The INSIDER daily digest

Changes to the Navy's multibillion-dollar LCS program highlight this Friday INSIDER Daily Digest.

Keep an eye out for an upcoming Navy briefing to lawmakers on the service's planned changes to the LCS program:

Navy set to brief Congress on changes to LCS program

The Navy will soon inform Capitol Hill of major changes the service is making to the way it operates Littoral Combat Ships, including a new crewing model, a move away from interchangeable mission packages and a designation of four dedicated test ships, according to sources familiar with the changes.

Related story from February: Navy to review LCS mission modules, crewing and maintenance

Document: Navy memo establishing an LCS review team

The Global Hawk's upgraded ground control system could also work with other unmanned aircraft:

New Global Hawk ground segment could enable greater commonality

Raytheon's plans to upgrade the Air Force's Global Hawk ground control segment with a more modular, open architecture could facilitate a more common ground architecture for unmanned air platforms across the services.

The draft RFP for the Air Force's competition to launch the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle is out:

Air Force releases draft solicitation for next competitive EELV launch

The Air Force's next solicitation for Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle services will likely be for an experimental Space Test Program mission to launch a satellite capable of detecting nuclear detonations.

Document: Air Force draft RFP for EELV launch mission services

Some directed-energy news:

AFRL awards Northrop $39 million for laser beam-control system

The Air Force Research Laboratory this week awarded Northrop Grumman a $39 million contract to develop an advanced beam-control system that will support efforts to integrate directed-energy technology on an Air Force fighter jet by 2020.

In case you missed this story from yesterday:

Selva: DOD must capitalize on commercial innovation, imaging satellites

The Pentagon must figure out how to capitalize on technological advances in the commercial realm, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Paul Selva said this week, stressing that the Defense Department needs to start working now on ways to take advantage of commercial imaging satellites.