The $16.8 billion fiscal 2023 budget request for the U.S. Navy’s aviation branch taps the brakes on procurement ramp-ups for several fixed-wing aircraft programs.

The Pentagon’s fiscal 2023 budget request released, March 28, is the first time the U.S. Space Force has been able to plan spending as its own independent service, and the result is a big investment in research and development aimed at making key services in orbit more protected from emerging threats.

The U.S. Air Force plans to start cutting its Lockheed Martin F-22 fleet quickly, retiring 33 of the least-capable Raptors in fiscal 2023 as it looks to invest more in its next-generation fighter.

The U.S. Air Force is planning to cut its purchase of Lockheed Martin F-35As in the short term, looking to buy more Boeing F-15EXs as the Joint Strike Fighter continues to struggle with the development of needed upgrades.

The U.S. Air Force is planning large spending increases for the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider as the bomber moves closer to its first flight and more aircraft enter production.

The U.S. Air Force wants to end production of its next-generation combat rescue helicopter earlier than planned, reducing the program of record by about one-third as it looks to future threats.

The U.S. Air Force, having been previously blocked by Congress from retiring MQ-9 Reapers that are heavily used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, is trying a different approach in the fiscal 2023 budget request released March 28.

“We must all prepare ourselves for the fact that we have a neighbor presently ready to use force to assert its interests,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a radio interview.