Missile Defense

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said today the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill is being "held hostage" by legislative disagreements beyond his committee's jurisdiction and can only be finalized by Republican and Democratic party leaders.

The Air Force's armament directorate is planning more tests of the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon and Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon and expects to conduct system-level critical design reviews of the two Lockheed Martin platforms during the first half of calendar year 2020.

Two long-time Missile Defense Agency civilian leaders -- the No. 2 and No. 3 officials with more than three decades of MDA leadership roles between them -- stepped down suddenly from their posts last week against a backdrop of tension between the agency and the Pentagon's weapon technology boss over a wide array of issues over how to proceed with new missile defense capabilities.

The GAO today released a public version of its full decision to sustain Blue Origin's protest of the Air Force's Launch Services Procurement effort, expanding on its conclusion that the solicitation does not comply with federal acquisition regulations.

Pentagon officials warned defense contractors today that Congress could be inching closer toward a yearlong short-term spending bill that could prevent the Defense Department from starting new acquisition programs.

U.S. missile defense contractors are pitching ideas for improving the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system with alternative interceptor concepts in a gambit to provide near-term upgrades should the Pentagon proceed with the technically ambitious Next-Generation Interceptor program that could take a decade or more to field.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission is recommending Congress require the Pentagon to annually document Beijing's progress toward achieving a 2017 goal set by President Xi Jinping to build a "world-class" military and put the People's Liberation Army on par with other leading global powers.

The Defense Department is preparing to review its decades-old policy for paying contractors, including a look at how potential changes might impact the profits of defense companies.

The National Nuclear Security Administration has already begun rebalancing its internal projects in response to the ongoing continuing resolution that keeps federal funding at fiscal year 2019 levels, according to a senior Energy Department official.