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

Aerojet keeps eye out for future opportunities following end of Lockheed merger deal

Aerojet Rocketdyne executives are "still very active in looking at strategic alternatives" following the termination of the company's planned sale to Lockheed Martin earlier this year, according to Aerojet's chief financial officer. 

Appropriators want DOD report on contractors with 'documented performance issues'

House and Senate appropriators want the Defense Department to produce a report on the payment of fees and bonuses to contractors with "documented performance issues."

With FLRAA decision near, Bell boasts of modernized manufacturing

FORT WORTH, TX -- While Bell waits for a decision on the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft and works toward flying its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft next year, the company has sought to impress Army officials with its improved manufacturing abilities that company executives say would enable it to produce both aircraft concurrently.

Lockheed taps Tyvak for transport satellite work

Lockheed Martin is again teaming up with Tyvak Nano Satellite Systems for work tied to the Space Development Agency's transport satellite effort.

DOD shifts funds internally to strengthen high-tech supply chains

The Pentagon is realigning $81.4 million to strengthen and secure high-tech supply chains in the U.S. defense industrial base, with much of the funding headed toward directed-energy weapons, electric vehicle batteries, nuclear missile aeroshells, and the recycling of rare earth elements, according to an internal reprogramming notice.

Lockheed partners with Hanwha to build howitzers in U.K.

A Lockheed Martin subsidiary has joined Hanwha Defense's effort to build self-propelled howitzers for the British army in the United Kingdom, according to an announcement today from the Korean defense contractor.

The week ahead

Senior Pentagon officials are scheduled to make several public appearances this week.

DOD sets FY-28 target for demonstrating hypersonic defense system

The Defense Department has set a fiscal year 2028 target for demonstrating a prototype hypersonic defense system to defeat long-range, ultrafast maneuvering glide vehicles during mid-flight -- more than 10 years after Congress directed the U.S. military to establish a program to plug an anticipated hole in U.S. air- and missile-defense capabilities.

In a seminal achievement, DOD shoots down cruise missile with laser

The Defense Department for the first time has destroyed a cruise missile target with a laser during a test in New Mexico -- a seminal achievement in the campaign to weaponize directed-energy technology and a demonstration that the game-changing potential to revolutionize operational concepts and dramatically alter the way U.S. forces fight is at hand.