Page 91 – Defense Daily

Trump Floats Proposal To Cut Defense Spending In Half Along With China, Russia

President Trump on Thursday said he intends to meet with the leaders of China and Russia to propose that all three nations agree to cut their military budgets “in half.”

Trump added that his intended future talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin would also focus on denuclearization, adding the U.S. has “no need” to build new nuclear weapons.

President Donald Trump addresses the audience after the inaugural parade during the 60th Presidential Inauguration at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2025. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Danny Gonzalez)

“At some point when things settle down, I’m going to meet with China and I’m going to meet with Russia, in particular those two, and I’m going to say, ‘There’s no reason for us to be spending almost a trillion dollars on [the] military. There’s no reason for you to be spending $400 billion,’” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “And I’m going to say we can spend this on other things. We don’t have to spend this on [the] military.”

Floating the idea for cutting hundreds of billions in military spending stands in stark contrast to Trump’s own prior remarks and the view among senior GOP lawmakers that the U.S., and its NATO allies, should push to boost defense spending up to five percent of the gross domestic product.

“We’re going to have them spend a lot less money and we’re going to spend a lot less money. And I know they’re going to do it,” Trump said, adding the massive amount of defense dollars could be put toward spending that’s “much more productive.” “And we can do that. And I think we’ll be able to do that.”

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has previously detailed an agenda to boost U.S. defense spending to five percent of GDP, likely pushing the Pentagon’s topline over the trillion-dollar mark (Defense Daily, May 29 2024).

Secretary of Defense Hegseth earlier on Thursday told reporters NATO’s current burden sharing goal for member nations to spend two percent of GDP on defense is “a start, as President Trump has said, but it’s not enough,” adding that the U.S. current mark of around 3.4% of GDP is a “very robust investment.”

“Any defense minister or secretary of defense that tells you they wouldn’t want more [defense spending] would be lying to you,” Hegseth said during a briefing following a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels.

Byron Callan, an analyst with Capital Alpha Partners, said the idea of a 50 percent defense spending cut is “fanciful,” and placed the odds at about five percent that it would actually happen sometime before 2028.

“A 50 percent reduction may have outsized impacts on Republican-majority states, including Texas, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and the central U.S. Slashing the military would reduce personnel based in those states and impact employment because of contractor reductions. Without a plan to retrain and repurpose people and facilities, there will be harsh economic consequences,” Callan wrote in a note on Trump’s remarks. “We have no idea where Trump’s 50 percent cut would fall. Nuclear weapons/strategic forces are relatively small parts of the total budget.”

Trump said the future talks with Russia and China would include reducing the size of nuclear arsenals, adding he wants to build on previous denuclearization talks he held with Xi Jinping during his first administration.

“There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons. We already have so many you could destroy the world 50-times over, 100-times over,” Trump said. “Hopefully there will never be a time when we need those weapons. If there’s ever a time when we need nuclear weapons like the kind of weapons that we’re building and that Russia has and that China has to a lesser extent but will have, that’s going to be a very sad day. That’s going to be probably oblivion.”

The Pentagon is currently pursuing several major nuclear modernization efforts, to include the Air Force’s Sentinel program with Northrop Grumman the build the future intercontinental ballistic missile and the Navy’s effort to develop a Nuclear-Armed Sea-Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM-N).

“China showed no interest in joining strategic arms limitation talks the Trump Administration proposed in 2019-20 as its strategic nuclear forces were a fraction of the U.S. and Russia. It still has a long gap to close,” Callan wrote.

Firefly Aerospace Readies for Another U.S. Space Force TacRS Mission

Firefly Aerospace said on Friday that its Alpha rocket will launch another U.S. Space Force Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) mission–VICTUS SOL–under a nearly $22 million U.S. Space Force contract.

For the VICTUS NOX TacRS mission in September, 2023, Firefly completed the final launch preparations in a 24-hour period after the Space Force called up the mission, and launched a Millennium Space Systems

satellite on an Alpha rocket within 27 hours of the launch order (Defense Daily, Sept. 26, 2023).

Firefly is also preparing for the VICTUS HAZE mission expected to occur no later than fall 2025, in which it will launch a True Anomaly Jackal spacecraft. True Anomaly selected Firefly for the VICTUS HAZE mission in October of 2024.

“The VICTUS SOL launch will provide the operational capability to have a launch vehicle and space vehicle on standby while we continue to launch other commercial and government missions until we’re called up by the Space Force,” said Firefly CEO Jason Kim. “We’re further improving our readiness to provide a rapid response capability.”

U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command said in a release that this mission will advance “its ability to deliver fast and more agile in-orbit response capabilities to warfighters.”

SSC’s Space Safari program office is the end-to-end mission lead for the TacRS mission. SSC’s Small Launch and Targets division within the Assured Access to Space enterprise is responsible for procuring and executing the VICTUS SOL launch service using the Orbital Services Program (OSP)-4 contract. Space Safari will oversee procurement of the VICTUS SOL space and ground segments, end-to-end integration, and operational support.

Anduril, L3Harris In Partnerships With Indian Companies As Part Of New Autonomous Systems Alliance

President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi late last Thursday announced a new initiative between the two countries, the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA), that will begin with partnerships between defense companies in the U.S. and India.

A joint statement by the two leaders mentioned partnerships between Anduril Industries and Mahindra Group conglomerate “to co-develop and co-produce state-of-the-art maritime systems and advanced AI-enabled counter unmanned aerial system (UAS) to strengthen regional security,” and between L3Harris Technologies [LHX] and Bharat Electronics for “co-development of active towed array systems.”

Neither company offered specifics about systems that will be part of their respective collaborations.
“We stand ready to support the U.S.-India Roadmap for Defense Industrial Cooperation in the underwater domain,” an L3Harris spokesperson said.

L3Harris produces telemetry and other components of the Lockheed Martin [LMT] TL-29A passive, low-frequency towed array sensor and TV37(U) active and passive multi-function towed array sonar systems. The former is used on Stalwart-class Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance Ships (T-AGOS) while the latter is for American destroyers, cruisers and littoral combat ships.

Anduril said it will work with Mahindra to “provide advanced capacity to India, leveraging Anduril’s autonomous systems and advanced AI solutions, and software-defined hardware to enhance operational effectiveness across multiple domains.”

Anduril said that India is an “important market” for its systems, highlighting the country’s importance given its location near China, and its skilled and innovative workforce and “world-class manufacturing facilities.” Moreover, Anduril highlighted, “They are also among the countries spending the most on defense.”

Last fall, U.S.-based startup Shield AI announced a $90 million investment by Indian conglomerate JSW Group to license and manufacture Shield’s V-BAT UAS in-country (Defense Daily, Nov. 12, 2024). Shield manufactures V-BAT in Texas.

ASIA is part of a larger initiative Trump and Modi announced, the U.S.-India COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century, that includes defense, trade and investment, energy security, technology innovation, multilateral cooperation, and people to people cooperation as key pillars for “transformative change.”

The joint statement does not mention the sale of F-35s to India, which Trump mentioned on Thursday during a joint press conference with Modi, but does say the U.S. is reviewing its policy of providing “fifth generation fighters and undersea systems to India.” The F-35 is a 5th generation fighter developed and manufactured by Lockheed Martin [LMT]. No timeline was given for a potential F-35 sale.

Additionally, Trump and Modi said they would “accelerate defense technology cooperation across space, air defense, missile, maritime and undersea technologies.”

India has been a major acquirer of Russian military equipment over the years. The country also purchases U.S. defense equipment such as C-130J and C-17 transport aircraft, CH-47F Chinook helicopters, and P-8I Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft, among others. The statement said India’s procurement of six more P-8I Poseidon’s is expected to be completed.

More defense sales and co-production with India are expected, under the new agreement. The statement said that this year the countries will also pursue “new procurements and co-production arrangements for Javelin anti-tank guided missiles and Stryker infantry combat vehicles in India to rapidly meet India’s defense requirements.” Javelins are supplied by a partnership of Lockheed Martin and RTX [RTX], and General Dynamics [GD] builds the Stryker.

Other initiatives under the defense pillar include each country reviewing their respective arms transfer regulations to streamline trade and technology exchange between the U.S. and India, and to begin negotiations this year for a Reciprocal Defense Procurement agreement “to better align their procurement systems and enable the reciprocal supply of defense goods and services.”

The U.S. and India will also increase military cooperation across all-domains through training, exercises, and operations, and to support deployments of U.S. and Indian militaries in the Indo-Pacific region, “including enhanced logistics and disaster relief operations along with other exchanges and security cooperation engagements.”

Japan Signs Deal For 17 Boeing Extended Range CH-47F Block II Chinooks

Japan has a signed deal to acquire 17 of Boeing’s [BA] CH-47 Block II Chinooks Extended Range heavy-lift helicopters, the company announced Thursday.

A Boeing spokesperson confirmed to

Defense Daily the Direct Commercial Sale has been approved by the U.S. State Department and the aircraft will be co-produced with Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) as the prime contractor.

Boeing conducts the first flight with a production CH-47F Block II Chinook on April 8, 2024. Photo: Boeing.

“This award strengthens our decades-long relationship with KHI and provides critical capability improvements that will keep the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) operating heavy-lift aircraft for decades to come,” Heather McBryan, Boeing’s vice president and program manager for cargo programs, said in a statement. “The Block II configuration and digital flight controls will modernize and significantly improve Japan’s helicopter transport capabilities by improving aircraft stability, safety, and efficiency.”

Block II upgrades for Boeing’s CH-47F Chinook include an improved drivetrain, increased range, a redesigned fuel system and an ability to lift an additional 4,000 pounds.

Boeing last June delivered the first CH-47F Block II Chinook to the U.S. Army, as the service works toward a Milestone C decision to move the program into full-rate production this year (Defense Daily, July 1).

A total of three CH-47F Block IIs have now been delivered to the Army so far, the Boeing spokesperson said.

Japan is now the fourth customer for the new CH-47F Block II, with Germany having previously agreed to a deal worth potentially $8.5 billion to purchase over 60 of the aircraft and the United Kingdom having formalized plans to procure 14 extended-range CH-47F Block IIs (Defense Daily, July 5 2023).

Boeing said the 17 new CH-47F Block IIs will replace a portion of the JSPF’s fleet of CH-47 JA aircraft, with the company noting it’s partnered with KHI to deliver over 100 Chinooks to Japan since the 1980’s.

In September, Boeing confirmed it is also looking to offer the CH-47F Block II to Poland (Defense Daily, Sept. 5).

Blue Origin Lays Off 10 Percent Of Its Workforce

Blue Origin laid off 10 percent of its workforce on Thursday as the launcher shifts from research and development (R&D) into scaling manufacturing for its launch business.

The company is eliminating some positions in engineering, R&D, program management, and management, according to an email CEO Dave Limp sent to employees, obtained by Defense Daily

sister publication Via Satellite.

“Our primary focus in 2025 and beyond is to scale our manufacturing output and launch cadence with speed, decisiveness, and efficiency for our customers,” Limp wrote. “We grew and hired incredibly fast in the last few years, and with that growth came more bureaucracy and less focus than we needed. It also became clear that the makeup of our organization must change to ensure our roles are best aligned with executing these priorities.”

Blue Origin notified impacted employees on Thursday. The layoffs impact around 1,400 of the company’s nearly 14,000 employees, according to Reuters. Blue Origin is privately owned by Jeff Bezos.

The layoffs come about a month after Blue Origin reached orbit on the first launch of its New Glenn rocket. Blue Origin plans for New Glenn to compete with SpaceX and United Launch Alliance for U.S. national security missions. New Glenn is also set to deploy commercial customers, including 12 launches for Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband constellation.

Blue Origin plans to attempt the second New Glenn launch in late spring, Limp said earlier this week at the Commercial Space Conference in D.C., Space News reported.

The company also performs human spaceflight missions with the New Shepard suborbital rocket, is developing the Blue Moon lunar lander, and is part of the team for the Orbital Reef commercial space station.

Limp told employees in the email that he is “extremely confident in the enormous opportunities” ahead for the company.

“We will continue to invest, invent, and hire hundreds of positions in areas that will help us achieve our goals and best serve our customers. We will be a stronger, faster, and more customer-focused company that consistently meets and exceeds our commitments,” Limp wrote.

This story was first published by Via Satellite

Army Chief: ‘Optimistic’ On Push For Flexible Funding Authority, Needed To Scale New Tech

The Army’s top uniformed official has said he has received “good feedback” from lawmakers on the service’s push for more flexible funding authority, which he cited as critical to fielding promising new technologies across the force.

“[Without that authority], what that will prevent us from doing is scaling like we need to do. That’s what we’re looking for with that flexible funding,” Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff, told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday. “I would say it’s [been] almost universally [well-received] from everybody who says, ‘Hey, this is kind of how we need to operate.’ They realize also how fast things are moving.”

Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Randy George, visits the Joint Multinational Readiness Center to talk with Soldiers participating in exercise Combined Resolve (CbR) 25-1 at the Hohenfels Training Area, Hohenfels, Germany, Feb. 6, 2025. During CbR 25-1, the U.S. Army is implementing its Transforming In Contact initiative, utilizing new technologies and systems designed to enhance its war fighting readiness and ability to respond to crisis or conflict. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Thomas Dixon)

George offered the perspective on flexible funding after returning from visiting the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Germany where the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (3/10 MTN) was the latest formation to test out new capabilities as part of the service’s Transforming in Contact (TiC) initiative.

The TiC effort has focused on testing new operating concepts with select Army units and providing troops with new technology, such as drones or networking capabilities, to gather feedback and inform rapid fielding decisions.

“This is bottom-up innovation from our troops on how we need to change how we train and operate, how we change how we’re organized. And it has informed a lot on how we buy things and, really, what we buy,” George said.

George noted the 3/10 MTN was outfitted with more than 200 drones during its TiC participation as part of the Combined Resolve exercise, testing out technologies in “icy, very cold, very wet” conditions.

Army officials, including George, have previously noted that achieving TiC priorities will require support to flexibly move funding around capability areas rather than rigid budget line items, with the service specifically focusing the effort on drones, counter-UAS equipment and electronic warfare capabilities.

“That’s having money set aside that says, ‘Hey, we can buy the best drones that are on the market [with] a modular open system architecture. They work within our network.’ And we buy all of those,” George said, noting the current capability focus is with technologies that are “moving very rapidly.”

“I’m still optimistic that we’re going to get that,” he added.

Former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, whose tenure concluded at the end of the Biden administration, said previously that the service has seen “considerable support” on its push to consolidate budget line items to more flexibly move funding for specific capability areas (Defense Daily, Oct. 14 2024).

The final report from the recent commission tasked by Congress to review the Pentagon’s Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution included a recommendation to budget around mission areas that would make it easier to move funds around rather having the services locked into specific budget line items (Defense Daily, March 20 2024).

AeroVironment Readies To Begin Production Of Loitering Munitions At New Facility

AeroVironment [AVAV] has established a new production facility for its loitering munitions, FreedomWerx, which is located in Salt Lake City, Utah and will begin manufacturing operations in the second half of 2025.

The 200,000 square-feet FreedomWerx fits with AV’s approach to distributed production model of geographically dispersed manufacturing facilities to strengthen resiliency versus single-location, gigafactories. Anduril Industries

is in the process of establishing a hyperscale manufacturing facility for most of its products at a location in Columbus, Ohio.

“By maintaining multiple, strategically located production sites, AV mitigates risks from natural disasters, security threats, and geopolitical disruptions, fortifying supply chain resilience and operational readiness,” AV said in a statement on Thursday. “This approach positions AV as a more reliable and sustainable defense partners, ensuring continuous support to the DoD and allied forces.”

AV’s current family of loitering munitions consist of the Switchblade 300 and 600.

FreedomWerx is located near Salt Lake City International Airport. The facility will eventually employ more than 500 personnel, the company said. Establishment of the new plant involved a collaboration with various Utah government and non-profit entities.

“This facility represents a critical step in our mission to expand manufacturing capacity, ensuring our forces have the technological superiority needed to deter and, if necessary, decisively defeat adversaries,” Wahid Nawabi, AV’s chairman, president, and CEO, said in a statement.

Guillot Wants Authorization To Defeat Drones At All U.S. Military Installations

The Defense Department is allowed to mitigate threats from small drones at about half of its domestic military installations, but those authorities should extend to all bases in the country, the commander of U.S. Northern Command said on Thursday.

In 2024, there were more than 350 reported drone detections over 100 military installations, including “super sensitive sites” as well as fighter, Army, and Navy bases, Gen. Gregory Guillot told the Senate Armed Services Committee. The drones are primarily being used for detection and surveillance of “sensitive capabilities” on these bases, he said.

There are 360 military installations in the U.S., Guillot said.

Defense Department authorities to mitigate threats from drones are contained in Section 130i of Title 10 of U.S. Code and relate just to covered installations and assets. These include facilities doing work related to DoD missions such as nuclear command and control, integrated tactical warning and attack assessment, missile defense, national security space, air defense of the U.S. and of the National Capital Region, and others.

Half of U.S. installations are in the covered category, Guillot said.

In addition to wanting Sec. 130i expanded to cover all military installations, Guillot also wants authorities enabling base commanders to take down drone threats that are “slightly” outside the perimeter of their installations.

“I’d also like to see the range expanded to slightly beyond the installation, so they don’t have to wait for the threat to get over the installation before they can address it, because many of these systems can use side looking or slant range [surveillance methods], and so they could surveil the base from outside the perimeter, and under the current authorities we can’t address that,” he said.

Guillot was responding to a series of questions posed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who said to “most Americans” the current counter-drone authorities available to military base commanders lack “a lot of common sense.” Cotton said he and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have a bill, The Counter Act, that will give DoD the authorities to expand the use of drone mitigation capabilities to all bases.

The DoD late in 2024 designated USNORTHCOM as the lead synchronizer for countering-small unmanned aircraft systems in the homeland, in particular the continental U.S. and Alaska. The role “involves preparing to conduct counter-sUAS operations, establishing and maintaining a response plan, and tracking and responding to sUAS incidents,” the command said in December.

Guillot told the committee the synchronizer role also includes ensuring standardized training, the development of tactics, techniques and procedures, coordinating help across the DoD and federal government, including having the authority to operate counter-UAS systems once commanders have them due to “our close relationship with the FAA.”

Guillot also said that in the near future USNORTHCOM will have its own counter-drone capabilities, which it will bring to bear if an installation cannot respond to an incursion.

Cotton said the Counter Act would also give base commanders the capability to protect their bases from drone incursions, and hold the commanders accountable for doing so.

Cotton also highlighted increasing drone incursions along the U.S. southern border, and highlighted reports that Mexican cartel leaders have authorized the use of drones equipped with explosives against U.S. Border Patrol Agents. He asked if DoD needs authorities to share information with the Department of Homeland Security about these incursions.

Guillot said he wants Sec. 130i “expanded to allow seamless exchange of data on drones.” Cotton answered that the Counter Act will permit this.

Aircraft Carrier Truman Collides With Merchant Vessel Near Egypt

The U.S. Navy on Thursday disclosed the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) collided with a merchant vessel shortly before midnight on the night of Feb. 12.

According to 6th Fleet spokesperson Cmdr. Timothy Gorman, the carrier “was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M at approximately 11:46 p.m. local time, Feb. 12, while operating in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea.”

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman arrives at the NATO Marathi Pier Complex in Souda Bay, Crete, Greece, in February 2025. — The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) arrives at the NATO Marathi Pier Complex in Souda Bay, Crete, Greece, during a scheduled port visit on Feb. 6, 2025. (Photo: U.S. Navy by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Andrew Eder)

The Navy highlighted the collision did not endanger the carrier, with no reports of flooding or injuries and the nuclear propulsion plant was unaffected.

Gorman said the incident is under investigation.

The Mesiktas-M is a a bulk carrier sailing under the Panamanian flag and is over 618 feet long. According to public ship tracking websites, the ship was starting to travel to Constanta, Romania. Port Said is at the northern end of the Suez Canal.

The Truman Carrier Strike Group has been operating in the region since mid-December. It recently arrived at Naval Support Activity (NSA) Souda Bay, Greece for a working port visit on Feb. 6 following months of activity in the Red Sea targeting Houthi forces in Yemen and on Feb. 1 conducted airstrikes against ISIS-Somalia.

The carrier strike group also includes Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1 with eight embarked aviation squadrons; staffs from CSG-8, CVW-1, and Destroyer Squadron 28; the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG064); and the two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Stout (DDG-55) and Jason Dunham (DDG-109).

Livermore Director Says Office Closed Due To Executive Order Ending DEI

Kim Budil, director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, said Wednesday the lab closed an office due to President Trump’s executive order ending “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs in the federal government.

“We did have an office that we closed,” Budil said at a hearing by the House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee on Energy. The session featured testimony from Budil and the directors from Idaho National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.

Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas) asked at the hearing how each of the labs were affected by the executive order. Budil continued that the office that closed consisted of “a small team of people” that “spent most of their time really working on workforce engagement,” but did not elaborate on the name of the office.

“We have restructured our program and directed them to other activities,” Budil added, not saying whether any of the workers lost their jobs. “So that’s the main impact for us.”

Thom Mason, director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, also said that while his lab has made changes “in our organizational structure consistent with the contract guidance that we received,” Los Alamos was able to “accommodate the affected employees” and move them to different positions in Human Resources.

Mason said while Los Alamos is complying with the executive order, he maintains the lab is committed to an environment ”free from discrimination” and “respectful to everyone and the contributions that they bring.”

“I’ll just say that the critical importance of bringing together a broad range of ideas, of background, of experiences is really how we drive excellence in our laboratories,” Budil also said. “So we’re very strongly focused on continuing that, focused on excellence.”

On the second day of the Trump administration, the president issued an executive order entitled, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.”

The executive order called for an immediate end to the “ illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Trump also ordered agencies “to excise references” to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility principles, from federal acquisition, contracting, grants, and financial assistance practices.

The executive order gives federal contractors a 90-day grace period to stop complying with President Lyndon Johnson-era programs, such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act and affirmative action, in order to continue to be eligible for federal contracts.