U.S. Cyber Command chief Michael Rogers has said a portion of Cybercom’s proposed $647 million budget would finance efforts to integrate cyber-related technologies and operations against the Islamic State militant organization, DoD News reported Wednesday.

“We are particularly concerned as adversaries probe and even exploit systems used by government, law enforcement, military, intelligence and critical infrastructure in the U.S. and abroad,” Rogers told a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing Tuesday.

The U.S. Navy admiral said he expects the command’s cyber mission force to be fully operational at the end of the government’s 2018 fiscal year.

Cybercom formed the group to help develop defensive and offensive cyber tools as well as identify cyber workforce professionalization and acquisition strategies.

Rogers, an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2017, added he believes partnering with companies and combining agile methods, technologies and command-and-control systems will increase the command’s potential to counter enemies in cyberspace.

John Roth, a Defense Department budget official who performs comptroller duties, has said the White House’s defense budget proposal for fiscal 2018 intends to rebuild the U.S. armed forces, build on “near-term readiness” efforts in fiscal 2017 and balance future requirements and current operations, DoD News reported Tuesday.

Roth told reporters Tuesday at the Pentagon that DoD aims to create a “bigger, more lethal force” by fiscal year 2019 by leveraging the developments to be made in FYs 2017 and 2018.

He called for a reversal of defense sequestration to help advance DoD’s strategy to re-establish military readiness.

President Donald Trump’s proposed defense base budget of $574.5 billion exceeds the budget cap by $52 billion under the Budget Control Act of 2011.

Roth said DoD should now start the analysis process to facilitate a new round of base closures and realignments by 2021.

Army Lt. Gen. Anthony Ierardi, director of force structure, resources and assessment of the Joint Staff, joined Roth at the news briefing.

U.S. and Saudi Arabia have entered into an agreement to establish a multinational alliance that will identify and implement measures against terrorist financial networks.

The Terrorist Financing Targeting Center will promote collaboration between U.S., Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in efforts to counter terrorist networks, Saudi Arabia’s embassy said Tuesday.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the department will contribute the expertise of its office of terrorism and financial intelligence to TFTC.

The department will co-chair TFTC alongside Saudi Arabia’s ministry of interior.

The center aims to address terror threats such as the Islamic State militant group, al Qaeda, Hizballah, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, the Taliban and the Haqqani network.

TFTC will also work to identify, track and exchange information on terrorist financial networks; coordinate actions; and offer support to regional partners that need to boost their capacity to defeat terrorist financing.

The participating nations have a long-term goal of bringing experts together in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Adm. Michael Rogers, head of the U.S. Cyber Command, has said at a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing that his organization seeks a $647 million budget for fiscal 2018, up 17 percent from the command’s current spending level, Nextgov reported Tuesday.

He told subcommittee members that the proposed funding increase would primarily support preparations to elevate Cybercom’s status from a sub-unified military command of to a full combatant command.

Rogers, an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2017, added that President Donald Trump will determine when the elevation should occur.

Cybercom aims to buy cyber defense tools from the private sector in the next few months under an expanded authority granted by Congress in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act.

The 2016 NDAA allocated $75 million for the command’s annual cyber technology purchases over five years.

A fiscal 2018 spending plan released by the Trump administration does not provide  retirement dates for the U.S. Air Force‘s A-10 Warthog and U-2 reconnaissance aircraft fleets, Defense News reported Tuesday.

Defense News obtained budget documents that say the Air Force plans to allocate money for its fleet of 283 A-10s; extend the service of U-2 planes; and continue sensor upgrades to RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft systems.

Lawmakers have previously introduced measures to keep the Air Force from retiring A-10 and U-2 platforms.

Trump’s budget request would allocate $183 billion for the Air Force, up from the $171 billion in fiscal 2017 appropriated funds, reported Defense News.

The proposed Air Force budget includes $24.7 billion for procurement; $49.2 billion for operations and maintenance; and $25.4 billion for research, development, testing and evaluation programs.

The Next Generation Air Dominance, Long Range Standoff Weapon, B-21 and Air Force One replacement acquisition programs would get funding increases under the budget proposal.