Welcome to today's Defense Business Briefing, your weekly roundup of the latest defense industry news.

Raytheon-UTC deal to close Friday

Raytheon and United Technologies said today they have received all the needed regulatory approvals for their merger of equals and expect to close the deal prior to the opening of trading on Friday.

Justice Department says Raytheon-UTC deal can proceed after three divestitures

The Justice Department said Thursday that United Technologies and Raytheon must divest Raytheon's military airborne radios business, UTC's military global positioning systems and UTC's large space-based optical systems businesses to move forward with the companies' planned merger.

Trump invokes Defense Production Act requiring GM to build ventilators

President Trump is invoking the Defense Production Act to require General Motors to build ventilators to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Pentagon's defense industry team still in early stages of COVID-19 response

The Pentagon's senior acquisition team has only just begun their first fully coordinated efforts to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, and pledged today to move aggressively to prop up economically vulnerable defense contractors and field "demand signals" for medical supplies from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Lockheed pledges advances for business partners, use of fleet and facilities for COVID-19 relief

Lockheed Martin said it is planning to advance more than $50 million to its small- and medium-sized business partners in its supply chain "to ensure they have the financial means to continue to operate, sustain jobs and support the economy."

SAIC CEO says company has seen 'minimal impact' from COVID-19 so far

Science Applications International Corp. has experienced "minimal impact" from coronavirus so far and expects the government services market to remain resilient, the company's chief executive said this week.

Bath Iron Works chief says work continues because it is 'so essential to the defense of our nation'

Though a General Dynamics Bath Iron Works employee has tested positive for coronavirus, the business remains open because the president and the Navy have "mandated that we do so," according to a message from the unit's president.

Raytheon strikes strategic sourcing deal with Aerojet Rocketdyne

Raytheon said its missile systems business has agreed to a $1 billion, five-year deal to buy propulsion systems from Aerojet Rocketdyne for Standard Missile products.

Amazon comes out against DOD motion to reconsider JEDI cloud award decision

Amazon Web Services is asking a court to block the Defense Department's motion to reconsider aspects of its decision to award the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract to Microsoft, arguing DOD is merely giving Microsoft a "do-over" on its bid.

L3Harris agrees to sell EOTech business

L3Harris Technologies said it has agreed to sell its EOTech business to American Holoptics, an affiliate of Koucar Management.

NDIA survey says COVID-19 crisis is causing disrupted cash flow

A survey conducted by the National Defense Industrial Association found that small businesses expect the coronavirus outbreak to disrupt their sales and their ability to carry out contracts.

NDIA collecting small-business contractor information for DOD

The National Defense Industrial Association announced it is conducting a survey of small-business contractors to find out the challenges they're facing amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Parsons hires Riordan

Parsons said it has named J.R. Riordan senior vice president of business development for its space and geospatial solutions market.

Emergency spending bill gives DOD more flexibility to make awards for coronavirus response

The coronavirus relief legislation passed by the Senate would loosen restrictions on how the Defense Department can award larger other transaction agreements for prototypes related to COVID-19.

Geurts says Navy is accelerating, not delaying, contract awards in response to COVID-19

The Navy's acquisition executive says he is pushing the service to accelerate upcoming contract awards in response to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Army does not expect contract award delays amid coronavirus outbreak

While the Army has canceled several training exercises in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the service is not currently expecting any contract awards to be affected, according to an official statement.

CMMC claims by IT firm reflect market tensions amid Pentagon's upcoming cyber certification

An information technology company's adjustment to its claims about cybersecurity certification under an emerging Pentagon program reflects tensions in the marketplace, as the Defense Department aggressively pushes forward on landmark requirements and businesses strive to keep up in preparing for compliance and new clients.