Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Feb. 2 previewed the Defense Department’s $582.7 billion Fiscal 2017 budget request, which is less than last year’s $585 billion request though he said it includes increases in strategic areas. The budget quadruples funding for the European Reassurance Initiative, provides a 50 percent increase in funding for the war against ISIS, ?includes $71.1 billion for strategic investments in new technology, and $7 billion to increase cyber training and defenses, said Carter during a speech before the Economic Club of Washington at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C. “We don’t have the luxury of just one opponent, or the choice between current fights and future fights,” Carter said. “We have to do both. And that’s what our budget is designed to do.” The White House Office of Management and Budget will pass its full budget request to Congress on Feb. 9. (Watch Carter’s budget preview.)
In the face of Chinese war plans to disrupt U.S. command-and-control networks in the event of a conflict, the Air Force needs to focus less on its “connect everything” efforts and prepare its combat aviators to fight without a constant connection to higher-ups, according to a new report from AFA’s…
