A defense industry meeting in New York City earlier this month offered dire comments from DOD officials and industry executives as to the future state of defense budgets. According to a Dec. 27 New York Times replay, Ryan Henry, the Pentagon’s No. 2 policy man, told the crowd the budget of the past few years can’t be sustained. Boeing executive James Albaugh acknowledged that it “had been a great ride for the last five years,” but everyone knew the upcoming budgets would be flat. Albaugh predicted that the future would be “less about innovation and more about cost control.” In other words, it’s déjà vu all over again.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.