Defense Department officials estimate Pentagon will need an additional $530 million to finish the development phase of Lockheed Martin‘s F-35 fighter jet, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

Anthony Capaccio writes the F-35 program office asked for the money during a closed-door review conducted by the Defense Acquisition Board last month and the DoD continues to assess how the request would be added on the department’s fiscal year 2018 budget proposal.

Joe DellaVedova, Pentagon F-35 office spokesman, told Bloomberg a majority of the $530 million funds, including $265 million for “unforeseen delays”, will be allotted for development flight tests and operational combat testing.

Michael Gilmore, director of DoD’s operational test and evaluation office, said required flight tests will not be completed until November 2018 because of issues such as a 10-month delay in the release for flight tests on the latest F-35 software.

Gilmore added in a memo that additional delay causes include software deficiency reports, insufficient progress on flight testing of combat mission systems and availability of aircraft for flights.

The Defense Department wants individuals and private companies to submit ideas on how the Joint Force can address multi-domain warfare issues such as massed or mobile precision attacks, large state adversaries and battle network/guided munitions, DoD News reported Wednesday.

DoD seeks partners that can help answer questions on how to modify future U.S. operational battle networks as well as Joint Force operational and organizational constructs to adapt with future combat operations environments.

Interested parties have until Nov. 28 to submit proposals on how changes in force structure, operational concepts, materiel capacity or investment priorities can address one or more of the challenges that the department will potentially face.

The report noted the Joint Force works to overcome three emerging operational obstacles such as operational battle networks and guided munitions warfare, the lack of large combat formations and adversary investments in counter-battle network systems which cover cyber, electromagnetic warfare and counter-space capacity.

The U.S. Air Force is working to develop a strategy to counter the weaponization of space and prepare to defend against potential space-war anti-satellite attacks, Scout Warrier reported Tuesday.

Kris Osborn writes the Air Force will invest approximately $5.5 billion over the next five years in support of efforts to help the U.S. space enterprise address potential anti-satellite technology threats that proliferate around the world.

“Potential adversaries have taken notice of how we use space and have taken steps to replicate those capabilities for their own use and to devise capabilities to take them away from us if they ever got into a conflict with us,” Winston Beauchamp, deputy air force undersecretary for space, told Scout Warrior.

The report noted that disaggregation and diversity as well as proliferation and protection are among the elements that the Air Force will work to focus on to help boost space assets’ resiliency.