Quick Hits

*** The defense acquisition landscape is once again being reshaped by a major merger. This time, it's Raytheon and United Technologies combining in a "merger of equals," with the newly formed company having annual sales of about $74 billion according to a report in CNBC, putting it just behind Boeing in the defense and aerospace sector. UT is known for its aircraft business and Raytheon for missile systems, the companies also offer cybersecurity and AI services to the aviation sector and technology geared for the intelligence community.

*** The Pentagon's internal watchdog criticized the Joint Regional Security Stacks program for not meeting certain cybersecurity objectives and for an overall program management weaknesses stemming in part from it being categorized as a tech refresh and not a major acquisition. In a heavily redacted June 4 report, the Inspector General at the Department of Defense also noted that while the JRSS program was reducing the attack surface for DOD networks, other promised security outcomes were lagging.

*** The Government Accountability Office dinged DOD and the military services in a June 5 report that found efforts to streamline acquisition by using new rapid prototyping methods faced implementation challenges.