WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Romania of a PATRIOT Air Defense System. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency has already delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale.

The Government of Romania has requested to buy one AN/MPQ-65 Configuration 3+ Increment 3 radar set; one AN/MSQ-132 Engagement Control Station; two M903 launching stations; and one Electrical Power Plant (EPP) III. Along with other equipment and services, this deal is worth an estimated total of $280 million.

The proposed sale will improve Romania’s capability to meet current and future threats by enabling it to field a credible force to deter adversaries and support its participation in NATO operations. Romania will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.

The principal contractors will be RTX Corporation, located in Andover, MA, and Lockheed Martin, located in Bethesda, MD.

Source: DSCA
Associated URL: https://www.dsca.mil/Congressional-Notification-Archive/Article/4167631/romania-patriot-air-defense-system

MANILA - The Philippine Navy has conducted a successful test of its Mistral 3 surface-to-air missile (SAM). The missile was fired from the BRP Jose Rizal (FF150), a Philippine Navy frigate. The warship, equipped with a twin-launcher, was located in the waters west of San Antonio, Zambales.

The Mistral missile successfully hit two aerial target drones provided by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The Mistral 3 SAM boosts the frigate's air defense capability.

Source: INQUIRER
Associated URL: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2056745/ph-navy-successfully-test-fires-mistral-surface-to-air-missiles
Author: Faith Argosino 

WASHINGTON - The Congressional Budget Office updates its projections of the 10-year costs of nuclear forces every two years. This report contains CBO's projections for the 2025-2034 period, which are based on the Department of Defense's (DoD's) and the Department of Energy's (DOE's) fiscal year 2025 budget requests, submitted in March 2024.

Costs of Current Plans

If carried out, DoD's and DOE's plans to operate, sustain, and modernize current nuclear forces and purchase new forces would cost a total of $946 billion over the 2025-2034 period, or an average of about $95 billion a year, CBO estimates.

That total includes $357 billion to operate and sustain current and future nuclear forces and other supporting activities; $309 billion to modernize strategic and tactical nuclear delivery systems and the weapons they carry; $72 billion to modernize facilities and equipment for the nuclear weapons laboratory complex; $79 billion to modernize command, control, communications, and early-warning systems; and $129 billion to cover potential additional costs in excess of projected budgeted amounts estimated using historical cost growth.

How Costs Have Changed

CBO's current estimate of costs for the 2025-2034 period is 25 percent (or $190 billion) larger than its 2023 estimate of $756 billion, which covered the 2023-2032 period. Of that amount, $157 billion comes from differences in CBO's current and 2023 estimates of budgeted amounts for nuclear forces, and $33 billion comes from differences in the agency's estimates of potential additional costs based on historical cost growth.

Of the $157 billion increase in budgeted amounts, 59 percent (or $93 billion) is projected to occur from 2025 to 2032-the span of years that overlap in both estimates. The increase during those overlapping years is the result of higher costs for some programs, primarily for developing and fielding the new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile system, including modernizing silos and other infrastructure; modernizing DoD's command, control, communications, and early-warning systems; and modernizing DOE's production facilities. The remaining 41 percent (or $65 billion) of the $157 billion increase in budgeted amounts arises because the 10-year period covered by the current estimate begins and ends two years later than the period covered by the previous estimate.

Read the full report using the link below.

Source: CBO
Associated URL: https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61224