ROC-X – The solution to organic precision strike capabilities
At AUSA Global Force 2024, IAI presented integrated, AI-driven combat systems – both manned and unmanned – that are opening new opportunities on the battlefield.
The Air Force and OSD have agreed to transfer the Space Development Agency to the Space Force “around the beginning of 2023,” said Shawn Barnes.
By Theresa Hitchens
Deficit hawks are now nearly extinct and defense hawks are weakened. If the Democrats sweep the next election, eliminating OCO might be the mechanism for a Biden administration to cut defense.
By Mark Cancian
The Air Force wants to cut its workhorse drone, the MQ-9 Reaper. The combatant commanders that use the MQ-9 don’t want to see that happen.
By David Deptula
Congress appropriates the amount it believes will be required based on the testimony and documents supplied by the Executive Branch to the Appropriations Committees of the House and Senate. If Congress were to loosen the restrictions on the use of funds it would only serve to weaken a system which is already far too short of discipline.
By Steve Cortese and Charlie Houy
The Air Force should field several iterations of improved drones before 2030 — not just to replace the MQ-9 — but to do everything from ISR to strike to counter-air missions.
By Theresa Hitchens
The Democrats controlling the House Appropriations Committee want to ban further diversion of military funding to build a border wall. Republican members warned this — and other items — could derail the entire bill.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
How to ensure readiness of next-generation defense technology: Solving the issue of massive heat.
High-performance systems generate tremendous amounts of heat that can compromise missions and make high-tech systems less effective in tactical environments. But there is a solution to this modern-age challenge.
“Since the Department has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to disregard congressionally mandated reprogramming procedures, the Committee cannot agree to provide the additional budget flexibility the Air Force requested,” the 2021 spending bill says.
By Theresa Hitchens
WASHINGTON: House appropriators are worried that the Air Force’s latest try to replace the MQ-Reaper isn’t fully baked and might lead to a capability gap between the service’s planned divestiture of the venerable hunter/killer drone and any follow-on. “The Air Force’s fiscal year 2021 budget request proposes to terminate production of MQ–9 aircraft, citing an…
By Theresa Hitchens
House Democrats want to add $2.5 billion to build a second Virginia-class submarine next year. Senate Republicans would rather spend on destroyers and amphibious ships.
By Paul McLeary
The provision seeks to prevent the Nuclear Weapons Council “from further encroaching on the development of the NNSA budget,” Kingston Reif, director of arms control and threat reduction policy at the Arms Control Association, told Breaking D.
By Theresa Hitchens
“To us, it means that there is going to be much more tension and debate over future modernization programs as flat investment will not enable DoD to recapitalize in a timely and militarily relevant pace,” says defense analyst Byron Callan.
By Colin Clark
To end annual panic spending to use up the budget, HASC wants to let DoD keep 50% of unspent Operations & Maintenance funds – if the appropriators allow it. A floor flight looms.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
The reboot of the Bradley replacement reminded many on the Hill of past procurement disasters like the Future Combat System. Can the Army exorcise the specter of FCS?
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Congress must pass key defense spending bills to preserve our national security. Lawmakers should pursue legislative process reforms to ensure the defense budget is consistently passed close to the start of the fiscal year.
By Thomas Spoehr