The INSIDER daily digest -- March 12, 2019

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has lots of news on the Pentagon's fiscal year 2020 budget request, plus a story on the possibility of acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan being nominated to become defense secretary.

Could the president nominate acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan to become the next defense secretary? Inside Defense's Tony Bertuca takes a deep dive into that question:

Key policy moves put spotlight on Shanahan as potential Pentagon chief

Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan is angling to become permanent Pentagon chief, with his closest supporters highlighting his role in key areas, like navigating internal politics to deliver a final Space Force proposal, helping to engineer billions in budget increases and working to pivot President Trump away from planned troop withdrawals in the Middle East that had initially alarmed military leaders.

Here's our coverage so far of the Pentagon's fiscal year 2020 defense budget request:

DOD requests $247B mod budget with R&D boost, procurement cuts

The Pentagon is submitting a fiscal year 2020 budget requesting a $9 billion increase in research, development, test and evaluation dollars for new weapon systems, while procurement funding would decrease by $4.2 billion primarily because of planned cuts to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, according to budget documents released today.

. . . and by service:

Navy:

Navy 2020 budget: $205.6B topline, 20-year high shipbuilding budget request

The Navy plans to request a $205.6 billion topline, including what is projected to be the largest requested shipbuilding budget in 20 years, according to fiscal year 2020 budget briefing slides obtained by Inside Defense.

Navy to retire Nimitz-class carrier Truman

The Navy plans to retire one of its Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, according to the service's new $205.6 billion fiscal year 2020 budget request.

Air Force:

USAF's budget requests new F-15EX, boosts R&D, Space Force HQ

The Air Force's $165.5 billion fiscal year 2020 budget request -- a $10 billion increase over FY-19 -- would buy 48 F-35s, procure eight new F-15EX fighters, boost research and development efforts by more than $4 billion and fund the creation of a Space Force headquarters.

Army:

Army's FY-20 topline almost $183B; Pentagon adds $9B for construction

The Army is requesting about $183 billion in fiscal year 2020, and the Defense Department is adding to that request $9 billion in military construction funding that could potentially finance construction of a southern border wall, according to a service official.

The Pentagon and the services have released overviews of their FY-20 budget requests. Check them out here:

DOD's FY-20 budget books

On March 12, 2019 the Defense Department released its fiscal year 2020 procurement and research, development, test and evaluation, operations and maintenance, military personnel, procurement programs reserve components and military construction as well as the procurement acquisition cost by weapon system budget books.

Army's FY-20 budget overview

Air Force's FY-20 budget overview

Navy's FY-20 budget briefing slides, overview

MDA's FY-20 budget overview