The NDAA easily passed and now heads to the Senate.
By Aaron MehtaThe nuke issue has been bubbling since Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was vague during his own confirmation hearing, telling senators he has to “look under the hood and see exactly what we’re doing with our nuclear forces.”
By Paul McLeary“I am worried about the state of the readiness of the nuclear triad,” Deputy SecDef nominee Kath Hicks tells the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning, “and, if confirmed, that is an area I would want to get my team in place and start to look at right away.”
By Paul McLearyDespite COVID-19 and a veto threat from President Trump, the HASC approved the $732 billion defense bill by a unanimous vote.
By Paul McLearyWASHINGTON: The Federal Trade Commission appears to be investigating whether Northrop Grumman acted in restraint of trade and violated an order requiring the company to sell its solid motor rocket engines on “a non-discriminatory basis to all competitors for missile contracts.” Northrop disclosed the investigation today in its quarterly report: “In October 2019, the company received…
By Colin ClarkRep. Adam Smith called into question the decades-old backbone of US nuclear policy, while calling for a “total redo” of the Nuclear Posture Review the Pentagon released earlier this year.
By Paul McLearyWASHINGTON: The Democrats’ recapturing the House means three major impacts on the Defense Department: The odds are that controversial Trump priorities like new nuclear weapons and a Space Force will go nowhere, defense budgets will go down, and oversight will go up, up, up. Program winners and losers The most likely losers are nuclear modernization…
By Mark Cancian- Air Warfare, budget, Congress, Global, Land Warfare, Naval Warfare, Networks / Cyber, Space, Threats
Podcasts, People. Breaking D Launches Inside The Loop
Here we go. TA DA! Our first podcasts, exclusive interviews with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein and Strategic Command’s Gen. John Hyten.
By Colin ClarkWASHINGTON: When the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee went to talk with the almost mystical Pentagon gang known as the Office of Net Assessment, they told him America can’t afford to execute the strategy we’re pursuing. “I asked them what they were lacking. They didn’t have an answer,” Rep. Adam Smith told…
By Colin ClarkTodd Harrison is one of the best defense budget folks around. Like many budget weenies (that’s the technical term) he really cares about how people come up with cost estimates because the underlying assumptions for them can lead in radically different directions. One example is the recent estimate on how much the next generation of…
By Todd Harrison
The Trump defense budget takes significant steps to move from a focus on regional conflicts and counter-insurgency to a focus on great power conflicts. But the Army, Navy Air Force and Marines clearly are struggling with this balance.
By Mark Cancian