2020 budget

Navy test of a Trident Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) WASHINGTON: The battle lines have been clearly marked between Democrats and Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee, with $17 billion and differing visions of…

F-15E Strike Eagles return from the first strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria, 2014. CAPITOL HILL: House Democrats declined to include language standing up a new Space Force in their version of the 2020 defense policy bill, though…

F-35 with open weapons bay CAPITOL HILL: A key congressional committee is demanding more information from the Pentagon on an array of weapons. The biggest ask: an independent cost estimate on the massive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter…

Laser-armed Stryker vehicle PENTAGON: The Army will move about $10 billion more from lower-priority programs to its flagship Big Six over the five years 2021-2025. That’s on top of the $33 billion already reallocated in the Future Year…

This month, the House Appropriations Committee kicked off the annual process of congressional oversight of the Pentagon by passing its bill to fund the military for fiscal 2020. While the committee signaled willingness among the…

WASHINGTON: This week, two key committees rejected President Trump’s attempt to bypass budget caps on defense. That set up the latest round of fiscal fighting to amend the Budget Control Act and avoid the automatic cuts called…

A failed microcircuit. (Naval Sea Systems Command) CAPITOL HILL: From missile defense sensors in space to 5G networks at Air Force bases, from developing software to mining rare earth minerals, the Senate Armed Services Committee draft…

Quantum Information Science research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology WASHINGTON: House appropriators significantly bolstered research spending by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) on a…

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross WASHINGTON: House appropriators have rejected the Trump Administration’s plan to consolidate authority to regulate commercial satellites in a new bureau within the Commerce Department. Under the White…

WASHINGTON: It’s not dead yet, but House appropriators took a stand against full funding for the Space Force which highlights the Trump Administration’s shaky ground as it tries to get the new service off the ground. The House…