Thursday, April 25, 2024
Thursday, April 25, 2024
This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Navy and Army unmanned systems, the possible reason behind SpaceX's loss of a launch services competition bid and much more.
The Navy is preparing for a technical review of the Barracuda program to establish an acquisition baseline for hardware, software and system architecture:
Barracuda swims toward June preliminary design review
The Navy is readying the Barracuda mine neutralizer for a preliminary design review in June, advancing development of a next-generation capability that is slated to be part of a new unmanned and autonomous technology package to clear contested waters for aircraft carrier strike groups and other surface combatants, executing in hours tasks that now can take weeks.
The Army is considering a range of technologies for the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport unmanned vehicle:
Army testing SMET payloads at Ft. Benning this week
COLUMBUS, GA -- The Army is holding a demonstration this week to test multiple add-on systems for the Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport unmanned vehicle.
SpaceX leadership has not publicly discussed the circumstances surrounding the company's loss of a launch services competition bid, and a recent Defense Department inspector general's report offers the first admission from the company that it may have submitted a flawed proposal:
SpaceX CEO Musk admits launch proposal 'missed the mark'
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reportedly admitted to the Defense Department that the company's losing bid for launch vehicle development funding "missed the mark," according to a newly released DOD inspector general report.
The Distributed Information Services for Tactical Resilience in Contested Theaters program will create what's called an "information provisioning layer" to make applications across the envisioned network more resilient:
ACC launching $20M DISTRICT program for Combat Cloud concept
Air Combat Command is seeking research proposals to develop the core capability of its Combat Cloud, the Air Force's idea for enabling secure data flow across a battlespace using computing technology.
Inside Defense recently interviewed Boeing's B-52 program manager James Kroening and Director of Bomber Programs Scot Oathout:
Bomber mod contract will support AEHF, B-52 re-engine among other upgrades
The first task under a new $14.3 billion bomber modernization and sustainment contract awarded to Boeing earlier this month will study integration options for a new advanced extremely high frequency nuclear command-and-control channel.
Don't expect what used to be an annual aviation inventory and funding plan to come out anytime soon:
DOD shelves annual aviation inventory update that once provided 30-year view
The Pentagon has officially stopped producing an annual aviation inventory and funding plan which had been sent to Congress after delivery of the president's budget for nearly a decade, denying defense aviation wonks a key resource in scrutinizing the U.S. military's long-term investment about the approximately 14,000 aircraft flown and operated by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
More news from a recent Pentagon reprogramming request obtained by Inside Defense:
DOD requests $12M in funding shift to purchase C-UAS
The Air Force is seeking congressional approval for a $12 million reprogramming to purchase counter-small unmanned aerial systems.
Last but by no means least, some defense business news:
Jacobs: KeyW acquisition will move company into high-end technical work
Jacobs will operate KeyW as a bolt-on acquisition for the first six months while it addresses redundant costs, but the company will then make decisions about how to further integrate the contractor, a top Jacobs executive told Inside Defense this week.