CSBA in the News

The US Air Force is developing a new stealth bomber to counter growing anti- access/area-denial (A2/AD) challenges around the world – but the programme faces enormous challenges in the face of declining US defence outlays. The Long Range Strike-Bomber (LRS-B) is part of a socalled “family of systems” being designed to ensure US forces can hold any point on Earth that may be at risk from aerial attack. The Long Range Strike family of systems – particularly the new bomber – is the centrepiece of the Pentagon’s emerging “AirSea Battle” construct/…/

Whether or not America’s politicians can find a way to sidestep the brutal automatic military cuts of sequestration, the era of rising Western spending on weapons and wars is over.

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Last month’s congressionally mandated OMB report on the impact of sequestration omitted an obscure provision that would slice another $10.1 billion from Defense Department programs in 2013. Because of that the Pentagon would have to cut $60.6 billion instead of $50.5 billion, a 20 percent increase.

The Pentagon will move to protect major weapon programs, including those locked into fixed-price procurement deals, should mandatory U.S. government spending cuts go into effect under sequestration in January.

The Obama administration is unlikely to make payments to defense contractors to cover severance costs caused by across-the-board Pentagon cuts, according to defense analysts.