Navy Budget to Start With Strategy, Not Spending Limits

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the Internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

The US Navy plans to budget differently, focusing first on strategic needs rather than starting with spending limits, Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran told USNI News. A planning document outlines the path for Navy budget planners to transparently plot the Navy’s budget submission for FY19.

The Pentagon demands up to $30 million back from Army National Guard soldiers who received unauthorized bonuses, reports The Washington Post. About 10,000 members of the California Army National Guard, where the story was first reported, and others around the country, could be affected, but the total number of impacted members has not been disclosed. The LA Times reports, the California National Guard told the state’s congressional members two years ago that the Pentagon wanted re-enlistment bonuses back from thousands of soldiers, and even offered a proposal to mitigate the problem, but Congress took no action, according to a senior National Guard official. Military Times reports, top-level Pentagon officials are seeking to waive the debts imposed on reservists fraudulently awarded the generous recruitment bonuses a decade ago.

Reuters reports on the US Navy’s test of a new command to send a destroyer near Chinese-claimed islands in the South China Sea under orders from the Third Fleet headquarters in San Diego. It was the first time such an operation was conducted without the Japan-based Seventh Fleet in command, testing how the Navy can conduct maritime operations on two fronts in Asia at the same time.

Despite fewer ships, the Navy’s economic impact in Hampton Roads is rebounding, reports The Virginian-Pilot, topping $10 billion in FY15 for the first time in three years.

Save the Inventor is seeking supporters to join its opposition to patent legislation it claims will make it more difficult for inventors to gain patents and slow the pace of American inventiveness.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus warned, the next President must be ready for crisis on Day One, “at 12:01 on January 20th,” Breaking Defense reports.

The UK Royal Navy kicked off its first Unmanned Warrior exercise, reports Flight Global. The two-week exercise allows industry to pitch its products to the navy and is expected to result in a number of contract awards for different capabilities.

Despite the US Air Force’s stated plan to begin mothballing the A-10 Warthog next year, the service’s depots are ramping up capacity to keep the aging attack fleet operating “indefinitely,” reports Aviation Week.

War on the Rocks says the Navy “Litorally” has a drone problem, defending ships worth hundreds of millions of dollars against thousand-dollar drones creates a perilous economic game and changes the risk calculus of the Navy’s presence mission. For example, reports ABC and NBC News, when Houthi rebels in Yemen reportedly fired missiles at the USS Mason multiple times in recent weeks, the conventional attacks by an unconventional force failed to hit their target, it suggests the scenario could also occur with unmanned aerial vehicles mounted with explosives.

Air Force Times reports the Air Force is offering bonuses up to $175,000 for drone pilots.

Air Force has a new electronic weapon that cuts communication between drones and their operators, Defense Tech reports. The weapon was used to zap ISIS, targeting  a small, weaponized drone operated by militants “a week or two ago” because it was responsible for killing four non-US citizens in the Middle East.

Breaking Defense nabs another top defense lawmaker for a monthly op-ed column. Rep. Joe Wilson will follow the tradition of outgoing chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Seapower and Power Projection Subcommittee, Rep. Randy Forbes.

Average premiums for popular Affordable Care Act plans rising 25 percent, reports The Washington Post, confirming piecemeal evidence and prompted by unexpectedly sick Affordable Care Act customers. Some insurers are dropping out while many remaining companies are struggling to cover their costs.