ACQUISITION NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS
Senior Defense Officials Field Questions on Next-Gen Missile Defense Shield DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE NEWS Matthew Olay During a hearing on missile defense April 30, 2025, before the House Armed Services Committee in Washington, a panel of senior DoD officials testified regarding their re- spective organizations’ progress in developing the country’s next-generation missile defense shield. The development, future deployment, and maintenance of the new system— referred to as the “Golden Dome”—comes as a result of a Jan. 27, 2025, executive order signed by President Donald J. Trump calling for a missile defense shield that will defend citizens and infrastructure from any foreign aerial attack on the homeland, as well as guarantee second-strike capabil- ity. (Read more)
Army Gen. Bryan P. Fenton, commander, U.S. Special Operations Com- mand, testifies at a House Armed Services Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C. April 9, 2025. Source: DoD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza
Defense Officials Outline AI’s Strategic Role in National Security DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE NEWS Army Maj. Wes Shinego
marks the nation’s first return to reusable hypersonic flight testing since the X-15 hypersonic research program ended in 1968. (Read more) SOCOM: Changing Operational Demands Require Acquisition Changes DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE NEWS C. Todd Lopez Worldwide threats put the U.S. at risk and sometimes de- mand attention from U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). To best meet those challenges, U.S. military ac- quisition needs to change, said Special Operations Com- mand Army Gen. Bryan P. Fenton. “The character of war is changing faster than we’ve ever seen,” he said April 9 before the House Armed Services Committee’s intelligence and special operations subcommittee. “The innovation cycle now turns in days and weeks, not months and years. Our ad- versaries use $10,000 one-way drones that we shoot down with $2 million missiles—that cost-benefit curve is upside down,” he said. (Read more) Nuclear Triad in Need of Modernization DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE NEWS David Vergun The Air Force Global Strike Team is responsible for the nation’s strategic nuclear deterrence and conventional long-range strike missions, said Air Force Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command and Air Forces Strategic-Air, U.S. Strategic Command, who testified May 20, 2025, at a Senate Armed Services Com- mittee hearing. Bussiere said the challenge and top prior- ity is sustaining and modernizing legacy weapons systems while caring for the airmen responsible for them and their families. (Read more)
Senior DoD officials and experts from industry partners and throughout the government gathered in Washington to discuss the future of artificial intelligence, highlighting how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s push for innova- tion, lethality, and readiness is shaping the department’s approach to AI. (Read more)
Ann Dunkin, former chief information officer at the Energy Depart- ment (second from left), speaks at an event in Washington, D.C. April 23, 2025. The panel of defense officials that also included Bianca Herlory, the Joint Staff AI lead, center right, and Wallace Coggins, the chief data and AI officer from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, right, discussed the future of artificial intel- ligence in the federal government. Source: DoD photo by Army Maj. Wes Shinego
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