The Insider

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Navy's F/A-18 fighter aircraft plus coverage of the electronic warfare suite for the F-15 Eagle completing initial operational test and evaluation and more.

In FY-24, the Navy forecasted a five-year plan to invest $11.7 billion to launch an air dominance program and define a follow-on to the F/A-18E/F. The FY-25 budget request zeroes out funding for the same project line entirely:

Navy rips $11.7B from F/A-XX, putting project in budget limbo after 12 years of study

The Navy has put on ice plans for a next-generation fighter aircraft, stripping nearly $12 billion from its five-year plan for the F/A-XX project, indicating funds previously programmed for future years were redirected to finance higher priorities and the new-start project will now have to compete anew in the fiscal year 2026 budget cycle for resources.

The Navy will keep pursuing additional technical data owned by Boeing suppliers to continue long-term sustainment of the F/A-18 aircraft:

Navy gains more access to F/A-18 technical data

The Navy now has additional access to Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler technical data, allowing the service to support full sustainment of the aircraft.

The Air Force's F-15 Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System is meant to bring improved radar warning, geolocation, situational awareness, self-protection and jamming to the legacy aircraft as the service prepares its fighter fleet for a potential fight in the Indo-Pacific:

F-15 EPAWSS competes IOT&E, fielding to kickoff this year

The Air Force has completed initial operational test and evaluation for the F-15 Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System, which will provide upgraded electronic warfare capabilities to the fighter jet on schedule, according to a news release from EPAWSS manufacturer BAE Systems.

The Navy secretary has released a one-page summary of the service's 45-day shipbuilding review:

Navy shipbuilding review details delays across submarine and ship acquisition portfolio

Delivery of the lead Columbia-class submarine is now expected to occur at least a year later than initially planned, while Virginia-class submarines are more than two years behind their contracted schedule, according to a Navy shipbuilding review that identifies significant schedule challenges across the service's ship and submarine portfolio.

Document: SECNAV's 45-day shipbuilding review

Army budget justification documents state the service plans to spend $255 million to procure the IVAS systems and another $100 million to procure 2,364 Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular systems in FY-25:

Army's IVAS procurement for FY-25 will be for 1.2 variant

The Army's fiscal year 2025 budget request includes funding for more than 5,600 night vision devices, including 3,162 of the newest variant of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS).

The Defense Department issued its 2024 Commercial Space Integration Strategy this week:

DOD releases Commercial Space Integration Strategy

The Defense Department today released its Commercial Space Integration Strategy that gives a roadmap of how the U.S. military can leverage commercial space in each of its space mission areas.

Document: DOD's commercial space integration strategy

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown are scheduled to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 9 to discuss the fiscal year 2025 defense budget request alongside Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord.

Pentagon modernization spending is slated to decrease under the new request though the military services and combatant commands have sent Congress “unfunded priorities lists” seeking tens of billions of dollars in new spending.

The Defense Department -- capped by a two-year congressional spending deal -- is seeking about $850 billion for FY-25, with $167.5 billion for procurement and $143.2 billion for research, development, test and evaluation for a total modernization investment of $310.7 billion that does not keep pace with inflation.

Congress, after months of partisan haggling, passed an FY-24 appropriations package in March that would fund DOD at $824.3 billion, an increase of $26.8 billion above what Congress enacted in FY-23.

The total modernization investment for FY-24 enacted by Congress is $320 billion with procurement funded at $172 billion (an increase of $3 billion over the FY-24 budget request and $9.8 billion more than the FY-23 enacted level) and RDT&E funded at $148.3 billion, an increase of $3.4 billion above the FY-24 request and $8.6 billion more than the FY-23 enacted level.

Some GOP lawmakers, like Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS), have said the FY-25 request is too small but have not openly advocated breaking the caps set by the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Austin and Brown are also expected to push committee members to continue their support of a $95 billion security supplemental spending package that the Senate has already passed with bipartisan approval but remains stalled in the House.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), after months of opposing the package -- which would provide foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and modernize the U.S. submarine industrial base -- recently told Fox News he will soon bring a version of the measure up for a vote, eyeing use of federal law that would pay for some of the Ukraine aid by selling off Russian assets that have been frozen by the U.S. government.

Brown, speaking to reporters last week, said lawmakers need to appreciate that the supplemental actually invests billions in the U.S. defense industrial base.

“Eighty percent of that money comes back into our defense industrial base, our American workforce, American jobs,” he said. “We’ve got to talk more about how this actually supports our defense industrial base.”

Amid supply chain issues, the Navy is seeking industry solutions to mitigate risk for battery development and modernize the manufacturing of critical battery materials.

Focusing on four areas -- critical battery materials, components, critical processes assessment and mitigation and battery development and prototyping -- Naval Sea Systems Command wants to ease supply chain risks by improving manufacturing technologies, according to an announcement posted Monday for an upcoming request for solutions.

The Defense Department regularly needs specialty batteries, according to the notice, including batteries made with optimized chemicals, materials and components that are not easily substituted.

“When one of these specialty materials or processes becomes unusable or unavailable, major effort is required to find or develop economical substitutes that can be acquired in the volumes needed,” the notice states.

NAVSEA is seeking domestically sourced battery chemicals, components and subassemblies that can substitute those currently facing supply chain risks. The command also aims to develop supply chain risk assessments and mitigation approaches for critical manufacturing processes and identify a prototype manufacturing process capable of achieving a higher volume of production.

Finally, NAVSEA plans to identify a solution for the development and demonstration of prototype batteries that incorporate solutions from the other three focus areas.

“These battery prototypes will provide confidence that the new materials and processes will be capable of acceptably performing as intended,” the notice states. “Follow-on production is a possible outcome.”

The request for solutions is anticipated to be released May 7.

John Plumb, the first assistant defense secretary for space policy, plans to leave the Defense Department next month, a department spokesperson confirmed today.

Plumb has told his staff he intends to leave his position in early May, the spokesperson said, without including what his next plans are.

Plumb’s departure was first reported by Breaking Defense.

The Pentagon created the assistant defense secretary for space policy position in late 2020 following a requirement in the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. Space policy had previously been the work of a deputy assistant defense secretary.

Plumb was the first to hold the title after his Senate confirmation in March 2022.

Heidi Shyu, defense under secretary for research and engineering, administered the oath of office to Aprille Ericsson Friday, swearing her in as the inaugural defense assistant secretary for science and technology.

“Ericsson will oversee a broad range of S&T portfolios aimed at helping the department achieve leap-ahead defense capabilities, including the [four] areas of critical emerging technology Shyu prioritized as critical for national security,” a Defense Department press release said.

On top of establishing Ericsson’s new position, DOD created two other new research and engineering defense assistant secretary positions in July: defense assistant secretary for critical technologies and defense assistant secretary for mission capabilities.

Ericsson received Senate confirmation on Feb. 28 after being nominated by President Joe Biden last year.

Ericsson said she plans on concentrating on the lines-of-effort outlined in the National Defense Science and Technology Strategy.

"In this complex and rapidly evolving security environment, my vision aims to boost our technical advantages by shepherding our critical and emerging technologies, strengthening our industrial manufacturing base and protecting our intellectual property," she said.

Previously, Ericsson worked at NASA for over 30 years where she recently led the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Instrument Systems and Technology Division’s new business portfolio.

She was the also the first African-American woman to receive a PhD in mechanical engineering from Howard University and the first African-American woman to earn a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center PhD in engineering.

"I welcome and congratulate Dr. Ericsson as the first ASD S&T," Shyu said in the release. "She brings a distinguished record of service as a technologist from her time at NASA and a strong commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility outreach with the HBCU and STEM K-12 communities. I look forward to working with Dr. Ericsson as the department remains focused on fielding the best technology investments across the critical technology areas."

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on a spat over who has control of buying commercial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, the Navy's Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle program and more.

For a year, the National Reconnaissance Office, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Space Force have been working on a solution on how to divide up control of purchasing commercial ISR:

Maven being implemented by more COCOMs amid tensions with Space Force

Amid rising tensions between the Space Force and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency over commercial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, NGA's director said this week that more combatant commands are using Program Maven, noting increased opportunities for the program thanks to the Replicator initiative.

The Navy's fiscal year 2025 budget request, which includes $21.5 million in research and development funding for the XLUUV "Orca" program, indicates two vehicles will be delivered in the final quarter of FY-24 with three more following in the first half of FY-25:

Boeing aims to complete delivery of initial XLUUV set within 2025

After delivering an initial prototype in December, Boeing plans to turn over the remaining five Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles to the Navy before the end of 2025, according to company executives and service budget documents.

The Pentagon's top uniformed officer spoke this week at a Defense Writers Group event:

Brown pushing for supplemental bill that would inject billions into U.S. defense industry

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. CQ Brown said he and other officials are working hard to get lawmakers to support a $95 billion supplemental spending package that would inject tens of billions of dollars into the U.S. defense industry, while also aiding Ukraine and Israel.

The Army's fiscal year 2025 budget request includes $120 million to buy 31 semi-autonomous LASSO unmanned aerial systems -- slated for units based in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility -- capable of stand-off and destruction against various targets, according to the budget request:

Army seeks new-start LASSO in FY-25 to make infantry 'as lethal as armored brigades'

The Pentagon is seeking new-start authority in fiscal year 2025 to begin buying a man-portable, tube-launched, uncrewed aircraft called the Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO) as part of the Army's Family of Low Altitude Unmanned Systems program -- an effort to give dismounted infantry next-generation tank-killing capability.

The Pentagon this week released its 2024 Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity Strategy:

DIB cybersecurity strategy outlines four goals to prevent threats

Senior officials spoke about the four goals of the Defense Department's 2024 Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity Strategy, adding that the strategy comes at a time when adversaries are specifically targeting DIB contractors.

Document: Defense industrial base cyber strategy

Continuing with cyber, our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity have continuing coverage of the public responses to the Pentagon's proposed Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program rule:

Procurement coalition raises questions over DOD treatment of external service providers in CMMC proposed rule

The Coalition for Government Procurement is seeking clarity on how the Defense Department will allow external service providers to play a role in achieving compliance with the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, in a filing on the proposed rule to implement the effort.

The National Defense Information Sharing and Analysis Center has published a “shopping guide” to help small and medium-sized businesses pick an assessor who meets their needs to reach compliance with the Pentagon’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program.

The guide is designed to “address the challenges presented to an SMB when vetting an assessor for Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC),” and was developed by SMBs across the defense industrial base and feedback from CMMC third-party assessment organizations.

“It is important to note that this document is to be used as guidance and considerations as you, the Organization Seeking Assessment (OSA), tackle the goal of finding an assessor that best fits is your organization,” the guide says.

It continues, “Unfortunately, there is incentive to find the ‘easiest’ assessor. That should not be the goal. [An] SMB should seek out an assessor that is knowledgeable in CMMC, willing to understand their unique SMB environment, and provide a reasonable assessment to provide risk mitigation assurances to the DIB.”

The guide provides a list of 11 categories with specific questions addressing various aspects.

The categories are intake/quote process, cost, availability, reasonableness, responsiveness, quality, technical aptitude and experience, business/government contracting aptitude and experience, experience in CMMC, experience in other cyber frameworks and experience in similar environments.

The guide is accompanied by a “Scoring Tool” in Excel that allows SMBs to compare C3PAOs in each category. The scores are weighted in the spreadsheet based on importance to the SMB.

The principal authors are Win-Tech CEO Allison Giddens, Terry Hebert of Centurum and Sentinel Blue CEO Andy Sauer.

Giddens noted, “SMBs have to sort through a blizzard of commercials about CMMC and impending assessments. The ND-ISAC assessor shopping guide has the credibility of being provided by peer SMB leaders who distilled their hard won knowledge with the sole motivation that others may better succeed on their experience.”

There are currently 50 authorized C3PAOs on the Cyber Accreditation Body’s marketplace. Organizations seeking assessment can receive a joint surveillance voluntary assessment from an authorized C3PAO and DCMA’s Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity Assessment Center that will convert into a CMMC certification once the program is finalized.

The CMMC program is in the rulemaking process. DOD issued the first proposed rule on Dec. 26 to implement the program and a second proposed rule making changes to defense acquisition rules is expected this year.

The ND-ISAC’s SMB working group released a supply chain handbook in 2023 for small business manufacturing designed to help companies address “specific and common challenges” by offering use cases and ideas to address them.