The Pentagon is sharpening its plan for a clean-sheet hypersonic defense weapon system, revealing decisions to soon pick a winner in a Raytheon-versus-Northrop Grumman contest, trimming near-term funding by nearly $700 million that is expected to be offset by co-development investments from Japan and delaying fielding by a year to 2035. The Missile Defense Agency’s fiscal year 2025 budget request seeks $218 million and proposes a $694 million reduction between FY-25 and FY-28 for the Glide Phase Interceptor project compared...
