More than five months after the fiscal year began, Congress unveiled its 2022 spending bill for the Pentagon and the rest of the federal government in the early hours of March 9, with a proposed boost for defense spending.

CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla.— A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, powered by a Russian-made RD-180 rocket motor, blasted off on a crisp 68 degree Florida day into clear blue skies, carrying the GOES-T National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite into orbit. Seven years after Congress ordered ULA to find another source for its rocket motors, this launch comes at the lowest point in U.S.-Russian relations in decades. And though ULA soon will be cut off from further supplies due to sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine last month, ULA and Space Force officials say they don't expect any National Security Space Launches to be affected.

Ukrainian forces are making good use of their Russian-made air defense systems, and Russia’s slow progress in Ukraine is an indication of how important it is to have air superiority, said Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mark D. Kelly. However, the U.S. needs new weapons to equip its fighters because adversaries are getting better at detecting even low-observable aircraft.

Concern over inflation has impacted the Pentagon’s planning for the fiscal 2023 budget request, the Defense Department’s top financial official said March 9. But the budget is “substantively” complete, and space figures to be a foundational part of it, Comptroller Mike McCord said at the McAleese conference.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine provided a wake-up call for U.S. officials who should now recognize that if China has designs on Taiwan, “We have to look at this and say, ‘Hey, this could happen,’” said INDOPACOM’s commander Adm. John Aquilino. Defense Department officials appearing before the House Armed Services Committee affirmed that China “is the most consequential strategic competitor that the United States has faced,” as Aquilino put it, and its government is willing to “uproot the rules-based international order to the benefit of themselves and at the expense of all others.” At the same time, “trend lines” in regards to U.S. military ties with India “are moving in the right direction,” said Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs.

Air Force Special Operations Command's shift to great power competition will mean more forward-deployed engagements with allies and partners in Europe and the Indo-Pacific. "It's going to be special operations forces that are forward, that are partnering with our allies and partners to make sure that we are both assuring our allies and we're showing that we are resilient together,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Tony D. Bauernfeind, vice commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, who estimated that 30 percent to 40 percent of missions will focus on competition with a peer adversary such as China, with the remainder in countering violent extremist organizations.