Missile Defense

The Defense Department has awarded Lockheed Martin a $405 million contract to re-purpose a Navy rocket designed for submarine launch for use by the Army to give ground forces the means to fire a hypersonic glide body, marking a major development by the Pentagon to ready a new class of ultra-fast conventional weapons to strike high-priority targets in the open salvos of a major fight.

Government negotiators from the United States and Israel are finalizing contract terms for the Army to purchase two Iron Dome batteries from state-owned Israeli defense contractors, an approximate two-month delay that nevertheless will not impede service plans to meet the Oct. 1, 2020 fielding goal, according to an Army official.

The estimated price tag for the Defense Department's roster of big-ticket weapons projects has grown to more than $2 trillion, an increase of $101 million compared to last year as the U.S. military prepares for great power competition with China and Russia, laying plans for more missiles, ships and aircraft.

The Air Force's National Security Space Launch program costs have grown $4.1 billion since last December, due largely to new investment in rocket system development, according to a summary of the program's Selected Acquisition Report.

The Army has awarded a contract to Kord Technologies of Huntsville, AL, teamed with competing subcontractors Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, to build a directed-energy prototype for the Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense project, the service announced today.

The Defense Department expects to stand up U.S. Space Command within the next few weeks, the deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command told reporters today.

The Defense Department says the Space Development Agency's early efforts to study options for a future space architecture are now delayed after congressional lawmakers denied a $15 million reprogramming request to kick-start that work.

A new Defense Department inspector general audit has found DOD agencies routinely failed to check whether defense contractors were protecting sensitive information on their networks with the required security controls.

Defense experts have diverging views on how the Air Force should move forward with its acquisition strategy for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent to mitigate fallout from Boeing's decision not to bid on the program.