Just like old times.
The bill authorizes the amount requested in the president's FY27 discretionary request but does not factor in the $350 billion in the Pentagon's mandatory funding request, which would bring national security spending to $1.5 trillion in FY27.
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Among the news from the release of the draft bill, Space News noted that the proposed language would eliminate the Space Development Agency and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office as standalone organizations. And Federal News Network reported the bill would mandate the creation of a"protected disclosure program" for AI for military and civilian employees.
Top Headlines
U.S. and Iranian negotiators have reached an agreement on a 60-day memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire and launch negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, but President Trump has yet to give his final approval, according to two U.S. officials.
OPM this week gave guidance to federal agencies in the form of a template nondisclosure agreement for federal employees with access to sensitive government information including personally identifiable information, operational plans, personnel records, and other protected materials.
The money will will enable larger purchases of existing drones and will also bring in new companies, help them develop their systems, and bulk up their production.
During a closed-door meeting at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels last week, Pentagon official Alexander Velez-Green notified NATO allies of plans to shrink the pool of military assets and capabilities the U.S. would make available to NATO in a conflict, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The Department of the Air Force in "the coming days" will announce the finalized PAE structure along with the names of each office leader, Thomas Ainsworth, acting space acquisition chief, said.
A disagreement over Starlink's use on LUCAS drones is part of increasing tensions between SpaceX and the Pentagon over pricing in recent months, which increased fivefold in the weeks following the initiation of hostilities with Iran.
The current expansion of the U.S. defense budget feels like a generational opportunity for government contractors, and in many ways it is. Pipelines are full, award values are climbing, and some companies are on the verge of doubling in size on the back of contracts that havent been signed yet.
The erosion of federal data policy and statistical infrastructure is not merely a research inconvenience, but an operational threat to government's ability to manage programs, allocate resources, earn public trust, and serve people effectively.
SOCOM's Joint Acquisition Task Force and the SOFWERX innovation hub are looking to partner with industry to develop a proving ground for autonomous systems at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
Since fiscal year 2022, the president's budget request for the Defense Department’'s basic research budget has fallen from $2.65 billion in fiscal year 2026 dollars to $2.14 billion — a nearly 20 percent reduction in the activities that have historically produced the United States' most decisive military advantages: people and knowledge.
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DARPA recently renamed and restructured two, well-established technical offices, in a move that officials said is meant to expand the defense innovation hub's research scope to better confront contemporary technology challenges. Read more from Defense Scoop.
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WORTH A LISTEN
Is it too late to stop criminals and American adversaries from exploiting AI to conduct cyberattacks or design novel pathogens? Has regulation kept pace with the threat civilian drones pose to critical infrastructure? AI researcher Lennart Heim, Army drone strategist Paul Lushenko, and CEO of Sentinel Bio Claire Qureshi join Jonathan to discuss the trade-offs between protecting the public and letting the private sector forge ahead.
In the Weeds
Current doctrinal frameworks, organizational structures, and acquisition processes are not optimized for the requisite speed, integration, or scale to integrate counter C5ISRT. This paper offers a comprehensive set of recommendations through the lens of the Indo-Pacific.
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A new call to industry is asking for advanced manufacturing technologies aimed specifically at developing and sustaining the next generation of aircraft capable of moving at the speed of sound.
Citing the skyrocketing demand for artificial intelligence tools to synthesize data and speed decision-making, including in the national security market, industry officials and investors are increasingly hyping orbital data centers as the new "it" tech in the space world.
"The White House's AI Action Plan, released last year, outlines the importance of establishing robust AI infrastructure," an official said.
Special Operations Command is looking for frameworks that extend the power of cloud computing much closer to where data is collected and used—a concept sometimes called "fog computing."
U.S. forces deployed to war zones have been targeted using commercially available location data, according to reports fielded by military officials, an illustration of how the global surveillance economy is shaping the battlefield.
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