BREAKING: The United States government has detected and is tracking a high altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now that the US government to include NORAD continues to track and monitor it closely, balloon is currently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground, says Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.

Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante says Ukraine has helped him understand what really matters. "What really matters is production."

"We as a country did our best to not do production," LaPlante said. "We all accepted that just in time was the way to go," LaPlante says.

This is why we have a valley of death because we don't want to do production.

PPBE Commission Vice Chair Ellen Lord says the challenge is balancing flexibility for the Pentagon, while Congress is taking their role very seriously as they should in terms of transparency and accountability. The goal of the Commission is talking to Congress about opening up some of those thresholds. At the Pentagon, leadership must delegate to the PEOs and not wait for five reviews before making decisions.

NEW: Sikorsky and DARPA demoed an uninhabited Black Hawk to the Army for the first time as part of Project Convergence. The casualty evacuation flights show how existing and future helos could fly missions in reduced crew or autonomous mode. Lockheed Martin just posted video on YouTube about the flight demo --

BREAKING: In a meeting today, defense industry CEOs pressed Pentagon leaders to provide more funding and access to testing facilities amid DoD pressure to catch up to Russia and China on hypersonic weapons.

Read more at @politico ($): subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2022/0… UPDATE: Pentagon Spokesman Eric Pahon provided the following readout:

Since 2021, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III and Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Kathleen Hicks have engaged with more than 170 industry leaders as a part of a persistent, open communication strategy to

BREAKING: @LockheedMartin, the world's largest defense contractor, has named Jesus "Jay" Malave as the company's next chief financial officer, effective immediately. In other Lockheed Martin news, U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss is holding a preliminary court hearing today at 3:30 p.m. to set a trial date for the Federal Trade Commission’s case against the Lockheed Martin-Aerojet Rocketdyne merger.

BREAKING: @LockheedMartin CEO Jim Taiclet says covid impacts and extended delivery time lines across the supply chain, the Afghanistan withdrawal, and fewer F-35 jets being produced are reasons why the company lowered its revenue expectations by 2.5% in 2021. Taiclet says the company doesn't anticipate the Lockheed Martin-Aerojet Rocketdyne transaction to close until the first quarter of 2022. This is a delay, the company has said it would close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

BREAKING: @RaytheonTech CEO Greg Hayes says the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has a $75 million impact in sales for the company. Hayes says the vaccine mandate for federal contractors is expected to cause more supply chain disruptions in the coming months.