Defense Budgets & Spending News

Bloomberg • Ellen Milligan

UK Audit Office Flags £71 Billion F-35 Programme Cost and Persistent Readiness Gaps

The UK’s National Audit Office warns that the through-life cost of its F-35 Lightning II fleet for the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy could exceed £70 billion, highlighting chronic availability shortfalls, technical delays—including a jet stuck in India—and carrier compatibility failures more than a decade into service.

2025-07-11T05:02:06.809993-07:00

Bloomberg

Canada’s F-35A acquisition cost nearly doubles to C$33 billion amid pilot shortfall

2025-06-10T10:03:35.323612-07:00

Bloomberg

Pentagon halves FY25 F-35 jet procurement, cutting request to 24

2025-06-10T20:43:20.273763-07:00

DefenseNews.com

France backs €1.6 billion Eutelsat capital raise to bolster OneWeb against Starlink

2025-06-20T05:51:45.150791-07:00

Defense Budgets & Spending News Timeline

Bloomberg

UK Audit Office Flags £71 Billion F-35 Programme Cost and Persistent Readiness Gaps The UK’s National Audit Office warns that the through-life cost of its F-35 Lightning II fleet for the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy could exceed £70 billion, highlighting chronic availability shortfalls, technical delays—including a jet stuck in India—and carrier compatibility failures more than a decade into service.

2025-07-11T05:02:06.809993-07:00

UK Audit Office Flags £71 Billion F-35 Programme Cost and Persistent Readiness Gaps

Defense Scoop

Pentagon’s FY2026 Budget Backs USAF F-47 Development, Sidelines Navy Sixth-Gen Fighter The Trump administration’s FY2026 defense request directs major funding increases toward the Air Force’s next-generation F-47 stealth fighter, while effectively stalling the Navy’s planned sixth-generation carrier-based aircraft program. The reprioritization reflects an interservice budget competition that defers the Navy’s tactical aviation demonstrator to prioritize land-based air superiority capabilities.

2025-07-10T14:37:25.373387-07:00

Pentagon’s FY2026 Budget Backs USAF F-47 Development, Sidelines Navy Sixth-Gen Fighter

Air & Space Forces Mag

USAF Seeks Funding to Replace Aging B-52 Flight Simulators The US Air Force’s B-52 program office is lobbying for a significant budget increase in the next fiscal cycle to acquire new high-fidelity flight simulators, aiming to replace legacy systems and improve bomber crew readiness for complex mission scenarios as part of broader efforts to modernize the 70-year-old Stratofortress fleet.

2025-07-09T14:59:02.169657-07:00

USAF Seeks Funding to Replace Aging B-52 Flight Simulators

Aviation Week

Trump outlines homeland defense blueprint, taps new commander and sets funding schedule President Trump introduced a new homeland defense strategy by appointing a senior commander, laying out its architecture and setting a funding schedule. The plan includes a detailed timeline for deployment milestones over his remaining term to strengthen U.S. domestic security against evolving threats.

2025-07-09T04:00:02.286756-07:00

Trump outlines homeland defense blueprint, taps new commander and sets funding schedule

FlightGlobal

AirTanker wins £170 million contract to upgrade A330 Voyager communications for RAF AirTanker has secured a £170 million ($231 million) deal to modernise the onboard communications suite of its A330 Voyager tanker/transports operated by the UK Royal Air Force, enhancing data, voice and connectivity capabilities across the RAF’s aerial refuelling fleet. The upgrade covers system design, integration and certification across the fleet.

2025-07-09T03:24:51.580062-07:00

AirTanker wins £170 million contract to upgrade A330 Voyager communications for RAF

USNI News

USS John F. Kennedy Delivery Slips Two Years to March 2027, Carrier Fleet Drops to 10 The Ford-class carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) will now deliver in March 2027—two years later than planned—as delays in the Advanced Arresting Gear system push back acceptance, according to the Navy’s FY26 budget documents. The slip will reduce the active carrier fleet to ten ships for about a year.

2025-07-07T19:26:28.058456-07:00

USS John F. Kennedy Delivery Slips Two Years to March 2027, Carrier Fleet Drops to 10

Naval News

France Confirms PANG Carrier Program to Proceed, Rejects Calls for Delay France’s Armed Forces Minister has ruled out postponing construction of the next-generation nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (PANG), reaffirming full government backing for the program despite a parliamentary report suggesting a potential hold. The decision secures the project’s timeline and funding continuity.

2025-07-07T02:05:51.594650-07:00

France Confirms PANG Carrier Program to Proceed, Rejects Calls for Delay

Janes

Reconciliation Law Allocates $25 B for US Coast Guard Cutters, Aircraft and Polar Upgrades The reconciliation legislation approved by Congress and signed into law allocates $25 billion for the US Coast Guard in FY2026, the largest single acquisition funding in its history. It will support procurement of cutters, aircraft, helicopters, training simulators and enhanced Polar capabilities through 2029.

2025-07-06T22:03:29.117110-07:00

Reconciliation Law Allocates $25 B for US Coast Guard Cutters, Aircraft and Polar Upgrades

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