Space Force, IC’s battle over commercial ISR reignites as appropriators add fuel

Space Force, IC’s battle over commercial ISR reignites as appropriators add fuel
Space Force, IC’s battle over commercial ISR reignites as appropriators add fuel

More than a dozen sources tell Breaking Defense that tensions between the NGA and Space Force are rising on commercial ISR, with White House officials watching closely.

National Guard leaders petition Biden, Harris for dedicated Space Force branch

National Guard leaders petition Biden, Harris for dedicated Space Force branch
National Guard leaders petition Biden, Harris for dedicated Space Force branch

“OMB’s opposition to establishing a SNG and directive to transfer current National Guard space missions to an unestablished ‘Space Component’ will create a 7–10 year gap in the capabilities Air National Guard Space Units provide today,” the 51 Guard adjutant generals argue in a letter to President Joe Biden.

Pentagon asks Congress for right to launch new tech programs before it has a budget

Pentagon asks Congress for right to launch new tech programs before it has a budget
Pentagon asks Congress for right to launch new tech programs before it has a budget

“One of the reasons it hasn’t happened in the past is because Congress is reluctant to give up even this much authority,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said today. “I think it’s a minimal amount of authority to give up for a very high return.”

Not to be left ‘behind’: Advocates hopeful NDAA will mandate a Space Guard

Not to be left ‘behind’: Advocates hopeful NDAA will mandate a Space Guard
Not to be left ‘behind’: Advocates hopeful NDAA will mandate a Space Guard

The Biden administration so far has pushed back on the idea, citing cost, but some powerful senators are on board and an NDAA fight is brewing on the Hill.

NGAD Strategy Faces Hill Headwinds

NGAD Strategy Faces Hill Headwinds
NGAD Strategy Faces Hill Headwinds

“The business case is a naïve bet on out-year operating cost savings – that’s an act the Hill has seen before, and it never pays off,” independent analyst Rebecca Grant says of the Digital Century Series concept.

CSIS Bad Idea: Blaming OCO for Defense Budget Blunders

CSIS Bad Idea: Blaming OCO for Defense Budget Blunders
CSIS Bad Idea: Blaming OCO for Defense Budget Blunders

In other words, the fault is not with the OCO mechanism, but in many cases, with members of Congress who are critiquing its use.

Navy To Slash 24 Ships in 2021 Plan, Bolster Unmanned Effort

Navy To Slash 24 Ships in 2021 Plan, Bolster Unmanned Effort
Navy To Slash 24 Ships in 2021 Plan, Bolster Unmanned Effort

The OMB, clearly taken by surprise by the Navy plan, told the Pentagon to “submit a resource-informed plan to achieve a 355-ship combined fleet, including manned and unmanned ships, by 2030.”

Shutdown Snarls DoD’s 2020 Budget; When Will Congress See It?

Shutdown Snarls DoD’s 2020 Budget; When Will Congress See It?
Shutdown Snarls DoD’s 2020 Budget; When Will Congress See It?

UPDATED: Trump Announces Government Reopens For 3 Weeks WASHINGTON: The Pentagon won’t be able to release its fiscal year 2020 budget on Feb. 4 as previously planned because it has been caught up in the melee caused down by the 35-day government shutdown. The budget release could be delayed at least one month. The missed…

Congress Traded Operations & Maintenance For Modernization In 19 Appropriations

Congress Traded Operations & Maintenance For Modernization In 19 Appropriations
Congress Traded Operations & Maintenance For Modernization In 19 Appropriations

Now that President Trump has signed the fiscal 2019 defense appropriations bill — marking the first time in nine years that defense is not bound by a Continuing Resolution — the broad trend was cuts to Operational and Maintenance (O&M) to fund Research, Development, Testing, & Engineering (RDT&E). The top line was consistent with the…

Why Chairman Thornberry Failed To Tame DoD’s Fourth Estate

Why Chairman Thornberry Failed To Tame DoD’s Fourth Estate
Why Chairman Thornberry Failed To Tame DoD’s Fourth Estate

When House Armed Services Chairman Thornberry proposed eliminating seven agencies and reducing personnel by 25 percent, he faced strong opposition. In the HASC’s draft bill, he scaled the proposal back to eliminating just three agencies. But that didn’t work either. During the committee’s markup of the House defense policy bill, members still pushed back.

US Forces Won’t Grow Much Despite Hill & Trump Rhetoric

US Forces Won’t Grow Much Despite Hill & Trump Rhetoric
US Forces Won’t Grow Much Despite Hill & Trump Rhetoric

The defense community is abuzz with talk of strategy and force expansion as the Pentagon develops the Trump Administration’s National Security Strategy. Talk is nice but, as budgeteers like to say, “If it ain’t funded, it ain’t”. Building the forces the services say they need—with the readiness and modernization to support them— requires large budgets,…

Trump’s Promised Big Boost To DoD Evaporates In 2018 Budget

Trump’s Promised Big Boost To DoD Evaporates In 2018 Budget
Trump’s Promised Big Boost To DoD Evaporates In 2018 Budget

Campaign promises of a larger, more ready and fully modernized military have slammed into budget realities as the Trump administration’s fiscal 2018 budget for the Pentagon shows only modest growth above what the Obama administration had projected. Funding at those levels will support a 305-ship Navy, not the 350 ships that candidate Trump proposed back in…

Continuing Resolution Fears? OCO’s Ugly But It Might Work

Continuing Resolution Fears? OCO’s Ugly But It Might Work
Continuing Resolution Fears? OCO’s Ugly But It Might Work

Two weeks from today America will either be a laughingstock or Congress will have done the responsible thing, the necessary thing, and passed some kind of useful spending bills. Or, as Mark Cancian, a former senior official at the Office of Management and Budget, suggests, there may be a sort of defense spending bandage to strap…

McCain Stands Against Trump’s OMB Pick

McCain Stands Against Trump’s OMB Pick
McCain Stands Against Trump’s OMB Pick

  UPDATED: Mulvaney Wins Confirmation Thursday By 2 Votes; McCain Only GOP to Vote No WASHINGTON: In a move that took some by surprise, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John McCain, declared his opposition to President Trump’s pick to run the crucial Office of Management and Budget. McCain is the only…