Pentagon

The Missile Defense Agency is laying the organizational and technical ground work to add a new layer to the Ballistic Missile Defense System that would defend North America from enemy cruise missiles, a project that comes as Air Force leaders this fall are eyeing options to begin a potential program as soon as 2023 to better defend the United States and Canada from such low-flying, air-breathing threats.

Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord told lawmakers today the Defense Department is justified in distributing COVID-19 bailout funds to defense contractors economically hurt by the pandemic and said Congress needs to provide billions more.

Two congressmen behind a new bipartisan report urging significant defense reforms say the Pentagon can either divest legacy weapons in favor of artificial intelligence and unmanned systems, or it can lose the race for technological superiority to China.

As Amentum begins planning to integrate DynCorp International, the company's chief executive said he expects DynCorp businesses to become units within Amentum and for top DynCorp executives to join Amentum's leadership team.

The Missile Defense Agency is launching a second layer to its counter-hypersonic portfolio with a new project that aims to develop a sea-based interceptor to defeat threats in the terminal phase -- an envisioned last-line of defense for the Navy against a new class of ultra-fast glide vehicles and cruise missiles being developed by Russia and China -- with plans to vet proposals by December and award initial contracts in early 2021.

Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord said today the effort now underway to identify and re-shore critical defense technologies with fragile or foreign supply chains was enhanced by the global outbreak of COVID-19.

The Defense Department has released the interim final rule for its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, marking a major shift in how the Pentagon will evaluate cybersecurity for contractors who make up the defense industrial base.

A group representing a range of U.S. companies and industry associations opposes a variety of measures in the House and Senate defense authorization bills, including several provisions that would demand domestic sourcing for U.S. weapons programs and force companies to cut ties with Chinese suppliers.

The Missile Defense Agency is pressing ahead with a project to develop a speed-of-light weapon to knock down maneuvering hypersonic vehicles, awarding Raytheon $9.7 million to advance work originally proposed two years ago on a Hypersonic Defense Weapon System concept and setting the project on a path to a potential Microwave Technology Testbed.