Sunday, June 15, 2025
Difficulty in validating hardware for the Air Force's Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile is putting the program behind schedule and could narrow the number of flight tests the service can perform before deeming the weapon operational, according to the Government Accountability Office's annual weapon systems report.
The House Appropriations Committee wants Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to explain why he ordered cuts to the Pentagon's independent weapons testing office as "it is widely understood that there is increasing need for independent operational test and evaluation," especially in the cyber and electromagnetic realms.
The Pentagon's marquee missile defense initiative, rebranded just months ago as the "Golden Dome" after a trademark conflict scuttled its original name, is now facing another branding setback -- this time from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Development of an anti-ship hypersonic missile has been paused due to cost concerns, though the Navy plans to continue with a revised acquisition strategy in fiscal year 2026, according to the Government Accountability Office's annual weapon systems report.
Aided by the first overseas deployment of two new weapon systems, the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment recently completed a deployment that included three bilateral exercises focused on the Indo-Pacific.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged today the Pentagon is reviewing the Constellation-class frigate program when asked by a lawmaker if it was being terminated, noting it was one of several "difficult decisions" slated to be made impacting the department's portfolio of large acquisition programs.
The start of production on the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft could be delayed up to 18 months, and initial operational capability could be delayed 11 months, according to the Government Accountability Office’s Weapon Systems Annual Assessment.
House appropriators are urging the Pentagon to establish a network of dual-use factories, emphasizing the Defense Department must scale commercially available, advanced manufacturing technologies during peacetime to ensure wartime surge capacity.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged today the Pentagon is reviewing the Constellation-class frigate program when asked by a lawmaker if it was being terminated, noting it was one of several "difficult decisions" slated to be made impacting the department's portfolio of large acquisition programs.
Amazon's cloud computing platform is set to roll out its "AWS Secret-West Cloud Region" in 2025, the company announced today, marking its second cloud architecture verified to support workloads including data at the secret-level classification for the U.S. federal government.
As the Air Force’s new Integrated Capabilities Command sits in a provisional status, lawmakers on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee are asking the service to provide updates regarding its formal establishment and ongoing modernization work while showing support for the effort.
A not-yet-approved budget reconciliation bill accounts for an overwhelming majority of planned research and development spending for the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft program in fiscal year 2026, according to budget request documents obtained by Inside Defense.
Inside Defense has obtained Defense Department documents sent to Congress this week detailing key procurement and research and development information.
