As U.S. and NATO troops prepare for the spring fighting season in Afghanistan, troubling news comes from neighboring Pakistan that a number of militant groups have united under a single banner and will operate under the direction of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. According to one analyst, this signals a significant reinforcement in the numbers and skill sets of Taliban fighters who may be expected to move into Afghanistan before spring.

The Obama administration nominated three senior Bush Pentagon appointees yesterday to remain in their posts, including the key positions of Air Force secretary and undersecretary for intelligence. And Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz keeps the rhetorical push on to rebuild his service, but leaves many scratching their heads over parts of his latest speech.

The amazing competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman for the airborne tanker program moved into a new stage when the Joint Requirement Oversight Council met today to consider the freshly drawn requirements. A Joint Staff official confirmed the JROC meeting. And we analyze the byzantine politics of the tanker deal.

The Obama administration released their DOD topline budget for FY 2010, requesting $533.7 billion, a 4 percent increase over the 2009 budget of $513 billion. The increase supports Obama’s desire to expand the ground forces to 547,400 soldiers and 202,000 Marines by the end of 2009. The administration also wants $130 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for 2010, down from $144 being spent this year.

Military analyst Frank Hoffman lays out his plan to restore solvency to American strategy by trimming Pentagon spending and adopting a less interventionist foreign policy. Highly specialized, exotic, over-tooled weapons and forces are out. Flexibility and weapons that are easily configured to fight at the high-end the low-end and everything in between will be at a premium.

That veteran naval and intelligence analyst, Norm Polmar, has done a trenchant write-up on the latest efforts by the Russians to curry favor in what they view as their part of the world. Read on!

Two top military analysts, Stephen Biddle and T.X. Hammes, discussed future warfare at a recent gathering of defense intellectuals and policymakers, sponsored by the Foreign Policy Research Institute, in Washington, D.C. They debated the issue of “balance,” how much of the Pentagon’s investment resources should be devoted to fighting current wars versus preparing for future contingencies.

President Barack Obama set the stage Tuesday night for serious and long term cuts to major weapon systems, saying he would “reform our defense budget so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use” at the same time that he pledged to increase the military’s pay and veterans’ benefits.

Two of the Senate’s defense heavyweights came out swinging today against the Pentagon’s dismal acquisition record of the last decade, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) declaring the nation faces a defense spending “train wreck” and joining Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) in offering a sweeping new bill to rein in the acquisition system.

I offered odds of 3:2 that Ash Carter would be nominated as undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics and no one took them. Good thing, since he was officially nominated late this morning by President Obama. Some in industry and the Pentagon’s acquisition shop have been worried and quietly sniping about Carter’s appointment, noting he has comparatively little acquisition experience.

The chance to change the Pentagon comes along once for each administration — barring disasters that prompt major shifts — and the Obama administration’s decision to keep most Bush appointees for the first few months may have lost it that rare opportunity.

My colleague Christian Lowe has come up with the nifty idea of hosting weekly interviews with me and giving readers a chance each week to ask questions and share comments. Listen to the entire episode to hear more details and to find out what’s coming up this week.

The best source I’ve got on Obama appointments says John Young’s likely successor is Ashton Carter, Harvard professor of international relations and former Clinton administration arms control guru. Carter’s name has been swirling in the ether as a candidate for one position or another but it never seemed to stick. This time it’s sticking, but there are strong crosscurrents.

CSBA’s Bob Work presented his much anticipated report on the Navy and future shipbuilding. Work said the Navy’s current plans are much too costly and he aimed for something more realistic. Still, he thinks shrinking budgets will force the Navy to make tough trade-offs and cut total ship numbers.

The Pentagon’s acquisition community breathed a huge sigh of relief when the Government Accountability Office denied protests to the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Program award by Northrop Grumman and Textron. If these protests had ben upheld they might well have brought Pentagon acquisition efforts to a slow and painful grind.

In future irregular wars, the military must avoid the logistically demanding and often problem causing “heavy footprint,” large numbers sent ashore operating from massive bases, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, says Gen. Mattis, Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command. He prefers an expeditionary approach, using small advisory teams living and working among the local people, and is leading an effort to create many more such small teams along the Special Forces model in the Army and Marine Corps.

The Obama administration is sending a Stryker brigade, a Marine Expeditionary Brigade and an Army aviation brigade to Afghanistan to try and stem the deteriorating security situation there. A new report warns that the Afghan insurgency has morphed into a complex and adaptive network of well-resourced and interconnected groups that coordinate attacks and share lessons learned from battling American troops.

The departure of a key and much feared figure, Don Kerr, from the office of Director of National Intelligence appears to have opened the way for a complete reassessment of what could be a critical gap in the country’s secret satellite intelligence capabilities. The new effort is plowing full steam ahead, with recommendations expected by the end of this month.

The U.S. Coast Guard is using the recent capture of seven pirates in the Gulf of Aden as a test case of how to pursue swashbucklers worldwide and submit them to international courts. According to key Coast Guard officials, maritime security experts and military commanders are examining ways to safeguard ships transiting the East African waters.