The Pentagon projects Boeing will exceed its cost ceiling to develop KC-46 aerial-refueling tankers by as much as $500 million, or 10 percent, according to a new Defense Department report.

Sequestration cuts would hammer the Defense Department's top weapons programs, including the Joint Strike Fighter, the Littoral Combat Ship and the Air Force's new bomber, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told lawmakers today.

The Army has objected to the recommendation of an influential Pentagon advisory board calling for the establishment of a national intelligence manager for irregular warfare, including counterinsurgency operations, to improve synchronization of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities.

A group of retired Air Force generals is urging Congress to recapitalize the service's "geriatric" fleets of bombers, tankers, fighter jets and trainer aircraft even in a constrained budget environment, according to a letter sent today to senior members of the House Armed Services Committee.

The Pentagon must better prepare for conflict and humanitarian disasters triggered by climate change by adopting a raft of alterations to its organization, policy, force structure, facilities, training, security assistance and coordination with other agencies, according to a new report from the Defense Science Board.

A surge in demand for the intelligence that unmanned aerial vehicles provide has caused a known shortage among Air Force UAV pilots and sensor operators, with the service taking steps to prevent that shortfall from growing as its unmanned fleet grows throughout this decade.

A scientific advisory panel tasked by Air Force Secretary Michael Donley to investigate problems with aircrew oxygen-delivery systems, particularly those in the service's marquee F-22A fighter fleet, will not deliver its findings this month as originally planned, according to a service spokesman.

Legislation designed to add the director of the National Guard Bureau to the Joint Chiefs of Staff is likely to be approved by Congress, several senators told the military's top leaders during a hearing today.

The future of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization is less important than the need to continue trying to solve what has become a global concern, the JIEDDO director said today.

The Air Force has launched a new study to explore how the service might conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance against adversaries capable of shooting down aircraft like its unmanned Predator, which over the last decade has emerged as a marquee U.S. weapon system in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The Marine Corps has finalized the results of its 2010 force-structure review, setting the baseline for deeper force-structure cuts as the Pentagon moves to slash security spending by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.

The Defense Department formally announced today the creation of an AirSea Battle Office to implement a newly developed concept of warfare in anti-access and area-denial (A2/AD) environments.

As the Defense Department moves to cut security spending by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade, it faces "fierce" internal debates about the impact on programs, Pentagon policy chief Michèle Flournoy said today.

Counterfeit parts have cost the Missile Defense Agency nearly $4.5 million since 2006, and the agency is in the midst of determining how much of that price tag industry must pay, MDA Director Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly said during a Senate hearing today.

Despite knowing that Chinese counterfeit electronic parts are flooding the market, the federal government is not avoiding the companies selling those parts, a Government Accountability Office official told senators today.

The Defense Department has issued an interim final rule to codify procedures it has been using to quickly determine if proposed private-sector renewable energy projects across the country are likely to interfere with military activities.

The head of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said today that the agency will focus "an increasing portion" of its cyber research on investigating offensive capabilities in the coming years, while a leading cybersecurity analyst posited that such capabilities could not be used until the Pentagon's defensive capabilities become sufficient.

Senate Armed Services Committee leaders want all electronic parts shipments from China to be scrutinized for legitimacy if China does not promptly respond to claims that the nation is flooding the worldwide market with counterfeit parts.

The Joint Staff plans to limit participation in deliberations over whether to validate proposals for major programs in a bid to boost the effectiveness of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, which today has "little impact on shaping the force," according to a senior defense official.

The Navy is moving forward with plans to expand the capability of its X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System -- a development effort that aims to demonstrate technologies needed for a stealthy unmanned fighter designed to operate from an aircraft carrier -- to autonomously refuel while in flight with both Air Force and naval tankers.