Pentagon

The Pentagon's top information technology official says the Defense Department continues to evaluate proposals from Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract as new Defense Secretary Mark Esper reviews the overall JEDI program.

The Defense Department, General Services Administration and NASA have drafted interim final regulations for banning the government's purchases of IT and video surveillance equipment and components from Hauwei and other China-based tech firms, a move that will likely fuel growing tensions between Washington and Beijing.

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 Presidential Aircraft Replacement program will cost $5.2 billion, the Pentagon revealed last week, roughly $500 million more than the $4.6 billion Air Force estimate for the pair of new highly modified Boeing 747-8s presented to Congress in March -- and a year after President Trump claimed White House negotiations saved more than $1.4 billion on the VC-25B development contract.

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.

Rep. John Ratcliffe's (R-TX) current claim to fame is a viral moment from last week's Mueller hearings, but the lawmaker selected to become the next director of national intelligence also would bring cybersecurity bona fides to the DNI role.