Pentagon

The Missile Defense Agency is laying the technical groundwork for the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA -- a Navy interceptor originally designed to counter medium- and intermediate-range threats -- to also have an operational mission against intercontinental ballistic missiles, potentially stretching the reach of the new weapon to reinforce defense of the nation against North Korean threats.

The Defense Department has markedly curtailed what last year was a $1.4 billion five-year investment plan for a pair of programs -- the Common Kill Vehicle and the Multi Object Kill Vehicle -- that promised to deliver next-generation warheads for future ballistic missile defense in a decade.

The head of the House Armed Services Committee is raising concerns about the Air Force's launch services acquisition strategy, telling Secretary Heather Wilson in a March 28 letter the service appears to be moving forward with a request for proposals "in a way that risks undermining the Air Force's goal of maximizing and sustaining fair and open competition."

The Pentagon will nearly double its planned investments in hypersonic capabilities over the next five years, from $6 billion to $11.2 billion, a sum that is higher than one of the Defense Department's top hypersonics officials recently cited.

The Army has formalized plans with Raytheon and Lockheed Martin to wind down by September the original Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) program of record, a key part of the service's pivot toward a new approach to accelerate the fielding of a Patriot radar replacement by 2022 through a “Sense-Off” competition beginning in May.

Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan this week said China was stealing U.S. technology at a "staggering" rate and raised concerns about possible Chinese dominance of next-generation "5G" telecom networks -- remarks that come as U.S. and Chinese trade officials move toward concluding talks that have included cyber theft of intellectual property as a key component.

The Pentagon today shifted $1 billion from Army funds to a counternarcotics account to construct 57 miles of fencing along the United States-Mexico border, according to documents obtained by Inside Defense.

The Pentagon is supporting recommendations and proposed legislation to change how it approaches software, including through a new category of appropriations.

The Pentagon has sent Congress a $600 million reprogramming request for near-term hurricane recovery, but will need supplemental funding to cover $9 billion in damage across multiple fiscal years, according to an internal memo from acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan.