Brig. Gen. Michael Schmidt, program executive officer for fighters and bombers at the U.S. Air Force, has been assigned to a new role as the service branch’s PEO for command, control, communications, intelligence and networks, the Defense Department announced Monday.

Schmidt has led efforts to develop, field, modernize, produce and sustain the Air Force’s bomber and fighter portfolio since April of last year.

His military career also includes various positions at the Special Operations Command,  Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, 696th Armament Systems Squadron and the Office of Air Force Legislative Liaison.

He also served as engineer and manager for the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System, Joint Strategic Target Attack Radar System and F-22 programs.

The Air Force appointed Col. Heath Collins, formerly senior materiel leader and system program manager for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Systems Program Office at the Air Force‘s Nuclear Weapons Center, to succeed Schmidt as PEO for bombers and fighters.

The Trump administration has decided to delay the enforcement of new sanctions on Russia despite the passage of a law in 2017 that seeks to penalize the country for its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, Reuters reported Monday.

“Today, we have informed Congress that this legislation and its implementation are deterring Russian defense sales,” Heather Nauert, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said in a statement.

“Since the enactment of the … legislation, we estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defense acquisitions,” she added.

President Donald Trump signed in August 2017 the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.

The measure established a Monday deadline for the White House to release a report that outlines the potential consequences of U.S. sanctions on Russia as well as name individuals and entities that have ties to Russian intelligence and defense agencies.

“From that perspective, if the law is working, sanctions on specific entities or individuals will not need to be imposed because the legislation is, in fact, serving as a deterrent,” Nauert noted in her statement.

U.S. Navy Rear. Adm. Tom Druggan, commander of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, has been appointed director of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System program at the Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Department said Monday.

Druggan has supervised more than 17,000 engineers, scientists, technicians and support personnel across eight NSWC divisions in his more recent capacity.

He also performed duties of the DoD executive manager for military explosive ordnance disposal technology and training.

Previously, Druggan was a commanding officer and commissioning combat systems officer of the USS O’Kane Aegis ballistic missile defense destroyer, executive officer of USS Lassen, combat systems officer of USS Elliot and anti-submarine warfare officer of the USS Callaghan.

He also served as a program manager for Aegis combat systems in the Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems, program manager for In-Service Aegis Fleet Readiness, special assistant to the chief of naval operations, special assistant to the vice chief of naval operations and founding member of the Navy Operations Group Deep Blue.

Pamela Powers, a more than 28-year U.S. Air Force veteran, has been appointed to the Senior Executive Service and assigned as senior adviser to the undersecretary for personnel and readiness at the Defense Department.

The retired Air Force colonel previously served as mobilization assistant to the the service branch’s assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, DoD said Monday.

Powers, who began her military service in 1989, holds more than two decades of active duty and reserve experience in the communications, strategic planning and programming, legislation, policy, executive support and operational areas.

She also served as DoD Congressional Fellow within the Office of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and provided advice to the Air Force secretary and chief of staff on policy matters.

Before she assumed her position at SAF/MR, Powers was the executive director of the Air Reserve Forces Policy Committee at the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Reserve Affairs and Airman Readiness.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational psychology from the Air Force Academy and a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College.

President Donald Trump will propose $716 billion in Defense Department funds in his fiscal year 2019 budget request, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The request is scheduled for release in February and would reflect a more than 7 percent increase in defense spending over the fiscal 2018 budget proposal that has not yet been cleared by Congress.

The U.S. government spent $634 billion on defense in 2017 and DoD currently operates at last year’s funding levels, according to the newspaper.

Trump’s potential $716 billion defense spending plan would cover DoD’s annual budget, overseas operations and maintenance of U.S. nuclear weapons for the next fiscal year.

His funding proposal would also support efforts to modernize U.S. military weapons systems and help the country address threats from nation-state adversaries.

U.S. Army Secretary Mark Esper has said he is open to the idea of allowing foreign companies to participate in a program to develop a next-generation combat vehicle for the service branch, Defense News reported Monday.

“As I think about a next-generation combat vehicle, we should look at our allies, and look at their designs, and look at how they’ve built combat vehicles and combat systems, and think about adopting some of those,” Esper, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, told reporters Monday at the Army Europe headquarters in Germany.

“We have to think about the NGCV, and we can’t afford to wait 10, 15, 20 years to do that.”

Esper, who assumed his current post in November 2017, noted that foreign firms may consider teaming up with U.S. companies to submit their design entries into the NGCV competition.

“We want to buy best of breed, but I have to be conscious of the U.S. defense industrial base as well,” he added.

His remarks came four months after the Army awarded a potential eight-year, $237 million contract to an industry team led by Science Applications International Corp. to build two prototypes for the NGCV program.

The industry team consists of Lockheed Martin, GS Engineering, Moog, Nevada Automotive Test Center and Roush Industries.