US lawmakers warn that “more military spending is absolutely necessary” to ensure Pentagon’s readiness
The US Congress has raised concerns about how inflation rates and cuts in main acquisition programmes could affect the US military.
New enhancements have been revealed by Inmarsat for its SwiftBroadband aeronautical connectivity service.
Inmarsat’s network now supports a new higher speed SwiftBroadband streaming class, which effectively allows an aircraft exclusive use of a satellite bearer. This extra functionality will generally be available above 15 degrees elevation when the satellite resources are available.
The new streaming class is being charged per minute similar to the existing 16, 32, 64 and 128 kbps services. In addition, Inmarsat is introducing new 8 and 16kbps streaming classes together with a dynamic ‘Quality of Service’, allowing onboard applications to use the bandwidth more efficiently.
Lars Ringertz, Inmarsat’s head of marketing for aeronautical business, explained, “After making SwiftBroadband globally available at the end of February last year, we have continued to develop and evolve the service to meet the requirements of specific markets and users. With the introduction of new streaming classes and dynamic ‘Quality of Service’, we have further enhanced SwiftBroadband as an application platform for the whole aircraft, positioning Inmarsat as the only provider capable of delivering safety services, operational applications as well as higher data rate connectivity through a single pipe to the aircraft.”
The US Congress has raised concerns about how inflation rates and cuts in main acquisition programmes could affect the US military.
Washington’s ageing inventory and the pace Moscow and Beijing have been modernising their capabilities put in check the US Nuclear deterrence.
The Pentagon has been operating under temporary funding since October 2023, which has impacted its main acquisition and development programmes, increasing the capability gap between the US and China.
In 2023, defence spending increased by an unprecedented 11% across European NATO countries and Canada. Since 2014, the group has spent an additional US$600 billion on defence.
The DoD requested nearly US$850 billion to fund operations over the next fiscal year. Despite the amount being 1% higher than the FY2024 budget request, it has not covered the 3% inflation rate, which could impact the DoD’s main programmes in the medium and long term.
As gangs gain control of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s Caribbean neighbours have been preparing to intervene in the failed state, with the US and other partners waiting in the wings with equipment and financial support.