The U.S. armed services, widely recognized as the world's most ready and mobile military, is painting a picture of itself as a stagnant force trapped at home under automatic spending cuts just three weeks away.
The Pentagon on Thursday awarded a more than $30 billion contract for its next midair refueling tanker to aerospace giant Boeing, seeking to conclude almost a decade of efforts to buy the new plane and sparking protests from supporters of Boeing's defeated European rival.
