CSBA in the News

Score one for the veterans groups who demanded Congress go back on its plan to cut $6 billion out of military pensions.

The Navy’s in a carrier crunch. US commanders around the world keep asking for carriers to cover trouble spots from Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan to the Western Pacific and the South China Sea, but the Navy doesn’t have enough to go around. And they may well lose another.

With the long-anticipated Quadrennial Defense Review likely to be published in February, defense experts say to expect few surprises in the document, but marked support for the Marine Corps’ equipment needs, its post-Afghanistan mission, and its stated minimum end-strength goal of 174,000 troops.

The reality of finalizing the fiscal 2015 budget submission is driving top defense officials and the White House to quickly make major decisions, and indications are growing that the elimination of one carrier and one carrier air wing could be among the defense request’s key features.

A proposal to reorganize and shrink the U.S. military’s helicopter fleet has touched off a fight between the Army and the National Guard, in a new outbreak of tensions brought on by budget cuts.