The Insider

Some must-reads from this week's edition of Inside the Army:

1. HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Army Futures Command is intended to provide a coherent vision for force modernization, without which the service has experienced "a lot of confusion" and failed to capitalize fully on its investments, according to the service's under secretary.

Full story: McCarthy: Army takes 'methodical' approach with maximum 'flexibility' for Futures Command

2. HUNTSVILLE, AL -- The Army has launched a new initiative to bolster its efforts "to span the chasm between critical Army modernization challenges and the vast community of non-traditional innovators," according to the service's assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology.

Full story: Jette details policy changes, new initiative intended to spur innovation

3. HUNTSVILLE, AL -- The director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicle cross-functional team on March 26 outlined three phases for NGCV prototype development before a materiel development decision is expected.

Full story: Final NGCV prototypes to be fielded at end of FY-23

4. HUNTSVILLE, AL -- The Army is establishing three programs of record to sort its inventory of more than 4,000 non-standard robots and seeks to develop a common controller across the entire fleet. The service aims to remove 2,000 of those robots from the inventory before the programs of record are fully online.

Full story: Army to organize ground robotics portfolio, speed up prototyping

DOD supply chain security, Army innovation, Navy shipyards and a slew of Air Force news highlight this Friday INSIDER Daily Digest.

Defense contractors have questions about DOD's enforcement of supply chain security requirements:

Contractors wonder how DOD will enforce supply chain security requirements

Senior Defense Department officials are calling on industry to better protect their supply chains from cyber threats, but uncertainty surrounding DOD's implementation of stringent network security requirements has companies wondering how the department will enforce compliance moving forward.

Defense Business Briefing

Want defense business news delivered straight to your inbox?

Inside Defense's free weekly feature, the Defense Business Briefing, offers the latest in defense industry news.

Read it and sign up today →

More news from this week's AUSA's Global Force Symposium:

Jette details policy changes, new initiative intended to spur innovation

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- The Army has launched a new initiative to bolster its efforts "to span the chasm between critical Army modernization challenges and the vast community of non-traditional innovators," according to the service's assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology.

The Navy is facing a bunch of hurdles if it wants to improve maintenance at its shipyards:

Geurts: Navy faces three significant hurdles to improving public, private shipyard maintenance

The Navy faces three significant hurdles if it is going to improve public and private shipyard maintenance over the next five years as the service grows its fleet to 355 ships, according to a recent report sent to Congress that was viewed by Inside Defense.

The Air Force submitted a report to Congress on its plans for replacing the JSTARS aircraft:

Air Force offers more details on JSTARS replacement plan in new report

The Air Force's formal report to congressional defense committees on its new plan for replacing the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System offers more insight on how it views the roles of the MQ-9 Reaper, RQ-4 Block 40 and other assets in a future battle management network.

The Air Force Test Center has a whole host of problems:

Air Force testing hub facing $3B facilities backlog, degraded capabilities

Despite a "substantial infusion" of funding in the fiscal year 2019 future years defense program for sustainment, restoration and modernization at the Air Force Test Center, the service's hub for weapon system testing is behind on several critical capability upgrade efforts, has a workforce shortfall and is facing a $3 billion backlog of deferred facility projects.

Related test center news:

Air Force Test Center highlights 32 at-risk modernization efforts

The Air Force has identified 32 testing upgrades at risk of delays due to resource shortfalls at the Air Force Test Center.

Lockheed Martin may not be the only contractor to build future GPS III satellites:

Competitive GPS III Follow-On effort could save $30M per satellite

The Air Force expects its decision to competitively acquire future GPS III satellites rather than award a sole-source contract to Lockheed Martin, the current provider, will cut $20 to $30 million off the cost of each space vehicle it buys.

Don't expect the Air Force to be able to simultaneously flight test two ICBMs anytime soon:

Simultaneous ICBM test flights possible but operationally infeasible

The Air Force tells the Senate Armed Services Committee in a recent report it is technically possible for the service to flight test two intercontinental ballistic missiles at once but that doing so wouldn't be operationally feasible.

The Air Force has shuffled money around to pay for B61-12 tailkit assembly trainers:

Air Force shifts funds for B61-12 trainers amid delay to first tailkit delivery

The Air Force has repurposed $4.8 million from fiscal year 2016 to buy 30 B61-12 tailkit assembly trainers in FY-18, after a series of continuing resolutions threatened the program's progress earlier this year, a service spokeswoman recently confirmed.

A pair of Global Hawks will be getting new paint jobs:

Robins AFB refines Global Hawk paint maintenance after new coat cracks

Two Northrop Grumman Global Hawks will return to Robins Air Force Base, GA, for a new coat of paint after their recent paint jobs cracked and chipped.

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said today the Pentagon is focused on ensuring accountability in how it spends the additional $80 billion Congress just provided in a fiscal year 2018 omnibus spending bill.

"We expect a year from now, Congress will ask us for a receipt," he said. "Pretty straightforward."

Shanahan, who spoke at an event hosted by the Center for New American Security in Washington, said he and a team of senior DOD officials are concentrating on executing the additional funds Congress provided the department to address ongoing readiness shortfalls in training and equipment.

Other priorities include "de-risking" and modernizing the Pentagon's signature weapon systems.

"It means make sure that we execute flawlessly," he said. "We want to complete those and we want to deliver ahead of schedule or under budget. Our real focus is how do we accelerate modernization. The modernization -- how do you get those good ideas to scale."

Shanahan is currently crafting a DOD modernization strategy with Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord and Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin. The strategy is expected to support new investments in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, hypersonics, directed energy and data analytics.

Shanahan also said Pentagon Comptroller David Norquist will be focusing more on managerial accountability as DOD's chief financial officer.

"We're going to take comptroller off his business card and we're going to make him the CFO," Shanahan said. "Because we're less interested in how well he expends the money -- we want him to be focused on what are we getting for it. We need somebody who can hold the people that spend the money accountable for the results. David's jacked up about getting a new job title."

Officially, Norquist's title already includes "chief financial officer," and his spokesman said there has been no change.

Shanahan also said David Deasy, the former chief information officer at JP Morgan Chase, will be joining DOD to work on the department's information technology challenges.

"He managed 43,000 IT professionals," Shanahan said. "He'll be joining us the first part of May."

Shanahan did not say whether Deasy would be tapped to be the department's new CIO and the Pentagon was unable to provide an immediate answer.

The House Armed Services Committee will begin consideration of the fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill April 26, with a full committee mark-up scheduled for May 9, according to a schedule released today.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the committee's ranking Democrat, have also sent a "views and estimates" letter to the House Budget Committee urging a resolution that honors the Bipartisan Budget Agreement reached in February by Congress.

The agreement calls for $716 billion in national defense spending, an increase of $85 billion above the cap mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act. The agreement also includes an additional $68 billion above the BCA cap for non-defense spending.

The first half of the agreement, which approved an additional $85 billion for defense and $63 billion for non-defense in FY-18, was signed into law last week.

Now, Thornberry and Smith write, Congress in FY-19 must "follow the fiscal cycle through to conclusion by properly providing appropriations in a timely manner for the Department to execute these funds effectively."

Smith, however, voiced concern in a separate letter that the White House demonstrated it does not want to honor bipartisan deal when it submitted an FY-19 budget that cuts non-defense spending.

"Therefore, the budget resolution must deviate from the president's budget request and support BBA funding levels for FY 2019 for both defense and [non-defense] categories of the discretionary budget," Smith writes. "The BBA increase to the defense budget is justifiable in light of national security challenges, but enabling the achievement of defense priorities alone is insufficient."

Smith's letter also points out that BCA spending caps are set to return beginning in FY-20. The BCA caps do not expire until FY-21.

Meanwhile, Thornberry, who helped GOP defense hawks as they worked for months to engineer a two-year increase in defense spending, signaled at a March 20 hearing he is prepared to take the fight into FY-20 and beyond.

"It would be a mistake for any of us to leave the impression that this cap agreement and the money that flows from it fixes all our problems," he said. "It does not."

An ongoing Air Force Scientific Advisory Board study, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and more highlight this Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest.

The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board panel on "Maintaining Technology Superiority for the USAF" is slated to present its interim findings at an April 12 meeting at Kirtland Air Force Base, NM:

Advisory panel eyes options to rework Air Force's $2.5B S&T portfolio for threats in 2030s

An influential Air Force advisory panel is readying draft recommendations on how the service should adjust its science and technology program -- investments that collectively amount to $2.5 billion in the service's fiscal year 2019 budget request -- in order to maintain a technological qualitative advantage in the 2030s and beyond.

Document: AFSAB terms of reference memo for FY-18 studies

The Air Force's top uniformed officer spoke during a Defense Writers Group breakfast this morning:

Air Force wants F-35 sustainment cost to match that of legacy fighters

The Air Force would like F-35 sustainment costs to be comparable with those of legacy fighter aircraft, and Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein told reporters today the service is working closely with prime contractor Lockheed Martin and the Office of the Secretary of Defense to achieve the service's cost targets.

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer relayed the service's surge sealift plans in a report this month to Congress:

Navy sends Congress $242 million plan to recap surge sealift

The Navy's plans to recapitalize the surge sealift force include 10-year service life extensions for select vessels, acquiring and modernizing two used vessels in the early 2020s, and implementing a common-hull design for the future fleet, according to documents viewed by Inside the Navy.

As part of the re-organization of the Pentagon's acquisition arm, DOD officials want to ensure there is the "appropriate governance around new or enhanced authorities":

Pentagon seeks 'governance' model for increasingly popular OTAs

The Pentagon wants to govern the use of other transaction agreements so they're not misused without stymieing the speed and flexibility of the increasingly popular contracting method, according to a Defense Department official.

Continued coverage of this year's AUSA Global Force Symposium:

McCarthy: Army takes 'methodical' approach with maximum 'flexibility' for Futures Command

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Army Futures Command is intended to provide a coherent vision for force modernization, without which the service has experienced "a lot of confusion" and failed to capitalize fully on its investments, according to the service's under secretary.

The Pentagon is stressing that its enterprise cloud initiative is a full and open competition with the single award contract planned with multiple off ramps, trying to dispel the notion the Defense Department is planning a decade-long award for one contractor.

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White, during the opening of her weekly press conference today, said the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud services competition is "an open competition" and "the first of many open competitions." Moving to cloud services will allow the department to "streamline our processes and implement a performance-based culture," she added.

"We wanted competition and now we have it," White said. She did not elaborate on what else DOD will compete beyond the initial cloud award.

She also said the JEDI award will be a two-year contract, with four two-year options.

Officials have struggled to articulate the scope of the JEDI contract, at times describing it as a transformative push into a single cloud where data can be shared freely across the department, and at other times saying it is merely complementary to other DOD cloud programs.

But during a call with reporters earlier this month, Pentagon Chief Management Officer Jay Gibson said it's fair to characterize the planned contract as a "multibillion-dollar award."

Many contractors fear commercial cloud behemoth Amazon Web Services is the department's preferred choice, and critics say DOD risks locking itself into a single cloud services provider by only making one award. Congress wants the Pentagon to justify its single-award approach.

The Pentagon released a draft request for proposals earlier this month, and the JEDI team plans to release a second draft RFP in early April. The final RFP will be released in May, according to DOD, with the award planned for September.

President Trump has tapped Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Robert Wilkie to serve as acting veterans affairs secretary until Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson is approved by Congress.

In a tweet late this afternoon, Trump announced he was replacing David Shulkin with Jackson. The latter currently serves as White House physician.

"I appreciate the work of Dr. David Shulkin and the many great things we did together at Veterans Affairs, including the VA Accountability Act that he was helpful in getting passed," Trump said. "He has been a great supporter of veterans across the country and I am grateful for his service."