BREAKING: Sierra Nevada Corporation wins the Air Force's Survivable Airborne Operations Center competition. The $13B cost-plus development contract will replace the current E-4B Nightwatch fleet aka known as the Doomsday plane.

'Mike Johnson had been speaker for less than two months when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to him with a stark message: Time is running out.'

Behind-the-scenes, from Alex Ward politico.com/news/2024/04/2…

NEW: Senate appropriators have an appetite to boost the Pentagon budget. Connor O'Brien Joe Gould

politico.com/news/2024/04/2…

BREAKING: The U.S. is prepping one of its largest Ukraine military aid packages to date, preparing to ink contracts for as much as $6 billion worth of weapons and equipment for Kyiv’s forces, according to two U.S. officials. Paul McLeary Lara Seligman politico.com/news/2024/04/2…

NEW: Top defense companies jockey for $95B aid package. Executives aren’t fazed by the slow distribution process and, in some cases, have invested company funding.

subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2024/0…

BREAKING: The Biden administration last month secretly shipped long-range missiles to Ukraine for the first time in the two-year war — and Kyiv has already used the weapon twice to strike deep behind Russian lines. W Alex Ward politico.com/news/2024/04/2…

BREAKING: Biden admin announces $1B new package for Ukraine, including air defense interceptors, artillery rounds, armored vehicles, and anti-tank weapons.

Full list:
-RIM-7 and AIM-9M missiles for air defense;
-Stinger anti-aircraft missiles;
-Small arms and additional rounds…

BREAKING: The Senate passes a $95B aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan with TikTok ban language, 79-18.

The bill now heads to Biden for his signature more than six months after he requested the money.

BREAKING: The Biden administration is preparing a roughly $1 billion package of military aid for Ukraine, as the Senate is poised to pass a bill to provide urgently needed funding for Kyiv. W Lee Hudson politico.com/news/2024/04/2…

Confirming Reuters Mike Stone

SCOOP: The Biden administration is preparing a larger-than-normal package of military aid for Ukraine that will include armored vehicles, in addition to urgently needed artillery and air defenses, according to two U.S. officials.

DOD expects to move the package quickly as soon…

SCOOP: The Biden administration is preparing a larger-than-normal package of military aid for Ukraine that will include Bradley Fighting Vehicles, in addition to urgently needed artillery and air defenses. Lara Seligman

politico.com/news/2024/04/2…

SCOOP: The U.S. is considering sending additional military advisers to the embassy in Kyiv, the latest show of American commitment to Ukraine as Russia appears to be gaining momentum in the two-year conflict.

The advisers would not be in a combat role, but rather would advise…

The Pentagon is preparing to quickly approve a weapons package for Ukraine that includes urgently needed artillery and air defenses as Congress lines up votes to pass additional funding for the country, according to two U.S. officials. W/ Connor O'Brien politico.com/news/2024/04/1…

The House foreign aid package just cleared a huge procedural hurdle, as Democrats supplied most of the votes for the Ukraine and Israel aid rule.

The vote was 316-94. Dems supplied 165 votes for the rule vs. 151 Republicans. 55 Rs voted against the rule. politico.com/live-updates/2…

🚨 Bill text for Ukraine, Israel, Indo-Pacific aid has posted:

Ukraine: docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/…
Israel: docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/…
Indo-Pacific: docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/…

Votes on Saturday evening are expected —>

NEW: Chairs of Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, Intel, and Appropriations Committees all endorse Johnson’s aid plan, saying there’s “nothing our adversaries would love more” than it failing.

“We don’t have time to spare,” they say. “We need to pass this aid package this week.”

BREAKING: The Missile Defense Agency has selected Lockheed Martin for the Next Generation Interceptor program, which will build a shield against North Korean and Iranian missiles. Lockheed beat out Northrop Grumman .