Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., a member of the House Appropriations Committee’s Defense and State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs subcommittees, says increased defense funding “will help us catch up” from a sequestration-induced national security slump and that “the degradation of the State Department has to stop,” and discusses defense budget priorities, the federal appropriations process, deterring North Korea and more during a March 6, 2018, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian in Washington.

Marillyn Hewson, chairman, president and CEO of the Lockheed Martin Corporation, says the company is “on track to deliver 90” F-35 Lightning II fighter jets in 2018, and discusses corporate performance, priorities and more during her opening remarks at the company’s 2018 Media Day, held at the Lockheed Martin Global Vision Center in Arlington, Virginia, on March 5.

Michael Mattock, a senior economist at the RAND Corporation, discusses the US military’s Blended Retirement System that took effect on Jan. 1, 2018, and its force-size implications, the US Air Force’s pilot-retention challenge and more in a wide-ranging, Feb. 16, 2018, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the think tank’s headquarters in Santa Monica, California.

Bill LaPlante, PhD, senior vice president at the MITRE Corporation and former US Air Force acquisition chief, and Jamie Morin, PhD, vice president and executive director of the Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy, and former Pentagon director of cost assessment and program evaluation, discuss challenges to the nation’s space enterprise, the need to upgrade Cold-War era architectures (especially in terms of sensing and missile defense), harnessing commercial innovation, balancing speed and efficacy while modernizing national security space — whether through acquisitions or development — and more during a Feb. 28, 2018, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The interview was conducted after the “Strategic National Security Space: FY19 Budget Forum” event co-hosted by CSIS’ Aerospace Security Project and the Jacques & Associates consultancy.

Mike Tierney, a consultant with the Jacques & Associates consultancy, analyzes the Trump administration’s FY19 space budget request, US Defense Department and US Air Force space-budget priorities’ long-term sustainability amid fiscal uncertainty, and more during a Feb. 28, 2018, interview at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The interview was conducted after the “Strategic National Security Space: FY19 Budget Forum” event that was co-hosted by CSIS’ Aerospace Security Project and Jacques & Associates.

Todd Harrison, Aerospace Security Project and defense budget analysis director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says the US Air Force needs to be more transparent with the US Congress and American public about milspace, and discusses space-budget challenges, takeaways from the Strategic National Security Space: FY19 Budget Forum CSIS co-hosted with the Jacques and Associates consultancy on Feb. 28, 2018, and more in an interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian following the event.

James Hackett, editor of The Military Balance and senior fellow for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, discusses the 2018 edition of the global assessment of defense trends, spending, programs and strategy during a February 2018 interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian in Washington.

Dan McCormick, general manager for advanced combat engine programs at GE Aviation, discusses the company’s $1 billion Adaptive Engine Transition Program contract with the US Air Force to mature its future engine for use in new aircraft or to be refit into existing jets, embracing additive manufacturing, tackling thermal-signature and power-generation challenges, and more in a Feb 23, 2018, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The interview was conducted at the Air Force Association’s 2018 Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida. Our coverage was sponsored by Leonardo DRS.