WASHINGTON ― The New START nuclear pact’s demise could cost the Department of Defense as much as $439 billion for modernization, plus $28 billion in annual maintenance costs, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report published Tuesday. That price estimate, as the U.S. and Russia remain at odds over the treaty, reflects a threefold increase in weapons production costs. With Washington and Moscow’s responses to the expiration of New START unclear, CBO explored several possible paths, including other less expensive options. “If the New START treaty expired, the United States could choose to make no changes to its current plans […]
Joe Gould
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WASHINGTON ― Defense revenues of the top 100 defense companies in the world climbed for a fourth straight year, pushed upward by U.S. defense spending growth combined with strong foreign military sales. Fiscal 2019 defense revenues recorded in Defense News’ Top 100 list totaled $524 billion, up about 7 percent from $488 billion in fiscal 2018, according to numbers compiled by Defense News as part of the annual Top 100 list. “The single most striking thing about these data is the year-over-year growth, the median of which is 7 percent,” said Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Steven Grundman. “For an industry generally […]
WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration is granting the Pentagon a temporary waiver of government-wide ban on contractors using Huawei and other Chinese-made telecommunications equipment, according to a memo obtained by Defense News. The move offers a weeks-long reprieve, until Sept. 30, for firms doing business with the Department of Defense. The firms are among those still reeling from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and who lobbied for more time to comply with new far-reaching regulations. The original provision was to take effect Aug. 13. The administration had been finalizing regulations that would prohibit government contracting with companies whose supply […]
WASHINGTON ― A confirmation hearing has been scuttled for Anthony Tata, President Donald Trump’s embattled pick for the Pentagon’s top policy job, following stiff opposition to the nomination from Democrats and wavering by some Republicans. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said Thursday he and President Donald Trump agreed on the eve of Tata’s confirmation hearing Thursday to at least delay the nomination. Inhofe had to navigate the White House’s refusal to budge on Tata for weeks, even after CNN reported a series of remarks and tweets that were conspiratorial, anti-Muslim and harshly partisan. “There are many Democrats and […]
WASHINGTON ― Senate Republicans’ proposed $1 trillion coronavirus relief package includes at least $7 billion for weapons programs, part of $29 billion for defense overall. The 177-page draft appropriations legislation unveiled Monday included funding for military helicopters, aircraft, ships and missile defense systems. The bill also includes $11 billion to reimburse defense contractors for coronavirus-related expenses, as authorized by Section 3610 of the CARES Act. Defense firms and trade associations have lobbied for the funding, fearing the Pentagon would otherwise have to tap modernization and readiness accounts. The legislation’s release marks the end of weeks of wrangling between the White House […]
WASHINGTON ― As Congress works to reach a deal on their next stimulus package, trade groups are urging lawmakers to extend the window for reimbursing government contractor costs for COVID-19 connected disruptions and cost increases, set to close Sept. 30. Government contractors, “are continuing to face the same ‘ready state’ workforce sustainment challenges that justified” the initial authorization of reimbursements under Section 3610 of the CARES Act, the National Defense Industrial Association and seven other groups said in the latest letter Friday to lobby top congressional leaders. They called for the deadline to be moved to Dec. 31, 2020, in the […]
WASHINGTON ― The White House and Senate Republicans are nearing an agreement on a $1 trillion-plus economic rescue proposal that would also seek $21 billion for defense, according to a draft obtained by the New York Times on Thursday. The emerging GOP proposal would include $11 billion in payments to contractors under the Section 3610 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which allowed firms serving the federal government to seek reimbursement for pandemic-related expenses. However, amid reports of internal divisions―over the defense money and other aspects―Republicans delayed the rollout to at least next week. Defense trade associations, along […]
WASHINGTON ― Congress went two-for-two swatting down measures to slash the national security budget by $74 billion, rejecting a proposal Wednesday from Sen. Bernie Sanders to redirect the money toward domestic needs. The Senate voted 23-77 against an amendment to its version of the $740.5 billion annual defense policy bill. Progressives floated the plan to use defense dollars (excluding salaries and health care of military personnel) to address the pandemic’s economic fallout. The amendment’s sponsors argued the social spending would better align with people’s needs and views and that national security should be redefined in the wake of the global pandemic. […]
WASHINGTON ― The Senate Armed Services Committee has set an open hearing July 30 for Anthony Tata, President Donald Trump’s embattled pick for the Pentagon’s top policy job ― but that won’t be the first time the committee gathers to hear from the nominee. Tata, a Fox News contributor, staunch ally of the president and a retired Army brigadier general, has had to walk back a series of conspiratorial and controversial tweets after they were first reported by CNN. Among them: calling President Barack Obama “a terrorist leader,” a history of Islamophobic comments and claiming that former CIA Director John Brennan […]
WASHINGTON―The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate rejected a bipartisan measure to block the military from giving offensive surplus equipment to state and local U.S. police departments. The Senate voted 51-49 on the proposed amendment to the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The action comes amid civil unrest and a national debate over race and policing in the wake of George Floyd’s death―and amid lobbying from police organizations to maintain the program. The more amendment from Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, was to ban transfers of grenade launchers, bayonets, drones, tracked armored vehicles and high-powered firearms and ammunition, but not prohibit defensive equipment, like body […]
WASHINGTON ― No funding would be available for live nuclear weapons testing under an amendment the House adopted to its version of the annual defense policy bill. The amendment from Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, was adopted, 227-179, in a mostly party-line vote. The House is expected Tuesday to vote to pass the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment’s adoption will likely make it harder for House Republicans to vote for the House’s FY21 NDAA, and it likely sets up a fight with the Republican-controlled SASC when leaders of both panels reconcile their versions of the bill. The FY21NDAA was voted […]
WASHINGTON ― Legislation from progressive Democrats to slash authorized defense spending by 10 percent is expected to fail in the Senate this week, with uncertain prospects in the House. But their hope is to advance an internal debate over defense spending, should Democrats take back the White House or the upper chamber. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and House Progressive Caucus co-chair Mark Pocan, D-Wis., and are offering amendments that would cut each chamber’s $740.5 billion FY21 National Defense Authorization Act by about $74 billion. Over the last few days, advocates published multiple op-eds in support, and on Sunday the Congressional Progressive […]
WASHINGTON ― Epirus, a venture-backed startup offering a counter-drone capability, launched quietly enough two years ago, but it’s making noise by bringing together key veterans of Microsoft, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon ― and by landing its first deal with a name-brand defense prime contractor. Epirus chief executive Leigh Madden was general manager for Microsoft’s national security business before he joined the Hawthorne, Calif.,-based firm two months ago, and its chief financial officer, Ken Bedingfield, is a former chief financial officer at Northrop. The chairman of Epirus is Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of the Silicon Valley data-analytics company Palantir Technologies. Epirus, this week, […]
WASHINGTON ― The chairmen of the House foreign affairs and intelligence committees are pushing a measure meant to extend the last remaining U.S.-Russia arms control agreement amid fears President Donald Trump will let it lapse. Led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the proposal would require congressional approval to increase the nuclear arsenal above the limits of the 2010 New START treaty, if the pact is allowed to expire next year. The measure was offered as an amendment to the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which is set for floor consideration next week. Engel’s amendment was cosponsored by […]
WASHINGTON ― Eighty defense industry executives have written to top congressional leaders to ask for emergency appropriations to reimburse defense contractors’ coronavirus-related costs. Led by the Aerospace Industries Association, which represents 300 large and small suppliers to the Department of Defense, the letter called for, “an appropriate level of funding for these reimbursements and respectfully request your support of the Department of Defense’s request for emergency funding.” The letter was one of two this week to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., their minority party counterparts and the leaders of the defense committees. The other letter […]
WASHINGTON — Pentagon leaders need “around $10 billion” in the next pandemic aid package to cover defense contractors’ coronavirus-related costs, according to a top defense leader. But it’s unclear how the hefty funding handout will square with Republican skepticism of new deficit spending after already approving aid packages worth trillions. On Monday, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment Alan Shaffer said the money is needed to cover a host of defense contractors’ coronavirus-related expenses. Without it, the Department of Defense will have to dip into modernization and readiness funds, potentially jeopardizing smaller firms in the defense industrial base […]
WASHINGTON ― The House Appropriations Committee approved separate measures to end the 2001 and 2002 war authorizations, which underpin U.S. counter-terror operations―just the latest attempt by lawmakers to curb President Donald Trump’s war making powers. At the panel’s deliberations on the fiscal 2021 defense spending bill on Tuesday, members voted on two amendments to 2001 defense spending bill from Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. The committee was expected to voted to send the bill to the House floor. The panel passed the amendment sunsetting the 2001 authorization of the use of military force along party lines, 30-22. The amendment to repeal the […]
WASHINGTON ― Fired-up House appropriators are expected to vote Tuesday to reject the Pentagon’s requests for added budget flexibility over the President Donald Trump’s diversion of military funds to build his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall. In a sign of fraying relations between the Department of Defense and Capitol Hill, the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee ― chaired by Indiana Democrat Rep. Pete Visclosky ― “condemned” the Pentagon’s past approvals of nearly $10 billion over two years toward the border wall, saying it had fueled the panel’s growing skepticism over the department’s budget requests. “The granting of additional budget flexibility to the Department […]
WASHINGTON ― With Trump administration poised to impose a governmentwide ban on contractors using Huawei and other China-made telecommunications equipment, trade groups say that companies, still reeling from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, should get more time. The administration plans to finalize regulations that would prohibit government contracting with companies whose supply chains contain products from five Chinese companies including Huawei, Reuters reported Thursday. The administration, confronting China on trade and a host of issues, has deemed Huawei an espionage threat. “The danger our nation faces from foreign adversaries like China looking to infiltrate our systems is great,” said […]
WASHINGTON ― The Pentagon would have $758 million to help mid-tier defense firms wether the financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic as part of the annual defense spending bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. But the aid, which was part of the panel’s proposed $694.6 billion bill, falls short of the “lower double-digit billions” Pentagon officials say defense firms will claim under the stimulus bill Congress passed in March. As Congress debates the next stimulus, the defense industry has been urging lawmakers to appropriate enough to reimburse the Pentagon’s suppliers for pandemic-related disruptions. Under Section 3610 of the […]
WASHINGTON ― House appropriators on Tuesday approved a spending bill that would block plans from defense hawks to give the Pentagon a stronger hand in crafting nuclear weapons budgets. The House Appropriations Committee passed their Energy-Water bill, which contained the provision, by a voice vote. The $49.6 billion spending bill contained $13.7 billion for nuclear weapons accounts ― a $1.2 billion increase over fiscal 2020 that’s still $1.9 billion less than the president’s request. Lead Republicans voiced opposition to the bill, arguing that Democrats had not consulted with Republicans on pandemic emergency funds in the bill and that Democrats included policy […]
WASHINGTON ― A bipartisan group of lawmakers are urging the Pentagon to move quicker to stop buying components for the F-35 fighter jet from Turkey. Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla.; Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Chris Can Hollen, D-Md., complained in a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper on July 6. They said Pentagon plans to buy parts from Turkey into 2022 undercuts U.S. pressure on Ankara over its purchase of the Russia’s S-400 Triumf air defense system. The U.S. formally removed Turkey from the multi-nation program in 2019 over the S-400 deal, it has ended the training of Turkish […]
The proposal was to transfer $1 billion to the pandemic preparedness from the next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile, for which Northrop Grumman is the sole competitor. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., sponsored it, and while HASC Chair Adam Smith, D-Wash., supported it, most HASC Democrats did not. “The United States does not need to be modernizing the ICBMs,” Khanna said, citing experts who see the sea- and air-based legs of the nuclear triad as sufficient. “If there is an accidental launch of an ICBM, you can’t take it back. On the other hand, you can call a submarine back, you can call an […]
WASHINGTON ― The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday delivered a near-unanimous bipartisan rebuke to President Donald Trump’s plans to pull about 10,000 U.S. troops from Germany. During its markup of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, the panel voted 49-7 to approve the measure. It was backed by HASC’s chairman, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., its top Republican, Rep. Mac Thornberry, of Texas, and other lawmakers who said the move was poorly planned and undermines the NATO alliance. “Part of what our military does is build those alliances and makes sure we don’t have to actually use the military. All of […]
Under the proposal, the defense secretary would decide how the No. 3 civilian job is replaced. The panel approved Ranking Member Mac Thornberry’s amendment during its markup of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday. It was approved by an unanimous voice vote as part of a package of amendments. “I have come to the conclusion that Congress is largely responsible for making this an impossible job, and we need to figure out something different,” Thornberry, of Texas, said on a conference call with reporters. The matter wasn’t discussed at the markup. Under the HASC-approved plan, the defense secretary would […]
WASHINGTON ― Lawmakers took another apparent jab at Ligado Networks on Wednesday as the House Armed Services Committee passed a ban on the Pentagon awarding contracts to firms that interfere with Global Positioning System signals. The panel adopted an amendment from House Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Michael Turner to bar the Department of Defense from contracting with an entity that engages in commercial terrestrial operations using certain frequency ranges ― unless the defense secretary certifies the operations do not cause harmful interference to a the military’s GPS devices. Ligado is not specifically named. However, the Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved the […]
The panel adopted an amendment from House Strategic Forces subcommittee Chairman Rep. Michael Turner to bar the Defense Department from entering, renewing or extending contracts an entity that engages in commercial terrestrial operations using certain frequency ranges―unless the defense secretary has certifies to the Congress the operations do not cause harmful interference to a the military’s GPS devices. Ligado is not specifically named. However, the FCC unanimously approved the plan from Ligado networks to use the bands identified in the amendment, the 1525–1559 MHz band and the 1626.5–1660.5 MHz band. The decision came over the objections from the Defense Department and […]
WASHINGTON ― Congress is readying proposals to rebuke President Donald Trump’s controversial plans to pull about 10,000 U.S. troops from Germany amid dissatisfaction with the administration’s rationale for the move and concerns it will weaken NATO. As President Donald Trump confirmed rumored plans to draw down American military personnel levels in Germany in coming months, a bipartisan group of senators led by Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney has proposed an amendment to the Senate’s version of the annual defense policy bill that would freeze troop numbers in Germany. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., said separately Tuesday that the […]
WASHINGTON ― The U.S. would be able to buy Turkey’s Russian-made S-400 air defense system under legislation proposed in the Senate last week. It’s one powerful lawmaker’s apparent attempt to alleviate the impasse between Washington and Ankara over the F-35 joint strike fighter. Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., has proposed an amendment to the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that would allow the purchase out of the U.S. Army missile procurement account. It comes a year after the U.S. has expelled its NATO ally from the multinational F-35 program because it received the S-400 in a $2.5 billion deal. However, […]
WASHINGTON ― Congress is a step closer to eliminating the Pentagon’s chief management officer position, four years after creating the job to help streamline reform efforts inside the department. The House Armed Services Committee’s top Republican, Rep. Mac Thornberry, said Monday he supports the aim of a proposal from the Senate Armed Services Committee to discontinue to the Pentagon’s No. 3 civilian job. He said he may propose legislative action this week in the annual defense policy bill, which the panel would debate at its markup of the National Defense Authorization Act, set for Wednesday. “I have come to the conclusion […]
WASHINGTON ― Lockheed Martin has sent $1.1 billion in accelerated payment to support its network of suppliers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the company announced Friday. The defense contracting giant has also hired 8,300 employees since the crisis began in March, with plans to hire 3,200 more before the end of the year. The hires mark a contrast with the rest of the U.S. economy, which saw the unemployment rate hit 13 percent this month and began a recession in February. “In this volatile environment, it is more important than ever before to maintain the operations of the defense industrial base and […]
WASHINGTON ― Congressional defense leaders now have at least three competing plans to push back on China in the Pacific. Which will they choose? House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., introduced his own $3.6 billion Indo-Pacific Reassurance Initiative plan Thursday―a response to two plans, each called the Indo-Pacific Deterrence Initiative―that would spend more and be more prescriptive about how the Pentagon would spend that money. “Our goal in this was to send a signal to our partners and allies that we have an enduring commitment to the region and that collectively we want to help address the full spectrum […]
WASHINGTON — With support eroding for President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Pentagon’s top policy job, Senate Armed Services Committee Republicans are planning an emergency meeting to discuss the fate of the nomination, congressional sources say. Retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, a Fox News contributor and staunch ally of the president, has been under fire since his nomination, after CNN revealed since-deleted tweets from 2018 in which Tata made derogatory comments about Democrats. They included calling President Barack Obama “a terrorist leader” and calling Islam the “most oppressive violent religion I know of.” Tata once reportedly tweeted at former CIA […]
WASHINGTON ― The U.S. Army would have to brief Congress on plans to upgrade weapons for the Stryker combat vehicle amid the land service’s efforts to reassure industry the competition to equip them with a 30mm cannon is, “healthy.” The House Armed Services Committee is expected to use the 2021 defense policy bill to order a briefing on any Army plans for Stryker weapons-station commonality between the developing air defense system and separate cannon upgrade. The news Monday comes as at least two of six competitors have dropped out of competition to design the Medium Caliber Weapon System, or MCWS. In […]
WASHINGTON ― All unclassified Pentagon reports ordered by Congress could be made public under an amendment Rep. Jackie Speier will propose to the annual defense policy bill, Defense News has learned. The amendment, which is supported by a broad bipartisan group of government accountability and transparency groups, was drafted by Reps. Katie Porter, D-Calif., and Francis Rooney, R-Fla. It would be offered for the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which the House Armed Services Committee is set to mark up July 1. Speier, D-Calif., chairs the HASC Military Personnel Subcommittee. Under current law, the Pentagon is required to publish on its […]
WASHINGTON―The U.S. State Department has cleared a potential sale to Ukraine of 16 Mark VI patrol boats and other gear worth $600 million, it was announced Wednesday. The Ukraine sale is the first of its kind since President Donald Trump was acquitted in February in congressional impeachment proceedings that centered on his administration’s freeze on military aid to Ukraine. With the modern and fast patrol boats, the sale includes various weapons, sensors and communications gear expected to help deter Russia from muscling Ukraine in the contested Kerch Strait and key ports along the Azov Sea. According to a State Department official, […]
WASHINGTON ― CAE’s defence and security group president is departing the Quebec-based training and simulation firm after five months to take a job elsewhere, and CAE’s Heidi Wood will serve in the interim. Todd Probert, a former Raytheon executive, will step down June 26 to pursue an unspecified job opportunity within the U.S. national security community, CAE announced Tuesday. The move comes as the coronavirus pandemic has blunted projections for a strong year in CAE’s defense segment. Wood, who recently joined CAE as executive vice president for business development and growth initiatives, will act as interim leader while the firm searches […]
WASHINGTON ― Economic shock waves from the coronavirus pandemic are threatening U.S. arms sales to its allies and partners, who may suddenly have less to spend. U.S. defense exports, through either the Foreign Military Sales process (which is government-facilitated) or the Direct Commercial Sales process (from a firm to a nation), are a means for the U.S. to strengthen ties with friendly countries and, as President Donald Trump likes to make explicit, pump revenue into the U.S. economy. Though the U.S. made $55 billion in foreign military sales in fiscal 2019, observers see headwinds in declining oil prices and the potential […]
WASHINGTON―Four House Democrats are opposing a Department of Defense proposal to ease recent lobbying restrictions on former senior officials, arguing it would put the defense industry ahead of the taxpayer. The lawmakers, led by California Rep. Katie Porter, are pushing back on the Pentagon’s argument the changes would make the restrictions more consistent with criminal law and other agencies. DoD requested the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act contain a partial roll back of the rules, which apply to former general officers and senior Pentagon civilians by amending the 2018 NDAA’s Section 1045. “We do not believe that weak ethics rules for […]
WASHINGTON ― Plans for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a new military fund to boost deterrence against China in the Pacific, is one step closer to becoming law. The Senate Armed Services Committee has approved nearly $6 billion for the fund in its version of the annual defense policy bill, the panel announced Thursday. It authorizes $1.4 billion in fiscal 2021, which would be $188.6 million above the administration’s budget request, and $5.5 billion for fiscal 2022―and it directs the defense secretary to create a spending plan for all of the funds. “The best way to protect U.S. security and prosperity in […]
WASHINGTON ― The Pentagon is facing billions of dollars in pandemic-related claims, which may force it to dip into modernization and readiness accounts if Congress doesn’t backfill the money, the department’s top acquisitions official said Wednesday. Testifying at the House Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord reaffirmed the Pentagon’s commitment to request supplemental appropriations from Congress, beyond its fiscal 2021 budget of $740 billion. It’s been seven weeks since Department of Defense officials first publicly disclosed a request was coming; that request is currently sitting with the White House Office of Management and Budget. The […]
WASHINGTON ― A key House Democrat will propose a billion-dollar pandemic response and preparedness fund in the annual defense policy bill, Defense News has learned. The bill would help boost production of key medical equipment sought by states amid the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., will include the measure in his committee’s version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act as a means to strengthen the Department of Defense and the country’s ability to respond to a potential COVID-19 resurgence and other future infectious diseases, according to a House aide familiar with […]
WASHINGTON―Seven weeks after Department of Defense officials first said they would ask Congress for billions of dollars in the next version of a stimulus package to help defense contractors affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the request remains in limbo. Though the pandemic, according to Pentagon officials, has been hitting space launch companies and the aviation and shipbuilding supply chains, the Trump administration appears to have sidelined a further request to provide financial support. This would supplement $688 million for the defense-industrial base that DoD previously earmarked as part of the $10.5 billion it got from the CARES Act. New friction between […]
WASHINGTON ― The Senate’s top Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer, is co-sponsoring legislation meant to prevent the Trump administration from restarting explosive nuclear weapons testing. The Preserving Leadership Against Nuclear Explosives Testing, or PLANET Act, announced Thursday, would bar any funds from being used for such tests. It follows a Washington Post report of high-level discussions around the possibility of doing a “rapid test”― potentially America’s first live nuclear test since 1992. The bill is led by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and a longtime arms control advocate on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. While a key administration official has said tests could […]
Outraged Democrats plan to use the massive defense budget and policy bill to fight President Donald Trump’s push to use the U.S. military to quell days of riots, and they may seek defense cuts to do… Source link
The Pentagon plans to spend hundreds of millions in coronavirus relief funding to support vulnerable manufacturers of submarine torpedo tubes, aircraft engine parts and hardened microelectronics that… Source link
The Pentagon has spent less than a quarter of the $10.6 billion Congress gave it in March to protect military personnel and marshal American industry to procure face masks, ventilators and other… Source link
The Trump administration is pursuing a deal with precision-guided munitions with Saudi Arabia, just as prior sales to the kingdom are under scrutiny, a top Senate Democrat said Wednesday. Source link
Congress would pump $100 billion into the National Science Foundation for research into artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced communications, robotics and more under a bipartisan… Source link
The Senate Armed Services Committee will mark up its annual defense policy bill the week of June 8, mostly in closed session, its leaders announced Tuesday. Source link
U.S. Sen. John Boozman is pressing the Pentagon to upend its plans for Iron Dome and deploy one battery to the Middle East―the latest sign of of impatience on Capitol Hill with the Army’s fielding… Source link
The U.S. State Department inspector general was investigating the Trump administration’s use of an emergency declaration to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia, according to the the chairman of the House… Source link
The Pentagon has proposed legislation that aims to end reliance on China for rare earth minerals used in the manufacturing of missiles and munitions, hypersonic weapons and radiation hardened… Source link
Four defense industry trade associations “strongly oppose” a handful of Pentagon-backed procurement reform proposals that they say would harm the defense industrial base, and they’re asking Congress… Source link
A bipartisan group of 30 senators are expected to send the Federal Communications Commission a letter urging it to reverse course on its decision to allow Ligado to deploy a nationwide mobile… Source link
When it comes to boosting the Defense Department’s role in the frigid Arctic, nobody in Congress seems hotter under the collar than Sen. Dan Sullivan. Source link
The Defense Business Board, whose task force was tapped by the Pentagon for the study, unanimously adopted the recommendations at its meeting on Wednesday. Source link
Raytheon and Lockheed Martin’s joint venture for the Javelin has completed production of its first F-Model of the shoulder-fired antitank weapon. Source link
General Dynamics has received $1 billion since the renegotiation of a $10 billion contract for Canada to sell light armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia. Source link