Inside the Navy highlights

Here are some must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Navy:

1. The head of U.S. Strategic Command, an Air Force general with responsibility for the entire nuclear triad, publicly raised concern about the ability of the Columbia-class submarine program to absorb further delays in the wake of faulty welding discovered last year, departing from Navy leadership assurances about the schedule for the $126 billion project.

Full story: STRATCOM 'concerned' about Columbia-class program's ability to absorb further delays

2. The Marine Corps plans to move into the engineering and manufacturing development stage for its Organic Precision Fires-Mounted capability in fiscal year 2020, with a goal of fielding the system in FY-22.

Full story: Marine Corps to move to EMD stage for Organic Precision Fires in FY-20

3. Senior defense officials late last week revealed new details about the Trump administration's proposal for a new Space Force that will operate within the Air Force, acknowledging that plans for consolidating all "national-level" space assets currently managed by other military services could prove challenging in the future.

Full story: DOD plans to wrestle consolidating space assets under new Space Force

4. The Navy's acquisition executive has delegated authority to the service's research chiefs to award contracts up to $1 million for technology and prototype development, and to purchase a variety of materials for "experimental or test purposes," according to two memos obtained by Inside Defense.

Full story: Geurts gives Navy research chiefs flexibility in awarding contracts