Welcome to today's Defense Business Briefing, your weekly roundup of the latest defense industry news.
RTX to pay $200M fine for allegedly exporting defense tech to China
RTX, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, has agreed to pay a $200 million civil penalty for allegedly exporting U.S. defense technology and intellectual property to foreign countries, including China, according to a new State Department announcement.
Pentagon withholding $5 million per tail as Lockheed delivers incomplete F-35s
The Defense Department is withholding about $5 million for each F-35 Joint Strike Fighter delivered with a truncated version of the Technology Refresh-3 software upgrade, a spokesperson with the F-35 Joint Program Office told Inside Defense.
Hanwha Systems wins first Navy maintenance contract, anticipates growth in U.S. market
South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Systems has secured a U.S. Navy contract for maintenance work on a logistics support ship, according to a company announcement, which presents the award as a leap forward in Hanwha's effort to enter the American Navy’s market for maintenance, repair and overhaul work.
DOJ sues Georgia Tech over failure to implement DOD-mandated cybersecurity measures
The Justice Department has joined a whistleblower lawsuit against Georgia Institute of Technology and affiliate Georgia Tech Research Corp. for failing to implement cybersecurity requirements for defense contractors and submitting a false cyber assessment score to the Defense Department.
The week ahead
Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak at several events around Washington this week.
DOD innovators wrestling with bureaucracy, cultural barriers
The Defense Department's aversion toward risk and change, coupled with its tendency to cling to traditional acquisition processes, are its biggest barriers to adopting new technologies and capabilities, according to Pentagon innovation leaders.
DOD officials defend rapid experimentation projects at key tech demo
EDINBURGH, IN -- The Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve may not appear to reflect the first word in its acronym to Senate appropriators who have criticized RDER for failing to transition more weapon systems to the battlefield, but senior Pentagon officials suggest that lawmakers looking to cut the program don’t fully appreciate RDER’s challenges given the slowness of the traditional acquisition and budgeting cycle.