The U.S. Air Force has detailed its plans to update its existing bomber fleet and acquire new aircraft in the fiscal year 2019 budget request.

The military branch said Monday it aims to modernize the B-52 Stratofortress fleet; continue installing upgrades on the B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit aircraft; and acquire the future B-21 Raider planes.

“As part of our decisions presented in the FY19 President’s Budget, the Air Force will update the B-52 bomber fleet and fund development of replacement engines,” said Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson.

Wilson added that the Air Force wants B-1 and B-2 planes to stay operational until the deployment of B-21s.

Northrop Grumman secured a contract in 2015 to develop the B-21 aircraft as part of the Air Force’s Long Range Strike Bomber program.

The Air Force seeks to start fielding B-21s in the mid-2020s and eventually retire B-1s and B-2s when enough B-21 aircraft are deployed.

The service branch decided to maintain B-52s based on factors such as aircraft availability, mission capability, supply, costs and maintenance hours per flying hour.

Gen. Robin Rand, head of the Air Force Global Strike Command, said the Air Force expects B-52s to operate until 2050 following modernization work and the installation of new engines.

Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, head of the Army Cyber Command, has been nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as head of the National Security Agency and the U.S. Cyber Command, Politico reported Tuesday.

Rob Joyce, White House cybersecurity coordinator and Trump’s cyber adviser, announced Nakasone’s nomination in a Twitter post Tuesday.

Nakasone will succeed NSA and Cybercom chief Adm. Michael Rogers, who announced plans to retire by spring of 2018, once confirmed by the Senate.

Since October 2016, Nakasone has been commanding chief of Army Cybercom and head of the Joint Task Force Ares unit that offers cyber support to the military against the Islamic State militant organization.

He previously led the cyber national mission force at U.S. Cybercom.

He was named twice to the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a staff officer and held senior intelligence roles at the battalion, corps and division levels.

The Missile Defense Agency has requested a budget of $9.9 billion for fiscal year 2019 in an effort to counter emerging threats that include North Korea’s nuclear weapon development efforts and ballistic missile tests, Defense News reported Tuesday.

Gary Pennett, director of operations at MDA, told reporters Monday the agency’s proposed budget backs the National Defense Strategy that seeks to invest in layered missile defense and other capabilities.

MDA’s budget request would allocate $926.4 million for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, including funds for the acquisition of 20 additional ground-based interceptors.

The budget proposal also includes $95.8 million for two radar platforms that will be installed in Hawaii and in another site in the Pacific to support threat detection initiatives.

MDA aims to award a development contract for the Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii by the end of FY 2018, begin construction by FY 2021 and deploy the HDR-H system by FY 2023.

The agency will begin the solicitation for the Homeland Defense Radar-Pacific program in FY 2019 with plans to commence military construction by FY 2022 and field the HDR-P radar by FY 2024, according to budget documents.

Ryan McCarthy, U.S. Army undersecretary, has said the service needs a chief scientist for its new modernization command that will work with acquisition managers and soldiers and help with investment decisions, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday.

“What we are looking at is within the command itself because of the speed of technology, because of the speed of the pacing of threats, to have that capability at the local level working with the cross functional team leaders,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday.

“A chief technology officer can help inform us with investment decisions, the maturity of a technology and looking at technological readiness levels,” he added.

The report said the Army has established eight CFTs to focus on the military branch’s modernization priorities that include next-generation combat vehicles, future vertical lift aircraft, networks and long-range precision fire systems.

McCarthy also mentioned the service’s need for technical talent and plan to advance collaboration between CFTs and program executive officers in order to improve accountability.

“We need to bring in additional technical talent to support us because we are making multibillion dollar decisions,” he added.