The president's defense budget continues the military rebuild

WASHINGTON – The National Defense Strategy calls for the U.S. military to continue rebuilding, especially as it adapts to respond to the new era of great power competition. It must be done, but it won’t be easy. There is no direct road leading to both goals. And then there’s the matter of money in the DOD budget. The Hill reports. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

2 April 2019 -- The Trump administration’s budget request gets many things right, but there are areas where Congress can — and should — improve on the proposal.

It starts with the overall dollar amount. The administration’s request of $750 billion aligns with the needs outlined by former Defense Secretary James Mattis. His recommendation for annual Pentagon budget increases of between 3 and 5 percent above inflation were subsequently endorsed by the bipartisan National Defense Strategy Commission.

Their estimates are that Pentagon funding at that level should be enough to maintain our military’s current competitive advantages over peer adversaries. So, the president’s topline number for defense is fine. But how he gets there isn’t.

Related: 2020 $718.3 billion DOD budget is up; eyes military electronics, hypersonics, laser weapons, trusted computing

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John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics

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