New documents released March 30 show the Defense Department asking Congress for authority to stop producing an unclassified version of its Future Years Defense Program—its five-year plan for future spending that is released alongside its budget. Required since 1989, the FYDP shows the Pentagon’s near-future ...
Starting this week, the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold hearings using only written questions and answers, while the new coronavirus keeps the panel from convening as usual. In a delayed process dubbed “paper hearings,” SASC will post the opening statements from Chairman Sen. Jim ...
The House and Senate Armed Services Committees are scrambling to learn more about how the coronavirus pandemic could affect the U.S. military, while also trying to keep the major annual defense policy bill on track. “The committee is in constant contact with DOD about its ...
President Donald Trump on March 21 signed a bill into law that will ensure GI Bill benefits aren’t suspended for college programs forced to switch to distance learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The planned purchase of the F-15EX to replace aging fighters is needed to maintain the homeland defense mission as aging F-15Cs continue to see reliability issues, the head of U.S. Northern Command told lawmakers. USAF Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander of NORTHCOM and North American Aerospace ...
Space Force officials say it’s taking longer than expected to finalize a list of suggested language that lawmakers could add to the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill, indicating that certain proposals for the new service are sure to cause heated disagreement across the federal government. ...
The Air Force’s plan to cut MQ-9 Reaper production and some air patrols in the fiscal 2021 budget request would negatively impact the ability to conduct operations and provide enough over watch in hotspots in the Middle East and Africa, the top officials responsible for ...
Lawmakers are beginning to weigh how the fiscal 2021 defense policy bill could help solve the KC-46 tanker program’s woes and speed its introduction into regular operations. Congress could dictate the terms of how Boeing should fix the tanker’s faulty remote vision system and how ...
Private aerial refueling may help ease the intense demand for tankers, as service leaders and U.S. Transportation Command debate the plan to retire legacy refuelers. The Air Force’s fiscal 2021 budget request calls for retiring 16 KC-10s and 13 KC-135s. Top USAF and TRANSCOM officials ...
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.—Space Force officials here want federal lawmakers to tweak spending rules so the military can use money from private companies to pay for infrastructure changes to the launch range at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. “We're going to have to come ...
Lawmakers on Feb. 26 signaled a harsh fight ahead over the Pentagon's plans to retire aging aircraft and shift spending from weapons systems to border wall protection. The Defense Department’s total $705.4 billion fiscal 2021 request looks to retire dozens of USAF aircraft. Defense Secretary ...
The pressure on the aerial refueling community affects more than the iron on Air Force ramps. Total Force aircrews are part of the most stressed force element in U.S. Transportation Command, Army Gen. Stephen Lyons told the Senate Armed Services Community on Feb. 25. Lyons ...