Major defense contractors were silent this week on the Pentagon's newly announced effort to play a larger role in guiding industry's independent research and development (IRAD) spending, though industry advocates behind the scenes said they would continue to lobby the Defense Department and lawmakers for fewer acquisition regulations. The Pentagon spends approximately $4 billion reimbursing industry for IRAD spending that is intended to go toward developing new military technologies. Since the 1990s, industry has enjoyed a great deal of flexibility...
