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01 May 25. Senior Defense Officials Field Questions on Next-Gen Missile Defense Shield. During a hearing on missile defense yesterday before the House Armed Services Committee in Washington, a panel of senior Defense Department officials testified regarding their respective organizations’ progress in developing the country’s next-generation missile defense shield.
The development, future deployment and maintenance of the new system — referred to as the “Golden Dome” — comes as a result of a Jan. 27, 2025, executive order signed by President Donald J. Trump calling for a missile defense shield that will defend citizens and infrastructure from any foreign aerial attack on the homeland, as well as guarantee second-strike capability.
“Golden Dome is a top priority for the nation, and will include the development of cutting-edge domain awareness systems, kinetic and non-kinetic missile defeat capabilities and advanced command, control and battle management systems to integrate and augment existing U.S. missile defense capabilities,” Andrea Yaffe, performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for space policy, told the committee.
Additionally, Yaffe said the president’s Golden Dome executive order underscores that “the threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks remains the most catastrophic threat facing the United States.”
Regarding how her office has been contributing to the defense shield’s development, Yaffe said that once a decision on the program’s architecture has been made, the intent is to lead and conduct a missile defense review, as well as “broader considerations and strategic requirements.”
The additional members on the panel, all three and four-star generals from air and space-affiliated DOD services, also explained how their organizations are contributing to Golden Dome’s development.
Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said that both his commands have provided three separate layers of input to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Staff — all related to the detection and destruction of various incoming missile threats.
“Establishing a layered domain awareness network to detect and track threats approaching North America, from the seabed to space, remains our top priority because you can’t defeat what you can’t see,” Guillot said, adding that such a network is central to both NORAD and Northcom’s current and future requirements, including the future Golden Dome project.
Air Force Lt. Gen Heath A. Collins, director of the Missile Defense Agency, explained that MDA has been working on a national defense architecture for 42 years and plays a key role in supporting the assembly and integration of missile defense systems like the future Golden Dome.
“We’re at the core of helping support and inform in putting together an architecture that’s comprehensive, that covers all pieces and parts, and be executed,” Collins told the committee.
When asked whether Golden Dome is intended to be a new approach to missile defense or if it’s just going to be a “rebranding” of missile defense capabilities already in place, Yaffe said that — until now — missile defense had primarily been focused on intercontinental ballistic missile threats posed by rogue states such as North Korea.
“The direction the Golden Dome executive order is to focus on the whole range of missile threats … from all nations, and that’s a significant shift in both policy and direction,” she explained.
“I think the big difference is Golden Dome takes all of the existing requirements that we had — for the first time — integrates multiple layers into one system,” Guillot said before reiterating that this will be the first time all components and requirements will be “tied together in one system.” (Source: U.S. DoD)
01 May 25. Hegseth orders ‘comprehensive transformation’ of US Army, merging offices and cutting units. The Army will stop procuring Humvees, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, and Gray Eagle drones, while General Dynamics Land Systems will be told to stop producing its brand new light tank, the M10 Booker.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this morning ordered the “transformation” of the US Army, including divesting certain formations, canceling procurement on legacy systems and merging several internal organizations.
Breaking Defense first broke news this week that a major restructuring of the Army was on the table, including the mergers of Army Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command into a new organization — something Hegseth’s memo today confirmed.
Other moves of note include orders to “Reduce and restructure manned attack helicopter formations and augment with inexpensive drone swarms capable of overwhelming adversaries,” and “Divest outdated formations, including select armor and aviation units across the Total Army (Active, Reserve, National Guard).”
“To build a leaner, more lethal force, the Army must transform at an accelerated pace by divesting outdated, redundant, and inefficient programs, as well as restructuring headquarters and acquisition systems,” Hegseth wrote in his memo [PDF].
In a memo to the force, obtained by Breaking Defense, service chief Gen. Randy George stated that the changes fall under the branding of the Army Transformation Initiative (ATI), which will have three key focus areas: “deliver critical warfighting capabilities, optimize our force structure, and eliminate waste and obsolete programs.”
This initiative,” George wrote, “will reexamine all requirements and eliminate unnecessary ones, ruthlessly prioritize fighting formations to directly contribute to lethality, and empower leaders at echelon to make hard calls to ensure resources align with strategic objectives.”
John Ferrari, a senior nonresident fellow at AEI and retired Army Maj. Gen., pointed to repeated use of the year 2027 in Hegseth’s memo,, saying the date is not coincidence but aligns with the recent estimates of China’s capacity.
“This is a bold plan by the Army and its leadership, that aligns decision making and execution by setting 2027 as the date to be completed — a mere 32 months,” Ferrari told Breaking Defense today.
“The Army’s changes will be rapid, align with the capabilities of the new tech defense startups, while the other services are still measuring their changes in years and decades,” he later added.
Cuts To Aviation, Ground Vehicles
An Army official today confirmed that the service will stop producing Humvees and Joint Light Tactical Vehicles. And General Dynamics Land Systems will be told to stop producing its brand new light tank, the M10 Booker. (The Wall Street Journal first reported on those cuts.)
In his memo, George also stated that the Army would stop procurement on the AH-64D, produced by Boeing (the service is now largely purchasing E models), and the “obsolete” Gray Eagle drone, produced by General Atomics.
Notably, George in his memo warns that more is coming: “This is a first step. We have already directed a second round of transformation efforts to be delivered in the coming months.”
What those future cuts look like isn’t clear, but Army leaders have been indicating for months that the service’s ground vehicle portfolio is facing even deeper cuts, which could see modernization programs like the Robotic Combat Vehicle and ongoing Bradley replacement competition be halted, or legacy programs like the Stryker be hit.
On the aviation side, just last year the Army unveiled a massive aviation overhaul that included cancelling development of its next-generation Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program in order to direct those dollars towards unmanned aerial reconnaissance systems, continuing manned helicopter programs like the UH-60M Blackhawk line and CH-47F Block II Chinook, and continuing to development of the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA).
There had been speculation in industry that FLRAA could be in trouble long-term, but George in his memo doubled down on supporting the Bell-designed rotorcraft.
Hegseth noted the service is realigning to “optimize deterrence and rapid deployment, [and] above all to defend the American homeland and deter China in the Indo-Pacific,” which include reassessing and optimizing Army Prepositioned Stocks in the region.
“Increase Army forward presence in the Indo-Pacific by expanding pre-positioned stocks, rotational deployments, and exercises with allies and partners to enhance strategic access, basing, and overflight,” Hegseth said.
In late March, Breaking Defense reported that senior service leaders were weighing their global prepositioned stocks strategy, and possibly jettisoning the only floating, mobile cache in favor of putting those arms and equipment in friendly territory somewhere in the Indo-Pacific region.
While Hegseth’s memo outlines a host of potential cuts for the ground service, he also details areas ripe for investment.
“The Army must prioritize investments in accordance with the administration’s strategy, ensuring existing resources are prioritized to improve long-range precision fires, air and missile defense including through the Golden Dome for America, cyber, electronic warfare, and counter-space capabilities,” he wrote.
He went on to detail a few additional focal areas and programs, including:
• A future Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) variant with a multi-mode seeker to moving targets on land and at sea, ready by 2027
• Achieve electromagnetic and air-littoral dominance by 2027
• Fielding new launched effects in every division by the end of 2026 for soldiers to use from the ground or air
• Improve counter-UAS mobility and affordability, while also integrating those capabilities into maneuver platoons by 2026 and maneuver companies by 2027
• Extending advanced manufacturing, including 3D printing, to operational units by 2026
• Enable AI-driven command and control at Theater, Corps, and Division headquarters by 2027
Structural Changes
According to George’s memo, Army headquarters will divest around 1,000 staff positions, though it’s unclear if those are civilian or uniformed.
Army Futures Command and TRADOC will be merged into one organization, while Forces Command will transform into Western Hemisphere Command and consolidate Army North and Army South into one group.
And while not spelling out what this looks like, George promised to “trim general office positions to streamline command structures and revise civilian talent management policies to prioritize performance.”
Breaking Defense previously reported that the Army was considering a plan that would leave only the Chief and Vice-Chief of the Army as four-stars among internal service positions. (It is unlikely that Combatant Command positions, which are outside of Army control, would be impacted right now.)
George’s memo also includes a promise to create “agile funding” pots of money, shifting from program-centric to capability-based portfolios. That’s a concept that the four-star general has pushed heavily in the past, but which Congress has expressed some skepticism about; it’s unclear if the Army can actually change how it handles its pots of money without approval from the Hill. (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
30 Apr 25. DOD Better Now at Defending Domestically Against Unmanned Systems. In December 2023, a series of unmanned aerial systems of unknown origin were seen over and around Joint Base Langley-Eustis in southern Virginia. At the time, the Defense Department had little ability to detect, track, characterize, disrupt or defeat those unmanned aerial systems.
While speaking before the House Oversite and Government Reform Committee’s military and foreign affairs subcommittee in Washington yesterday, Mark Roosevelt Ditlevson, acting assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs, told lawmakers the department is in a better place now than it was in 2023 regarding dealing with the threat posed by unmanned systems to domestic military installations.
“To some extent, those challenges from JBLE still exist,” Ditlevson said. “However, we have worked since then to improve and refine our processes and coordination efforts, and we have seen improvements in subsequent responses. I’m confident that we are in a stronger position to defend DOD installations today than we were in December of 2023.”
Ditlevson said that internal process reviews within DOD, a generation of better domain awareness, and the clarification of authorities’ commanders are all areas where the department will continue to improve its ability to respond to unwanted unmanned aerial systems.
One example is a streamlined process for obtaining interagency coordination before counter-UAS action is taken, consistent with U.S. Code Section 130i. That effort is being formalized now, and Ditlevson said the first updated guidance will be released in the coming weeks.
Section 130i describes the protection of certain facilities and assets from unmanned aircraft. Ditlevson said the department would like Congress’s help in updating that section.
“We continue to engage with members of Congress to seek modest but important refinements to do these counter-UAS authorities under Section 130i,” he said. “Our legislative proposal is intended to allow the department to protect additional locations and missions, add greater stability for long-term planning and resource allocation within the department, and facilitate improved understanding and cooperation among the U.S. interagency and local partners.”
One area where Ditlevson said it could improve is to expand the number of locations where it applies.
“Not all installations qualify as one of the nine mission areas under 130i,” Ditlevson said. “We’d like to expand that to cover all installations. And then we’d also like to facilitate data sharing because right now, data sharing from the DOD side is limited only in the pursuit of a legal case against a particular individual or group. We’re not able to share data with our interagency partners to improve our tactics, techniques or procedures.”
Navy Rear Adm. Paul Spedero Jr., vice director for operations on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the development, fielding, acquisition and distribution of domain awareness sensors are critical steps in helping DOD pursue unwanted UAS systems over domestic military installations. However, so is a system to provide command and control.
“We need a method to exert command and control so that we can build a common operating picture,” he said. “It will take layers of different sensors because one sensor may be better against certain and certain flight profiles, and you may have to rely on different sensors to round out the picture. So, being able to fuse all that together to get the complete picture will be necessary.”
Spedero also told lawmakers about “fly-away” kits, which are mobile kits that contain counter-UAS technology that can be sent to installations that need them on request. Such kits would be used to bolster the defenses of military installations that don’t have sufficient capabilities of their own.
“We are addressing the shortfall right now with the fielding of fly-away kits,” he said. “These will be kits that will be available for bases that have very limited capability to detect on their own and build domain awareness. And should they have an incursion that they’re unable to resolve, they would solicit the help from the commander of U.S. Northern Command, and this fly-away kit, as well as expertise and additional resources that would be required would be immediately deployed to that location.”
Also contributing to the department’s increased ability to defend against UAS is that the commander of Northcom has been designated as the C-UAS “operational synchronizer” for North America. The commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command was put in a similar role.
“Within weeks of being assigned this role, , the commander of U.S. Northern Command, released a comprehensive commander’s assessment that has served as a roadmap to building the necessary command and control and standard operating procedures to address the drone threat,” Spedero said. (Source: U.S. DoD)
27 Apr 25. Shipbuilding, Golden Dome and munitions win big as GOP unveils $150bn bill to boost defense. HASC will take up the bill on Tuesday in a marathon markup session that will allow Democrats the opportunity to amend the measure. Shipbuilding, the Golden Dome missile defense effort and munitions production were the big winners in the reconciliation bill put forward by the Republican leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, making up about half of the $150bn investment.
The defense funding is one piece of what will become a larger package of spending increases and cuts in line with President Donald Trump’s priorities. Congressional Republicans plan to use a process called “reconciliation” to get the bill over the line without threat of a filibuster from Democrats.
“This legislation is a historic investment of $150bn to restore America’s military capabilities and strengthen our national defense,” said HASC Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala. “America’s deterrence is failing and without a generational investment in our national defense, we will lose the ability to defeat our adversaries. With this bill, we have the opportunity to get back on track and restore our national security and global leadership.”
SASC Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., called the bill a “generational upgrade for our nation’s defense capabilities, including historic investments in new technology.”
HASC will take up the bill on Tuesday in a marathon markup session that will allow Democrats the opportunity to amend the bill before it is sent to the House Budget Committee. During a background briefing last week, a senior congressional aide said SASC was not obligated to hold its own markup, but that the current plan was to have a markup that would allow minority members of the committee to weigh in on the bill.
HASC’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, criticized Republican’s tactic of using the reconciliation process, calling it a “spending gimmick” that allows the GOP to beef up its own funding priorities while slashing Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“While there may be bipartisan support for investing in defense spending that supports the quality of life of our service members and their families, readiness, innovation, and modernization, these investments should be considered through the normal authorization and appropriations process,” he said.
Here are the highlights of the pending legislation:
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding came out as the big winner of the bill, with almost $33.7 bn designated to build new ships, construct unmanned vessels and ameliorate some of the shipbuilding industrial base’s challenges with attracting workers and modernizing infrastructure.
The bill includes $4.6bn to build a second Virginia-class submarine in fiscal 2027 and $5.4bn for two additional Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. It invests in amphibious ships, adding $2.1bn for the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock program and $3.7bn for the America-class amphibious assault ships.
Lawmakers granted a $1.8 bn boost for the landing ship medium program, as well as an additional $160m for advanced procurement, and $2.7bn for T-AO oiler procurement. The bill also includes $600m to lease or purchase new ships through the National Defense Sealift Fund and $695m to implement a multi-ship amphibious warship contract.
In the area of drone ships, the bill adds $1.5bn to expand small unmanned surface vessel production, $1.8bn for medium unmanned surface vessel production, and $1.3bn for unmanned underwater vehicle production.
For the shipbuilding industrial base, the bill adds $750m for supplier development, $500m to incorporate advanced manufacturing techniques, $500m in additional dry dock capability, $450 m to apply autonomy and AI to the shipbuilding process, and $450 m for maritime industrial workforce development programs, among other initiatives.
Golden Dome
Trump’s Golden Dome missile shield was the second biggest recipient of cash, getting $24.7bn to kick off the initiative, which will tie together already existing programs as well as new development efforts.
In the realm of “next-generation missile defense technologies,” the bill adds $7.2bn for the development and procurement of space based sensors, $5.6bn for space-based and boost phase intercept capabilities, $2.4bn for non-kinetic missile defense capabilities and $2bn for air moving target indicator military satellites.
To augment “layered homeland defense,” lawmakers include $2.2bn to speed up the development of hypersonic defense systems, $1.9bn for improved ground-based missile defense radars and $800m for accelerated development and deployment of next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile defense systems.
Munitions
Munitions — often a source of funding cuts for the Defense Department and Congress alike — picked up the third-biggest level of investment, with $20.4bn spent among a long list of various weapons for the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps. The biggest winners included $688m for the development and procurement of long-range cruise missiles that will be able to be used by multiple services, $630m for the development and production of long-range air defense and anti-ship missiles for the Navy, and $500m for maritime mines.
This pot of funds also included $4.5bn in grant funding to shore up the munitions industrial base and $2.5 bn to improve US production of critical minerals. Lawmakers also added a further $1bn to expand the one-way attack drone industrial base and $200m for the solid rocket motor industrial base.
Scaling Up Production of Low-cost Weapons
A total of $13.5bn goes to a laundry list of programs meant to bring more innovative, low-cost tech to the Pentagon, giving the Defense Innovation Unit $2bn to scale up production of commercial technologies for military use and adding $1bn “for the expansion of programs to accelerate the procurement and fielding of innovative technologies.”
Lawmakers hope to boost the industrial base for small drones by $1.1bn and add $500m to prevent delivery delays for attritable drones. It adds $1bn for the development and procurement of low-cost cruise missiles and a further $500m for low-cost cruise missiles that can be exported to allies and partner nations.
The bill includes $650m for joint prototyping and experimentation activities performed by the Pentagon’s mission capabilities office, $500 m to accelerate the development and integration of 5G and 6G technologies, and $400m for further development of the Joint Fires Network.
Nuclear Deterrence
Of the $12.9bn included for programs associated with the nation’s nuclear enterprise, the biggest sum — a total of $4.5bn — will go to accelerate the production of B-21 stealth bombers. The bill also includes $1.5bn in risk-reduction activities for the troubled Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program, which is currently under review by the Air Force, and $500m for improvements to the current Minuteman III ICBM system.
Lawmakers added $2bn to accelerate the development and procurement of a nuclear armed sea-launched cruise missile — bolstering a program started in the last Trump administration amidst Democrat concerns. They also added $400m to accelerate development of the Trident D5LE2 missile employed by nuclear submarines, $210m for additional MH-139 helicopters used to patrol ICBM fields, and $62m to convert existing Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines to be able to house additional missiles.
Air Superiority
Tactical aircraft procurement and modernization received $7.2bn, with the largest sum being an addition of $3.1bn to increase F-15EX production.
Lawmakers boosted funds for next generation fighter and drone programs, including $678m to accelerate the Air Force’s collaborative combat aircraft program and $400m to speed up production of the service’s recently awarded F-47 sixth-generation fighter. The Navy, meanwhile, got $500m to accelerate its own sixth-gen fighter, known as F/A-XX. Both services got a boost in funds for classified programs, with the Air Force receiving $300 m and the Navy receiving $230m.
The bill adds $440m to increase C-130J production and $474m to increase EA-37B Compass Call production. It also includes $160m to accelerate nacelle improvements for the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft.
The bill also includes $361m to prevent the retirement of certain F-22s and $127m to prevent the retirement of F-15E fighters.
Other key investments
Lawmakers set aside $11.5bn to improve the readiness of the services, with money flowing to spare parts, depot maintenance and equipment for Special Operations Command. Meanwhile $11.1bn went to activities associated with Indo-Pacific Command, including additional funds for exercises, improved infrastructure at INDOPACOM bases and military support for Taiwan.
To accelerate the Pentagon’s goal to pass an audit by the end of 2028 the bill spends $380m, with funds broken out to improve business systems and start incorporating more automation in the department’s finance enterprise.
The bill also includes $9bn for servicemember quality of life initiatives, $5bn to augment personnel and logistics costs associated with US military activities at the southern border, and $2bn for military intelligence programs. (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
29 Apr 25. Statement by Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Senior Advisor Sean Parnell on the First 100 Days at the Department of Defense.
Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Senior Advisor Sean Parnell provided the following statement:
From day one, our overriding objectives have been clear: restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military, and reestablishing deterrence. In 100 Days, the Department of Defense and our warfighters have delivered historic victories for the American people. Here are our first 100 days milestones:
Record-Breaking Recruiting
• Since Nov. 5, 2024, the U.S. military has seen the highest recruiting percentage of mission achieved in 30 years.
Securing the Southwest Border
• Approximately 11,900 troops are currently deployed protecting the southwest border.
• Border crossings are down 99.99% due to DoD and DHS joint interagency collaboration to secure the southwest border, compared to the first 100 days of the Biden administration.
• DoD has supported 19 transfer flights to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay and 34 removal flights, with approximately 2,300 illegal aliens removed from the continental U.S.
• Established the New Mexico National Defense Area – allowing criminal illegal migrants to be apprehended by U.S. troops, transferred to appropriate civilian law enforcement, referred to the Justice Department, and prosecuted.
• In just three days, JTF-Southern Guard stood up operations to support the temporary holding of over 450 illegal aliens at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, including over 270 high-threat illegal aliens.
• From a previous baseline of 85 Mobile Surveillance Capable (MSC) sites, Active Duty service members have dramatically increased sites, now manning approximately 170 MSCs and monitoring approximately 28 Remote Video Surveillance Sites.
• Since March 20, 2025, when the Secretary of Defense authorized enhanced detection and monitoring, JTF-SB has conducted more than 300 patrols, including joint patrols with Customs and Border Protection agents.
• Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Stockdale (DDG 106) and USS Gravely (DDG 107) are actively supporting southwest border operations at sea (Gulf of America and Pacific Ocean) in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard.
• On April 22,2025, USS Stockdale (DDG 106) intercepted nine migrants in the Pacific Ocean.
• Rapidly deployed U.S. Marines to improve over 16 miles of barriers along the southwest border, temporary emplacing triple-strand Concertina wire and repairing existing barriers.
• Conducted over 260 UH-72 helicopter flights for aerial detection and monitoring. Prior to Jan. 20, these National Guard helicopters were only being used for training.
• Flown over 190 airborne ISR sorties supporting this mission. Platforms include P-8s, U-2s, RC-135s, MQ-1s, and RQ-4s.
DEI Dead at DoD
• Created the “Restore America’s Fighting Force” Task Force to oversee the Department’s efforts to abolish DEI and implement merit-based, color-blind policies.
• Returned Fort Bragg and Fort Benning to their “historic names” – now in honor of Army Private First-Class Roland L. Bragg and Army Corporal Fred G. Benning.
• Prohibited DoD resources from being used to host celebrations of events related to cultural awareness months.
• Eliminated jobs focused primarily on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Removed DEI content and so-called “climate change” signage from DoD websites, DoD social media, and DoD installations.
Refocused our Military on Warfighting
• Awarded NGAD F-47 contract, the world’s FIRST 6th Generation aircraft, ensuring American air superiority.
• Submitted Golden Dome for America plans to the President in line with the executive order.
• Welcomed back former Service members involuntarily discharged for their COVID-19 vaccination status.
• Directed the Military Services to develop comprehensive plans to distinguish combat arms occupations from non-combat arms occupations.
• Initiated a rapid force-wide review of military standards pertaining to physical fitness, body composition, and grooming so the U.S. military remains the most lethal and effective fighting force in the world.
• The Department issued policy guidance on the removal of service members with gender dysphoria.
DOGE Efforts
• Found nearly $6bn potential savings for reinvestment within the Department of Defense.
• Methodically reduced our workforce to optimize the Pentagon for our warfighters.
• Shifted $50bn of Biden-era funds from woke initiatives to lethality.
• Eradicated so-called “climate change” initiatives and cancelled contracts for consulting firms and COVID-19 response equipment.
Reoriented the Pentagon toward Emerging Threats in the Indo-Pacific
• Secured numerous bilateral agreements with the Philippines to reestablish military deterrence in the Indo-Pacific.
• Initiated phase one of upgrading U.S. Forces Japan to a joint force headquarters to deepen operational cooperation and deter Chinese Communist Party aggression.
Operation Rough Rider Successfully Degrades Houthi Capabilities
• Conducting intense and sustained operations targeting Houthi terrorists in Yemen to restore freedom of navigation and American deterrence, which began March 15, 2025.
• Increased military presence in the Middle East by deploying additional air assets and the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike group to the U.S. Central Command Area of Operations, augmenting existing fighter aircraft and the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group.
• USCENTCOM strikes have hit over 1,000 targets, killing Houthi fighters and leaders, including senior Houthi missile and UAV officials, and degrading their capabilities.
Took Back the Panama Canal from China
• Signed a Memorandum of Understanding to reestablish U.S. military presence in Panama and secured a framework for “First and Free” canal passage for U.S. military vessels.
• Continued the Trump Administration’s work to eradicate malign Chinese Communist Party influence from Panama and the Panama Canal.
European Ownership of European Security
• Shifted the Ukraine Defense Contact Group from a U.S.-led effort to a European-led effort.
• Encouraged European nations to spend 5% of GDP on defense, which resulted in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announcing the biggest increase in UK defense spending since the end of the Cold War.
Unbreakable Bonds between the United States and Allies
• Held bilateral meetings with defense officials from Australia, Japan, the Philippines, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, El Salvador, France, and met with NATO.
• Authorized the release of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel on Jan. 25, 2025 – a munition that had been withheld by the previous administration.
Targeting and Eliminating Terrorist Threats
• Deferred operational decision making to combatant commanders to find and prosecute terrorist targets who would do harm to Americans and our allies and partners.
• U.S. Africa Command forces partnered with the government of Somalia and its forces to target and destroy al Shabaab, ISIS-Somalia and other terrorist networks, dealing devastating losses to enemy combatants, including senior leadership.
Returned Accountability to the DOD
• Pledged to conduct a review into the previous administration’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal.
Military-Crewed SpaceX Flight
Worked with NASA and SpaceX to bring retired Navy Captains Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore home after the previous administration abandoned them in space. (Source: U.S. DoD)
29 Apr 25. HASC approves $150bn defense increase as GOP shuts down amendments to curb Hegseth, DOGE. Effectively untouched after about four hours of debate, the bill will now go to the House Budget Committee.
The House Armed Services Committee voted through a $150bn boost to defense funding today, after Republicans shot down almost two dozen Democratic amendments that were largely a referendum of the Signalgate scandal and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership of the Pentagon. The bill was approved in a 35-21 vote, with Democratic Reps. Donald Davis, Jared Golden, George Whitesides, Gabe Vasquez and Eugene Vindman joining Republicans to pass the bill.
Effectively untouched after about four hours of debate, the bill will now go to the House Budget Committee, where it will be combined with other pending legislation into a megabill aimed at codifying President Donald Trump’s wish list of spending cuts and funding increases to key focus areas like defense, energy and border security. Republicans plan to use a process known as reconciliation to approve that bill without threat of a Democrat filibuster.
HASC Chairman Mike Rogers called the vote on the $150bn defense bill — which adds tens of bns to priorities such as shipbuilding, munitions and the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile shield — a “historic day” marking the first opportunity the committee has had to use the reconciliation process to add defense funding to the budget.
But Rep. Adam Smith, HASC’s top Democrat, said he couldn’t support the $150bn increase for defense because he didn’t support the overall reconciliation bill, which he called a “disaster for this country” that would cut funding for Medicare, the Centers for Disease Control and other programs that benefit the American taxpayer.
“The second big problem here is we’re giving $150bn to this Pentagon, to Secretary Hegseth and President Trump. They have not even begun to prove that there is a chance in hell that they will spend this money intelligently, efficiently and effectively. Secretary Hegseth has proven himself to be completely incapable of doing the job of Secretary of Defense,” he said, pointing to Signalgate and the workforce churn at the Defense Department, which has seen several aides of Hegseth fired due to allegations of leaking information to the media.
“The Pentagon is being very poorly run. I see no evidence that they’re going to try to get any better. And what are they focused on? They’re focused on a culture war,” Smith added.
Republicans defeated an amendment from Smith, which would have fenced off 75 percent of the funding in the reconciliation bill until the defense secretary certifies that the Pentagon has a “viable mechanism to enforce a prohibition on the communication, transmission, or delivery of classified information” by department officials.
They also rejected an amendment that would have blocked all funding in the bill from being spent until Hegseth vacated the position of defense secretary, with the amendment’s sponsor — Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa. — calling him “incompetent,” “reckless” and “paranoid.”
“Secretary Hegseth must go, and until he is no longer part of the government, no longer part of the DoD, I simply cannot vote to authorize this money in good faith and in good conscience,” she said.
Republicans batted down twin amendments from Rep. Pat Ryan, D-NY, which would have reduced Hegseth’s salary to $1 and prevented the Pentagon from obligating funds to defense contractors where a member of the company’s senior leadership team is working as a “special government employee.” The latter amendment was explicitly meant to mitigate conflict of interest concerns about SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk, who Ryan said has been “put in charge, essentially, of the budgets of the very departments that pay him … while also getting access to information … that materially benefits himself and his companies.”
Another two amendments targeting Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were also defeated by GOP lawmakers. One would have blocked $50bn in funding until Hegseth certified that DOGE activities weren’t affecting military readiness, while another blocked $50bn in spending until the Defense Department provided a report on DOGE activities within the Pentagon.
Other amendments — all voted down — would have blocked funding for a Pentagon makeup studio and a military parade. Other defeated amendments sought to limit the department’s ability to fire general and flag officers, as well as members of the Pentagon’s inspector general office.
Despite broad bipartisan concerns about reports that the Trump administration could consolidate the US military’s combatant commands, GOP lawmakers also voted against an amendment that would prevent funding in the reconciliation bill being used to consolidate US Northern Command and US Southern Command, as well as a second measure to prevent the consolidation of US European Command and US Africa Command.
Ryan, who sponsored the former amendment, argued that NORTHCOM and SOUTHCOM’s missions were “too different” for the commands to be combined, and expressed concerns that consolidation could negatively impact SOUTHCOM’s counterdrug and counternarcotics missions.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., who sponsored the latter amendment, said maintaining the independence of EUCOM was “critical” to ensuring cooperation with NATO as well as a continued focus on threats posed by Russia.
In both cases Rogers countered that, while he shared Ryan’s and Sherrill’s concerns, the matter could not adequately be addressed during reconciliation, as other funding outside the bill could be used to consolidate combatant commands. Instead, he said, it should be debated as part of the fiscal 2026 defense policy bill.
Three amendments addressed specific weapons programs, and all were defeated. One measure sought to limit funding in the reconciliation bill for the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile system until the Pentagon granted Milestone B on the program.
Another would have zeroed out $2.4bn for the nuclear Sea-Launched Cruise Missile, diverting that funding for military childcare. The third would have reduced funding for space-based and boost phase intercept capabilities meant for the Golden Dome missile shield by $2.6bn, pushing those funds to various personnel-related spending such as military housing and bonus pay. In a separate loss for Democrats regarding Signalgate, House Republicans essentially blocked a congressional mechanism that Smith hoped to use to force the Trump administration to turn over all communications related to the Signal app text chat used by Hegseth and other top administration officials to share information about military operations. An environmental resolution approved by the House in a 216-208 vote included language that “turns off” privileged consideration of resolutions of inquiry until Sept. 30. Smith had filed a resolution of inquiry related to the Signalgate scandal on March 27. (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
28 Apr 25. GOP funding boost targets Golden Dome, high-tech fighters and ships. Republican lawmakers are proposing major increases for top Pentagon priorities in their $150bn budget reconciliation package — pushing funding toward efforts like Golden Dome, advanced fighter jet and drone procurement, shipbuilding and munitions production.
The House Armed Services Committee will debate the package Tuesday as part of a process called reconciliation, which allows the party with a congressional majority to fast-track legislation without risking a filibuster. House Republicans expect to pass the bill in May and then send it to the Senate for approval.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., called the proposed investment “historic.”
“Our defense industrial base has weakened. America’s deterrence is failing and without a generational investment in our national defense, we will lose the ability to defeat our adversaries,” Rogers said in a statement Sunday. “With this bill, we have the opportunity to get back on track and restore our national security and global leadership.”
The Trump administration’s Golden Dome advanced missile defense shield is among the biggest beneficiaries. The bill suggests adding $24.7bn for ground and space-based missile defense. That includes $7.2bn to develop and buy space-based sensors, $5.6bn for space-based intercept capabilities, $2bn for a nascent Space Force effort to use satellites to track air-moving targets and $2.4bn for non-kinetic missile defense effects.
The Pentagon is still crafting its architecture recommendations for Golden Dome, which will include a mix of advanced sensors and potentially a fleet of in-space interceptors designed to defeat enemy missiles. Officials have said this initial analysis phase involves determining which existing capabilities to scale and what new technologies it will need to develop.
The Defense Department plans to request funding for the effort in fiscal 2026. A bill introduced in February by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., proposes $19.5bn for Golden Dome in next year’s appropriations. That funding will likely be spread across new and existing programs within the Space Force and the Missile Defense Agency, which could see significant boosts to their relatively small budgets. The Space Force’s annual budget is around $30bn and the MDA’s about $10bn.
Aircraft and nuclear triad modernization
The bill also includes $7.2 bn to accelerate the development of new, advanced fighters and drones for the Air Force and Navy.
That air superiority funding includes $900m to accelerate work on both the Air Force and Navy’s versions of the sixth-generation Next Generation Air Dominance fighter. The Air Force’s Boeing-made F-47 — which President Donald Trump unveiled in an Oval Office ceremony last month — would get $400m to accelerate its production, and the Navy’s F/A-XX would get half a billion.
The collaborative combat aircraft program, the military’s effort to create autonomous drone wingmen that could fly alongside NGAD or advanced fighters like the F-35, would get $678m. Both the Biden and Trump administrations have viewed CCAs as an important part of the U.S. military’s future airpower force, and a way to expand its reach at prices cheaper than jets flown by human fighters.
The biggest portion of the reconciliation bill’s air superiority funding would send an additional $3.2bn to increase production of Boeing’s F-15EX Eagle II fighter. The bill also would set aside $47m to increase the production of EA-37B Compass Call electronic warfare aircraft, which are being made by BAE Systems and L3Harris out of Gulfstream G550 business jets.
The Air Force and Navy’s efforts to modernize their respective legs of the nation’s nuclear triad would get another $13bn. That would include $4.5bn to accelerate the Air Force’s procurement of the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealth bomber, which is planned to replace the B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit fleets and be the service’s main aircraft for delivering nuclear weapons.
It also includes $1.5bn to reduce the risk of the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, which is also to be made by Northrop and will replace the nation’s arsenal of more than 400 Minuteman III nuclear missiles. The Sentinel program’s projected future costs have grown considerably, as the effort to build the massive infrastructure needed to operate the missiles is more complicated and expensive than originally expected.
The bill would provide $168m to speed up the production of the Survivable Airborne Operations Center program. Sierra Nevada Corp. won a $13bn contract from the Air Force in April 2024 to build the “doomsday planes,” which would allow the president to direct forces during a nuclear war or other devastating emergency that destroys command-and-control centers on the ground.
Lawmakers also want to provide the Navy $2bn to speed up the development, procurement and integration of the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile, or SLCM-N, and $400m to speed up the development of Trident D5LE2 submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
Shipbuilding and Taiwan aid
The bill would include almost $34bn for U.S. shipbuilding, so far one of the Trump administration’s top priorities for the Pentagon but also a persistent issue in recent years.
Earlier in April, the president signed an executive order related to America’s maritime industrial base, requiring the defense secretary to review what authorities could accelerate America’s lagging shipbuilding industry — some 200 times smaller than that of China.
The legislation includes funding intended to increase production overall and specific Navy systems. It features $4.6bn for a second Virginia-class submarine in the 2027 fiscal year, $5.4bn for two more guided-missile destroyers and $3.7bn for the amphibious assault ship program.
Submarine funding, in particular, is key as the U.S. tries to maintain pace with the timelines envisioned under AUKUS, an agreement with the U.K. to share and eventually develop nuclear-powered submarines with Australia. Even with additional funding from Congress and Australia itself, if America can’t build enough boats to share, the deal will be in jeopardy approaching key milestones in the 2030s.
Alongside these traditional systems is more than $4.6bn in money for underwater and surface drones, which the Navy has struggled to purchase in large numbers despite rapid advances in technology.
Lawmakers also call for $11bn to support U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. That includes $850m in assistance to Taiwan to “protect United States interests and deter Chinese Communist Party aggression.”
Another $4bn would fund classified military space superiority programs and $528m for space and ground-based surveillance programs. The proposal also includes $365m for Army exercises and campaigns in the Western Indo-Pacific and more than $1bn for infrastructure development in the region.
Scaling munitions and low-cost drones
A further $20.4bn included in the bill would fund a bevy of key munitions across the services — from ballistic missiles to mines to torpedoes.
Much of the funding would help surge production of weapons otherwise whipped up and down by the Pentagon’s unsteady demand, often cutting munitions to balance out budget requests to Congress.
Some $400m would go toward accelerating hypersonic weapons development, an area the U.S. has lagged behind while competing with China and Russia.
Far more is slated for the munitions industrial base itself. There is $2.5bn to stockpile critical minerals, $1bn for automated munitions factories and more than $4.5bn in grants to build out parts of the industrial base.
Together, the investments would represent a jolt into a sector that has struggled to deliver on timelines relevant to conflicts around the world, from the wars in Gaza to Ukraine. They would also help build out production of key weapons as the U.S. continues to fear it couldn’t resupply its stores of weapons in a protracted conflict with China, which has a far larger industrial base delivering munitions in much larger numbers.
Republicans also specify a need for more investment in scaling production of low-cost technologies across the Defense Department, proposing $11bn across a number of offices and programs.
The bill would add $2bn for the Defense Innovation Unit in fiscal 2025 — more than triple the amount of its prior-year funding. It would also add more than $1 bn each for three efforts: expanding the industrial base for small uncrewed systems, developing and buying low-cost cruise missiles and speeding up procurement and fielding of “innovative technologies.” Finally, it would funnel $500m toward existing programs to buy attritable, autonomous systems — which likely includes the Pentagon’s Replicator initiative. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)
24 Apr 25. Defense Innovation Unit to expand US outposts with three new hubs. The Defense Innovation Unit is launching three more outposts across the U.S. to help the Pentagon connect with a broader swath of technology companies. DIU is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and has offices in Boston, Austin, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Last year, it opened five onramp hubs in Kansas, Ohio, Arizona, Hawaii and Washington state. The three new hubs will be based in Kentucky, Minnesota and Montana, according to Liz Young McNally, DIU’s deputy director of commercial operations.
“We’re really humbled and excited by the opportunity at DIU to be that on ramp for commercial and dual use technology into the department,” Young McNally said Wednesday at the Apex Conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland. “And one of the ways that we do that is by having people out in the regions, out where innovation is happening.”
DIU’s remit is to help non-traditional companies who develop technology for commercial and military applications better navigate the Defense Department’s labyrinth-like acquisition and procurement system. The organization also partners with the military services to get them the off-the-shelf capabilities they need on faster timelines.
Onramp hubs provide a chance for local universities and businesses to learn how to work with DOD and get access government funding. They also serve as an entry point for the department into innovation networks it may not otherwise be aware of.
“American ingenuity is critical to building our nation’s enduring advantage,” DIU Director Doug Beck said of the hubs when they were announced in 2023. “These spaces will serve startups, academia, industry and other local talent and technology in order to leverage the innovation capability across the entire country, connecting them directly to DOD needs and strengthening the defense industrial base.”
Lawmakers have pushed for DIU to establish deeper inroads with companies and universities based outside of the typical tech hotspots in Silicon Valley, New York and Boston. The Senate Armed Services Committee last August directed DIU to expand its presence with the goal of “nationwide coverage.”
“The committee recognizes the importance of DIU’s mission to strengthen national security by accelerating the adoption of commercial technology,” the panel said in a report accompanying its proposed fiscal 2025 defense policy bill. “The committee believes DIU should find ways to expand its geographic footprint to achieve nationwide coverage for DIU activities, particularly to geographic areas that are not major technology and innovation hubs.” (Source: glstrade.com/Defense News)
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