The INSIDER daily digest

The Joint Strike Fighter, OCO funding and missile defense are among the stories highlighted in this Friday INSIDER Daily Digest.

DOT&E and the JSF program don't exactly see eye-to-eye on how much risk the fleet's mission data file loads can take:

F-35 program, DOT&E disagree on USRL requirements

The Joint Strike Fighter program office and the Pentagon's operational test community have different philosophies on what level of risk is acceptable for the fleet's mission data file loads.

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A big brouhaha is brewing over OCO funding:

McCain opposes OCO-to-base funding shifts; sets up likely conference issue with House

Less than a day after House authorizers approved their fiscal year 2017 defense policy bill, comments made by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) regarding his dissatisfaction with the increasingly common practice of using the Overseas Contingency Operations money to fund the Pentagon's base budget priorities indicate that the stage is set for a major conference issue with the House.

Our coverage of GAO's latest annual report on missile defense:

GAO: MDA scrubbed 40 percent of test plans since 2010; delayed 44 percent of planned capabilities

Risky acquisition practices by the Missile Defense Agency -- such as simultaneous development and production of new interceptors as well as utilizing unproven targets during operational evaluation -- forced the agency to scrub 40 percent of its test plans since 2010, compounding demand on an already tight test schedule just as the agency aims to increase the pace and complexity of testing.

THAAD test against IRBM target delayed possibly until 2018, five years into Guam deployment

The front-line missile defense system deployed to Guam in 2013 to protect strategic U.S. military capabilities on the Pacific island -- including bombers and submarines -- has not been operationally tested against the main threat it is there to defeat, an intermediate-range ballistic missile, and the Missile Defense Agency does not now plan such a test until 2017, possibly 2018.

Looks like Bath Iron Works will be the first to build the Navy's upgraded DDG-51 destroyers:

Navy will tap Bath Iron Works to build first Flight III destroyer

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works will build the first of the Navy's upgraded guided missile destroyers, according to a Navy business posting.

Don't read too much into the recent Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission statement on industry consolidation:

Industry insiders say new antitrust announcement was 'much ado about nothing'

A panel of defense industry insiders this week downplayed the recent statement from the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission related to industry consolidation.