The Insider

By John Liang
March 5, 2025 at 1:00 PM

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on efforts to prop up the U.S. shipbuilding industry, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a recent "report card" on defense innovation and more.

The U.S. shipbuilding industry is struggling to meet cost and schedule targets on most of the Navy’s surface ship and submarine programs:

Trump announces new White House shipbuilding office, tax incentives for industry

The Trump administration is creating a new "office of shipbuilding" within the White House, President Trump announced last night during his address to Congress, saying the office will offer unspecified tax incentives intended to revitalize the United States shipbuilding industry.

Our latest coverage from this year's AFA Warfare Symposium in Colorado:

Lockheed: F-35s to feature some Block 4 capabilities this summer with new TR-3 release

DENVER -- Lockheed Martin will take the next step this summer in its yearslong sprint to outfit the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with new mission system hardware, a company executive told Inside Defense, when the aircraft is slated to get another Technology Refresh-3 configuration release and early Block 4 capabilities.

Optical terminals integral part of upcoming MW/MT satellites

DENVER -- Optical communications terminals, or laser sensors, are a needed capability for missile warning/missile tracking satellites going forward because they are faster, smaller and need less power than the capabilities currently in use, a Space Force official said today.

(Read our full AFA Warfare Symposium coverage)

The U.S. government scored "F-" again on its ability to provide adequate and reliable funding to procure and scale critical technology solutions -- its second consecutive below-failing grade in that area:

Reagan Institute 'report card' gives government another 'F-' on defense innovation

Key indicators for the defense innovation base remain at subpar levels amid another stalled appropriations cycle, but contributions from private-sector and non-governmental players prove "there's reason for some optimism and enthusiasm," according to Roger Zakheim, director at the Ronald Reagan Institute.

From bureaucratic inefficiencies to leadership voids and funding uncertainties, skeptics warn that without fundamental changes, the Trump administration's proposed Golden Dome missile defense system could falter before it even takes off:

Ambitious Golden Dome domestic air defense plan faces early expert scrutiny

The Pentagon's Golden Dome for America missile defense initiative is encountering sharp criticism from former military officials and defense experts who argue the project is at risk of repeating past mistakes.

The anticipated Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band contract consists of a base for Lot VI and options for Lots VII and VIII, which would include up to 45 shipsets -- with two pods per shipset -- and other support equipment and data for both the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force:

Navy aims to award Raytheon next three lots of NGJ-MB

The Navy intends to award Raytheon Technologies a contract for potentially three lots of its next-generation airborne electronic attack jamming system, which is set to replace the legacy ALQ-99 jamming pods on EA-18G Growlers.

The Medium Multipurpose Equipment Transport vehicle will boost "flexibility and responsiveness" of logistics operations for the Army by carrying more equipment and offering more power:

Army to bring upsized unmanned transport vehicle requirement to AROC this spring

The Army is "poised" to take a draft requirement for a medium-sized, teleoperated cargo-carrying vehicle to the Army Requirements Oversight Council for approval this spring, senior service officials announced at last week's Tactical Wheeled Vehicles Conference in Reston, VA.

Elbridge Colby was on Capitol Hill this week testifying regarding his nomination to become the Pentagon's policy chief:

Colby promises 'realistic' defense strategy backed by U.S. industrial might

Elbridge Colby, nominated by President Trump to serve as the under secretary of defense for policy, said today that developing the U.S. defense industrial base should be a key part of any new National Defense Strategy that makes deterring China its No. 1 priority.

Document: Colby's USD(P) nomination APQs

MAPS Gen II, built by RTX subsidiary Collins Aerospace, gives vehicle crews access to accurate PNT data in GPS-denied or degraded zones through anti-spoofing and anti-jamming protection:

FRP approved for Army's next-gen mounted PNT system, fielding to follow

The Army announced today it has approval to kick off full-rate production for the second generation of its Mounted Assured Positioning Navigation and Timing System, marking one step closer to fielding the capability to Stryker Brigade Combat Teams.

By Abby Shepherd
March 5, 2025 at 12:08 PM

The Navy is seeking information from sources hoping to participate in this year's red and blue team test exercise -- known as the Robust Artificial Intelligence Test Event.

RAITE kicked off in 2023 and allows industry and academia members to show their AI capabilities to the Navy, addressing “critical technology gaps,” according to a government notice issued today. This year’s test event is projected to start in late October, and the Navy asks that those interested in participating submit information by April 4.

RAITE 2025 will include testing of multimodal data, cyber-enabled AI networks, unmanned collaboration and large language model test and evaluation. The test event will consist of six scenarios with red and blue teams, as well as a passive “purple” team.

One scenario will focus on autonomous search, with the blue team using unmanned aerial or ground vehicles to employ a sensor suite that can track a target and locate an autonomous system. The red team will aim to affect the blue team via cyber or physical attacks, while the purple team will collect and analyze data.

A language learning model scenario will debut for the first time this year, and the Navy encourages “broad submissions for this topic,” according to the RFI. A potential outline consists of the red team running a local LLM, with the blue team decreasing this capability or operator confidence via cyber-attacks.

Organizations are encouraged to reply to the request for information with the scenarios and teams they would prefer to take part in, and with a listing of capabilities they will bring to the test event, including the technical readiness level and if the capability can run in real-time.

By Shelley K. Mesch
March 4, 2025 at 6:50 PM

DENVER -- In a sign of changing sentiments within senior Air Force leadership, each of the service's generals scheduled for media availabilities at the Air and Space Forces Association's Warfare Symposium canceled.

Top officials routinely meet with reporters in roundtable interviews at industry conferences, and many were scheduled here this week. Commanders for Air Forces Europe and Africa, Pacific Air Forces and Air Combat Command, among others, backed out either a couple days or just hours before.

Space Force officials, however, continued to participate in the roundtable interviews with reporters, including Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman and heads of the service’s commands.

There was no directive from top officials to cancel the appearances, a defense official familiar with the subject told Inside Defense. Each commander’s team individually canceled their appearances with media, the official said.

“No guidance came down that said, ‘stop,’” the official said.

Air Force Public Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Generals are likely canceling these media availabilities as a “direct result,” former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Inside Defense, of the Trump administration’s firing of top officers and a purge of content relating to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

“This administration has created a climate of fear in the military and civilian workforce in DOD that is unprecedented and hugely debilitating,” Kendall said. “People are afraid to say anything publicly that might be remotely interpreted as at odds with the Trump administration or Secretary Hegseth.”

Kendall has been an outspoken critic of the administration since Trump took office, recently penning an op-ed in The New York Times condemning the removal of the judge advocates general of the services.

While generals are canceling media-only engagements, AFA Director of Communications Amy Hudson told Inside Defense “there has been no impact to AFA’s programming.”

“We still have more than 130 speakers on our agenda in 36 sessions,” she said.

Additional reporting by Vanessa Montalbano

By John Liang
March 4, 2025 at 1:47 PM

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on a proposed Army vertical takeoff cruise missile, plus the latest from this year's AFA Warfare Symposium in Colorado and more.

The Army has a goal to launch a missile from outside the enemy's radar coverage, avoid detection and hit high-payoff targets, such as radar arrays and artillery pieces:

Army tasks start-up with designing vertical takeoff cruise missile for maneuver units

Army Futures Command's innovation lab has tapped Mach Industries to provide maneuver units with a vertical takeoff cruise missile to strike deep targets on their own, the vendor's chief executive officer told Inside Defense last Thursday.

The latest from this year's AFA Warfare Symposium in Colorado:

Space Force adds domain control as key function, adding focus to counter-space

DENVER -- Domain control needs to be seen as a key function of the Space Force and would include offensive as well as defensive capabilities on the ground and on orbit to counter potential adversaries such as China, according to Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman.

Air Force gives CCA prototypes a name, sets up first flight for this summer

DENVER -- Uncrewed fighter jets designed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Anduril Industries for the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft program will take to the skies for the first time this summer, according to service Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin.

Air Force pauses KC-46 deliveries due to cracks in the aircraft's structure

DENVER -- The Air Force last week halted deliveries of the KC-46A Pegasus after it became aware of cracks found in the "outboard fixed-trailing-edge support structure" of two brand-new production tankers not yet shipped to the service, according to an Air Force spokesperson.

Late last month, the Missile Defense Agency revealed plans for proposed upgrades to the Long Range Discrimination Radar system in a notice asking industry for ideas to design, test and field new LRDR software capabilities in line with Increment 12A -- not previously disclosed -- slated for operational capability in December 2032:

MDA eyeing new LRDR capability improvements, possible Increment 12A in 2032

The Missile Defense Agency is planning significant upgrades to the Long-Range Discrimination Radar system with a focus on enhanced electronic protection and improved homeland missile defense capabilities in the early 2030s.

Last but by no means least, some CYBERCOM news from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:

CYBERCOM's Adamski illuminates path to deterring Chinese cyberattacks in partnership with industry

U.S. Cyber Command must demonstrate offensive capabilities and enhance its workforce to deter Chinese threat actors from attacking critical infrastructure entities, according to CYBERCOM Executive Director Morgan Adamski, while the private sector works to shore up its defenses.

By Nick Wilson
March 4, 2025 at 12:23 PM

The first prototype in the No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program will begin a multimonth, at-sea testing period this spring after the vessel's construction concluded in February, according to a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency notice.

This prototype unmanned surface vessel, the USX-1 Defiant, was built to operate for long periods of time -- up to a year -- with no human intervention or maintenance. The USV is a 180-foot-long, 240-metric-ton “lightship” that will soon begin “extensive in-water testing, both dockside and at sea,” the announcement states.

The NOMARS initiative was launched by DARPA in 2020 and is scheduled to transition to the Navy’s unmanned maritime systems program office (PMS 406) in 2025, officials said last year. Contractor Serco was selected to build the first prototype, Defiant, in 2022.

“The NOMARS program aims to challenge the traditional naval architecture model, designing a seaframe (the ship without mission systems) from the ground up with no provision, allowance or expectation for humans on board,” the DARPA notice states.

In eliminating human manning considerations from the ship’s design, NOMARS is meant to deliver advantages including size, cost, reliability, hydrodynamic efficiency, survivability to sea-state and survivability against adversaries via stealth and tampering resistance, the notice continues.

In January, the Navy and DARPA announced they had completed a first-of-its-kind sea test in which a USV was refueled without any help from onboard personnel.

The test used the USVs Ranger and Mariner to demonstrate refueling technology designed by Serco for use aboard the NOMARS Defiant. The next at-sea refueling test is expected to utilize Defiant during the upcoming sea trials.

As the NOMARS effort progresses, the Navy’s plans for operationalizing an unmanned fleet continue to evolve, with doubts emerging over the future of the Large Unmanned Surface Vessel prior to its expected transition to an official program of record in fiscal year 2027.

Following calls from lawmakers, the service is now considering funding a new Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) program combining elements of the Large and Medium USV programs, a service spokesperson told Inside Defense in February.

By Sara Friedman
March 4, 2025 at 11:47 AM

The Defense Department has announced Katie Arrington will serve as the Pentagon's chief information officer in an acting capacity, elevating a key voice in the Defense Department's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program who joined the Office of the DOD CIO in February.

“Today the [Defense] Secretary named Ms. Katherine ‘Katie’ Arrington Performing the Duties of the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer. Please join the CIO team in congratulating her on this new role! Ms. Leslie Beavers will resume her full time position as the Principal Deputy CIO,” according to a March 3 LinkedIn post from the Office of the DOD CIO.

The post says, “In this capacity, Ms. Arrington serves as the primary advisor to the Secretary of Defense for information management/Information Technology (IT); information assurance, as well as non-intelligence space systems; critical satellite communications, navigation, and timing programs; spectrum; and telecommunications.”

The post continues, “Prior to assuming this role, she served in various positions including the Deputy CIO for Cybersecurity, CISO for the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (OUSD(A&S)), led the White House COVID-19 Supply Chain Task Force for Acceleration as well as the team that created the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC).”

Arrington rejoined DOD as deputy CIO for cybersecurity on Feb. 18. Industry stakeholders praised the move in comments to Inside Cybersecurity, calling it a good signal for the future of the CMMC program.

Arrington was tapped to lead the development of the CMMC program in July 2019 within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, where the CMMC Program Management Office was initially based.

The CMMC program was paused in early 2021 under the direction of then-Defense Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks who came in at the start of the Biden administration. Arrington was put on suspension in the summer of 2021 over her alleged sharing of classified information outside of DOD.

Arrington officially resigned in February 2022 from DOD and announced a run for a House seat in South Carolina in the 2022 election cycle. She lost in the primary election to incumbent Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) who was selected in the 118th Congress to serve as chair of the House Oversight cyber subcommittee.

In a February 2022 memorandum, Hicks moved the CMMC PMO over to the Office of the DOD CIO and eliminated Arrington’s previous job as CISO at A&S.

Arrington joined supply chain firm Exiger in January 2024 as vice president of government affairs.

The DOD CIO role is a Senate-confirmed position. President Trump hasn’t nominated an individual for the position yet.

Arrington was hired as a civilian employee at the Office of the DOD CIO in her role as deputy CIO for cybersecurity. Beavers had served acting DOD CIO since the departure of John Sherman in July 2024.

Getting the CMMC program officially launched is expected to be a priority for Arrington. The first final rule to establish the CMMC program went into effect on Dec. 16. Official CMMC assessments started in early January.

A second CMMC rulemaking is expected to be finalized in mid-2025. The final rule will amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement and kick off the timeline for CMMC requirements to start showing up in DOD solicitations.

By Tony Bertuca
March 4, 2025 at 9:06 AM

(Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional information.)

The Pentagon last night confirmed that all U.S. military aid to Ukraine has been paused, following a tense public meeting in the Oval Office last week between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Additional information about the pause was not provided.

The United States has provided Ukraine with about $65 billion in military aid since the start of the Russian invasion, with the vast majority of the funds going to U.S. defense contractors to either supply weapons to Kyiv directly or replenish (and sometimes upgrade) weapons being transferred from U.S. stocks.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, released a statement blasting Trump for stopping the aid.

“President Trump says he is focused on a peace agreement. If that’s true, then the last thing that he should do is cut Ukraine off at the knees,” Smith said. “The only way that Ukraine will be able to negotiate with Russia from a position of strength is if Ukraine has the means to defend itself against Putin’s ongoing and unjust war. The most important piece of that is U.S security assistance to ensure Ukraine’s survival -- there will be no negotiation if Ukraine is destroyed.”

Trump, who has long been skeptical of providing aid to Ukraine, has been lobbying Zelensky to accept a peace agreement with Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and occupies about 20% of the country. Zelensky, however, has said Ukraine cannot accept any peace without guarantees of future security.

Tension has increased between Trump and Zelensky in recent weeks, with Trump calling him a “dictator,” falsely blaming Ukraine for the Russian invasion and demanding that Kyiv provide billions in future mineral rights to the United States as recompense for past aid and the promise of continued support.

The mineral rights deal was supposed to be signed during Zelensky’s visit to the White House last week, but Trump asked the Ukrainian president to leave after arguments erupted over whether Ukraine was appropriately grateful to the United States and was ready to negotiate.

“I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,” he said in a Truth Social post. “He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he’s ready for Peace.”

UPDATE: Zelensky posted on X today that Ukraine is “grateful” for U.S. assistance and that he is ready to return to the United States and “make things right” with Trump.

“Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be,” he wrote. “It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive. Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it in any time and in any convenient format. We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively.”

By Shelley K. Mesch
March 3, 2025 at 5:06 PM

Space Systems Command awarded BAE Systems $151 million for the second phase of the Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution Command and Control system that will be used for missile warning and tracking missions, the command announced today.

BAE’s FORGE C2 prototype will be used for the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared system as well as legacy systems, according to SSC.

The other transaction authority contract comes out of the Space Enterprise Consortium, a group created in 2017 to connect the military with space-related commercial startups and small businesses.

“As we continue to enhance the FORGE ground system, it’s critical that we innovate rapidly with new technological capabilities. The SpEC OTA contract allows us to do that,” said Capt. Santiago Duque, SSC FORGE C2 chief program manager. “Our mission is foundational to the next-generation missile warning and tracking space architecture and critical in securing the warfighter mission to protect the nation from emerging threats.”

The first phase was awarded in November 2023.

By Nick Wilson
March 3, 2025 at 5:02 PM

The Air Force has begun implementing a deferred resignation program for its civilian workforce in accordance with directives from the Office of Personnel Management, the service announced over the weekend.

On Feb. 28, the Air Force began sending email notifications to employees who applied for the DRP program, which has been offered to civilian workers across the federal government by the Trump administration as part of its effort to shrink the federal workforce.

“This voluntary program requires a formal separation agreement between the employee and the [Department of the Air Force], providing a financially supported pathway for eligible employees leaving federal service while enabling the Department of Defense to proactively reshape its workforce,” the announcement states.

The Navy also started implementing a deferred resignation program last week in accordance with OPM, a service spokesperson told Inside Defense. The Army has not yet responded to questions on the subject.

Once approved, participants in the Air Force’s version of the program will receive paid administrative leave until Sept. 30, 2025. During this time, they will “generally not [be] expected to work and are exempt from in-person requirements,” according to an Air Force memo signed by acting Assistant Secretary for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Gwendolyn DeFilippi.

The program is open to full-time Defense Department employees who “may be eligible for resignation, early retirement or that have a retirement date between now and December 31, 2025,” the memo continues.

However, there are exemptions to the offer for civilian flight instructors, cyber positions within the force renewal program, working capital fund personnel and foreign military sales personnel, the memo states.

The initial wave of emails is meant to inform applicants of the status of their application and their eligibility. The first wave of emails will be sent to “non-bargaining employees.” Union members will be notified later after “collective bargaining units receive official notice,” the announcement states.

By John Liang
March 3, 2025 at 1:42 PM

This Monday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Defense Innovation Unit, transnational criminal organizations in U.S. Southern Command's area of responsibility, the MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter program and more.

A new Government Accountability Office report recommends the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit "establish performance goals and metrics for DIU 3.0; establish a process to collect, assess, and use performance information for DIU 3.0; and develop and implement a process to assess defense innovation community collaboration":

Watchdog says DIU 'does not know if it is making progress'

The Pentagon's innovation arm lacks clear insight into whether it is making headway toward achieving its strategic goal of leveraging commercial technology and innovation to meet critical operational gaps, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Document: GAO report on the DIU

The head of U.S. Southern Command was on Capitol Hill recently, talking about the threat of transnational organized crime groups in his area of responsibility:

Criminal orgs amass 'staggering' sums, outpace defense spending across SOUTHCOM

Transnational criminal organizations operating across Latin America and the Caribbean amassed a "staggering" $358 billion in revenue last year -- six times the combined defense budgets of all nations in the region including Mexico -- posing a growing strategic challenge to the United States, according to a senior official.

Document: Senate hearing on SOUTHCOM, NORTHCOM

Inside Defense recently interviewed the Boeing executive in charge of building the Air Force's MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter program:

Grey Wolf helos began IOT&E in January; all outstanding issues mitigated

The Air Force's nascent MH-139 Grey Wolf program is "hitting the ground running" in fiscal year 2025, according to an executive for the helicopter-maker, with initial operational test and evaluation starting as planned in January despite outstanding issues threatening its timeline at the end of last year.

During a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) said she and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) have asked acting Navy Secretary Terrence Emmert to work with the Office of Personnel Management to exempt public shipyard employees from sweeping federal layoffs:

Lawmakers concerned Pentagon layoffs will undercut ship maintenance

Senate Democrats are worried the Pentagon's plan to shrink its civilian workforce could further inhibit on-time ship and submarine maintenance if workers are laid off at the nation's public shipyards.

Document: Senators' letter on Navy shipyard layoff exemptions

The commanding general of the Army's Combined Arms Support Command spoke at a recent conference hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association:

Army autonomous truck system slowed by CR

Lack of a full-year appropriation is shelving funding and bumping timelines for the Army's Autonomous Transport Vehicle System, set to be the largest transformation to the service's sustainment community since it debuted trucks in 1915, a senior Army official said at a Tactical Wheeled Vehicles conference in Reston, VA, Feb. 25.

By Tony Bertuca
March 3, 2025 at 11:30 AM

Despite an initial pause, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is now instructing all Defense Department civilians to comply with an Office of Personnel Management email directing them to detail five things they accomplished at their jobs in the past week.

“You will receive an email on Monday, March 3, 2025; reply to that email and cc your supervisor within 48 hours,” Hegseth said in a department-wide memo.

The submissions, which should exclude classified or sensitive information, will be “incorporated into weekly situation reports by supervisors.”

Failure to comply with the OPM directive, Hegseth said, “may lead to further review.”

Employees who are on leave or do not have access to email for a “valid reason” must comply within 48 hours of regaining access.

“Managers of those who do not regularly work in office settings with access to email, e.g. warehouses and shipyards, should address directly with their employees,” the memo said.

"The civilian workforce remains vital to the Department's mission, and your critical contributions support our renewed focus on DOD' s core warfighting objectives under President Trump' s leadership," the memo adds.

The OPM productivity emails, which have been directed by the “Department of Government Efficiency,” were first sent out Feb. 22 but DOD civilians were advised by the Pentagon's Office of Personnel and Readiness to ignore the request.

Hegseth, in a video message released on Sunday, said civilians will now be expected to comply.

"Our civilian patriots who dedicate themselves to defending this nation working for the Department of Defense are critical to our national security," Hegseth said. "As we work to restore focus on DOD's core warfighting mission under President Trump's leadership, we recognize that we cannot accomplish that mission without the strong and important contributions of our civilian workforce."

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is the public face of the DOGE effort, shared Hegseth’s video on X.

Much appreciated @SecDef Hegseth!

By John Liang
March 3, 2025 at 9:57 AM

General Atomics announced today it has acquired signals intelligence software company North Point Defense.

NPD will be added to GA's Integrated Intelligence business unit, according to a company statement. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

"This acquisition enhances GA’s capabilities in the rapidly evolving SIGINT field, positioning the company to deliver advanced ISR solutions for air, sea, ground, and space platforms," the company said.

By Tony Bertuca
March 3, 2025 at 5:00 AM

The Air and Space Forces Association hosts its annual warfare symposium this week, while senior defense officials are scheduled to speak at several events around Washington.

Monday

The Air and Space Forces Association hosts its annual warfare symposium in Aurora, CO. The event runs through Wednesday.

Tuesday

The Senate Armed Services Committee holds a nomination hearing for Elbridge Colby to be under secretary of defense for policy.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts a discussion on quantum computing with Michael Rogers, the former director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command.

Wednesday

The Reagan National Security Innovation Base Summit is held in Washington.

The Senate Armed Services Committee holds a hearing with Gen. Randall Reed, chief of U.S. Transportation Command.

By Dan Schere
February 28, 2025 at 4:01 PM

Former Army acquisition chief Doug Bush, who departed his position last month, said today during the National Defense Industrial Association’s Power of Prototyping symposium that it would be useful to have a “thoughtful review” of the research and development offices within the Defense Department that specialize in innovation.

Bush spoke on a panel on George Mason University’s campus that was moderated by former DOD acquisition chief Ellen Lord. Bush, in response to an audience question fielded by Lord about whether there are too many R&D innovation centers, noted that over the last couple of administrations, the number of such offices has grown due to a “demand and concern that we weren’t pushing fast enough in certain tech areas.”

“That’s the department responding in the right way to a perceived need to support our troops. At the same time, it’s probably reasonable for this administration to consider looking across that and doing a little bit of consolidation wouldn’t be the worst thing. But not too far,” he said.

Consolidating these entities requires striking a balance that allows for “having the occasional small rogue entity that no one else will,” Bush said.

“It’s not always a bad thing. It’s a question of what’s the scale of dollars,” he said.

A review of innovation-themed offices ought to start at the Office of the Secretary of Defense level in the Pentagon, because “there’s a whole bunch of them, and a whole bunch of money,” Bush said.

“You could maybe save some money there and then reallocate it to other things in the services, for example, that also have merit,” he said.

Bush said a good approach for acquisition professionals in the military going forward is to build support both internally and with Congress in areas with broad appeal rather than “idiosyncratic things that one person is a fan of.”

“People in positions change. I know this can be maddening to industry. The Army might be all into something because a certain general is there, and all of a sudden the enthusiasm retires, and there’s a new general and they’re no longer interested,” he said.

Rapid prototyping of counter drone technology is an example of one area where investment over several years paid dividends, Bush noted. This could be seen following the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023, he said.

“Oct. 7 happened, and then the U.S. military came under significant UAS attack across the Middle East. And yes, we took losses. There were lots of attacks, hundreds of attacks,” he said.

“Hundreds of lives were saved though, by the previous five years of work across two administrations working with [U.S. Central Command] on a range of really, off-the-shelf, highly innovative not-program-of-record counter UAS technologies that had been quietly fielded across the theater because of this building threat from Iran and its proxies. That’s a huge success, and it happened completely off the normal system.”

By John Liang
February 28, 2025 at 12:56 PM

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Navy shipbuilding, the Army's autonomous truck system, Air Force helicopters and more.

We start off with a bunch of news on Navy shipbuilding:

Lawmakers concerned Pentagon layoffs will undercut ship maintenance

Senate Democrats are worried the Pentagon’s plan to shrink its civilian workforce could further inhibit on-time ship and submarine maintenance if workers are laid off at the nation’s public shipyards.

GAO: Results of billions invested in shipbuilding efforts remain to be seen

Billions of dollars have been invested in the nation’s shipbuilding industrial base by the Navy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, yet the effectiveness of these funds is difficult to determine -- made even more tedious by a lack of coordination between the two groups, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Document: GAO report on Navy shipbuilding and repair


SECNAV nominee aims to review and potentially renegotiate Navy contracts

John Phelan, President Trump’s nominee to serve as the next Navy secretary, told lawmakers today that if confirmed, he will personally review all existing contracts and renegotiate them if needed.

Document: Phelan's SECNAV nomination APQs

Army Maj. Gen. Michelle Donahue, commanding general of Combined Arms Support Command, spoke this week at a conference hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association:

Army autonomous truck system slowed by CR

Lack of a full-year appropriation is shelving funding and bumping timelines for the Army's Autonomous Transport Vehicle System, set to be the largest transformation to the service's sustainment community since it debuted trucks in 1915, a senior Army official said at a Tactical Wheeled Vehicles conference in Reston, VA, Feb. 25.

Inside Defense chatted this week with Azeem Khan, Boeing's MH-139 program manager and executive director:

Grey Wolf helos began IOT&E in January; all outstanding issues mitigated

The Air Force's nascent MH-139 Grey Wolf program is "hitting the ground running" in fiscal year 2025, according to an executive for the helicopter-maker, with initial operational test and evaluation starting as planned in January despite outstanding issues threatening its timeline at the end of last year.

The head of U.S. Southern Command was on Capitol Hill recently:

Criminal orgs amass 'staggering' sums, outpace defense spending across SOUTHCOM

Transnational criminal organizations operating across Latin America and the Caribbean amassed a "staggering" $358 billion in revenue last year -- six times the combined defense budgets of all nations in the region including Mexico -- posing a growing strategic challenge to the United States, according to a senior official.

Document: Senate hearing on SOUTHCOM, NORTHCOM