Saturday, May 18, 2024
Key Issues GAO on F-35 SLCM-N program office PrSM funding
Tony Bertuca is chief editor of Inside the Pentagon, the flagship publication of InsideDefense, where he focuses on defense budget and acquisition policy. He previously worked for the Sun-Times News Group in his hometown of Chicago, IL, and at the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester, NH. Tony has also served as managing editor of Inside the Army. He has a master's degree in journalism from Boston University.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said today the United States and dozens of international partners have now agreed to establish several "capability coalitions" aimed at supplying Ukraine with various air, land and sea weapons in the coming years, including assistance to modernize network infrastructure.
President Biden said today that he will ask Congress -- half of which is destabilized due to the ousting of the former House speaker -- to approve an emergency security aid package for Israel in the coming days that will help the Defense Department continue to send ammunition and replenish Iron Dome interceptors needed to fend off Hamas rocket attacks.
The Association of the United States Army holds its annual conference in Washington this week, while Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is traveling to Brussels to meet with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.
Though Congress, hobbled at the moment by House GOP intraparty dysfunction, remains divided over support for Ukraine, the Defense Department says it still intends to transfer billions of dollars in U.S. weapons to that country at a regular "cadence," despite the fact DOD is running low on the congressionally appropriated funds needed to replenish them.
The upcoming release of the Pentagon's annual China Military Power Report will state that Beijing has increasingly come to rely on its military -- the People's Liberation Army -- as a tool for coercion and "revisionist" aims in the Indo-Pacific amid the rapid modernization of its nuclear arsenal, according to a senior Defense Department official.
U.S. Central Command announced today it has transferred millions of rounds of ammunition to Ukraine previously seized from the Iranian military, a move that could help alleviate weapons shortages as the Pentagon warns it is running out of money to help Kyiv continue its fight against an ongoing Russian invasion.
The House voted 216-210 to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker, rendering the position vacant for the first time in more than a century in a stunning and historic event driven by revolt among Republican hardliners.
The Defense Department has exhausted all congressionally appropriated funding for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and is slowing down the process by which it replenishes U.S. weapons that have been transferred to Ukraine, according to a new memo from Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord.
A senior Pentagon official is scheduled to discuss China's military power this week.
The Defense Department is taking steps to prepare for a government shutdown slated for Sunday night that would furlough thousands of civilians and require military servicemembers to work without pay until Congress can pass a stopgap continuing resolution.
The GOP-led House, facing the increasing likelihood of a government shutdown on Oct. 1, narrowly passed an annual defense appropriations bill last night that has little-to-zero chance in the Democrat-led Senate and would be vetoed by President Biden over its inclusion of conservative policy riders and politically divisive amendments that would, among other things, strip military aid to Ukraine and cut Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s salary to $1.
Two Biden administration officials who have been nominated for senior acquisition and policy posts at the Pentagon said they are committed to streamlining the contracting process for Ukraine and pledged to address the growing backlog to obligate funds appropriated by Congress.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to advance the nominations of Adm. Lisa Franchetti to be chief of naval operations and Gen. David Allvin to be Air Force chief of staff, setting up confirmation votes that will need to be considered individually if they are to shirk the blanket hold put in place months ago by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).
House Republicans were able to muster enough votes last night to advance debate on the fiscal year 2024 defense appropriations bill, a goal that had eluded them three times previously.
Senate appropriators have released a bipartisan stopgap funding bill that would avert a government shutdown through Nov. 17, while providing military aid to Ukraine and allow the Defense Department to obligate money to begin construction of the Columbia-class submarine.
Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante, fresh from a meeting last week with NATO's top armaments directors, said defense contractors should expect the United States to soon announce more multinational procurement deals -- involving co-development, co-production and co-sustainment -- with its closest allies, including Ukraine.
Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak around the Washington area this week, including at a congressional hearing to discuss the Biden administration's decision to keep U.S. Space Command in Colorado, rather than relocate it to Alabama.
President Biden today announced a $325 million security assistance package for Ukraine that will transfer additional air defense systems and munitions directly from U.S. stocks, according to the Pentagon.
U.S. government officials told Congress this week that a $19 billion backlog of foreign military sales to Taiwan is due to shortcomings in the defense industrial base, but an influential business association that represents some of the largest Pentagon contractors seeks a more balanced view of the challenge.
President Biden intends to nominate Melissa Dalton to be Air Force under secretary, according to a White House announcement today.