WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. government believes
a Chinese missile launch this week was the first test of a new
interceptor that could be used to destroy a satellite in orbit,
one U.S. defense official told Reuters on Wednesday.

China launched a large missile on Monday that reached 10,000
km (6,250 miles) above the earth, the highest suborbital launch
seen worldwide since 1976, according to Jonathan McDowell at the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon’s plans to put most of its 800,000 civilian employees on unpaid leave for 11 days could lead to delays on Lockheed Martin Corp’s (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and other weapons programs, a top company official said on Tuesday.

Chief Financial Officer Bruce Tanner said Lockheed had not been officially informed about the impact of the furloughs, but civilian government workers have played a big role in supporting flight testing and other work on the $396 billion F-35 jet, the Pentagon’s costliest weapons program.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top U.S. general in charge of cyber security warned on Tuesday that the United States is increasingly vulnerable to attacks like those that destroyed data on tens of thousands of computers in Saudi Arabia and South Korea in the past year.

Army General Keith Alexander, who heads the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, told the Reuters Cybersecurity Summit in Washington that U.S. computer networks were already under constant attack and billions of dollars worth of intellectual property were flowing out of the country each year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) could keep building its Super Hornet fighter jet and a modified electronic attack version through 2020, the company said, given prospects for over 200 foreign sales and what it sees as up to 150 more sales to the U.S. Navy.

Michael Gibbons, Boeing vice president for F/A-18 and EA-18 programs, spent part of this week pitching additional sales of Boeing’s last fighter jet to congressional staffers in a triple-wide trailer packed with simulators, displays and souvenirs.

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) – U.S. Army officials on
Wednesday said they do not expect to decide until later this
year whether to start a multibillion-dollar program to develop a
new armed scout helicopter, or extend the life of the current
Vietnam-era OH-58 Kiowa Warrior.

The news marks another delay for companies interested in
bidding for a program valued at $6 billion to $8 billion. The
Army’s decision was expected last December but had already been
put off until spring. On Wednesday, officials said they now
expected a decision in the summer or early autumn.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Tuesday said the U.S. military had launched a “long overdue” effort to safeguard U.S. national security satellites and develop ways to counter the space capabilities of potential adversaries.

“We have established, really, for the first time, an integrated effort to bring together our space programs, all of them, with those folks who understand best the anti-satellite threat, and also how we can operate, if we have to, without spacecraft,” Carter told reporters at the National Press Club.

WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reuters) – Boeing Co’s X-51A
Waverider made history this week when it achieved the longest
hypersonic flight by a jet-fuel powered aircraft, flying for
3-1/2 minutes at five times the speed of sound, the U.S. Air
Force said on Friday.

The last of four unmanned experimental military aircraft
built by Boeing flew for at a top speed of Mach 5.1 over the
Pacific Ocean on May 1, the Air Force said. The total flight
covered 230 nautical miles in just over six minutes before the
hypersonic cruiser plunged into the ocean.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Navy posted the final rules for a long-delayed, multibillion dollar competition for a new fleet of presidential helicopters, saying it planned to award a contract about a year from now despite looming U.S. defense budget cuts.

“We’re moving forward as we planned all along,” said Kelly Burdick, spokeswoman for the Navy office that is overseeing the competition, one of the few for new military helicopters in coming years.

WASHINGTON/CANBERRA, May 2 (Reuters) – Australia’s
government is expected to affirm plans to buy up to 100 Lockheed
Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets, according to a defense
blueprint to be released on Friday, easing concerns hanging over
the future of the controversial stealth fighter.

The Australian plan, as outlined by defense sources and
analysts, will also call for the purchase of a dozen Boeing Co
EA-18G electronic attack planes, modified versions of
Boeing’s Super Hornets, purchased as a stopgap for the F-35.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Raytheon Co (RTN.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), one of the largest U.S. weapons makers, has agreed to pay $8 million in civil penalties to resolve hundreds of alleged violations of U.S. export control laws over the past decade, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

The State Department said it reached the agreement with Massachusetts-based Raytheon after an extensive review showed the company’s “numerous violations demonstrated a recurring, corporate-wide weakness” in maintaining effective compliance controls.