How Senate appropriators helped out the Pentagon: The Congressional Roundup [Video]
Breaking Defense's Valerie Insinna walks you through key decisions from the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense markup.
Senate appropriators tack on $22 billion to defense spending bill for $853 billion topline
The legislation, passed through committee today, also fixed what one lawmaker said were billions of dollars worth of accounting errors in the Pentagon’s budget proposal.
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Cybersecurity skills don’t come from a manual, but from practical hands-on training
Cybersecurity skills must evolve in near-real time as Zero Day threats continue and AI provides new challenges.
Appropriators restore funding for Commerce’s TraCSS spacewatch effort
After a drastic reduction proposed by the White House, the Senate Appropriations Committee would fund the Office of Space Commerce at $60 million in FY26 to continue with TraCSS.
Pentagon No. 2 Hicks defends her Replicator drone initiative after Hill scrutiny
Congress needs to stop grilling Pentagon officials about the Pentagon’s plan to bulk-buy cheap unmanned weapons and start actually helping, the Deputy Secretary of Defense said: “We’ve done nearly 40 Hill briefings since last October, averaging almost one a week. …That depth of engagement isn’t scalable for Congress.”
EXCLUSIVE: Pentagon R&D chief defends RDER experimentation initiative after Senate broadside
"Every single undersecretary, every single service, every COCOM … they all concurred, thumbs up, on the first four sets of prototypes, that these are mature enough to get into production and rapid fielding," Under Secretary Heidi Shyu told Breaking Defense in an exclusive interview on the progress of her Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve.
SAC passes $852B defense bill, adding $21B and teeing up budget fight
The Senate Appropriations Committee's FY25 defense spending bill adds $21 billion in emergency funding, allowing it to skirt spending caps without triggering sequestration.
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Senator raises defense industry concerns over Boeing’s potential Spirit buy
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., says defense primes need more clarity about what happens to their programs if Boeing buys Spirit.
V-22 Osprey operating with ‘limited envelope,’ required to stay near airfields
Despite all three US V-22 variants flying, they remain under safety restrictions, according to service acquisition officials.
Key Senate appropriators signal push for higher FY25 defense topline
Jon Tester, the Montana Democrat who chairs the subcommittee, and Susan Collins, the ranking Republican from Maine, stated that they are in lockstep that the military needs more money, despite a budget cap imposed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Stem Ukraine spending now and Putin wins, Austin warns Congress
"It's hard to put an exact timeline on how long it would take… [but] I can guarantee you without our support, Putin will be successful,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told lawmakers.
Michigan: Arsenal of Democracy for dangerous times
Michigan’s defense ecosystem and expertise makes it a special asset for production.
Guard Chief: Transferring Air National Guard missions into Space Force will cost $1B, harm readiness
Gen. Daniel Hokanson said his "best military advice" is instead "to transfer the current Air National Guard units doing the space mission into a National Guard component for the Space Force, so they can continue everything they're doing today tomorrow."
Lawmakers rev up support for Marine Corps’ Force Design 2030 in letter to appropriators
The full-throated support by Armed Services Committee lawmakers could foreshadow Force Design 2030's future when its biggest proponent leaves the Marine Corps.
With Chinese balloons in mind, appropriators may plus-up radar spending in FY24
“We need to provide the resources and I think this committee on both sides of the aisle wants to make sure our nation is safe, and provide the resources to do that," Sen. Jon Tester said Tuesday.
Citing routine cost jumps, Senate appropriators add to Middle Tier authority concerns
“You always have to be careful when we streamline a process,” David Norquist, recently installed as president and CEO of the National Defense Industrial Association, told Breaking Defense.