The Trump administration on April 21 nominated Erich Hernandez-Baquero, an executive at Raytheon, to serve as assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration.
Acquisition reform
The Pentagon has canceled its contract with RTX to field a ground segment to manage its most capable GPS satellites, a more than 15-year effort beleaguered by software development issues and cost overages.
Boeing and its subsidiary Millennium Space Systems are rolling out a new mid-class satellite bus they say will provide commercial and defense customers flexibility at a time when the Pentagon is pushing for more production and speed.
As NASA prepares for a slew of lunar missions over the next few years, the Space Force is contemplating its role in future operations around the moon and developing a plan to increase focus on cislunar operations, according to Thomas Ainsworth, who is performing the ...
While the Pentagon has signaled its intent to scale technology, field new systems faster, and work more with nontraditional vendors, a new report identifies persistent manufacturing capacity, resourcing, workforce, and modernization challenges that could hinder its ability to deliver on those goals.
The Space Development Agency launched its first two batches of operational satellites last fall in what was supposed to be the start of a 10-month campaign to populate its proliferated data transport and missile tracking constellation. Six months later, the agency and its vendors have ...
The Department of the Air Force plans to establish around 27 "portfolio acquisition executives" and grant them far greater authorities and responsibilities for supporting and sustaining the systems they acquire, Secretary Troy E. Meink said in a keynote address to kick off AFA’s Warfare Symposium ...
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
Following the Trump administration’s call for defense companies to prioritize investments in production capacity and technology development over shareholder payouts, some of the Pentagon’s largest prime contractors say they’re attempting to strike a balance between the government’s needs and investor demands.
The Space Force plans to award initial contracts as soon as next month for a fleet of small, maneuverable satellites designed to monitor activity in geosynchronous orbit that could be online as soon as 2030, service officials said Jan. 23.
House and Senate lawmakers say they’re on board with the Pentagon’s latest plan to reform the way it buys new systems, but in a report accompanying the latest draft of fiscal 2026 defense spending bill, they urged more investment in the defense acquisition workforce and ...
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth foot-stomped the Pentagon's push for acquisition speed and contractor accountability in a Jan. 12 speech at Lockheed Martin’s production hub in Fort Worth, Texas—the heart of the department’s biggest acquisition program, the F-35.