Funding for the new Golden Dome nationwide missile defense system in the $1.5 trillion fiscal 2027 defense spending request includes $17.1 billion. That amount would be added to the $21.8 billion already allocated for a total of $38.9 billion, according to White House Office of Management and Budget documents.

The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency would receive the largest line item of $4.5 billion for improving the current ground-based missile defenses, next-generation interceptors and sensors that will support Golden Dome. Space Force programs would receive $4.5 billion for the low-Earth orbit sensor and tracking satellites that are central to the new system.

The Air Force would receive $615 million for airborne sensors, battle management aircraft and integration with existing Air Force air and missile defenses. The Army would get $427 million for ground-based anti-missile systems, including short-to-medium range and integration with existing Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems. Classified sensor programs to support space intelligence capabilities would receive $497 million. The Pentagon would spend $452 million for high-energy lasers and high-powered microwave weapons that will support kinetic anti-missile interceptors.

Four government security agencies are warning that low-Earth orbit satellite communications, such as SpaceX’s Starlink system, are vulnerable to hostile cyber hacking operations.

Low-Earth orbit, or LEO, satellite internet communications systems such as Starlink face an array of cyber threats to their networks, according to a report circulated this week by the Australian Signals Directorate, a key intelligence and security agency in Canberra. 

“These networks face a range of risks,” states the report produced in coordination with the U.S. National Security Agency and security agencies in Canada and New Zealand. The NSA said in a social media post that all organizations using satellite communications are urged to take steps to mitigate “the unique cybersecurity challenges these systems face.”

Cyberattackers can gain unauthorized access to data transmitted between satellites and ground stations or between satellites. A hacker can also manipulate telemetry, mission data or logs and steal data from compromised ground station storage systems, the report said. A Starlink spokesman did not respond to an email request for comment.

The Army has selected Fort Bliss, Texas, and the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah to support its growing need for AI on the battlefield by hosting the service’s first civilian-built and -operated hyperscaled data centers.

The first of the two new data centers will be constructed by the Carlyle global investment firm on 1,300 acres at Fort Bliss. A 1,200-acre parcel at Dugway will be set aside for a second, future center to be operated by CyrusOne, a portfolio company jointly held by funds managed by investment firms KKR and BlackRock.

The projects are entirely financed by private capital through the Enhanced Use Lease program, under which the Army provides the land while the companies bear the construction and operational costs. The Army says AI is a strategic asset for the service as a force multiplier that supports future transformation efforts and helps keep the service ahead of potential adversaries.

A prototype of the “Dark Merlin” autonomous fighter jet designed and built by General Atomics crashed during takeoff. No one was injured in the incident involving the YFQ-42A jet, an experimental vehicle that General Atomics is developing as part of the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.

The company said testing operations have been “paused temporarily” for the YFQ-42A, which is designed to fly as a wingman aircraft to existing, piloted fighter jets in the U.S. arsenal. The prototype is one of two such programs to have been accepted by the Air Force in the race among defense contractors to build the service’s first autonomous teammate meant to augment piloted fighter aircraft capabilities.

The CCA program received applications from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Anduril. Only Anduril and General Atomics were accepted to continue in the first phase. A new Anduril factory in Ohio, known as Arsenal-1, is set to begin producing its version of a CCA aircraft this year, with the company saying in January that it would produce its YFQ-44A, known by the company as Fury, in the second quarter of 2026, according to the company’s press releases.

China has unleashed a decades-long naval-building program and “its intent is to dominate maritime trade and the seas,” writes Brent Sadler, a senior research fellow specializing in naval warfare and advanced technology at The Heritage Foundation’s Allison Center for National Defense.

The U.S. Navy “lacks the commercial base to confront China’s naval forces, as evidenced by persistent delays in shipbuilding and labor shortages,” Mr. Sadler writes in an op-ed for The Washington Times. “The nation urgently needs a larger, sustainable fleet and a modern, globally competitive commercial shipbuilding sector. The Navy’s recently announced Golden Fleet must contribute to this revival.”

The U.S. government needs to pay close attention to warnings about “past mistakes in naval shipbuilding, such as those with the Littoral Combat Ship and Zumwalt destroyer,” he writes. “Let’s hope these warnings will be heeded and that the Navy, with Congress, seizes the fading opportunity to revive the nation’s strategically important maritime industry.”

• April 9 — Understanding the Ceasefire and Prospects for an End to the War, Middle East Institute

• April 9 — New Evidence of China’s Forced Organ Harvesting and a Proposed U.S. Response, Hudson Institute

• April 13 — The Next Generation of Global Infrastructure Partnerships, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• April 13-16 — 41st Space Symposium for Government, Military and Industry Leadership, Space Foundation

• April 14 — Global Democracy under Pressure: Insights from Africa for a Changing World, Brookings Institution

• April 15 — Invisible Attacks: What’s Behind Havana Syndrome & Anomalous Health Incidents, Hayden Center