Defense Business Briefing -- July 16, 2024

Welcome to today's Defense Business Briefing, your weekly roundup of the latest defense industry news.

This week's top story

Following the Air Force's lead, Boeing weighing autonomous KC-46A or future tanker option

ST. LOUIS -- Even as the Air Force has signaled some support to eventually field unmanned tanker systems, plane-maker Boeing will be looking at "principally crewed concepts" until the service explicitly says it wants autonomous refueling platforms, Sean Liedman, Boeing's director of global reach, mobility, surveillance and bombers, recently told reporters here.

News & notes

Kongsberg reports 28% revenue increase in defense sector partially driven by U.S. programs

Kongsberg defense revenue increased by 28% for the second quarter of 2024 driven in part by U.S. air defense and remotely operated weapon systems, company executives reported during a quarterly earnings presentation.

Austal USA breaks ground on new assembly facility, continuing investments in steel production line

Shipbuilder Austal USA broke ground this week on a new final steel assembly facility at its Mobile, AL yard that is scheduled to be complete and fully operational by the summer of 2026, according to a July 9 company announcement.

Senate authorizers want Army to address munitions supply chain chokepoints

Senate authorizers want the Army to provide options to establish secondary domestic production sources within the service's manufacturing base to address chokepoints in the ammunition supply chain.

Pentagon final rule to establish CMMC program remains on track for November release

The Defense Department plans to finalize in November its first final rule for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program amending Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations, according to the latest unified agenda and regulatory plan.

Senate authorizers raise concerns over DOD's CMMC program

The Senate Armed Services Committee outlined its concerns over the implementation of the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program and the upcoming launch of version 2.0 in the report accompanying its version of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill.

Hicks calls for multinational procurement efforts at NATO summit

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks called for a multinational surge in defense industrial capacity procurement at a NATO summit amid officials' discussions of Ukrainian aid pledges.

Appointments & promotions

Oshkosh hires Ambrose as new top lobbyist

Oshkosh Corp. announced that Angela Ambrose has been hired as the company's new vice president of government operations.

What's happening

The week ahead

Senior defense officials are slated to speak at various security conferences this week.

For Inside Defense subscribers

Proposed advisory panel would consider 'clean-sheet' reform for weapon system requirements

The Senate Armed Services Committee wants the Pentagon to establish a new advisory panel that would help reform the requirements process used to procure U.S. weapon systems, including a "clean-sheet approach."

JPO expects first delivery of F-35 enabled with truncated TR-3 software to begin soon

Deliveries of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter enabled with a truncated version of the Technology Refresh-3 software upgrade will soon resume, putting an end to a temporary pause in aircraft deliveries until Lockheed Martin fixed a series of developmental issues, according to a statement issued today by the F-35 Joint Program Office.