Pentagon

The head of U.S. Transportation Command said today the Air Force's budget request should be revised to allow for retention of aerial refueling aircraft slated for divestiture because of ongoing delays to the Boeing-made KC-46 tanker.

Pentagon officials are touting what they call the Trump administration's "sensible, reasonable and affordable" approach to nuclear modernization as the Defense Department prepares to potentially clash again with House Democrats over nuclear weapons plans.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued final revisions to its cybersecurity standards for protecting "controlled unclassified information" by defense and other federal contractors.

The Missile Defense Agency has provided Congress a $1.1 billion wish list to finance nine projects above and beyond the agency's $9.2 billion fiscal year 2021 budget request, additional undertakings that -- if funded -- would increase Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptor procurement, hypersonic defense funding and buy an additional Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery.

U.S. Cyber Command is requesting an extra $106 million in fiscal year 2021 for three programs: "hunt forward" capabilities, access operations and Defense Department information network security.

The Defense Department's fiscal year 2021 budget request includes nearly $13 million for developing its landmark cybersecurity certification program, with an emphasis on "pathfinders" selected from the defense industrial base to guide requirements and services for countering cyber threats.

The Defense Department's cloud computing applications face approximately 10,000 "serious cyberattacks" on a weekly basis, according to a DOD official, who said the department needs the commercial sector's help in shifting to a better cloud security model.

The Pentagon's technology chief has pumped the brakes on the Missile Defense Agency's move toward an airborne, ballistic missile-killing laser, instead consolidating "laser scaling" efforts under the umbrella of his own office.

The Defense Department is moving to rein in the Strategic Capabilities Office by slashing the organization's fiscal year 2021 budget to $767 million -- a one-third decrement compared to the SCO's $1.1 billion this year -- in the latest twist in an bureaucratic brawl over the future of the organization.