Lockheed Martin is planning to focus on foreign countries interested in buying Patriot Advanced Capability-3 and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system missiles while the Army's future missile procurement plans remain up in the air due to fiscal uncertainty, according the company's vice president for air and missile defense.

Raytheon has successfully completed control test vehicle flights for the Army's Accelerated Improved Intercept Initiative program in preparation for a live-fire test in August, according to the company's AI3 program manager.

A top Defense Department oversight board convened last week and approved the Standard Missile-6 program to move into full-rate production, according to the Navy.

The Navy plans to have a hardware critical design review for its Air and Missile Defense radar just 11 months after awarding the engineering and manufacturing design contract, with a software and systems review 16 months after the contract award, according to the AMDR statement of work released May 8.

Lockheed Martin is seeking to expand the reach of some of the assets it contributes to the Ballistic Missile Defense System, with the goal of enabling Aegis-equipped destroyers to fire missile interceptors well before the ship can even detect a threat with its own organic sensors.

Raytheon's Standard Missile-3 Block IB successfully intercepted a short-range ballistic missile during a live-fire test over the Pacific Ocean yesterday, validating remedial engineering work on the Aegis ship-launched weapon following failures in 2011 and setting the stage for the Pentagon to consider a delayed plan to ramp up SM-3 Block IB production.

Administration officials last week offered details about a new anti-missile warhead that could one day replace the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, describing the effort as an attempt to gain better reliability and performance through the use of a modular, open system architecture.

A "tension" seems to exist between combatant commanders' needs for missile defense systems and the acquisition practices recommended by a congressional watchdog agency, according to Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee Chairman Mark Udall (D-CO).

While the Integrated Air and Missile Defense program has experienced cost overruns, those increases are a small price to pay for system enhancements -- and will ultimately generate savings, according to Northrop Grumman's program director for the Integrated Battle Command System.

The Missile Defense Agency and the Army are considering whether they need money for more Terminal High Altitude Area Defense batteries in the fiscal year 2015 budget request, according to the MDA director.

The Common Missile Compartment, a piece of the Ohio-class replacement submarine program that is a joint effort between the United States and the United Kingdom, has not been impacted by the recent continuing resolution nor sequestration cuts in fiscal year 2013, the Navy said last week.

Senior Air Force officials told Congress this week that they support aggressive actions taken by a commander at Minot Air Force Base, ND, to strip 17 officers of their intercontinental ballistic missile responsibilities and send them back for more training, while downplaying the severity of the risk resident in the service's nuclear enterprise.

Data collected from a successful test of an unmanned, hypersonic test demonstrator last week could help the Air Force develop weapon systems with increased survivability and responsiveness, according to the program's manager.

A senior National Nuclear Security Administration leader this week said Defense and Energy department officials are fully committed to developing an interoperable, adaptable nuclear weapon for the Air Force and Navy, with some limitations, and to keeping long-term warhead life extension programs on track despite sequestration.

A new Pentagon report sent to Congress today provides the most detailed government account of capabilities China is developing to thwart U.S. forces -- so-called anti-access, area-denial weapon systems that include two stealth fighter aircraft programs, an unmanned combat air vehicle, anti-satellite capabilities, a ballistic missile defense "umbrella" and cyberwarfare.

A top Defense Department oversight board will review a key acquisition milestone for the Standard Missile-6 program on May 13, deciding whether or not to proceed with full-rate production of the ship-launched defensive weapon, according to the Navy.

An unmanned hypersonic flight test demonstrator flew five times the speed of sound this week, achieving the longest-ever air-breathing hypersonic flight, according to the Air Force.

The Pentagon plans to ask Congress for permission to shift nearly $159.8 million for various missile defense activities, including the Ground-based Midcourse Defense and Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense programs, during the remainder of fiscal year 2013, according to a draft reprogramming request obtained by InsideDefense.com.

Air Force Global Strike Command and the Army Corps of Engineers expect to reach a key milestone in the next six months on a design to replace specialized nuclear storage facilities that date back roughly 40 years with new facilities that meet today's requirements and security standards.

Ahead of a summer decision to move into more advanced developmental engineering, Air Force officials estimate that a focused attempt to develop commonality between the service's intercontinental ballistic missile fuze modernization program and the Navy's own fuze program could lead to more than $2 billion in cost avoidance.