WASHINGTON - In a break from tradition, Congress passed a full-year continuing resolution (CR) to fund the Department of Defense for Fiscal Year 2025, a move that provides new-start authority but hinders long-term planning. While the legislation delivers $892.5 billion for national security, including modest gains for procurement, it imposes significant cuts to research and development and operations accounts, resulting in a constrained fiscal environment even as the administration talks of higher spending levels.

The topline figure in the CR represents a $6 billion increase over FY24 enacted levels, but the Pentagon ultimately loses buying power compared to last year when adjusted for inflation. The final budget is also $3 billion less than requested by then-President Biden, despite bipartisan calls for higher spending, particularly in the Senate.

Topline Procurement Remains Flat; Research & Development Loses Ground

The FY25 CR provides $168.2 billion for procurement, about $688 million (+0.4%) above the request. Despite the flat procurement topline, several procurement accounts saw steep cuts, including those for the Marine Corps and Space Force. The bill also trims $1.9 billion (-1.3%) from Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) accounts overall. Meanwhile, operation and maintenance funding takes a particularly hard hit, with a $5.7 billion reduction compared to the request. Military construction is also reduced by $818.4 million.

For additional information on how Pentagon acquisition programs were impacted in the CR, read the full story on Forecast International's Defense & Security Monitor using the link below.

Source: Forecast International
Associated URL: https://dsm.forecastinternational.com/2025/04/24/congress-scales-back-ambitions-in-final-fy25-defense-deal/
Author: s. mcDougall, Defense Analyst 

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Rocket Lab USA, Inc. announced it has been selected by Kratos to launch a full-scale hypersonic test flight for the Department of Defense (DOD) under the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) 2.0 program. The mission will launch on Rocket Lab’s HASTE rocket from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia no earlier than Q1, 2026.

The launch agreement is the first full-scale flight test to be awarded by Kratos under the MACH-TB 2.0 contract, a $1.45 billion program designed to rapidly expand the number and frequency of opportunities to test hypersonic technologies for the nation. Rocket Lab was selected to join the Kratos-led team of subcontractors for MACH-TB 2.0 in January this year after previously delivering multiple successful hypersonic test launches for the first iteration of the MACH-TB program from 2023. Successful missions to date include three launches for the DOD - including twice within just 21 days - from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2 in Virginia.

Operating at an unmatched commercial price, capability, and launch cadence, HASTE is uniquely qualified to meet the needs of the MACH-TB mission. A suborbital variant of Electron - the world’s most frequently launched small orbital rocket - HASTE includes much of the same innovative technology as Electron, including carbon fiber composite structures and 3D printed rocket engines, but has a modified upper Kick Stage tailored for hypersonic technology tests and a larger payload capacity of up to 700 kg / 1,540 lbs. HASTE can deploy technologies at speeds of more than 7.5km per second to test air-breathing, glide, and ballistic payloads, as well as technologies to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere from space. Combined, Rocket Lab’s HASTE and Electron launch vehicles have deployed 200+ payloads to date.

The mission is the latest to join an increasing manifest of HASTE launches for 2025 and 2026. Upcoming flight tests with HASTE include a mission for the Defense Innovation Unit to deploy a scram-jet powered vehicle at hypersonic speed; continuation of a multi-launch contract with Leidos to deploy five missions in total for the first iteration of the MACH-TB program; and a hypersonic test flight for a confidential customer.

In addition to MACH-TB, HASTE has recently been onboarded to two significant defense initiatives. In the United States, HASTE is now part of the $46 billion Enterprise-Wide Agile Acquisition Contract (EWAAC) under the United States Air Force. This inclusion enables Rocket Lab to compete to provide launch services and engineering expertise to support the development of new capabilities. In the United Kingdom, HASTE has been added to the Ministry of Defence’s (UK MOD) Hypersonic Technologies & Capability Development Framework (HTCDF), a £1 billion (~$1.3 billion) program aimed at rapidly advancing the nation's hypersonic capabilities.

Source: Rocket Lab
Associated URL: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/updates/rocket-lab-awarded-new-haste-launch-contract-for-the-dod-by-kratos/

LOUISVILLE, Colo. - Sierra Space announced that it recently conducted successful hypervelocity impact trials at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to optimize the structural integrity of Sierra Space’s Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE®) habitat. The goal of this NASA-supported testing was to refine a shield for the company’s expandable, flexible space station structure to make it capable of withstanding impacts from hazards on orbit.

The LIFE habitat’s shield, constructed from innovative, high-strength, flexible 'softgoods' - a chemically-woven fabric material called Vectran - provides a lightweight yet durable alternative to traditional rigid structures. The Sierra Space and NASA test teams used a two-stage light gas gun to simulate micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) impacts to LIFE’s outer shield. The testing aimed to select materials and configurations that enhance the habitat’s shielding performance while achieving significant mass savings - critical for space missions.

The impact testing, conducted under an unfunded Space Act Agreement called Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities (CCSC-2), used NASA’s .50 caliber two-stage light gas gun to replicate MMOD traveling at speeds around seven kilometers per second. Housed in the Remote Hypervelocity Test Laboratory, the gun uses gunpowder (the first stage) and highly compressed hydrogen (the second stage) to accelerate projectiles at high velocities to simulate orbital debris impacts on spacecraft and satellite materials and components. Testing is conducted in a near vacuum chamber to simulate space conditions.

Source: Sierra Space
Associated URL: https://www.sierraspace.com/press-releases/sierra-space-advances-space-station-technology-with-hypervelocity-impact-testing-at-nasa-white-sands/