Military.com
It’s one of the biggest proposed defense budgets in history. The largest military space budget in history. And the $842 billion spending plan unveiled March 13 by the Pentagon also predicts the military's funding could reach nearly $1 trillion annually by the end of the decade, if President Joe Biden's estimates hold. For service members, the big spending plans for fiscal 2024 could mean the largest pay hike for troops in more than 20 years, universal pre-kindergarten services for military families, better deals on groceries at the commissary, and continuing allowances for gas during permanent change of station moves.
Air Force Times
The U.S. Air Force has rotationally deployed the RQ-4 Global Hawk drone to Singapore since January, Defense News has learned. The Northrop Grumman-made high-altitude, long-endurance UAV was sighted at Changi Air Base (East) on multiple occasions from January onward, and Defense News has obtained a photograph of it being towed at the base.
Defense One
The Pentagon is seeking $17.8 billion for science and technology research, up from last year's $16.5 billion request, which was itself up from the previous year. But China still appears to have the lead in several key areas of emerging technology. Requested in the 2024 budget proposal sent to Congress on Monday, the money will go to priorities laid out by the defense undersecretary for research and engineering, including: artificial intelligence, hypersonics (offensive and defensive), directed energy (lasers, particle beams, etc.), microelectronics, biological technology, cyber, fifth-generation communications (5G), autonomy, space, and quantum sciences.
Breaking Defense
The U.S., U.K., and Australia revealed details of a plan to provide Australia nuclear-powered submarines, with senior administration officials telling Breaking Defense ahead of the event that the outcome will be a “huge” jump in Aussie capabilities and a strategic boon to Washington. Details include the U.S. selling three Virginia-class subs to Australia in the early 2030s, a new nuclear sub design entering U.K. service in the late 2030s and Australian service in the early 2040s, as well as a brand new basing agreement will give American subs a major strategic hub in the Pacific.
Defense News
Sending military aid to Ukraine has been one of the Defense Department’s highest profile focuses for more than a year, but defense officials left it out of the Pentagon’s new budget request and say the plan is to continue to seek emergency funding from Congress. The notable exclusion of politically sensitive Ukraine contingency funding from the budget request suggests the Pentagon may be seeking to insulate its core programs against Capitol Hill cross-currents.
POLITICO
The Pentagon on March 13 unveiled details of its $842 billion budget request that officials say keeps the focus on countering China. But it also reflects the realization, driven by the war in Ukraine, that the department needs to start doing business differently to make sure it’s ready for a direct conflict. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine revealed a vulnerability in America’s military-industrial base as arms makers struggled to keep up with the massive new demand for missiles and ammunition.
DefenseScoop
The Department of Defense’s fiscal 2024 budget includes U.S. Cyber Command’s first-ever budget request as it assumes full budget authorities and resources for the cyber mission force. While no topline budget or number has been released or announced by the command or DOD, budget documents released by the Pentagon detail CYBERCOM’s operations and maintenance budget request of $332.6 million for its headquarters, a procurement budget request of $129 million, and a research, development, test and evaluation budget request of $1.1 billion.
Task & Purpose
Over the last year, the United States has been carrying out multiple exercises with partner nations in the Pacific. They’ve served two purposes, both for practical training and to send a regional security message to nations such as China and North Korea. The latest one, Cobra Gold 23, just wrapped up with thousands of troops taking part in jungle warfare and survival classes and massive combined forces live fire exercises. Held in Thailand, the 42nd edition of Cobra Gold saw Thai forces, troops from South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia, plus 6,000 American troops, with representatives from multiple branches.
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Inside Defense
The Air Force will not seek any procurement funding for hypersonic missile efforts, but research funding has been requested for two of the service's highest-profile hypersonic programs, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget Maj. Gen. Mike Greiner said March 13. The Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon and Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile would receive $150 million and $384 million, respectively, for research, development, test, and evaluation.
One More Thing
The War Zone
For those of you active on Twitter, it would have been hard to miss the buzz surrounding the Oscars. “Top Gun: Maverick”, the second highest-grossing film of 2022, racked up an impressive total of six Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture, Film Editing and Visual Effects. The film's sound team deservedly went on to win the Oscar for Best Sound. In celebration of Maverick's Oscar nomination success, Lockheed Martin—whose legendary Skunk Works advanced projects division worked with the producers of the movie on the fictional "Darkstar" hypersonic aircraft—tweeted a series of "Real Top Gun" images in the lead-up to the ceremony. One tweet, in particular, caught people's attention immediately.
