WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) – The United States has
invited Russia to use its own radars and other sensors to size
up one or more U.S. missile-defense flight tests as part of a
new push to persuade Moscow that the system poses it no threat,
a Pentagon official said on Tuesday.

The idea is to let Russia measure for itself the
performance of U.S. interceptor missiles being deployed in and
around Europe in what Washington says is a layered shield
against missiles that could be fired by countries like Iran.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is still crafting a legal framework to guide any offensive moves in cyberspace, months after the Pentagon unveiled a broad cyber strategy, the head of the military command responsible for such operations said on Tuesday.

Deliberations on military doctrine and legal framework are “ongoing,” Air Force General Robert Kehler, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, told a defense writers’ group. “I would say it’s not completed.”

WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) – An advanced guidance system
on a Raytheon Co warhead failed during a December
intercept test of the U.S. ground-based missile defense system
because of a design flaw that could be detected only in outer
space, the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said Monday.

“The design issue could only reveal itself in the
environment of outer space, not during ground testing,” Richard
Lehner, an MDA spokesman, said in an email. He said he could
not be more specific.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Defense Department said Friday it had terminated Boeing Co’s top U.S. Army radio program, kicking off an expected new round of cutbacks as the Pentagon trims spending in an austere budget climate.

Full-rate production of the Joint Tactical Radio System’s “Ground Mobile Radio” was once estimated to be worth nearly $20 billion.

WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) – A precision-strike missile
that has been a star of the U.S.-led war on al Qaeda and its
allies is about to get deadlier.

The cylindrical, 108-pound (49-kg) missile, known as
Hellfire II, has been the weapon of choice on remotely piloted
aircraft such as the General Atomics MQ-1A Predator and the
MQ-9 Reaper.

WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) – The United States should
boost spending on cyber security and advanced capabilities to
hit distant enemy targets even as military spending shrinks
with new budget constraints, the Pentagon’s No. 2 civilian said
in a farewell speech.

“We should trim modernizations but preserve increases in
key areas, such as cyber security and long-range strike,”
Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said Wednesday on his
last day in office after a long Pentagon career.

WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) – A multibillion-dollar missile
defense system built by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
successfully completed its most challenging test so far,
downing two short-range targets in quick succession, the
company said on Wednesday.

It was the first test of the Terminal High Altitude Area
Defense system, or THAAD, under what the Pentagon’s Missile
Defense Agency described as “operational” conditions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration is weighing fresh arms sales to Taiwan as part of a sweeping effort to deter any Chinese attack on the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own, administration officials told Congress on Tuesday.

Such supplies would be on top of plans sent to Congress on September 21 to sell Taiwan $5.85 billion in new hardware and defense services, including upgrades for Taiwan’s 145 F-16 A/B fighter aircraft.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lockheed Martin Corp is helping arm U.S. lawmakers for a renewed push to sell its new F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan, not just the Obama administration’s planned $5.3 billion upgrade of old ones.

A Lockheed Martin official last week emailed an unsigned memo to lawmakers on Capitol Hill titled “Taiwan — The Benefit of New F-16 C/Ds,” two congressional staff members said.

WASHINGTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Lockheed Martin Corp
(LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is helping arm U.S. lawmakers for a renewed push to
sell its new F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan, not just the Obama
administration’s planned $5.3 billion upgrade of old ones.

A Lockheed Martin official last week emailed an unsigned
memo to lawmakers on Capitol Hill titled “Taiwan — The Benefit
of New F-16 C/Ds,” two congressional staff members said.