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Sailors man the phone and distance line aboard the Arleigh Burke-Class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG-57) on Nov. 7, 2014. US Navy Photo
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PENTAGON — The Department of the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2017 lower-than-expected budget submission follows closely with an overall Department of Defense drive to build higher end warfighting capabilities — but at a cost, according to budget documents released on Tuesday. Read More
A test shot of an electromagnetic railgun. US Navy Photo
A little publicized Pentagon office tasked with tweaking existing U.S. military capabilities for new roles and missions is a key player in the Department of Defense effort to stay ahead of Russian and Chinese weapon programs. Read More
The expected shift in Pentagon weapon spending after Fiscal Year 2021 presents a opportunity for the next administration “to make sure those programs are in alignment with their strategy,” a senior defense-budget analyst Wednesday said. Read More
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon conduct a joint news conference at the Pentagon Dec. 11, 2015. DoD Photo
Britain’s Minister of Defense detailed steps his government is taking to show it is “bringing the full force of the Royal Air Force to bear” on the Islamic State and that it is a nation planning to invest more than $265 billion on new military hardware over the next decade to remain a world power. Read More
A panel of former U.S. defense and national security officials told a Senate panel the Pentagon’s key public strategy document — the Quadrennial Defense Review — may work better as a secret report. Read More
U.S. Capitol on July 31, 2015, NASA Photo
The Defense Department is about three weeks from finalizing its Fiscal Year 2017 budget request and is coordinating with Congress on a final 2016 spending bill now that a two-year budget deal is in place, DoD Comptroller Mike McCord said Monday at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event. Read More
DoD Photo
With the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees agreeing to take on the military healthcare system in next year’s budget, a former Pentagon comptroller said the recommended changes the panels will consider would “protect the family” while the Defense Department’s plans would only increase co-pays and reduce benefits. Read More
In this photograph released by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) on October 3, 2015, fires burn in part of the MSF hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz after it was hit by an air strike. MSF Photo
Let’s get one thing straight: Accidents are not war crimes. Unintentional or collateral damage does not constitute a war crime, even when there are noncombatant deaths. The advent of precision weapons has fostered an unrealistic expectation regarding the applications of military force, which is substantially at odds with the reality of combat. Read More
“Reform is absolutely necessary” because “every dollar we waste is another dollar not spent on missions,” a senior research fellow at the National Defense University told attendees at forum looking at how to make the Pentagon more efficient and effective in the 21st century. Read More
Cutting the size of staffs, from the combatant commands to the services to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), and scaling back the number of combatant commands are ways to shape the Pentagon for future roles and missions, a panel of national security experts told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday. Read More
