The U.S. Army will seek to reduce funding in fiscal 2025 for a hypersonic missile program on the cusp of being fielded as part of an overall $185.9 billion budget proposal.
The service announced last month it would cancel the FARA program after spending $2 billion on development of competitive prototypes from Bell and Sikorsky.
Ministers Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Tom Tugendhat say that while defense spending of rivals is rising rapidly, that of the UK has only risen by 28% recently.
Chinese defense expenditure will remain at around 1.2% of GDP, although aspects of wider defense spending are understood to not be included in that official figure.
Stratolaunch conducted the first powered flight of its Talon TA-1 test vehicle, a key step toward supporting regular and reusable hypersonic test capability.
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Launch of the SpaceX Cargo Dragon with a more than 6,000-lb. payload from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is planned for no earlier than mid-March.
The announcements came during a visit by Defense Minister Bill Blair to CFB Trenton, the main operating base for the CE-145C Vigilance and a hub for CC-330s.
