The Pentagon is reaching out to small businesses to learn about the barriers they face in winning Defense Department contracts, as the proportion of smaller companies in the defense industrial base continues to shrink.

The House Armed Services Committee on Sept. 1 voted 42-17 to authorize a $23.9 billion increase in U.S. defense spending, for a total of $778 billion in fiscal 2022.

The Pentagon is not ruling out possible collaboration with the Taliban as it looks to target the Islamic State-Khorasan group within Afghanistan for “over-the-horizon” counterterrorism strikes with no U.S. forces in the country.

The U.S. Marine Corps will fly Lockheed Martin F-35Bs off of a Japanese ship for the first time in October or November, Gen. David Berger, the commandant, said on Sept. 1. 

The Japanese Defense Ministry’s fiscal 2022 budget request seeks 5.48 trillion yen ($50 billion), a 7% increase from the 5.12 trillion yen it sought the prior year.

The House Armed Services Committee chairman wants to cut the Defense Department’s buy of F-35s in the short term in favor of adding dozens of fourth-generation aircraft, including Super Hornets, that the U.S. Navy does not want, while in the long-term cutting back on Joint Strike Fighter procurement if sustainment costs don’t improve.

Experience, adaptation skills and cooperation with allies as well as reliable and efficient aircraft made Operation Agapan a success, enabling 2,800 people to leave Afghanistan on short notice, French military officials say.

A joint statement, issued by the three countries, said the signing of the latest agreement “confirms the commitment of Germany, Spain and France to the development of a new generation combat aviation [system] capable of facing future threats and challenges.”