup.

The head of NAVSEA this week said the one-year delay in CVN-73's midlife refueling is one reason the Navy has delayed work on CVN-74:

Moore: Navy postponed Stennis midlife refueling because of fleet needs, shipyard workload

The Navy decided to postpone the multibillion-dollar midlife refueling of the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis (CVN-74) by 10 months because of fleet needs and the workload at Newport News Shipbuilding, according to a service official.

Inside the Navy and Inside the Air Force visited a Pratt & Whitney aircraft engine facility this week:

Pratt & Whitney says it could deliver new F119 engine by late 2020

WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- Although the Air Force has appeared uninterested in re-starting the F-22 production line, the jet's F119 engine-maker Pratt & Whitney told reporters this week it estimates that, if asked, it could begin new deliveries of the engine by December 2020.

Pratt & Whitney validates F135 fuel efficiency as part of pitch to upgrade JSF engine

WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- Pratt & Whitney has completed fuel performance testing of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter engine -- the first step in a slate of iterative technology upgrades that could significantly improve engine efficiency and performance, the company said this week.

The head of the Missile Defense Agency says the interceptor used this week to shoot down an ICBM-class target "is not developmental; it is production-representative of what will" be fielded in the future:

MDA pivots to EKV procurement, GBI fielding decisions following test intercept

This week's demonstration of the second-generation exoatmospheric kill vehicle -- a significant milestone in the long-running, $2 billion project to produce a warhead for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system -- appears to augur well both for the Pentagon's 2013 plan to expand fielding of the Ground-based Interceptors and for more orders of the Raytheon-built warheads.

The Defense Department wants to establish an independent commission to analyze a BRAC round for FY-21:

Pentagon predicts new base closures would save $2 billion annually

The Pentagon is again pressing Congress to authorize a new base realignment and closure round so it can reduce excess infrastructure, but lawmakers have a familiar sense of apprehension as they weigh the Trump administration's first budget request.