Determining 
the US military’s future warfighting strategy must drive the discussions on how to trim up to $400 billion from the Pentagon’s budget over the next 12 fiscal years since the world stage is so dynamic and dangerous, said Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, Thursday. “The level of national security challenges is, from my perspective, at near an all-time high if not an all-time high,” Mullen told reporters in Washington, D.C. “That really . . . argues for very careful consideration of how we move ahead here.” He said it’s critical to avoid “just making the relatively easy decision” of cashing in force structure to achieve savings. Another no-no is to settle for being “the best counterinsurgency force we can be in the future and that’s it,” he argued. “We still have high-end warfighting requirements that we are going to have to resource. And those are important programs that have to come in on cost and on schedule.”
Boeing received a $2.47 billion Air Force contract Nov. 25 for 15 more KC-46s, bringing to 183 the number of Pegasus tankers on contract to all customers, foreign and domestic. The new contract—for Lot 12 of the initially planned KC-46 buy—is to be completed by 2029.
