Friday, April 19, 2024
Friday, April 19, 2024
This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the defense budget, Army long-range fires and more.
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee spoke during a virtual event this morning hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute:
Smith 'deeply concerned' over delayed budget
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said today he is concerned officials at the White House are "dragging their feet getting us the damn budget."
Related, in case you missed it:
Biden defense budget takes political hits from left and right
President Biden's first defense budget is being criticized by congressional Republicans, who say it is too small, and liberal lawmakers, who say it is too big.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville spoke at a virtual event this week hosted by The Washington Post:
Army defends long-range fires after Air Force criticism
Senior Army officials have defended the service's long-range precision fires ambitions in recent days after harsh criticism from the head of Air Force Global Strike Command.
The Air Force has formally reset the acquisition baseline for the KC-46 airborne refueling tanker program:
Air Force locks in new schedule targets for final KC-46A acquisition milestones
The Air Force has formally recalibrated schedule targets for the two remaining acquisition milestones for the troubled $43.9 billion KC-46A acquisition -- setting March 2022 for Required Assets Available, an objective that would mark initial operational capability delay of more than four years, and September 2024 for a full-rate production review.
The Air Force also has a new acquisition strategy for the Stand-in Attack Weapon program:
USAF's SiAW program abandons sole-sourced, AARGM-ER upgrade plan
The Air Force has changed its acquisition strategy for the Stand-in Attack Weapon -- a new strike capability for the F-35 -- and is no longer solely pursuing an upgrade to the extended-range variant of the Navy and Northrop Grumman's Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile.