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

DOD projects new confrontational posture on business consolidation

The Defense Department, following Lockheed Martin's government-pushed termination of a $4.4 billion bid to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne, is now pledging to combat "extreme consolidation" in the defense industrial base and bring new scrutiny to potential contractor mergers and acquisitions.

Private equity sees opportunity, eyes increased investment in submarine industrial base

Steve Dobos, the owner of Texas-based fabricated and machined metal products company Butler Weldments, has been receiving a lot of calls recently.

Lockheed terminates Aerojet merger

Lockheed Martin has opted to terminate its planned $4.4 billion acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne following the Federal Trade Commission's recent lawsuit seeking to block the merger. 

HII sees unmanned as future growth area despite current delays

Huntington Ingalls Industries remains confident in its unmanned systems business despite the current uncertainty and delays in contracting for unmanned programs, company executives said during HII's fourth quarter 2021 earnings call. 

Boeing bolsters facilities, capabilities as it looks toward future growth

Boeing is investing in "state-of-the-art production centers" and capabilities as officials wait for a handful of large programs to move past the development cycle and into production, according to the head of the company's defense business.

Amentum finalizes $1.9B acquisition of PAE

Amentum has completed its $1.9 billion acquisition of PAE, with the latter company announcing that its stockholders had recently approved the merger.

The week ahead

Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak at several events this week, while the Senate Armed Services Committee holds two confirmation hearings for Pentagon nominees.

Pentagon plans to eliminate proposed bifurcation for CMMC level two assessments

The Defense Department is making changes to version two of its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program following a review of what controlled unclassified information needs to be protected under the second tier of the model, according to DOD Deputy Chief Information Officer for Cybersecurity David McKeown.

McConville: Modernization programs could be cut

There is no reason for the Army to change any of its six priority modernization goals, but hard choices are in store for the 35 materiel programs that support them, according to Gen. James McConville, the Army’s chief of staff.

More names emerge for PPBE Reform Commission

Senior Democrats have named additional members to a key reform commission that could make dramatic changes to the Pentagon's decades-old budget planning processes.