j15-5 Yesterday we brought you pictures of China's growing fleet of carrier-based fighters, the J-15, basically an updated copy of Russia's Sukhoi Su-33. Today, we're bringing you exceprt from an…, Remaining issues & challenges, . 1)      Since ski jump launches reduce an aircraft’s potential fuel and weapons payload relative to catapult launches, it will be telling to see if China’s future indigenous carrier hulls employ a…

Congress agree to change military retirement: what will that mean for you? Update 7 October 2015:  The NDAA has passed through both houses of Congress and will be headed to the President for…, Currently serving military members are not required to use this new blended retirement plan., Important Terms You Need To Know, There are four terms that you need to understand in order to make sense of the new retirement plan. A, defined benefit, retirement plan  is a plan by which the employer makes a promise to pay certain benefits after retirement, and those benefits are defined from the outside, usually related to the length of service,…, The current military retirement plan is a defined benefit plan, : retirement pay is calculated at 2.5% of high-36 month pay times years of service, plus cost-of-living adjustment, for the rest of your life.* A, defined contribution, retirement plan  is a plan where the employers, the employees, or both, contribute to an individual account that invests in outside investments, like stocks and bonds.  The value of the defined…, The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a defined contribution plan, :  the employee contributes money to an individual account, and directs how that money is to be invested.  At the time of retirement, the employee may have the options of taking out the balance in…, vesting, is the term used to describe a person’s right to control an asset.  Specifically, when a person is vested in their retirement plan, the money in the account belongs to them, regardless of whether…, Auto-enrollment, is a procedure where employees are automatically set up to have a certain portion of their pay directed into their defined contribution retirement plan.  Employees can always reverse the auto…, The Current Military Retirement System, Under the current retirement system, military members belong to a defined benefit program with a very steep vesting cliff.  Service members become fully vested in the defined benefit plan at 20 years…, The New Blended Retirement Plan, What Blended Retirement Means To You The new blended retirement plan makes changes to both the defined benefit military pension system and the defined contribution TSP program.   The changes would…, The new system results in retirement pay that is 20% less than the current retirement pay (40% vs. 50%) for a service member who retires at 20 years of service.,  The details would be different for lengths of service. The change also includes a "lump sum" option under which service members will be able to take a portion of their retirement pay in advance of…, Under the new plan, an estimated 75% of service members would leave the military with some sort of DoD-funded retirement savings.,   Upon separating from the service, members would have the option to leave their money to continue growing within the Thrift Savings Plan, roll the money into a different type of tax-advantaged…, Is The Blended Retirement Plan A Good Thing?, The new blended retirement plan has the potential to be a good thing for many of the people who serve in the military.  Obviously, having some sort of portable retirement funding will be fabulous for…, these changes will not apply to any existing service members unless they actively choose to switch to this new plan.,  As Guina points out, "Future generations of servicemembers who join the military will do so having the opportunity to understand the retirement system in place when they join." I'll be addressing…