The Insider

Ernst & Young hires retired Army colonel
By John Liang
March 28, 2018 at 11:45 AM

Ernst & Young LLP has hired retired Army Col. Cleo Thomas to take a senior manager position in the company's Government & Public Sector team, the firm announced today.

Thomas will work on the team's Defense and National Security market segment, according to a company statement. A military veteran for more than two decades, he has served as the J3/chief operations officer for the Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network (JFHQ-DoDIN) as well as the head of the White House Communications Agency, where he provided operational support to President Obama and the White House staff.

Thomas is also a former head of the 516th Signal Brigade, responsible for the Army's largest operational cyber network covering more than 9,000 miles and 16 time zones. He holds a master's degree from the National Defense University and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Tuskegee University.

Trump nominates new ASD for strategy, plans and capabilities
By John Liang
March 28, 2018 at 11:17 AM

President Trump has nominated James Anderson to be assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and capabilities, according to a White House announcement issued late yesterday evening. 

Anderson currently serves as vice president of academic affairs at Marine Corps University, where he provides leadership and oversight for academic and professional military education programs to 70,000 marines annually. He previously served as the director of Middle East policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the advanced security studies program director at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.

Anderson also served as an intelligence officer in the Marine Corps. He earned his Ph.D. in international relations and his master's degree from Tufts University, and his bachelor's degree from Amherst College.

Navy reobligating $60M for aircraft maintenance
By Justin Katz
March 28, 2018 at 11:14 AM

The Navy intends to reobligate $60 million of expired fiscal year 2015 operations and maintenance funds for aircraft maintenance, according to documents viewed by Inside Defense.

"The purpose of these adjustments is to provide funds for modification of fixed-price depot-level repair project order contracts placed with the Navy Fleet Readiness Centers at Cherry Point, Jacksonville and San Diego," Pentagon comptroller David Norquist wrote in a Feb. 2 letter to the Senate Armed Services committee.

Aircraft requiring induction include F/A-18A-D Hornets, AV-8B Harriers, T-44 Pegasus, P-3C Orions, C-2A Greyhounds, MV-22 Ospreys and MH 53 and UH-1Y helicopters.

Free story: How GOP defense hawks delivered a massive military budget
By Tony Bertuca
March 28, 2018 at 10:07 AM

Inside Defense has a new, in-depth look at how GOP defense hawks worked for months publicly and behind the scenes on Capitol Hill to win a historic increase in military spending.

The story of how lawmakers increased the Pentagon's budget -- despite mandatory spending caps, Washington gridlock and seemingly ascendant fiscal conservatism -- is a political odyssey set in motion before President Trump's election and guided by Congress' leading defense advocates.

The story, which was first made available to subscribers, is now free here.

When President Trump was elected in late 2016, defense advocates readied for increased spending, confident his arrival would mean far larger budgets. But for nearly the past 18 months, that prediction has faced doubts and political gridlock, as Congress continued to rely on stopgap spending measures . . .

Mattis: DOD should be 'peerless stewards of taxpayers' dollars'
By John Liang
March 27, 2018 at 4:24 PM

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has issued a memo to all Defense Department personnel, calling on them to wisely spend the extra money Congress appropriated last week.

The $1.3 trillion fiscal year 2018 omnibus appropriations bill signed into law by the president March 23 lays the groundwork to grow the defense budget by a historic $165 billion over the next two years.

"This additional funding has afforded DOD with the expectation that the increase will directly benefit our Nation's security," Mattis writes in the March 26 memo, adding: "It is now contingent on us to gain full value from every taxpayer dollar spent on defense.

"As such, every decision we make must focus on lethality and affordability as we rebuild readiness and provide the combat capabilities required to provide for the security of our Nation," the memo continues.

Read the full memo here.

The INSIDER daily digest -- March 27, 2018
By John Liang
March 27, 2018 at 2:45 PM

A comprehensive analysis of how the FY-18 defense budget came about, continuing coverage of this year's AUSA Global Force Symposium and more highlight this Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest.

Inside Defense's Tony Bertuca has put together a comprehensive analysis of how the largest defense spending bill in years came about:

How GOP defense hawks delivered a massive military budget

When President Trump was elected in late 2016, defense advocates readied for increased spending, confident his arrival would mean far larger budgets. But for nearly the past 18 months, that prediction has faced doubts and political gridlock, as Congress continued to rely on stopgap spending measures.

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Our continuing coverage of this year's AUSA Global Force Symposium:

Perna calls for aggressive approach to modernization

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- In order to maintain its strategic and operational advantage in the future, the Army "must challenge and change the status quo," according to the head of Army Materiel Command.

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

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.

Army aims to flight test Precision Strike Missile in 2019

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- The accelerated acquisition time line for the Precision Strike Missile, a successor to the Army Tactical Missile System, is due to "access to the leadership to bring decisions and resources forward," as well as technological developments in industry, according to a service official.

The Pentagon doesn't yet need space-based ballistic missile interceptors:

STRATCOM waives off requirement for space-based interceptors

The Defense Department does not -- as this time -- require a program to develop space-based ballistic missile interceptors to shoot down enemy long-range rockets during the boost phase of ascent, according to the top U.S. military commander for missile defense and space operations.

More missile defense news:

Pentagon advisory panel calls for establishment of near-term hypersonic defense capability

An influential Pentagon advisory board has recommended the U.S. military quickly develop and field an interim capability to defeat hypersonic weapon threats, launching a program to develop a defensive capability against a new-class of ultra-high-speed strike systems that are the focus of an race between Washington, Beijing and Moscow.

The Marine Corps recently held an exercise looking at new ways to operate in an urban environment:

Marines' experiment shows how fifth-generation rifle company will operate in urban environment

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, CA -- During a company-level exercise last week, the Marine Corps experimented on how a fifth-generation rifle company would operate in an urban environment with a particular emphasis on situational awareness, according to a service official.

Document: Marine Corps' U5G ANTX briefing slides


News from this week's Inside the Army:

Future Vertical Lift CFT pursues varied UASs for 'advanced teaming'

The Army's Future Vertical Lift cross-functional team is focused not only on replacements for the service's rotary aviation fleet, but on developing new unmanned aerial systems for "advanced teaming."

Gainey details 'inherently joint' operations of 94th AAMDC

The 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command is particularly well-suited to assist the Army in refining the Multi-Domain Battle concept, due to its geographic dispersion, "unique jointness" and possession of key defensive systems, according to its commander.

Geurts: Authorities for smaller programs being given to PEOs, PMs
By Justin Katz
March 27, 2018 at 1:25 PM

In an effort to decentralize decision-making, the Navy's top acquisition official has begun pushing down milestone decision authority for smaller acquisition programs to the program executive and program manager level.

Decision authority for acquisition category-2 programs was pushed down in February to the program executive officer level, Navy acquisition executive Hondo Geurts told Inside the Navy on the sidelines of a Washington conference today. That authority was originally delegated to the assistant secretary's level.

Geurts also said program executive officers are currently reviewing their ACAT-3 and ACAT-4 programs for consideration to push milestone decision authority to the program manager level. He expects to review their findings in April.

Decentralizing decision-making as a way to quicken acquisition has been a primary effort of Geurts since becoming the Navy's acquisition executive in December.

UK to meet with F-35 JPO on operations and sustainment 
By Justin Doubleday
March 27, 2018 at 11:32 AM

The No. 2 civilian in the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence is meeting with the F-35 joint program office today to discuss the operations and sustainment cost of the Joint Strike Fighter.

The United Kingdom is “very pleased” with the development of the F-35 and the fact that acquisition costs are “coming down in line with the way we assumed it way,” Permanent Secretary of the MOD Stephen Lovegrove told reporters at a breakfast in Washington today.

The next area of “intense interest” for his nation is the operations and sustainment cost of the F-35, according to Lovegrove.

“In the U.K., typically that is where we have done a less good job of containing costs,” he said. “It’s a very, very complicated platform.”

In addition to meeting with U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan today, Lovegrove said he is convening with a team from the JPO to discuss operations and sustainment costs. “We need to work very, very hard on that,” he added.

“We’ve got headroom in the program, but there is a degree of uncertainty here,” Lovegrove said.

The United Kingdom plans to buy a total of 138 F-35 aircraft, with 48 put on contract so far, the secretary confirmed.

DOD plans to release second draft solicitation for JEDI cloud
By Justin Doubleday
March 26, 2018 at 2:10 PM

The Defense Department plans to release a second draft request for proposals for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud competition in April after the first draft received more than 1,000 comments.

In a March 24 update to the Federal Business Opportunities website, the JEDI cloud team announced it had received 1,089 comments from 46 vendors, two associations and three government agencies on the first draft RFP released March 7.

"We appreciate industry's participation in the draft solicitation process and are confident that these inputs will help us to refine and clarify the requirement," the posting states. "DOD remains committed to a transparent process. To that end, the JEDI Cloud team intends to release answers to all previously submitted comments/questions along with a second draft solicitation package for additional comment during the week of April 9."

DOD still plans to release the final RFP in early May, the notice adds.

The Pentagon is planning the JEDI contract as a single, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity award to provide cloud services DOD-wide, officials told companies during a March 7 industry day held to unveil the first draft RFP.

The contract will include options to extend it upwards of 10 years, and DOD Chief Management Officer Jay Gibson told reporters it's fair to characterize it as a "multibillion-dollar" award.

The single-award strategy has proven controversial, with many companies and industry associations arguing DOD should use multiple awards for services that are expected to be used throughout the department.

The issue has also garnered congressional attention, as lawmakers want DOD to provide them with more details on the acquisition strategy.

The INSIDER daily digest -- March 26, 2018
By John Liang
March 26, 2018 at 1:47 PM

Preliminary coverage of AUSA's Global Force Symposium, the Missile Defense Agency looking into whether the SM-3 Block IIA can go up against ICBMs and more highlight this Monday INSIDER Daily Digest.

Our first story out of this year's AUSA Global Force Symposium deals with Army Futures Command:

Army Futures Command will be a major command

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Army leaders have identified key functions of the new organization tasked with overseeing the modernization of the force to meet future challenges.

(For continuing coverage throughout the week of this year's AUSA Global Force Symposium, click here.)

The Missile Defense Agency is looking at whether the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA might "underlay" the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system and provide an additional band of defense against Pyongyang's long-range rocket ambitions:

MDA exploring potential of SM-3 Block IIA against ICBM threat

The Missile Defense Agency is exploring whether the Navy's newest interceptor -- originally designed to intercept medium- and intermediate-range threats -- can extend its reach to strike intercontinental ballistic missiles, a new gambit to bolster defense of the United States from North Korean ballistic missile threats, according to a senior defense official.

The cross-functional team focused on the synthetic training environment has divided its work into three time frames: near-, mid-, and far-term, devoting much of its focus in the current pilot phase to the near-term priorities:

Gervais: CFT pursuing 'second revolution in training' through STE

The cross-functional team focused on the synthetic training environment is working to streamline and standardize virtual training across the Army, making it more readily available at the point of need, according to the CFT director.

From the Army's perspective, Future Vertical Lift is "on schedule":

Rugen: Army at 'crossroads' on legacy fleet vs. Future Vertical Lift

Despite schedule slips in the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator effort, the Army-led Future Vertical Lift program remains on track, according to the director of the cross-functional team charged with expediting it.

The TRADOC project office for maneuver robotics and autonomous systems will transition to become the capability management office, chartered by a four-star general:

Ft. Benning to become maneuver robotics hub

The Maneuver Center of Excellence, the Army's proponent for ground robotics systems, is teaming with academia and industry to make Ft. Benning, GA, and the greater Columbus area the "center of gravity" for maneuver robotics, according to service officials. The site will eventually house a full capability management office under Training and Doctrine Command.

Boeing HorizonX invests in Australian startup
By John Liang
March 26, 2018 at 12:32 PM

Boeing's HorizonX Ventures has invested in Myriota, a nanosatellite technology startup based in Adelaide, Australia.

Myriota developed technology enabling two-way communications between ground-based micro-transmitters and low Earth orbit (LEO) nanosatellites to securely share data over narrow bandwidths. This direct-to-orbit platform enables applications across the logistics, defense and other industries where internet of things connectivity via traditional means can be challenging and expensive, according to HorizonX.

HorizonX's investment in Myriota is its first in a company outside of the United States and its 10th since being launched in April 2017.

"Part of the mission of Boeing HorizonX is to pursue and accelerate innovations coming out of startups around the world. By investing in Myriota, we are proud to support Australia's startup ecosystem and growing space industry," Steve Nordlund, vice president of Boeing HorizonX, said in a statement. "Myriota's technology influences how we think about space-based communications and connectivity in remote locations."

Myriota CEO Alex Grant said in the same statement that the company was formed "to solve a major connectivity problem: hundreds of millions of devices that need to communicate but don't have cost-effective, battery-friendly networks to do so."

Cornyn, Inhofe urge Trump to sell F-35s to Taiwan
By Tony Bertuca
March 26, 2018 at 12:29 PM

President Trump should support the sale of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to Taiwan to help protect it from Chinese military "aggression," according to a recent letter from Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and James Inhofe (R-OK).

"China shows the ability to wage war against Taiwan for the first time since the 1950's," the senators write in the letter. "However, with your leadership, it is possible to help Taiwan remain a democracy, free to establish a relationship with China that is not driven by military coercion. Taiwan has a legitimate requirement to field a modern fighter fleet to address a myriad of defense contingencies."

The senators argue that the United States should approve the sale of Lockheed Martin's F-35B vertical take-off and landing aircraft to address shortfalls in Taiwan's air defense fleet.

"At a reasonable operational rate, Taiwan is likely able to field only 65 F-16s at any given time in defense of the island," the senators said. "That is not enough to maintain a credible defense."

The F-35B's "modern, long-range sensors could help Taiwan intercept Chinese missiles, promoting deterrence well into the next decade," the senators said.

But, should the administration decide the sale of the F-35B to Taiwan is "premature," the senators ask that Trump approve the sale of additional F-16Vs, also made by Lockheed.

"Taiwan already fields the F-16, and this would represent a cost-effective solution to Taiwan's legitimate defense requirement for additional fighters," the senators said.

Trump, meanwhile, has signaled a desire for increased relations with Taiwan and a growing hostility toward China.

Earlier this month, the president signed legislation that encourages the United States to send senior officials to Taiwan to engage in diplomatic exchange. He also signed new Chinese tariffs into law.

PAE ISR selected to take part in Virginia export acceleration program
By John Liang
March 26, 2018 at 11:48 AM

Unmanned systems developer PAE ISR has been accepted into the Virginia Economic Development Partnership's Global Defense Program, the company announced today.

The one-year export acceleration program is designed to assist well-established aerospace and defense companies based in Virginia to diversify their businesses by expanding into foreign markets. To participate, companies must meet both quantitative and qualitative selection criteria.

"Acceptance into the GDP presents a valuable opportunity for PAE ISR," said Chris Corgnati, Sterling, VA-based PAE ISR's chief operating officer. "VEDP's expertise in accessing international markets will help reduce our barriers to entry and give us an opportunity to gain an advantage over our competitors."

The GDP provides selected companies with access to export planning services and assistance from a team of experienced international service providers to help meet their international goals, according to PAE ISR. These private-sector service providers contribute expertise to assist companies in executing export plans and include attorneys, web designers, translators, accountants and freight forwarders.

"We are excited to work with a company that is part of an industry primed for incredible growth," said Paul Grossman, vice-president of International Trade at VEDP. "As the use of unmanned aerial systems continues to rapidly increase, more and more industries around the world will utilize them in their day-to-day operations. We look forward to working with PAE ISR as we explore these growth opportunities across global markets."

Marine Corps completes LAV cyber testing
By Justin Katz
March 26, 2018 at 11:20 AM

The Marine Corps conducted adversarial cyber testing last month against its Light Armored Vehicle at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, CA, according to a March 26 service statement.

On Feb. 9, Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity completed the testing, which focused on identifying cyber vulnerabilities in the platform. MCTSSA is a service laboratory that provides test and evaluation as well as engineering and deployed technical support to the Marine Corps.

"Vulnerabilities in vehicle systems can have a very immediate, very kinetic impact," said Capt. Brian Greunke, MCTSSA network test engineer. "This differs from historical computer system vulnerabilities, which may have delayed or abstract impacts."

The Office of Naval Research is moving forward on a science and technology effort focused on a fifth-generation LAV replacement, Inside the Navy reported last December. That effort is anticipated to span fiscal years 2018 through mid-FY-21, and ONR is expected to award contracts for the effort July 30.

Air Force awards Lot 32 contract for domestic, foreign AMRAAM procurement
By Rachel Cohen
March 26, 2018 at 10:45 AM

The Air Force recently awarded a $532.1 million production contract to Raytheon for Lot 32 of its Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile.

"Fiscal [year] 2018 production funds in the amount of $308 million; FY-18 research and development funds in the amount of $3.6 million; and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $211.6 million are being obligated at the time of award," the March 23 Defense Department contract announcement states.

Raytheon's latest award includes missile sales to Japan, Kuwait, Poland, Indonesia, Qatar, Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom, according to DOD. The Air Force's FY-19 budget documents show plans to purchase 205 AMRAAMs for the service and 245 missiles for foreign customers in FY-18. The Navy also procures the weapon.

Each unit costs about $1.5 million, and production will last until Jan. 31, 2021.

Last week's contract came just three months after Raytheon received $634.2 million to build Lot 31. The Air Force currently plans to spend $13.2 billion on more than 12,800 AMRAAMs over the life of the program.

In the FY-18 defense spending bill enacted March 23, Congress appropriated $264.3 million to the Air Force's AMRAAM program, noting the total is $40 million less than requested because the service needs to rephase its missile lots due to delayed upgrades.

The AMRAAM program office adjusted its FY-18 and FY-19 production quantities so it can add improvements made through the Form, Fit, Function Refresh effort more smoothly, after that upgrade initiative was delayed. The program faces parts limitations with another processor replacement effort as well.