Air Force

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- As some in Congress put pressure on the Air Force to slow down its acquisition plan for the second phase of a major launch vehicle development and procurement competition, executives from Northrop Grumman and United Launch Alliance said today they support the service's plan to release a request for proposals this month and award future launches to two competitors next spring.

The Defense Department is anticipating enhanced cybersecurity requirements for contractors working on critical technologies will be published by the National Institute for Standards and Technology in approximately 60 days, according to a DOD official.

The Missile Defense Agency has pushed back plans for a new Pacific Radar by two years -- delaying all key milestones for a new sensor needed to plug holes in the U.S. military's ability to track projected future North Korean long-range rockets during the midcourse of flight -- while also trimming planned five-year spending on the project from $1 billion to $764 million.

As Pentagon leaders move forward with plans to stand up a new Space Development Agency, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson continues to air her concerns with the new organization, telling lawmakers this week she worries the agency will be too detached from the warfighter and could impede ongoing work to develop a proliferated low earth orbit satellite constellation.

The Missile Defense Agency is working to determine the full extent of the delay to the Redesigned Kill Vehicle program and -- based on technology testing currently underway -- plans to revise the estimated two-year schedule slip by either lengthening the delay or trimming it as soon as this summer, according to a senior Defense Department official.

The Air Force is planning to expand its infrastructure to conduct operational tests of hypersonics technology, a next-generation capability the service has prioritized for rapid prototyping.

The Overseas Contingency Operations account was introduced in 2009 to fund wars abroad, meant to give the Pentagon greater flexibility to pay for unexpected costs.

The Defense Department has markedly curtailed what last year was a $1.4 billion five-year investment plan for a pair of programs -- the Common Kill Vehicle and the Multi Object Kill Vehicle -- that promised to deliver next-generation warheads for future ballistic missile defense in a decade.

The head of the House Armed Services Committee is raising concerns about the Air Force's launch services acquisition strategy, telling Secretary Heather Wilson in a March 28 letter the service appears to be moving forward with a request for proposals "in a way that risks undermining the Air Force's goal of maximizing and sustaining fair and open competition."