The INSIDER daily digest -- March 29, 2022

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has continuing coverage of the Pentagon's fiscal year 2023 budget request and more.

We start off with congressional reactions to the Defense Department's FY-23 budget request:

Defense committee Republicans want answers on DOD inflation math

Senior Republicans on the House and Senate Armed Services committees want the Defense Department to provide more clarity on the inflation estimates it used to build its fiscal year 2023 defense budget request.

GOP derides defense budget request, Dems see a 'starting point'

Congressional Republicans say President Biden's defense budget is not large enough to keep up with inflation and looming threats from China and Russia, while Democrats offered support for the White House's spending "blueprint."

More overall defense budget news:

Biden defense strategy embraces key tenet of Trump military blueprint

The Biden administration is adopting a key formulation of national objectives for the non-nuclear forces established by the Trump administration in 2018, a force planning construct that calls for the U.S. military to be able to defeat aggression by a major power while simultaneously deterring opportunistic aggression elsewhere.

Army budget news:

Real growth in Army budget? 'It's more complicated than it sounds'

The Army's budget director was not immediately able to answer a question today about the rate of real growth in the service's fiscal year 2023 budget request compared with the FY-22 budget.

Aircraft procurement cut in Army's FY-23 budget request

Aircraft procurement would decline to $2.8 billion, from $3.3 billion under the Army's FY-23 budget request, according to service officials and Pentagon budget documents.

Air Force budget news:

Air Force won't seek ARRW procurement funding in FY-23

The Air Force won't seek procurement funding for one of its highest-profile hypersonic missile programs in fiscal year 2023, Maj. Gen. James Peccia said Monday.

Air Force seeks big funding increases for nuclear programs

The Air Force is seeking billions more in funding to support several of its nuclear modernization programs that would replace Cold War-era systems, according to the service's fiscal year 2023 budget request released Monday.

Air Force seeks to resume MH-139A procurement, complete HH-60W buy

The Air Force is looking to re-start procurement of the MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopter and scale back planned buys for the HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter in its fiscal year 2023 budget request.

Missile defense budget news:

MDA seeks $9.6B in FY-23 to expand deployment and continue new development

The Missile Defense Agency is seeking $9.6 billion in fiscal year 2023 to grow the guided missile inventory and support key projects, such as launching prototype Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensors, designing a new Guam defense system and continuing development on new interceptors to defeat a limited ICBM attack and hypersonic glide vehicles.

More missile defense news:

Five-year project to expand Korean missile shield wraps with flight test intercept

The Defense Department today successfully executed a major test that caps a five-year project to meet an "urgent requirement" to expand the protective shield over South Korea against the North's ballistic missile threats by forging new connections between the U.S. Army's upper- and lower-tier missile defense systems.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command has sent lawmakers an assessment of the Pacific Defense Initiative:

INDOPACOM tells Congress it needs $76B for Pacific Deterrence Initiative

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is telling Congress it needs to spend $76 billion over the next five fiscal years on the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a key Pentagon effort to counter China's increasing military activity in the region.

Document: INDOPACOM Pacific Deterrence Initiative assessment