The INSIDER daily digest -- April 7, 2020

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the possible effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Pentagon's future budget and more.

The COVID-19 pandemic will likely cause the defense budget to shrink, according to Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute:

Analyst: Pandemic will squeeze defense spending as nation's focus shifts to health care

The novel coronavirus global pandemic that is currently spreading around the world will lead to an eventual reordering of U.S. national priorities that squeezes defense spending and accelerates efforts to draw down U.S. overseas deployments, according to a defense and foreign policy expert.

In case you missed it, we looked at one of the policies the Defense Department is implementing to mitigate the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the defense industry:

DOD says new COVID-19 policies will get $3B in cash flow to defense contractors

The Pentagon said today a new payment policy aimed at helping defense contractors weather the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to provide industry with $3 billion in cash flow.

More on the effects of COVID-19 on the Pentagon's CMMC effort from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:

Pentagon's cyber certification program pushing ahead amid uncertainties of COVID-19 pandemic

The Defense Department is setting an aggressive schedule to get up to 1,500 contractors certified under the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program by the end of this year, but the timing could shift on expected deliverables amid the response to the COVID-19 health crisis, according to public statements and remarks by sources.

One World Terrain, a key component of the Synthetic Training Environment, provides soldiers with 3D global terrain capabilities used in training exercises:

Army official: One World Terrain ahead of schedule

The director of the Army's Synthetic Training Environment Cross-Functional Team said last week the service's 3D terrain training capability is ahead of schedule.

The Space Development Agency held a virtual industry day last week, drawing more than 500 participants to hear its vision for a layered space architecture:

SDA's transport layer to serve as 'unifying thrust' for JADC2, RFP slated for May 1

The Space Development Agency aims to release a formal request for proposals for its first tranche of transport communication satellites -- a capability the Pentagon expects will serve as the backbone and "main unifying thrust" of its joint all-domain command-and-control efforts, according to SDA director Derek Tournear.