The SPACECOM list includes almost $704 million for three unnamed classified programs, as well as $90 million to fund a trio of classified Navy electronic warfare-based "counterspace" capabilities.
John Ferrari and Charles Rahr, in this op-ed, argue that instead of relying on the Hill to bail it out, the Pentagon may need to embrace its true needs and change where it invests.
The bipartisan spending package, released early this morning, increases defense funding by $27 billion over the previous year’s enacted budget and includes a number of key provisions the department had requested.
"Rheinmetall didn't build a Boxer factory in Australia as an act of charity. They did it because we paid them to do it," Marcus Hellyer, an Australian defense acquisition expert, told Breaking Defense. "That gives them the capacity to now build stuff for Germany and that will mean that there will be jobs in Australia."
US Southern Command laid out 20 different unfunded budget priorities for fiscal year 2025 in a 28-page list sent to Congress and obtained by Breaking Defense.
Meanwhile, the Air Force’s Vice Chief of Staff Gen James Slife said his service has several “compelling programs in the pipeline” but they are “not quite as technologically mature as some of the Army programs.”
Adam Lowther and Curtis McGiffin argue in this op-ed that added context is needed before deciding that the Sentinel ICBM is too expensive.
"The proposed sale will improve Bahrain’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing a credible force that can deter adversaries and provide the capability to participate in regional operations with the United States and other U.S. partner nations," the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.
If lawmakers could free up $250 million in the FY25 budget, the service could use that to purchase two additional CH-53K helicopters, or $341 million could be used for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle 30mm Cannon (ACV-30) line.
US Indo-Pacific Command’s $11 billion unfunded priority list includes 44 programs, from missiles to maritime mines.
Poland, in particular, led the way in defense expenditure in 2023, using nearly 4 percent of its GDP on an arms spending spree, according to the alliance's annual report.
The service wants to begin a new Multi-Domain Artillery Cannon System prototyping initiative, to slow down PrSM Inc 2 production and to launch IVAS Next.
The investment in transitioning Rocket Cargo "is focused on utilizing vehicles that traverse from or through space to transport DoD materiel anywhere around the world within tactically responsive timelines," the Space Force's FY25 budget request says.
Thales, Dassault Aviation and MBDA all conducted their annual investor events over the last two weeks, with the three firms collectively announcing revenues of €27.7 billion ($30.3 billion) in 2023, a massive haul for France’s defense sector.
“There’s no way we go into a large-scale fight without relying on allies and partners for supply chain airfields [and ports]. We've identified [those], you know, down to every airfield and port there is,” said Army Materiel Command head Gen. Charles Hamilton. “Have we done the same thing here in the United States?"