The full-rate production decision for the Standard Missile-6 won't happen until fiscal year 2013, after the Navy conducts additional tests this fall to verify corrections of deficiencies, according to a Navy official. 516 words

While Army leaders and industry executives are fighting to keep the Medium Extended Air Defense System alive in the United States through its development phase, Lockheed Martin is in discussions with Germany and Italy about follow-on opportunities for the system, while additional nations have expressed interest in MEADS' capabilities, according to company officials. 787 words

While the Army's cornerstone missile-defense program has cleared a critical design review in recent months, service officials are keeping the results of a new cost estimate, mandated by a February acquisition decision memorandum, under wraps. 685 words

Air Force Brig. Gen. Samuel Greaves, who has been selected for the rank of major general, has been appointed deputy director of the Missile Defense Agency, according to a June 22 Pentagon statement. Greaves is currently the director for strategic plans, programs and analyses at Air Force Space Command. He will be replaced by Air Force Brig. Gen Roger Teague, vice commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center. Teague's position will be filled by Air Force Maj. Gen. Terrence Feehan, "program executive for programs and integration" at MDA, the statement reads.93 words

The Navy and the Missile Defense Agency plan to conduct Flight Test Maritime-18 this week using a more complex target than the one used in a successful May test with the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, according to Missile Defense Agency spokesman Richard Lehner. 372 words

The computer room and combat information center in the guided-missile cruiser Chancellorsville (CG-62) have been emptied out and prepared for installation of the new baseline 9 of the Aegis Combat System, the first upgrade in the Navy's plan to move to the new system that leverages commercial-off-the-shelf parts and enhances the ships' missile-defense capability. 526 words

The Army chief of staff confirmed last week that the service was developing doctrine and tactics to take on a new mission to counter weapons of mass destruction, noting that it meant strengthening and maintaining ties to U.S. Special Operations Command forged over a decade of war. 680 words

The Army's top think tank believes more resources need to be directed toward ground-level intelligence gathering if the service, per Pentagon guidance, is to develop greater capabilities to counter weapons of mass destruction, according to the one-star general in charge of a recent war game.381 words

The Commerce Department has launched an extensive review of the space industry designed to closely map its supply chain in what is believed to be the broadest effort of its kind. 1434 words

The Air Force Research Laboratory is preparing to invest almost $50 million over the next five years to mature space sensor technologies. 735 words

Top Navy and Marine Corps leadership are taking a close look at where directed-energy weapon technology is today and how they want to see it develop in the future as a supplement to kinetic weapons already in the fleet. 1089 words

The Defense Department's inspector general has weighed in on a small but important step in the Air Force's audit readiness effort, approving of the service's process of accounting for military and other equipment and recommending improvements to some internal controls in the future. 718 words

Lockheed Martin's chairman and CEO warned last week that $500 billion in cuts to the Pentagon's budget from sequestration would be "a blunt-force trauma to industry," and leaders of the company's programs are seeking ways to soften the blow, through efficiencies and international sales, despite little guidance from government on how the cuts might take place. 961 words

Congress has approved a request to increase spending by $70 million on Israel's Iron Dome short-range rocket and mortar defense program by shifting funds from more than a dozen U.S. missile-defense programs, according to a Pentagon reprogramming document.746 words