Ideas
Airpower Gets a Big Boost in the Senate’s Authorization Bill
Air Force leaders won’t be entirely happy with it, but the country should be.
Ideas
The Senate’s Defense Authorization Bill Ignores Our New Reality
The annual policy bill takes almost no notice of a pandemic that has already wrought more destruction than most of our country’s wars.
Business
The Pentagon Can’t Afford All of the Weapons It Wants, New Report Says
Based on projected funding levels, the military will be forced to choose winners and losers among its priority projects.
Business
US Defense Firms Hiring Thousands Amid Record Unemployment
Pentagon spending on missiles, satellites, and nuclear weapons fuels a production boom, as firms fight off commercial aerospace downturn.
Policy
Global Defense Spending Decline Expected As Nations Deal with Coronavirus
Experts see domestic projects taking priority over national security in the coming years.
Policy
Pentagon Delays Budget Deadline to Help Staff Work from Home
Service officials had complained that a June 1 deadline was preventing them from implementing coronavirus-related social-distancing guidelines.
Threats
Military Leaders Ask to Delay Budget Planning To Focus on Coronavirus, Let Staff Stay Home
But the Defense Department's No. 2 told Army, Navy, and Air Force budget planners to figure a different solution.
Policy
A New Nuclear Warhead? STRATCOM Chief Can’t Answer Yes or No
The W93 has been the focus of questions since it appeared in the 2021 budget proposal.
Policy
Lawmakers Fire Back at Trump’s Plan to Divert Military Funds to Border Wall
But the bipartisan team of Smith and Thornberry have attracted few other GOPers to the effort.
Ideas
Top 5 Things to Watch in Congress' 2021 Defense Budget Hearings
On Wednesday, military and civilian leaders of the Defense Department will testify before Congress on their $705 billion budget request for 2021.
Policy
Nothing’s ‘Irreversible,’ But the Pentagon’s New Bureaucracies Aim to Come Close
As budget hearing season gets underway, expect to hear a lot about "irreversible implementation" of changes toward great power competition.
Policy
Trump Targets Major Weapons Projects To Fund Wall
The funds will be drawn mainly from procurement for major programs like the F-35 fighter jet. $1.3 billion will come from the National Guard alone.
Ideas
DOD Civilians Would Get 1% Pay Raise Under 2021 Budget Proposal
That's more than the Trump administration's 2020 request, which would have frozen wages, but less than the 3.1% average pay increase enacted by Congress.
Science & Tech
US Defense R&D Funding Falls As China’s Keeps Growing
2021 budget request would see Pentagon funding shrink from $64.5 billion to $59 billion.
Policy
DOD's 2021 Budget Would Trim Arsenal, Shift Funds To Arms Development
Some experts say the budget proposal assumes a worrying amount of near-term risk.
Ideas
Overspending on the Pentagon Won’t Make Us Safer
We spend far more on the military than the countries we most fear, while shorting the things that would actually help us compete.
Policy
What Do You Call the Troops of the US Space Force?
The Pentagon wants your input — and space cadets and spacemen are not under consideration.
Ideas
Why Does the US Spend So Much on Defense?
It is well to remember that the real bill includes not just DOD spending but VA, intelligence, and more. But those who would cut spending must also propose a new strategy.
Policy
The US Navy Needs More Money, Its Top Admiral Bluntly Argues
The sea service is pushing for a fleet of 355 ships in the next decade, and that’s not counting unmanned vessels.
Ideas