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

Lockheed says software focus, commonality with Sentinel radar set its 3DELRR offering apart

With the Air Force's selection of Lockheed Martin as the provider of its Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar, company executives say their offering's software-defined nature and commonality with the Army's Sentinel effort are what set it apart during the latest recompete.

F-35 full-rate production decision not likely until at least 2023

The head of the F-35 joint program office said completing a series of Joint Simulation Environment "runs for score" will not occur in fiscal year 2022, pushing a potential full-rate production decision to at least 2023.

Per-tail costs 'likely' to increase in next F-35 production deal as 'tough negotiation' continues

The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin are continuing to hammer out the next F-35 production contract, though the program executive officer said officials are facing "some pretty stiff headwinds we're working to counter" that he expects will push a final agreement past this month.

Air Force chooses Lockheed as 3DELRR provider

The Air Force has opted to move forward with Lockheed Martin as the provider of its Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar, following a recompete between the company and Northrop Grumman to replace the legacy AN/TPS-75 system.

Clark named Lockheed's new Skunk Works chief

Lockheed Martin announced John Clark has been named the vice president and general manager of the company's "Skunk Works" team.

Mercury Systems hires Hutton as top lobbyist

Mercury Systems has hired Church Hutton as vice president of government relations.

HII appoints new operations VP at Ingalls Shipbuilding

Huntington Ingalls Industries has announced the appointment of Donny Dorsey to be vice president of operations at the company's Ingalls Shipbuilding division.

The week ahead

Senior defense officials are slated to speak at several events this week and some will appear on Capitol Hill as "posture season" begins to move into full swing.

Appropriators prepping for new DOD rapid prototyping fund

Congressional appropriators say they support the Defense Department's plans to request money for a new rapid prototyping and experimentation fund in the upcoming budget, but they have also tagged several existing research and development accounts they want DOD to review to ensure against redundancy.

Key management changes afoot for DOD data and AI

The Pentagon's chief data officer stepped down last week and new senior officials were named to the department's new data and artificial intelligence management team.