Defense Business Alert

The chief executive of Mercury Systems says the company is not expecting the ongoing coronavirus outbreak to delay production or to slow its hiring.

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.

A group of industry associations says it is "strongly opposed" to several Pentagon proposals to reform the defense contracting process, including provisions intended to counter controversial pricing practices used by TransDigm.

Though many defense contractors say they're now taking a break from mergers and acquisitions, some say they expect to be able to capitalize on a wave of deals once the COVID-19 pandemic has come to an end.

The leaders of both General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman said today they are seeing some employees fail to show up for work, but said they expect absentee rates to soon improve.

The Pentagon is gaining new insights about risks to its international supply chain due to efforts to monitor and shore up the defense industrial base during the economic downturn caused by COVID-19.

The Pentagon is bracing for a possible three-month delay across its major acquisition programs because of the COVID-19 outbreak, while Congress is eying another massive economic rescue package that could push billions in new funding to defense contractors.

The Pentagon official overseeing the Defense Department's new cybersecurity certification program thinks most companies in DOD's supply chain will be able to maintain the required cyber credentials for $1,000 per year or less.

The Defense Department is surging ahead with efforts to get third-party assessor organizations certified for work under the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, but the process of setting up a structure for companies to be assessed and approved has many unanswered questions, according to two large defense industry groups.