Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord says the United States should "re-shore" the production of key capabilities like microelectronics after the COVID-19 crisis exposed weaknesses in the Defense Department's supply chain.
Coronavirus
July 8, 2020
July 7, 2020
BAE Systems' U.S. business now has a committee assessing the future of work at the company given the changes brought by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, according to BAE's new chief executive.
July 6, 2020
The Pentagon’s chief pricing official has issued new guidance to acquisition program managers on how to assess the costs and impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on defense contractors, noting that additional funding has not yet been appropriated by Congress to reimburse companies for pandemic-related hardships or delays.
June 30, 2020
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said today he believes the Defense Department does not require supplemental funding to reimburse defense contractors for coronavirus-related hardships, despite the Pentagon acquisition chief's call for "low double-digit billions.
June 25, 2020
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) is proposing $1 billion for a new "pandemic preparedness" fund for the Pentagon to conduct medical research and bolster small businesses critical to national security.
June 23, 2020
The commanding general of U.S. Army Recruiting Command said today the service is developing a new concept focused on tech-savvy recruiters while shifting all recruiting operations virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 22, 2020
Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord said today the defense industrial base is making an "enormous recovery" after a three-month slowdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, but she stressed the continued need for supplemental funding in the "lower double-digit" billions to reimburse contractors for pandemic-related disruptions.
June 21, 2020
A House panel is proposing legislation that would direct the Navy to arm DDG-1000 destroyers with an intermediate-range hypersonic weapon, require a sweeping analysis of alternatives before the Missile Defense Agency commits to a new layered homeland defense architecture, require the president to participate in an annual nuclear command and control exercise, and provide an unclassified report on foreign nuclear weapon programs.
June 11, 2020
The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee said today they support Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord's assessment that the Defense Department will need billions in supplemental funding to reimburse contractors for costs related to COVID-19.
June 11, 2020
The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 25-2 Wednesday evening to approve its version of the fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill, including billions of dollars in new U.S. military investments focused on deterring China in the Indo-Pacific region.
June 10, 2020
Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord told lawmakers today the Defense Department will need to spend low, "double-digit" billions reimbursing contractors disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but she asserted DOD does not have the resources to so do without supplemental funding.
June 9, 2020
The Defense Department's cost analysis and estimation work has barely been slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the cost assessment and program evaluation office.
June 8, 2020
While Army senior leaders are assessing the health of their programs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the service's acquisition executive is also focused on taking a "holistic economic model of the Army," he said today.
June 3, 2020
The F-35 joint program office says despite a minor delay in the program's operational test schedule related to the COVID-19 pandemic, program-required test activities are slated to wrap up in the fall. These will be followed by a slate of "runs for score" meant to test the Joint Simulation Environment's integration with the aircraft and its subsystems.
June 2, 2020
The chief financial officer of Lockheed Martin said today the company is "exploring" whether it makes sense to adjust for the cost effects of the coronavirus outbreak at a "corporate macro level," rather than altering each program.
May 30, 2020
The Defense Department has sent Congress a detailed spending plan for the $10.5 billion it has been provided to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
May 25, 2020
As Congress debates whether the Pentagon needs more money to cope with the coronavirus outbreak, Huntington Ingalls Industries' chief financial officer said the Defense Department will certainly need additional funding to cover the increased costs of delayed programs -- even if it opts not to help contractors.
May 20, 2020
Mike Griffin, the Pentagon's chief technology officer, said he is concerned that weapon system research and development spending will soon be squeezed as the federal deficit mounts in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak and pressure grows to rein in federal spending -- a view he said should come as no surprise to anyone.
May 18, 2020
The novel coronavirus outbreak is delaying plans for a limited-user test of the Integrated Battle Management System -- a high-stakes do over for the $7.7 billion Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense program following a failed 2016 assessment -- and is also expected to push a production decision from September to November.
May 15, 2020
The Air Force's top acquisition official told reporters yesterday he's approved an accelerated award of a "major satellite contract" that could be announced this week -- part of a larger effort to increase companies' cash flow during the COVID-19 pandemic.