The Insider

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby to begin working on the next National Defense Strategy to be completed no later than Aug. 31, according to a new memo.

“The NDS is the single most important document to ensure the department is operating in accordance with the president's and my intent,” Hegseth wrote. “This is a time of great danger, but we will meet it. DOD will deliver on the president's charge to achieve Peace Through Strength. There is no time to lose.”

Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, will lead the NDS process, while the “drafting team” will be led by his office with a deputy from the Joint Staff.

“In addition, each of the Services will provide a strategist at the O-6/GS-15 level to the NDS drafting team,” Hegseth wrote. “All DoD Components should be maximally responsive to the NDS drafting team throughout the process.”

Colby’s nomination for USD-P ran into early resistance with some Republicans who cited concerns with his views that the United States should consider lesser roles in Europe and the Middle East in order to properly pivot to the Indo-Pacific region to compete with China.

Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairman Mitch McConnell (R-KY) voted against Colby’s confirmation but three Democrats -- Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) -- supported him.

During his March 4 nomination hearing, Colby said he wants to deliver a “realistic strategy of prioritization focused on China” while working with allies in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

“We don’t have a military that's capable of fighting four adversaries,” he said. "Because the threat is so acute and so realistic, and because of the very real possibility of multifront war, we must have a realistic plan. I feel a special obligation that, if confirmed, I must deliver a strategy that actually deals with that.”

President Trump intends to nominate outgoing national security adviser Mike Waltz as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be assuming Waltz’s duties in addition to his current job.

The departure of Waltz from the White House follows his role in the “Signalgate” controversy in which he mistakenly added a reporter to a chat group in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed sensitive military attack plans against Houthi militants.

“From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The job of U.N. ambassador was initially slated to go to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), but Trump withdrew her nomination amid concerns over the slim GOP majority in the House. Waltz left his House seat in Florida to serve as national security adviser.

Waltz could be headed for an uncomfortable confirmation hearing with Senate Democrats as the job of U.N. ambassador -- unlike national security adviser -- requires Senate confirmation.

Meanwhile, Rubio's new dual role marks the first time since Nixon administration official Henry Kissinger that one person has served as both secretary of state and national security adviser simultaneously.​

The Space Force accepted the upgrade to the Space-Based Infrared System last week, the service announced today, which serves to boost missile warning capabilities.

The SBIRS Survivable Endurable Evolution program replaces 1960s-era ground systems, integrates Mobile Ground Terminals and Universal Ground Nuclear Detection Terminals and provides advanced processing and networking capabilities, Space Systems Command said.

“The S2E2 operational acceptance marks a significant leap forward in our ability to provide resilient, uninterrupted missile warning and nuclear detection in the most challenging environments,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Wilson, SSC materiel leader. “This achievement strengthens the backbone of our national defense and maintains the U.S. strategic advantage in an ever-evolving threat environment.”

S2E2 is the first program to deliver high-rate missile warning messages, Capt. Morgan Records, an SSC deputy program manager, said, allowing operators to more quickly relay critical data.

The program also plays a role in Nuclear Command and Control by providing space-based situational monitoring for first-alert missile warning to U.S. and allied forces.

Missile warning systems, particularly those in space, have gained more prominence in the past months as part of President Trump’s Golden Dome homeland defense initiative.

The Army’s mine-clearing assault vehicle needs a new set of eyes, according to a notice posted this morning.

The hulking M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle, mounted to the M1A1 Abrams chassis, braves explosives littering the battlefield for Armored Brigade Combat Teams with a mine plow fixed to its front and three spindly prongs that creep over the battlefield like spider legs.

It also boasts a turret from Anniston Army Depot, AL, with demolition explosive launchers, a dozer blade and a lane marking system that draws a safe path as it clears the way forward.

The product manager for bridging is surveying the market for companies that can fulfill its requirement for a new Integrated Vision System, one of the critical components of the ABV that lets crews see clearly without exposing themselves outside the armored shell.

The IVS hosts a gimbal with three cameras -- an image intensifier, night vision and infrared -- a driver vision enhancement system, which includes thermal cameras on the back and front, five closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras as well as a control panel and display module for commanders, according to the release.

Leonardo DRS supplied the ABV with vision systems for the Army and Marine Corps from 2007 to 2022, amounting to 220 total provided to the military.

Companies that submit will answer questions about their experience as a prime contractor, technological maturity of their system, ability to retrofit it to an ABV and cost factors. They have until May 23 to reply.

The Defense Innovation Unit awarded Somewear Labs a contract to field a software-defined technical network for the Marine Corps across U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the company announced today.

The Advanced Tactical Communication contract with DIU prioritize fielding across INDOPACOM.

“Years of rigorous development and prototyping across military services produced a resilient, secure, and scalable communications solution,” the company said. “Through this effort, Somewear’s software-defined network supported joint and partner force operations, providing critical data management and transmission capabilities that bridge the gap between strategic command and the tactical edge.”

The initiative with Marine Corps will expand on its existing capabilities to automate data movement across various multiple line-of-sight (LOS) and beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) networks. The company’s Somewear Grid platform is meant to be used to enable advanced network management and configuration, ensuring that critical information is securely and rapidly distributed, even in contested environments.

“This contract not only reinforces our role in supporting the DOD’s network modernization efforts,” James Kubik, Somewear Labs CEO said, “but also marks a significant transition for Somewear and DIU. Together, we are transitioning from supporting tactical units to enterprise level field deployments, bringing robust, secure and efficient communication tools to the hands of USMC operators.”

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest begins with an industry pitch to do more with a robotic vehicle for the Marine Corps, he Pentagon’s Replicator UAV program is headed toward a big milestone, the Marine Corps gets new counter-drone capability, and Anduril has a big announcement on an electronic warfare program.

Oshkosh says its ROGUE-Fires vehicle can do more:

Oshkosh pitches additional missions for ROGUE-Fires; first LRIP batch slated for June

Oshkosh Defense expects to deliver its first six low-rate initial production units of a robotically controlled ship-killing vehicle to the Marine Corps in June, according to company executives, who said a full-rate production decision could come as soon as late 2026 or early 2027.

By August the Pentagon’s Replicator effort should start producing drones:

DIU policy chief: Replicator on track to reach operational goal thanks to flex funding

The Replicator initiative is on track to procure thousands of production-level all-domain, autonomous and “attritable” drones by August, according to a senior Defense Innovation Unit official.

The Marine Corps is getting some counter-drone help:

Epirus delivers new counter-drone capability to support Marines

Defense start-up Epirus announced the delivery of a new counter-drone capability to Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren today -- a system meant to support the Marine Corps.

Anduril made a big announcement this week:

Anduril announces new lightweight EW system, already fielded with undisclosed customers

Anduril Industries is offering a new electronic warfare capability dubbed Pulsar-Lite intended to deliver a compact and flexible EW capability that can operate autonomously to defend forward-forces from unmanned threats, company executives announced today.

Defense start-up Epirus announced the delivery of a new counter-drone capability to Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren today -- a system meant to support the Marine Corps.

The Expeditionary Directed Energy Counter-Swarm (ExDECS) system is a derivative of Epirus’s Leonidas Expeditionary system and uses high-power microwaves (HPM) to counter drones.

ExDECS will allow the Marine Corps to “evaluate the benefits of HPM to the Low Altitude Air Defense (LAAD) mission and enhance Ground Based Air Defense (GBAD) capabilities,” according to a company news release.

The system uses the HPM technology platform, which is scalable, and is designed to be able to integrate with light tactical vehicles to bolster air defense capabilities for the expeditionary short range, according to Epirus.

Compared to other counter-drone methods, the technology from Epirus doesn’t hurt the drone, CEO Andy Lowery told Inside Defense. Rather, it “puts such a loud, noisy electromagnetic environment in the atmosphere that the circuits start picking up all of that energy, and they are unable to kind of connect with each other and talk to each other,” he said.

Lowery compared the Epirus technology to the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System -- which detects and destroys incoming missiles and aircraft -- calling it an electromagnetic version with an unlimited magazine.

With one system already delivered to the Office of Naval Research and the Marine Corps, Lowery said Epirus is looking ahead to the next year and the potential purchase of a second system. This system would contain “generation two technology,” which provides about two and a half times the current range for the same package size, he said.

Lowery said ExDECS and other developments from Epirus mark a shift in warfare.

“We have entered into a kind of new phase of warfare, and we have new phases of technology that are emerging, and this is one of them,” he said. “This is truly like a consumer electronic force field, where all kinds of critical assets could be kind of applied to this type of defense that, again, will be known to be one to many.”