A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter of the New York Army National Guard's 3rd Battalion 142nd Aviation in Latham hovers above the Mohawk River as the crew fills the Firehawk firefighting system attached to the underside of the helicopter.

A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter of the New York Army National Guard's 3rd Battalion 142nd Aviation in Latham hovers above the Mohawk River as the crew fills the Firehawk firefighting system attached to the underside of the helicopter. U.S. Army

Defense Business Brief: Senators' budget boost; Demand up for firefighting helos; 'Weak' assessment of military; and more.

A Democrat-led Senate panel is calling for a 5 percent increase in fiscal 2022 defense spending. This week the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee recommended a $24 billion increase over the Biden administration’s request. The money would largely go toward counter-China initiatives, traditional weapons projects, and a host of technology efforts.

“We remain surprised by how much the outlook for defense spending has changed over the past 11 months—from Progressive calls to cut defense by -10% to Biden's initial 1.6% [year over year] increase to FY22 legislation including ~5% increases,” Cowen & Company’s Roman Schweizer wrote in a note to investors this week. “Also, keep in mind, this is being done with Democrats holding the White House and both chambers of Congress, and post-Afghanistan.”

Of note, the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee is the only panel to date not to recommend a double-digit spending increase for the Pentagon. The defense budget is a sideshow, with Congress needing to strike a budget deal and raise the debt ceiling by early December.

“[I]f DoD sees an increase above the level of the administration request, it will be accompanied by increases in FY22 non-defense discretionary spending,” Capital Alpha Partners Byron Callan wrote this week in a note to investors.

The increase in wildfires has spurred interest in a firefighting version of the Black Hawk helicopter, Paul Lemmo, president of Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky, said in a recent interview. “We've got interest coming now even from outside the U.S. in Firehawk,” he said, specifically noting interest among European nations. While Lemmo did not name specific countries, Greece, Portugal, and Spain have recently experienced wildfires. In the United States, wildfires this year have burned more 6.5 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Sikorsky has delivered about a dozen Firehawks and is building five more. The aircraft, which can carry 1,000 gallons of water, is built at a Sikorsky factory in Poland and are modified by United Rotorcraft in Colorado.

Weekend Reading: The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank, released its annual assessment of “military strength,” calling the Air Force and Space Force “weak,” the Navy trending toward “weak,” and the Army as “marginal.” The Marine Corps was the only military branch rated “strong,” an upgrade from the think tank’s prior assessment. “As currently postured, the U.S. military continues to be only marginally able to meet the demands of defending America’s vital national interests,” the report concludes. 

Making Moves

Booz Allen Hamilton has hired James Reilly, a retired NASA astronaut and the former director of the United States Geological Survey, as an executive advisor. “In this role, he will collaborate with a wide range of partners—the Department of Defense, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, intelligence community agencies, universities, and the commercial space industry—on innovative solutions for space-related services and applications,” the company said.

Airbus has named Rob Geckle the CEO of Airbus U.S., the company said. Chris Emerson, who was president of the U.S. arm of the European aerospace and defense firm, has been named executive chairman. 

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 21 advanced the nomination of Andrew Hunter to be Air Force acquisition executive, and David Honey to be deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.


From Defense One

Sikorsky Exploring Ways to Link Next-Gen Helicopters to F-35 // Marcus Weisgerber

It's part of Lockheed's push to network all of its weapons.

One of Four Boosters Fails in Rapid-Fire Hypersonic Tests // Caitlin M. Kenney

Three launches got off successfully from Virginia; investigations have begun into the Alaska failure.

The Military is Preparing for a 'Space Superhighway,' Complete with Pit Stops // Tara Copp

Those hubs would do more than refuel spaceships; they are seen as key to staying ahead of China.

Army Delays IVAS Display Headset by a Year // Caitlin M. Kenney

Officials cited problems with the unusually wide field of view.

China's Hypersonic Test Raises Questions About US Missile Defense, Deterrence // Patrick Tucker

Basic questions about how to defeat or deter orbital weapons remain undecided.

It's Not About Submarines. It's about Software // Nicole Camarillo and Oliver Lewis

Important as AUKUS submarines are in the military balance, the new way of deterrence will be about the strength, speed, and resilience of software.

China Ambassador Nominee 'Concerned' By Beijing's Nuke Buildup // Jacqueline Feldscher

In his confirmation hearing, Nicholas Burns also talked about more American help for Taiwan and NATO's views on China.

It's Time for Rapprochement Between Turkey and the United States // Hasan Murat Mercan

Recent events from Afghanistan to Africa require us to revisit the entire transatlantic partnership—together.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.