On this week’s Look Ahead Podcast, sponsored by HII, Byron Callan of the independent Washington research firm Capital Alpha Partners joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian discuss the Trump administration’s proposed $1 trillion “skinny” budget request; gauging tariff impacts as President Trump constantly shifts his stance; transformation at the Pentagon as Army shifts resources; outlook for Ukraine war; takeaways from Modern Day Marine; and a look at the week ahead.

Former acting Navy Secretary Tom Harker and retired Rear Adm. Christian “Boris” Becker who led the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, now senior advisers with Pantheon Data, join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the commentary they co-wrote with Pantheon Data CEO Kris Kenefic, — “The Need for Decision-Making Speed: Leveraging Enterprise Data for National Security” — on how to speed acquisition of data and AI capabilities that can help commanders with everything from faster and better decision-making to accountability; impediments to change; how to accelerate the acquisition process; and keys to ensuring cybersecurity.

On this week’s Look Ahead Podcast, sponsored by HII, Byron Callan of the independent Washington research firm Capital Alpha Partners joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian discuss the $150 billion House Armed Services Committee’s reconciliation package that will be deliberated this week that prioritizes ships, missile defense and autonomous systems; implications of tariffs across the defense industrial base; takeaways from earnings reports last week; outlook for combat aircraft programs like the B-21 Spirit bomber as well as F-35 Lightning II and the Navy’s FA-XX future fighters; takeaways from the joint event by the Washington International Trade Association and the Asia Society; and a look at the week ahead.

On today’s 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 answers to the three questions that will shape what US defense looks like in 2028; the outlook for ending the Ukraine war; the world economic outlook as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund hold their spring meetings in Washington; whether it matters that the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia expires in less than a year; what to expect from first quarter earnings reports this week; and a look at the week ahead.

Scott Forney, the president of General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss how the electromagnetic catapults and advanced arresting gear developed and made for the first of the Ford class are being improved for subsequent ships; gauging the progress of Chinese efforts to field electromagnetic systems on their carriers; lessons from electromagnetic catapults and arresting gear that are improving other capabilities and products; the Long-Range Maneuvering Projectile; the partnership with RAFAEL to develop the Bullseye precision cruise missile that leverages of the Israeli company’s Icebreaker weapon; work the company is doing on fission power; role in the Trump administration’s “Giolden Dome” air and missile defense system; impact of Trump’s tariffs on performance and more.

On today’s program, sponsored by HII, Nick Waite, a director at Clarion Defence producing the Apex Innovation Conference April 23-24, 2025, at the Gaylord National Harbor outside Washington, DC, joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the upcoming event from agenda and speakers to a discount for listeners of our show; and Byron Callan of the independent Washington research firm Capital Alpha Partners discusses the strategic and defense implications of President Trump’s sweeping tariffs including that China was not deterred from imposing sanctions of its own on the United States; whether foreign defense and aerospace firms will grow their US industrial footprint; the changing nature of manufacturing and why returning the industrial workforce to past levels is implausible; the outlook for US defense spending as the Senate proposes $100 billion in additional funding over the coming years; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to skip the Ukraine Contact Group to attend Central American Security Conference; likelihood of US-Israel strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the wake of recent news reports of impending attack and staging of B-2 Spirit bombers in Diego Garcia; what to expect from the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference and tradeshow April 7-9; and a look at the week ahead.

Jason Pak and Carl Poppe, the senior director and director of business development for land systems at Hanwha Defense USA who are both West Point graduates and retired US Army artillerymen, join Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the recent conclusion of the US Army’s trails as the service seeks a new, more mobile self-propelled howitzer; nature of the test conducted by the five entrants; how the Ukraine war has changed now land forces will use artillery; role of unmanned air systems to better direct and coordinate fires as well as technologies that will increasingly automate future howitzers and resupply systems; attributes of the the K9 Thunder howitzer and its K10 resupply vehicle; ways to increase artillery round production; integrating new munitions like long-range projectiles and better ballistics computers into future systems; the merits of wheeled and tracked self-propelled howitzers and Hanwha’s drive to develop a wheeled offering; and whether tariffs, retirements and personnel cuts have impacted program execution to date.

Todd Harrison of the American Enterprise Institute joins Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian to discuss the new budgeting tool developed by AEI and the Center for Strategic and International Studies to illustrate tradeoffs needed to achieve Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s demand that the military services redirect 8 percent of their annual spending to new priorities over the coming five years; partners on the initiative; whether defense spending will increase or whether the military services will have to make difficult tradeoffs; Hegseth’s demand that combatant commands and military services headquarters be streamlined; some ideas for Space Force headquarters consolidation that could be applied elsewhere; how to make thoughtful decisions in a zero sum budget environment; whether future efforts at reform will be harder to achieve if this administration’s drive for change fail; more thoughtful potential approaches to driving major change; and costs that might be imposed on the system by wholesale personnel cuts, retirements and other changes.