Senior Reporter, Congress and Defense Industry, Breaking Defense
Valerie covers the congressional and defense industry beat for Breaking Defense. Valerie has extensive national security reporting expertise, having served as the air warfare beat reporter for Defense News for five years. During that time her work was recognized by numerous awards, including the prestigious National Press Club Michael A. Dornheim Award for defense journalism. Valerie most recently covered commercial aerospace for Reuters. She also previously worked at Defense Daily and National Defense Magazine.
Among the unclassified programs listed, the Space Force could use an additional $160 million to establish a “working capital fund” to be used for purchasing commercial satellite communications.
For the Pentagon, the bill’s passage signifies some return to normal order after having operated the first six months of the fiscal year under a continuing resolution.
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.
The Army has sent lawmakers a $2.2 billion unfunded priority list for FY25, while US Central Command says it would happily funnel an additional $450 million towards regional security.
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.
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.
Boeing acquired Germantown, Md.-based Digital Receiver Technology Inc. in 2008, when the aerospace giant was seeking to expand its presence in the intelligence sector.
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.
“We’re still looking for the ability to translate and transition those innovation priorities into capabilities, into programs of record, into budget priorities,” said Rachel Hoff, Reagan Institute’s policy director and one of the authors of a new scorecard evaluating progress in defense innovation.
The “Milestone C” decision is a crucial moment signifying the department’s confidence in the performance of the F-35 and maturity of Lockheed Martin’s production system, though the plane has been in service for years.
“Ukraine is not running out of courage and tenacity: They’re running out of ammunition, and we’re running out of time to help them,” said CIA director William Burns.
The competition for Warfighter Training and Readiness Solutions will bring together training networks, combat training centers and live ranges across the DoD enterprise.
The competition for Warfighter Training and Readiness Solutions will bring together training networks, combat training centers and live ranges across the DoD enterprise.
