Missile Defense

Pentagon officials on Friday afternoon met with the Aerospace Industries Association, the National Defense Industrial Association and the Professional Services Council for a wide-ranging conversation, according to AIA's chief executive.

The Israeli-made Iron Dome is not compatible with existing U.S. air defense systems, forcing the Army to launch a new acquisition strategy this week for the Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2-Intercept (IFPC Inc. 2) program that features an open invitation to all industry to participate in a "shoot-off" next year in a bid to deliver a cruise missile defense capability in 2023.

Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) is warning the Congressional Budget Office may overestimate costs of U.S. nuclear forces in an upcoming assessment that could taint the agency's objectivity in major policy debates over controversial programs like the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent.

The Pentagon's acquisition executive has formed a "war room" to assess industry's ability to support production of hypersonic boost-glide vehicles and cruise missiles as well as inform potential targeted government investments in manufacturing tools to support affordable delivery of these ultrafast weapons.

House lawmakers today pressed the chief of the National Nuclear Security Administration on the proposal to increase NNSA's funding by $3 billion in fiscal year 2021 when the agency already has $8 billion in unspent funds from previous years.

Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) is warning the Congressional Budget Office may overestimate costs of U.S. nuclear forces in an upcoming assessment that could taint the agency's objectivity in major policy debates over controversial programs like the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) appeared to throw the Navy's top officer a curveball this week when the lawmaker raised the prospect of the Army taking responsibility for any land-based variant of the Aegis ballistic missile system the Pentagon might acquire to bolster homeland defense against North Korean threats.

A key House missile-defense proponent this week challenged the Defense Department's proposal to realign funding in fiscal year 2021 for the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor from the Missile Defense Agency to the Space Development Agency.

The Air Force and Missile Defense Agency could accelerate the planned service life extension of the Cobra Dane radar in Alaska -- used to track and classify missile threats, as well as to provide space surveillance and intelligence-gathering -- in the wake of recent delays to new ground radar projects, including the new homeland defense sensor slated for Hawaii and the so-called Pacific Radar.