Intro

On today’s program, sponsored by HII, Byron Callan of the independent Washington research firm Capital Alpha Partners discusses the Senate Armed Services Committee’s decision to increase proposed 2025 defense spending by $25 billion — $30 billion less than Ranking Member Sen. Roger Wicker proposed in his recent plan — to more quickly improve US military capabilities to better deter China and Russia — and whether the added funding will also be approved by the House that just passed its $895 billion National Defense Authorization Act, the Air Force recently equivocation about its centerpiece Next Generation Air Dominance program and tight 2026 budget and threat factors that may be driving the change, implications of the rise of the hard right particularly French right on European defense, takeaways from the G7 meeting in Italy, and a look at the week ahead with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian.