The U.S. Navy’s fiscal 2017 plan maintains its funding for carriers and destroyers but – as recently directed by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter – cuts down on the number of Littoral Combat Ships and fast frigate successor vessels.
The budget plan appears to contain no real surprises except an apparent shift away from the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) that has been a centerpiece in President Barack Obama’s space policy.
The reflects a base Navy future years defense program from 2017 to 2021 of $826.4 billion, or about $1.6 billion higher than the FYDP presented with the fiscal 2016 budget.
Altogether the budget plan includes about $13.2 billion for the Ohio-class replacement program across the future years’ defense program (FYDP), with the initial submarine included in fiscal 2021.
The U.S. and South Korea are looking to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system on South Korean soil in light of recent North Korean actions, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook says.
The U.S. Navy will increase its planned future orders of the Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighter in the fiscal 2017 defense budget to be released tomorrow, as directed by Defense Secretary Ash Carter in a December memo to the service.
Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo 14’s lunar module pilot and one of only a dozen Americans to walk on the Moon as part of NASA’s initial foray into deep space nearly a half century ago, has died.
North Korea again raised tensions in the Asia-Pacific with a missile launch Feb. 6, and the U.S. Pacific Command underscored the strength of its allies in defending the region.
European missile manufacturer MBDA says it has begun delivering a batch of Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (ASRAAM) to the U.S. that are ready for integration onto the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Next week’s fiscal 2017 Pentagon budget proposal will include more U.S. Navy aircraft, missiles and submarine investments, including funding for a new antiship version of the SM-6 missile.
The company says while technology demonstrations showed microwave propulsion is feasible, the technical risks and cost uncertainty were unattractive to investors so work was halted at the end of 2015.
Noting that their pilots are reporting more incidents of breathing problems in F-18-based aircraft, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are combining their resources to find causes and fixes for the problems.
Days before the Pentagon details its request for spending $582.7 billion, Bill Sweetman provides his thoughts on how an “arsenal plane” might work. And Michael Fabey explains why the Littoral Combat Ship might not experience the budget cuts others have predicted.
X-planes, UAVs and a Cold War footing, this year’s budget request has it all. And Aviation Week’s Graham Warwick and Aviation Week Intelligence Network’s Dan Katz analyze President Barack Obama’s last chance to make change.
After a nearly two-decade decline in European defense budgets, an increase seems likely, driven in large part by Russian aggression and the so-called Islamic State.
