Defense Industry

On November 7, 2025, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth used a speech at the National War College to unveil a Department of War (“DoW”) memorandum titled “Transforming the Defense Acquisition System into the Warfighting Acquisition System to Accelerate Fielding of Urgently Needed Capabilities to Our Warriors.”  This memorandum, referred to throughout as the “WAS Memo”—formally redesignates the Defense Acquisition System (“DAS”) as the Warfighting Acquisition System (“WAS”), places the acquisition enterprise on a “wartime footing,” and sets forth the governance, structural, and process reforms that will shape how DoW capabilities are acquired and fielded. 

This post is the second in a three-part series analyzing these reforms.  In our first post, we examined the WAS Memo’s new emphasis on commercial products and offerings as the preferred acquisition approach.  This post turns to the broader restructuring initiatives contained in the WAS Memo and its accompanying Acquisition Transformation Strategy.Continue Reading From DAS to WAS:  Secretary Hegseth’s Acquisition Overhaul and What It Means for Industry

Massachusetts aims to be the “cornerstone of the defense industry,” with Governor Maura Healey announcing nearly $47 million in government funding for defense-related projects.  Last year, the Department of Defense ranked Massachusetts ninth out of the top ten states in total Defense spending in FY2023, and the state is aiming…

Continue Reading Massachusetts Seeks to Expand Defense Footprint with Nearly $47 Million in New Projects

On August 20, 2025, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued a sweeping memo that tears up and rebuilds the way the military decides what new weapons and systems it needs.  The Military Services appear to be wasting no time translating the memo into action.  Acquisition leaders at last week’s Association of the United States Army conference emphasized that “Transforming in Contact” will serve as the framework for redefining requirements and reprioritizing programs—demonstrating that reform is already underway.  For its part, the Air Force has begun reorganizing its A5/7 directorate to assume greater responsibility for requirements generation, while the Chief of Space Operations has publicly outlined the Space Force path to driving requirements and resourcing.  

This “requirements process” is the first step in acquisition—it defines the problem and tells the rest of the system what to buy, build, or develop.  Change the requirements process and you change the entire defense marketplace.  For decades, DoD has used a system called the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (“JCIDS”).  JCIDS was paperwork-heavy and checklist-driven:  the Military Services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force) would write lengthy justifications for new programs, and those proposals would wind their way through layers of approval at the Joint Staff in the Pentagon.  Critics said JCIDS was too slow and too rigid for modern threats, especially as China and other adversaries innovate quickly.

The August 20 memo blows up that model.  In its place, DoD is putting forward a problem-focused approach that aims to:

  • Define the biggest operational challenges first(not just collect Military Service wish lists)
  • Tie priorities to moneyso “important” projects actually get funded
  • Bring industry into the process earlierthrough experiments, not just proposals
  • Cut out layers of low value review

Below we unpack the memo and offer five practical takeaways for industry.Continue Reading JCIDS, Rewired:  What DoD’s New Requirements Memo Means

Two cornerstone authorities for federal contracting quietly expired on September 30, 2025, creating ripple effects that contractors—small and large—cannot afford to overlook.  The Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (“SBIR/STTR”) programs, commonly known as “America’s Seed Fund” for their role in fueling early-stage innovation, and the Defense Production Act…

Continue Reading Expired:  SBIR/STTR and DPA Authorities in Limbo

On Friday, August 22, 2025, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) released a proposed rule to increase the size standard for what it considers to be a small business across 263 industries. The proposed rule principally covers receipts-based size standards.  These proposed increases stem from SBA’s periodic review of size standards…

Continue Reading SBA Proposes Increasing 200+ Receipts-Based Size Standards

This is part of an ongoing series of Covington blogs on the AI policies, executive orders, and other actions of the Trump Administration.  This blog describes AI actions taken by the Trump Administration in July 2025, and prior articles in this series are available here.

White House Issues AI…

Continue Reading July 2025 AI Developments Under the Trump Administration

The Defense Production Act (DPA) has long been viewed as the primary federal mechanism for managing and supporting defense production.  Since it was enacted in September 1950—just months after the Korean War began—the DPA has armed the President with wartime-style powers to prioritize contracts, allocate scarce materials, and finance surge defense production capacity.  These DPA industrial authorities are subject to periodic reauthorization, with the current sunset set for September 30, 2025.  While the reauthorization of the DPA remains pending, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) has advanced a new NDAA provision that would convert the extant Industrial Base Fund (IBF) (10 U.S.C. section 4817) into a Pentagon-controlled toolkit that closely mirrors—but is not identical to—DPA’s Title III authorities.  The introduction of section 849A of the FY 2026 NDAA suggests that the SASC is no longer willing to entrust the re-armament of the Pentagon and revitalization of the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) solely to reauthorization of the DPA—a process that lives or dies in other committees’ jurisdictions. Continue Reading Forging a Modern Strategic Production Base:  Senate Proposes Stand-Alone Defense-Production Powers for the Pentagon

On July 23, the White House released its AI Action Plan, outlining the key priorities of the Trump Administration’s AI policy agenda.  In parallel, President Trump signed three AI executive orders directing the Executive Branch to implement the AI Action Plan’s policies on “Preventing Woke AI in…

Continue Reading Trump Administration Issues AI Action Plan and Series of AI Executive Orders

The Department of Defense (“DOD”) is responsible for almost half of the federal government’s discretionary spending and spends more on contracting than all other federal agencies combined, obligating about $445 billion in fiscal year 2024. Given the renewed focus on fraud detection and prevention across the U.S. government – as highlighted both by the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) and by recent congressional committee hearings focused on reducing waste, fraud, and abuse – the issue of fraud in DOD has become increasingly relevant.

On June 4, 2025, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on Government Operations held a hearing titled “Safeguarding Procurement: Examining Fraud Risk Management in the Department of Defense,” during which congressional members examined strategies to combat fraud in DOD – including procurement fraud – and the steps the department is taking to address the problem.Continue Reading Fraud Prevention in Focus: Examining DOD’s Risk Management Strategies

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (“OBBBA”) signed into law by the President on July 4th, Congress made approximately $150 billion in appropriations to support defense and national security priorities.  As detailed further below, OBBBA touches on many different defense industries and sectors—including the maritime industry, missile systems, space and satellite technologies, nuclear technologies, and artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies.  Further, the OBBBA appropriates significant funding to support strategic investments in the defense industrial base and provides the Department of Defense (“DoD”) with an extended timeline (until 2029) to execute these investments.  Existing government contractors, and advanced technology providers interested in becoming contractors, should closely monitor the implementation of these OBBBA provisions, which will shape DoD opportunities for years to come.Continue Reading One Big Beautiful Bill Act makes $150B investment in Defense