Inside the Navy highlights

Some must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Navy:

1. Objections raised by the Pentagon, including a call from the Air Force secretary, played a large role in the House voting down an amendment that would have redirected $1 billion in defense spending to procure new Virginia-class submarines, according to House Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX).

Full story: Granger: DOD letter -- and SECAF's call -- sank $1B sub amendment

2. Senate appropriators in their version of the defense spending bill seek to prohibit the Navy from executing in fiscal year 2019 a block-buy strategy for the next two aircraft carriers and want a briefing on the submarine industrial base, according to the report accompanying the committee's bill.

Full story: Senators would stop carrier block buy, direct briefing on sub base

3. The Defense Department's recent $660 million award to Lockheed Martin to support an F-35 economic order quantity buy will yield less than half of what the program expected in cost savings, according to a letter obtained last week by Inside Defense.

Full story: Projected F-35 EOQ cost savings cut in half in CAPE estimate

4. House lawmakers are pushing the Defense Department to shore up its policies on contractor cybersecurity, as Congress weighs legislative options in the wake of a hack into a Navy contractor's sensitive undersea warfare data

Full story: Lawmakers push to fill gaps in contractor cybersecurity after Navy hack