Raytheon says it has completed initial testing of a portion of its new Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, the Army's Patriot replacement radar.
Monday, June 1, 2020
Monday, June 1, 2020
Key Issues NNSA report Iron Dome to CENTCOM LOGCAP V
Jason Sherman is a reporter for Inside Defense. For more than two decades -- including stints with Defense News and Armed Forces Journal -- he has covered the Pentagon, defense industry, the military budget, weapon system acquisition and defense policy formulation as well as reporting on technology, business, and global arms trade. Jason has traveled to more than 40 countries, studied medieval history at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and lives in Brooklyn.
Raytheon says it has completed initial testing of a portion of its new Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, the Army's Patriot replacement radar.
The Missile Defense Agency is refining plans for a potential break-up of the omnibus Ground-based Midcourse Defense system development and sustainment contract, envisioning as many as five competitive projects to support the homeland ballistic missile defense system into the 2030s.
The Defense Department's proposal to shift funding for the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor from the Missile Defense Agency to the Space Development Agency encountered continued headwinds in Congress this week, raising questions about the viability of this fiscal year 2021 request.
The Defense Department is eyeing Raytheon's Standard Missile-6 as a counter-hypersonic interceptor, a weapon already effective against "advanced maneuvering threats" and now slated for a flight test against a hypersonic boost-glide target in fiscal year 2023.
Proponents of the Next-Generation Interceptor prevailed this week on the Joint Requirements Oversight Council to allow the new project to proceed, clearing the way for a top Pentagon board next week to conduct a final review and formally launch a competition for the new multibillion-dollar weapons project, sources said.
Lockheed Martin and the Defense Department are hammering out terms for expanding the space surveillance capability of the Long Range Discrimination Radar, a planned major software upgrade that would improve the ability of the ballistic missile defense sensor to detect and track objects in orbit in the mid-2020s.
The Navy is proposing a $700 million, six-year project to define a second life extension of the Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missile to keep the 27-year old strategic weapon system in service for the life of the new Columbia-class submarine fleet through 2083, potentially stretching the life of the Trident across a century.
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.
The Navy's marquee surface combatant force -- the aircraft carrier strike group -- is equipped today with technologies capable of defeating adversary maneuvering hypersonic weapons, a top admiral told Congress, suggesting the sea service has stitched together a shield to defend against a new class of ultra-fast weapons widely viewed as invincible.
A key senator this morning called Defense Secretary Mark Esper's decision to withhold from Congress the Navy's newest shipbuilding plan "unacceptable" and promised to publicly hold the Pentagon's top official accountable at a Senate hearing later today.
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.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy has commissioned an advisory panel to provide an independent assessment of the service's information assurance capabilities, a matter central to plans for semi-autonomous weapon systems and future combat.
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.
SAPA Transmission, the U.S. subsidiary of a Spanish defense contractor, has completed initial construction of a U.S. production plant in Michigan -- a 110,000-square foot facility outside of Detroit that could shake up the Pentagon's tracked vehicle transmission competitive landscape long dominated by two domestic suppliers.
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.
The Defense Department's top brass have identified a collective $18 billion in "priority" projects not funded in the Trump administration's $705 billion fiscal year 2021 budget request, a set of wish lists prepared at Congress' direction nearly each year since the mid-1990s that circumvent the Pentagon's budget formulation process.
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.
The Defense Department plans major advances in fiscal year 2021 for its Tactical Boost Glide project, including manufacture of Raytheon's first air-launched flight test vehicle and critical design review of Lockheed Martin's ship-launched variant.
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.