Daily Report

March 5, 2014

The Budget’s Three-Part Invention

The Air Force’s budget request for Fiscal 2015, released Tuesday, includes $137.8 billion, of which $109.3 billion is for actual “blue” programs (the rest is “pass through” money controlled by other Defense agencies). The budget is an unprecedented three-part invention;...

Pentagon Requests $495.6 Billion in Fiscal 2015

The Defense Department is requesting $495.6 billion in its base budget, a reduction of $400 million from the enacted Fiscal 2014 budget. The proposed budget meets the sequester-related caps in Fiscal 2015, though it exceeds those caps by some $115...

Space Launch Savings, Sequester Danger

Maj Gen. Robert McMurry, head of space acquisition programs on the Air Staff, said the Air Force has found savings in its space launch enterprise through negotiations with the United Launch Alliance and by opening up some launches to competition...

QDR: “Adapt, Reshape, and Rebalance”

The 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review—released Tuesday along with the President’s Fiscal 2015 budget request—looks to “adapt, reshape, and rebalance” the US military. Specifically, the 88-page document outlines three initiatives. The first incorporates the priorities listed in the 2012 Defense Strategic...

HASC Chairman to DOD: Rewrite QDR

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) called on the Defense Department to “re-write and re-submit” the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, which was officially released Tuesday along with the President’s Fiscal 2015 budget request. McKeon said the review...

Reversing Course on CRH

Just days after giving the strong impression that the Combat Rescue Helicopter was out of the Fiscal 2015 budget request, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James put it back in. The service also announced Tuesday the contract will be awarded...

Guiding Principles

The Air Force built its Fiscal 2015 budget request around what it must be able to do in 2023, based on various studies the service has undertaken over the last year, said service budget director Maj. Gen. James Martin. Alongside...

Force Structure Winners and Losers

The Defense Department already has proposed steep cuts to its force structure in the Fiscal 2015 budget request, but if sequestration is fully reinstituted in Fiscal 2016 more cuts will be inevitable, said Pentagon leaders Tuesday. “Readiness would be a...