The Insider

The Navy has created a federal advisory committee to provide counsel on science and technology questions.

The new Science and Technology Board, announced on Thursday, will advise the Navy on “matters and policies relating to scientific, technical, manufacturing, acquisition, logistics, medicine and business management functions.”

“We are eager to have the DON STB work with us to amplify existing initiatives and suggest new possibilities that will strengthen our warfighting capabilities,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said in the statement. “I look forward to meeting with our nation’s leading experts, many of whom have served in multiple roles within the government, academia, and industry.”

According to its charter, signed on July 31, the panel of outside advisers “is not established to advise on individual DOD or DON procurements or acquisition matters, but instead shall be concerned with the pressing and complex scientific and technological (S&T) problems facing the DON in such areas as research, engineering, organizational structure and process, business and functional concepts, and manufacturing, and will ensure the identification of new technologies and new applications of technology in those areas to strengthen national security.”

The charter also says the board will “Recommend applications of technology to improve U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps capabilities” and “Provide an independent review of the quality and relevance of the DON S&T portfolio.”

Richard Danzig will chair the STB. Danzig, who served as Navy secretary under President Clinton, has been a part of other federal advisory committees, including the Defense Policy Board.

“I am honored to be appointed as the Chair of the DON STB,” Danzig said in the statement. “The board’s highest priority will be to work with leaders in the Department of the Navy to match new opportunities in science and technology with present service needs.”

The board’s vice chair will be Howard Fireman, who served in the Navy for 35 years before becoming senior vice president and chief technology officer for the American Bureau of Shipping.

The rest of the board will be composed of academics and scientists, many of them former Navy officers.

The board will meet for the first time on Sept. 21, during a classified session in which the new members will be sworn in.

The board has a mission similar to that of the now-defunct Naval Research Advisory Committee, which was dissolved in 2019.

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Air Force next-generation airlift and refueling aircraft, the Pentagon's cyber strategy and more.

The Air Force issued a request for information this week "seeking industry input to identify potential capabilities/technologies for development of Next Generation Refueling and Airlift Teams of Systems (ToS), which will be purpose-built for specific mission sets":

Air Force looking for solutions to develop NGAS, NGAL for mission needs

The Air Force is seeking information to identify potential capabilities and technologies to develop Next Generation Refueling and Airlift Teams of Systems built for specific mission requirements, according to a notice posted Tuesday.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy Mieke Eoyang spoke about the Pentagon's new cyber strategy this week during a moderated discussion at the Center for a New American Security:

DOD and industry officials stress need for more information sharing in cyber defense

A top Pentagon official provided more details today about the Defense Department's intent to share more information with the private sector about cyberattacks, as outlined in the recently released 2023 Cyber Strategy.

A new 200,000-square-foot Marine Corps facility uses a 5G core to connect over 40 systems -- including 11 robots that manage inventory -- in an effort to improve the speed and efficiency of warehousing logistics:

Marine Corps' 'smart' warehouse prototype headed for ATO decisions by year's end

The Marine Corps' 5G-enabled "smart" warehouse prototype is preparing for two separate Authority to Operate decisions expected to clear the facility for functional use before the end of calendar year 2023.

More coverage from this week's AFA 2023 Air, Space and Cyber Conference:

Space Force to use EW and PNT to organize mission area resources under one command

NATIONAL HABOR, MD -- The Space Force has launched Integrated Mission Delta, a two-prototype unit which will use electronic warfare and positioning, navigation and timing to bring operations and sustainment of the mission area under one command, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said Tuesday morning.

A final draft of the air warfare (AW) ship self-defense enterprise test and evaluation master plan (TEMP) for ship self-defense system baseline 12 (SSDS BL 12) is expected to be completed at the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, according to the Navy:

TEMP final draft for threat ASCM self-defense targeted for FY-24

The Navy is working to resolve “final missile allocations” to complete master planning for test strategy and evaluation of self-defense systems against anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs).

The Army awarded RTX and Lockheed Martin contracts for Stinger surface-to-air missile upgrades and replacements for a combined $729 million, the Defense Department announced Tuesday.

RTX received a contract for $418 million with the work to be completed in Tucson, AZ by an estimated completion date of March 12, 2028.

Lockheed Martin received a contract for $311 million with the work to be completed in Grand Prairie, TX by an estimated completion date of June 12, 2028.

The United States has sent approximately 2,000 Stinger missiles to Ukraine during its ongoing conflict with Russia as part of numerous military assistance packages, according to Defense Department documents.

Entering service in 1981, the Stinger is designed to provide short-range air defense and can be fired from man-portable launchers and vehicles. It comes in numerous variants including an air-to-air variant designed to be launched from helicopters.

The Stinger is used by the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and many other nations.

In March 2023, the Army selected RTX and Lockheed to develop a Stinger replacement.

The State Department has approved a possible $389 million foreign military sale to Poland that would cover sustainment of its F-16 fleet, according to a Defense Security Cooperation Agency notice.

“The proposed sale will improve Poland’s capability to meet current and future threats by increasing the reliability of their F-16 fleet,” DSCA said. “Poland has purchased sustainment support for the F-16s in its inventory for many years, and will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces.”

The principal contractor would be Lockheed Martin, Fort Worth, TX.

House GOP leadership has delayed a vote on the fiscal year 2024 defense appropriations bill amid in-fighting over government spending and a looming federal shutdown.

House committee staffers said the first procedural vote on the bill, which is aligned with President Biden’s request for $886 billion in national defense spending, was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today but has been delayed.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the staffers said, has not been able to secure the 218 votes needed for the bill to proceed.

The vote would be for the rule governing debate on the bill, which was passed last night by the House Rules Committee by an 8-5 vote. The bill has been criticized by Democrats and has drawn a veto threat from the White House for its inclusion of controversial “culture war” provisions targeting diversity initiatives, climate change mitigation and the Pentagon’s leave and travel policies for servicemembers seeking abortion services.

The delay in the defense appropriations vote is part of a larger spending battle that has pit the GOP-led House against the Democrat-led Senate and some Republicans against one another.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who joined Rules Committee Democrats in voting against the rule, said he is ready to support a government shutdown if federal spending continues to increase.

“It's time to call a halt to spending and if the government shuts down, then let's shut it down,” he said. “This government shut us down during COVID. This government is being weaponized.”

The rule adopted by the committee, meanwhile, includes 184 amendments, 103 of which were offered by Republicans, 45 from Democrats and 36 were bipartisan.

Several politically controversial amendments were championed by members of the GOP’s Freedom Caucus. For example, one amendment would prohibit the transfer of U.S. weapons to Ukraine, while another would cut the annual salary of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to $1.

Staffers said a vote on the bill could be quickly rescheduled if House GOP leaders are able to whip enough votes to reach 218.

One of the top defense industry associations released a report today detailing its key priorities for emerging technologies and international cooperation.

A new report from the Aerospace Industries Association prioritizes artificial intelligence, space systems, cyber, hypersonic capabilities, unmanned aerial systems and electronic warfare.

The report cites these areas as “essential” since “the advancement of such technologies and capabilities in the coming decades will have a profound impact on the economies, national security landscape and defense postures of the United States and its allies and partners.”

“Emerging and advanced technologies are fundamentally reshaping the 21st century battlefield, and the United States, alongside its allies and partners, must work closely with the aerospace and defense industry to win the escalating technology race,” said AIA President and CEO Eric Fanning. “AIA’s new agenda provides a roadmap for a more competitive regulatory and trade environment for these new technologies that will help the United States maintain our strategic advantage over potential adversaries.”

The agenda emphasizes the importance of allies and partners maintaining relationships with the A&D industry, specifically with rising global tensions due to the war in Ukraine and the challenges posed in the Indo-Pacific, something the unclassified DOD 2023 Cyber Strategy summary cited as a major framing issue as well.

“In policy and practice for both the United States and our allies and partners, sharing and cooperating on emerging and advanced capabilities is complex,” the AIA report stated.

Specifically, the agenda wants to excel U.S. leadership in emerging and advanced capabilities cooperation amongst allies and partners, encourage exports and that U.S. policy regulations ensure American industry global leadership in emerging capabilities, tackle issues with cooperation between allies and partners, continue U.S. norm setting and invest and strengthen the resilience of the A&D supply chain through policy.

Now outside the paywall: our story on the public push to put new teeth into a nearly 20-year-old validated -- but still unfulfilled -- joint requirement for an elevated sensor to counter cruise missiles:

Key Army general calls for JLENS-like system for Guam defense, wants very high elevated sensor

The U.S. military should resuscitate a 2004 requirement for a high-flying, stationary radar to bolster defense of Guam, a top Army official argued, noting capabilities demonstrated by the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System before its 2018 termination are now urgently needed.