Pentagon officials likely will jump through the hoops of a federal rulemaking process to satisfy a new legal requirement aimed at forcing defense contractors with access to secret government information to report network hacking incidents to the Defense Department.

Given that scientists are already looking to sea sponges as an inspiration for body armor, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that foam is also being considered ... not just any foam, though.

The full version of Defence Week Premium no.245 of 21 March 2013 can be downloaded here as a PDF. A separate PDF of the latest Defence tenders can also be downloaded here.

Request for Proposals from the four remaining contenders for the Domestic Munitions Manufacturing Arrangements are due March 25, according to informed sources.

The Newman Government has launched a new defence industries unit and appointed a defence envoy in a bid to grow the local defence sector and attract more investment to Queensland.

Minister for Defence Science and Personnel Warren Snowdon joined the Chief of Army Lieutenant General David Morrison to launch the Australian Army's new recruitment of women campaign.

Dean Rosenfield has been appointed as the new managing director of Saab Systems.

The latest defence industry sentiment survey has confirmed the Labor Government is still regarded as the biggest drag on the strategic defence industry sector, with well over two thirds of respondents considering government decisions will negatively impact upon their business.

This week Defence Minister Stephen Smith hosted Vietnam's Minister of National Defense, General Phung Quang Thanh, for the inaugural Australia-Vietnam Defence Ministers' meeting.

Asia Pacific Aerospace (APA) has been selected by Rolls-Royce to become an Authorised Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Centre (AMROC) for the support of the RR 300 engine for the Australasia region.

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According to the US Government Accountability Office, the F-35 program achieved 7 of 10 key management objectives for 2012 and made substantial progress on one other.

The US Department of Defense has awarded Austal USA in Mobile an additional $US19.987 million in a modification to a previously awarded Littoral Combat Ship contract, the shipbuilder said today in a press release.

Elbit Systems EW and SIGINT - Elisra Ltd has been awarded an approximately $115 million contract to supply an Asian customer with Electronic Warfare systems for multi-purpose land missions.

Raytheon Missile Systems has successfully completed a milestone test of a dual-band missile datalink designed to enable the integration of its Standard Missile-3 ballistic missile defence interceptor into non-Aegis ships.

It is reported that the British fleet's new radar can detect a supersonic tennis ball at 25 km. The new radar is designed to simultaneously detect 900 targets smaller than a bird, against background noise equivalent to 10,000 mobile phone signals at ranges from 200 m to 200 km