The Defense Department on Tuesday announced that the Pentagon Force Protection Agency detected a substance that is suspected to be ricin in two envelopes received at DoD’s remote mail screening facility. DoD said in a tweet that it handed over the suspicious mail to FBI for further analysis. The Wall …

Barry Leffew, senior vice president and general manager of national security software at SAP National Security Services, has said agencies should leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to counter cyber threats. Leffew wrote that the use of AI and machine learning could provide agencies an edge against state-sponsored threat actors …

The Justice Department has given antitrust approval to United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) to pursue its approximately $30B acquisition of Rockwell Collins (NYSE: COL), Bloomberg reported Tuesday. UTC announced in September 2017 that it agreed to pay approximately $23B in cash and stock and assume $7B in net debt from the Cedar Rapids, …

The General Services Administration has awarded contracts to 12 companies to support the Department of Agriculture’s information technology modernization efforts under the second phase of the Centers of Excellence program. USDA serves as the first “lighthouse” agency for the CoE program and the Phase II awards came two months after …

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and the Defense Department have sealed a potential $11.5B deal for the company to build 141 lot 11 F-35 fighter jets for the U.S. and foreign allies. The contract includes the delivery of 91 low-rate initial production F-35s for U.S. service branches, 28 jets for international partners and …

Boeing (NYSE: BA) has won a potential 16-year, $9.2B contract to build up to 475 T-X trainer aircraft and 120 ground-based training platforms for the U.S. Air Force. “Today’s announcement is the culmination of years of unwavering focus by the Boeing and Saab team,” Leanne Caret, president and CEO of Boeing’s …

Gerry Fasano, an executive vice president and chief of business development and strategy at Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), has been named president of the company’s defense group in a move that takes effect Oct. 1, Inside Defense reported Wednesday. An internal memo obtained by the publication says the appointment is part …

The General Services Administration has awarded a potential 10-year, $2.5B blanket purchase agreement to two teams led by Carahsoft Technology and Grant Thornton to update the government payroll, leave management and work schedule systems. The NewPay BPA includes the delivery of software-as-a-service platforms and services to support the federal government’s …

The Missile Defense Agency has awarded contracts to seven companies and a nonprofit organization to further develop their respective hypersonic weapon concepts. MDA said in a FedBizOpps notice posted Thursday contractors will work on their proposed kinetic and non-kinetic hypersonic glide and terminal defense weapon systems through the contracts worth …

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has received a potential nine-year, $1.3B contract to produce the 11th and 12th GPS IIIF satellites for the U.S. Air Force. The contract includes space vehicle test bed and simulators, nonrecurring engineering support, launch and on-orbit services, space vehicle storage and options for up to 22 GPS III …