WASHINGTON: The Air Force is turning to its allies for help as it looks to maintain a viable global presence in the face of coming budget cuts, a top Air Force general said today. The service expects to get much smaller as the Pentagon’s struggles to meet the White House deficit reduction goals and possible… Keep reading →

Washington: Last fall, the Marine Corps had a plan for what it would look like after Afghanistan. That picture appears increasingly out of focus as the service braces itself for impending budget cuts, the commandant said today. The Marines’ will fall far below the 186,000-man total force it had initially aimed for once combat operations… Keep reading →

Washington: Last week Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the U.S. military would turn into a ‘paper tiger’ if it is hit with a $1 trillion dollar budget cut over the next decade. Today, he described in painstaking detail what exactly that would mean. In a letter sent today to Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member… Keep reading →

Pentagon: It’s official: the Pentagon will get roughly halfway to the Obama administration’s goal of cutting up to $500 billion in defense spending over the next five years. Department officials will finalize details of the $260 billion in cuts “in the coming weeks,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said today. Those will be part of the… Keep reading →

Washington: The outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff pulled no punches during his last week on the job, saying today that the across-the-board defense cuts under the so-called “doomsday” scenario will break the military. For the first time, Adm. Mike Mullen said this afternoon that if the Super Committee set up by the… Keep reading →

PHILADELPHIA: As the budget outlook for the services seems to get bleaker with each passing day, one Army general says he expects to do pretty well come February. Maj. Gen Tim Crosby, head of the Army’s program executive office for aviation, said his office’s funding request for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2013 budget should remain… Keep reading →

Washington: With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, the U.S. military will need a rapidly mobile, highly lethal force that can respond to any national security crisis around the globe. The Marine Corps is that force and will be for the foreseeable future, according to service Commandant Gen. James Amos. In a letter… Keep reading →

Washington: The way the Defense Department does business is broken, and lawmakers want to know if DoD acquisition chief Ash Carter can fix it. That was the message Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin and Ranking Member John McCain conveyed to Carter during his confirmation hearing yesterday. Carter has been pegged to replace Bill Lynn… Keep reading →

Washington: The top two lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee today demanded assurances that DoD is ready, willing and able to push the White House’s debt reduction plan through Capitol Hill. Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin and Ranking Member Sen. John McCain DoD acquisition chief Ash Carter to task today on why the department… Keep reading →

Washington: Defense hawks and defense industry supporters are ramping up the rhetoric as they prepare to battle for defense dollars on Capitol Hill. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta plans to meet tomorrow with top defense industry leaders as Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee prepares to weigh in on defense spending levels for fiscal year 2012. “The Secretary… Keep reading →