Missile Defense Agency’s FY26 budget targets homeland missile defense
DefenseNews : The Missile Defense Agency’s budget request for fiscal 2026 is flat at $10.2 billion and depends on another $3 billion in supplemental funding not yet passed by Congress, bringing the total ask to $13.2 billion, according to Defense Department documents. If both the budget and supplement were approved by Congress, the agency would receive a boost in funding from last year. “This budget represents a $2.8 billion increase (27%) over our FY 2025 enacted President’s Budget,” an MDA budget overview document states. Of that total, MDA …
US Air Force uses leftover ICBM funds to revamp Qatar plane
DefenseNews: The Air Force plans to use leftover funds from the LGM-35A Sentinel nuclear missile program to help pay for refurbishing a Qatari-donated plane into a new Air Force One presidential transport aircraft. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said in a June 26 hearing that the reallocated Sentinel money was “excess to need in [20]24,” and stressed the program to build new intercontinental ballistic missiles and launching infrastructure would not suffer or see further delays from moving funds around. “Let me be very clear, the Sentinel progr…
US Air Force to retire all A-10s, cancel E-7 under 2026 spending plan
DefenseNews: The Air Force wants to retire its final 162 A-10 Warthog attack jets in fiscal 2026, as part of a plan to divest 340 total aircraft. The Pentagon also plans to cancel the E-7 Wedgetail program over what an official said were “significant delays” and cost increases. The service released its list of planned aircraft retirements as the Pentagon released its belated 2026 budget plan, which calls for a $211 billion discretionary budget for the Department of the Air Force. That includes a $184.9 billion discretionary budget for the U.S.…
DefenseNews: Space Force rethinking plans for proliferated satellite communications
DefenseNews: The Space Force’s fiscal 2026 budget request proposes stalling plans to buy a third batch of communication satellites through the Space Development Agency as it weighs whether an existing constellation, largely dominated by SpaceX, is better suited for the mission. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman confirmed the pause in a congressional hearing Thursday, telling senate appropriators the service is studying “other avenues” to use small, commercial satellites flying in low orbits to provide low-latency communications to…
IAF prepares for A330 MRTT operations
The contract for six A330 MRTT flight refuelling aircraft, fitted with Israeli hose and drogue refuelling systems (as is standard on the Il-78Ms of the IAF) will come as big relief to the IAF, which plans to deploy the new refuellers to the Eastern sector, in Panagarh, West Bengal. The Indian Air Force anticipates a contract award to Airbus Military for the A330 MRTT before the end of the financial year, top sources tell SP's. The contract for six A330 MRTT flight refuelling aircraft, fitted with Isra…
India set to overtake Britain's defence budget by 2017: Report
India looks set to spend more on its defence budget than cash-strapped Britain within four years' time, according to a new report published on Wednesday. International defence analysis firm IHS Jane's says that Britain's military budget is set to be outstripped by its former colony by 2017, as the country drops to sixth place from fourth in terms of global military spending. The UK will fall behind Russia in 2013 and slip further and come neck-and-neck with India by 2016. "The reality is that our armed forces' a…
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