White House budget director Russell Vought told the House Budget Committee he has no estimate of the total cost of the war in Iran, now entering its seventh week, and that a formal supplemental funding request is still being assembled.

Vought appeared to defend President Trump's fiscal year 2027 budget proposal, which seeks $1.5 trillion in defense spending through a $1.15 trillion base request and $350 billion via reconciliation; the request also cuts non-defense programs by 10%.

The hearing drew bipartisan friction, with Republican members pushing back on the Pentagon's failure to pass a financial audit for the eighth consecutive year, even as Democrats challenged the administration's math on healthcare cuts and mandatory spending reductions.

Space Force Chief Gen. Chance Saltzman released two foundational planning documents at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs: "Objective Force 2040" and "Future Operating Environment 2040," projecting that the service will need significantly more personnel, satellites, and mission sets to contend with growing Chinese and Russian threats through the next 15 years.

The operating environment document projects that U.S. government and commercial entities could operate up to 30,000 satellites by 2040, up from roughly 12,000 today, with China potentially fielding 21,000 of its own; Russia is assessed as pursuing asymmetric counterspace capabilities, including a potential nuclear anti-satellite weapon.

The documents call for new units focused on targeting, command and control, and battle damage assessment, and envision a force that operates at machine speed using AI and autonomous systems, while noting that satellite control units could see reduced personnel requirements as automation expands.

The USS Spruance, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, redirected an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel back toward Iran on April 14 after it exited Bandar Abbas, cleared the Strait of Hormuz, and attempted to move along the Iranian coastline, according to a U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) release.

CENTCOM confirmed that ten vessels have been turned around since the blockade began Monday, with zero ships breaking through; the blockade, announced by President Trump following failed peace talks in Islamabad, involves more than 10,000 troops, over a dozen warships, and more than 100 aircraft.

A two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran went into effect on April 7; the failed talks involved Vice President Vance and special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and collapsed after Iran refused to remove enriched uranium or commit to ending its nuclear program.

The Army officially named Bell-Textron's MV-75 tiltrotor the Cheyenne II at the Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) conference, but Program Acquisition Executive Maj. Gen. Clair Gill declined to commit to first-flight or production-start dates, citing supply-chain complexity across roughly 300 tier-one and nearly 2,000 tier-three and tier-four suppliers.

Earlier optimism from former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George about a possible 2026 delivery for test and evaluation and a 2028 production start was not confirmed by current program officials, who cited budgetary unpredictability, including government shutdowns and continuing resolutions, as key variables outside their control.

The FY2027 budget request includes nearly $600 million more for the MV-75 in research, test, development, and engineering funding compared to FY2026; program officials also affirmed that existing Black Hawk fleets will remain in service as the Cheyenne II comes online.

The Air Force debuted WarMatrix, its new AI-enabled wargaming platform, at the March 27 GE 26 Benchmark Wargame held at Systems Planning and Analysis in Alexandria, Virginia, marking the system's transition from development into operational use; more than 150 participants, including allied planners, attended the two-week event.

WarMatrix is described as a human-machine teaming system designed to preserve human judgment in planning and decision-making while running wargame scenarios at significantly accelerated speeds; the Air Force had previously sought technology capable of generating simulations 10,000 times faster than real time.

The system's initial operational evaluation showed faster scenario development, repeatable findings, and improved collaboration with joint and coalition partners; the Air Force characterized it as an evolution in wargaming rather than a replacement for existing methods.

AeroVironment (AV) announced the MAYHEM family of launched effects at the AAAA conference, with the first system, MAYHEM 10, featuring a 10 lb. interchangeable payload capable of supporting intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), electronic warfare, precision strike, and communications relay on a single airframe.

MAYHEM 10 is modeled after the Switchblade 400, shares its modular open systems architecture, offers up to 100 km of operational range and 50-minute flight time, and incorporates Applied Intuition's collaborative attack technology for swarming, though swarm testing has not yet occurred and is expected in late summer.

AV plans to enter low-rate initial production this calendar year at approximately 10 units per month, with a longer-term goal of 100 per month; the company has no active orders yet but sees Army and Marine Corps customers as primary targets, and anticipates potential integration into the Army's drone marketplace and DAWG (Defense Autonomous Warfare Group) program.

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