The Defense Department’s request to quadruple its funding for European reassurance is needed, because without it the US would not be able to put the “full might of the US military behind NATO in event of a crisis,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter told lawmakers. The Pentagon requested $3.4 billion in funding for the European Reassurance Initiative in its Fiscal 2017 budget, up from $700 million, as a way of “adjusting to a fact that we haven’t had to face for a quarter century, that we have a Russia that is threatening western Europe,” Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. “We need a new playbook,” he added. The funding would help build infrastructure at airbases in Europe, preposition equipment throughout the continent, and increase training exercises with allies. (See also: Following the Money in Europe.)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.