Missile Defense

The Pentagon's acquisition executive has cleared the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA program, in co-development since 2006 with Japan, for transition to production -- signaling confidence in the interceptor after early flight-test challenges and setting the stage for the rollout of a major operational enhancement to the Ballistic Missile Defense System.

A Pentagon decision to transition the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptor from development to production is "imminent," according to a Raytheon executive, a milestone that could allow the ballistic missile defense project to tap more than $450 million in production orders that have been on ice pending resolution of technical questions by Defense Department brass about the new interceptor.

In the latest move to field an industry team to support efforts to rapidly prototype a ground-launched hypersonic glide vehicle, the Army has selected General Atomics to support flight test execution of the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon.

The Air Force has contracted with an independent organization to study the global launch market in order to inform the next phase of its Launch Services Procurement strategy.

The Defense Department's inspector general is planning this month to begin auditing hypersonic weapons research and development projects, a move that comes after Pentagon leaders announced plans to nearly double spending over the next five years on the new class of ultrafast weapons -- both offensive and defensive -- to more than $11 billion.

Schedule delays to the B61-12 life extension and W88 Alteration 370 programs revealed earlier this month are expected to cost between $720 million and $850 million -- which the National Nuclear Security Administration intends to pay for using internal funding.

The Pentagon's new Space Development Agency is preparing for the "imminent" release of its first solicitation in support of its vision to create a resilient, proliferated next-generation space architecture.

The Defense Department estimates that if it is required to change the Air Force's launch services acquisition strategy as a result of legislative language or pending legal challenges, the program could be delayed by at least a year.

The Missile Defense Agency selected Northrop Grumman as the winner of a $1.1 billion deal to supply sub-scale targets with simple and complex reentry vehicles. The contractor defeated Lockheed Martin in the two-way race to modernize a portion of the Defense Department's portfolio of targets and countermeasures used to test the Ballistic Missile Defense System.