Defense & Aerospace Report

The French Air and Space Force is helping celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary, but they are busy elsewhere around the world. French fighter aviation chief General Pierre Gaudilliere joins us from Washington to discuss today’s challenges and his force of tomorrow, while celebrating the red, white, and blue. And the week’s airpower headlines. Powered by GE Aerospace!

On this Land Warfare episode, sponsored by American Rheinmetall, Franz-Stefan Gady, a defense analyst and consultant in Vienna who is also an adjunct fellow with Center for a New American Security think tank and author of several books including his newest, “Surprise Attack: When War Comes to Us” available in German and “How the United States Would Fight China,” joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the latest on the Ukraine war; why it’s hard to judge progress or advantage in the conflict; lessons European powers should be learning from the conflict as they seek to bolster their land forces; how the war will change the design land vehicles and how they are employed in concert with unmanned air capabilities; why Russia remains a threat to Europe despite the bloodying it’s taken in Ukraine; and the applicability of Ukraine lessons to the Indo-Pacific;

On today’s Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Eric Fanning, the president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the dynamic as the House and Senate deliberate the Trump administration’s 2027 defense budget request; how $1.5 trillion in planned defense spending can be compacted into $1.15 trillion if the $350 billion reconciliation package fails; the Iran war supplemental outlook as Washington and Tehran strike a ceasefire; how the Pentagon can spend so much more money when it doesn’t have enough contracting officers to spend last year’s Big Beautiful Bill funding; President Trump’s latest call to meet with defense industry executives to accelerate defense production; update on Pentagon efforts to reform the defense acquisition system; congressional efforts to translate the president’s executive order on share buybacks into legislation, “right to repair,” and attract new defense competitors.

On today’s Look Ahead program, sponsored by HII, Byron Callan of the independent Washington research firm Capital Alpha Partners joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the prospect of a ceasefire deal between Washington and Tehran, including best and worst scenarios; the need for investment in drones as well as manned platforms; the House Armed Services Committee’s $1.15 trillion 2027 National Defense Authorization Act as House appropriators mark to $1.07 trillion; dim outlook for the $350 billion Reconciliation 3.0 for the Pentagon; President Trump’s planned meeting with top US defense executives to accelerate weapons production to restock depleted stocks; and the SpaceX initial public offering and defense capital market.

On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Business Roundtable, sponsored by Bell, Dr. “Rocket” Ron Epstein of Bank of America Securities, Sash Tusa of Agency Partners, and Richard Aboulafia of the AeroDynamic advisory consultancy join host Vago Muradian to discuss Wall Street’s rebound despite inflation hitting its highest mark since 2022 propelled in part by SpaceX’s Initial public offering; President Trump’s claim to a ceasefire deal to immediately open the Strait of Hormuz as Iran says more time is needed and Israel says it’s not party to any agreement; president’s planned meeting next week at the White House to meet with top US defense executives accelerate weapons production refill stocks depleted by continuous military operations and support for Ukraine and Israel; the House Armed Services Committee moves to back the Trump administration’s 2027 budget request at $1.15 trillion, but House appropriators mark the measure at $1.07 trillion as consensus grows that reconciliation measure to add $350 billion to the Pentagon budget is unlikely, setting up the prospect of jamming $1.15 trillion of spending into $1.15 trillion in available funding; implications of planned US cuts to forces available to NATO including fighter, reconnaissance and tanker aircraft, bombers, a ballistic missile submarine and warships including an aircraft carrier as alliance members remain unable to unite to compensate for Washington’s pull back; the unraveling of the Franco-German SCAF next generation combat air systems effort with Spain and Belgium at the Berlin Air Show; Germany is now said to be eying participation in the Global Combat Air Program led by Britain and including Italy and Japan as reports suggest London’s funding for marquee effort is shaky; the resignations of British Defence Secretary John Healey and Armed Forces Minister Al Carns to protest Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s inability to bolster defense spending as Japanese officials reportedly expressed frustration at Britain’s funding levels for the program; and more tensions between France and Germany at the Eurosatory ground warfare exhibition in Paris next week.

On this week’s Defense & Aerospace Report Washington Roundtable, Dr. Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute think tank, Michael Herson of American Defense International, former DoD Europe chief Jim Townsend of the Center for a New American Security, and former Pentagon Comptroller Dr. Dov Zakheim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the Senate markup of its version of the National Defense Authorization Act as House appropriators unveil their $1.07 trillion defense spending measure; as lawmakers pass Reconciliation 2.0 that funds President Trump’s immigration efforts, Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, see dim prospects for the $350 billion Reconciliation 3.0 plus up for the Pentagon; how the administration and lawmakers can pack $1.5 trillion in planned spending into a smaller funding package; the future of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; the president’s decision to tap US attorney Jay Clayton as the next Director of National Intelligence; what’s next for the Iran war as Trump declares a deal involving Tehran and Jerusalem is imminent, a stance Iran and Israel deny; as Russia escalates its provocations against Europe, Washington prepares deep cuts to US capabilities for NATO, including cuts to fighter, bomber, reconnaissance, and refueling aircraft as well as a missile sub and warships including an aircraft carrier as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Alex “Grinch” Grynkewich tells a European audience that “Russia is not looking for a conflict;” British Defence Secretary John Healey and Armed Forces Minister Al Carns resigned to protest Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s unwillingness to increase defense spending to bolster the country’s flagging military capabilities; Starmer visits Tokyo where officials express frustration that Britain is underfunding the Global Combat Air Program that includes Japan and Italy; Japan and South Korea work increasingly closely with Europe with the Takaichi to expand her tour of Europe during the upcoming G7 meeting; China continues to salami slice in South China Sea and arrests US citizen Min Zin, testing its detente with Washington; and Xi Jinping’s visit to Pyongyang bolstered Kim Jong Un’s nuclear hand.

After 51 years in US service, the Marine Corps said farewell last week to the AV-8 Harrier. We have reminiscences of that jet and how it grew to success from someone with tremendous time at its controls, former Lieutenant General and Deputy Commandant for Aviation Jon “Dog” Davis. He shares his thoughts about the F-35 and the future of Marine aviation as well. And the week’s airpower headlines. Powered by GE Aerospace!

On today’s Strategy Series program, sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Mark Montgomery of the Defense of Democracies and a Cyberspace Solarium Commission senior adviser joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the first ever rescue of two US Army aviators shot down in the Strait of Hormuz by an unmanned surface vehicle and whether the US military is ready for the tactical, operational and strategic implications of an increasingly AI-enabled force; the impact of AI on how military members think and work; the right balance for the government in encouraging and enabling AI adopting while protecting against vulnerabilities it could cause; how the government needs to structure vetting of AI models; ensuring US access to the chips that are vital to the burgeoning AI ecosystem; the Trump administration’s approach to Taiwan and how to improve interoperability with the island democracy; and the changing dynamics of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Mesh Feigenbaum, a managing partner at Engineered Metal Tech who is one of the world’s leading experts on the gigantic forging presses that are critical for the worldwide aerospace and defense supply chain and author of two recent commentaries — “Aerospace’s Hidden Bottleneck” in Aviation Week and “Rate Readiness at Risk: The Global Shortage of Large Hydraulic Forging Presses” in the Forging Industry Association magazine’s May issue — joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss approaches the US government should consider to underwrite an industrial capability vital for national security as well as American economic prosperity; whether Airbus and Boeing will be able to sustain ambitious production including the US giant’s goal of boosting the 737 rate to 70 jets a month; whether capacity is sufficient to sustain a surge in defense production; and what it will take to encourage US investment to as Europe and Asia step up.

On today’s Look Ahead program, sponsored by HII, Byron Callan of the independent Washington research firm Capital Alpha Partners joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss Iran’s strikes on Israel in retaliation for Jerusalem’s strikes near Beirut — despite a warning from President Trump that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not strike close to the Lebanese capital that could derail US-Iran talks; Washington’s decision to cancel the deployment of US Tomahawk cruise missiles to Germany to avoid antagonizing Russia, prompting Berlin to consider buying the US weapons; the House Armed Services Committee approves its version of the Trump administration’s proposed $1.15 trillion 2027 defense spending request; Reconciliation 3.0 for the Pentagon in the wake of Senate passage of Reconciliation 2.0 for border and immigration funding; Honeywell’s Investor Day as the firm prepares to split into three companies; startup valuations and portfolio shaping; and a look at the week ahead in Washington and beyond.