A London-based defense think tank agrees with the Pentagon that China has been spending at least twice what it officially reports on military modernization. And, the amount is rising. In its yearly assessment of global military power titled “The Military Balance,” the International Institute of Strategic Studies estimated that the Chinese defense budget was $62.5 billion—compared with the official number of $25 billion, reports the London Financial Times. The IISS assessment asserts that much larger investments are being made in research and development, procurement, military pensions, and some nuclear programs than are being reported.
The Space Force has selected six commercial space domain awareness companies to support military operations with both steady-state and surge capacity, as part of the service’s new Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve.