Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Pentagon's Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve program, the 39th Marine Corps Commandant's Planning Guidance and more.
We start off with a deep dive into the Pentagon's Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve program:
DOD officials defend rapid experimentation projects at key tech demo
EDINBURGH, IN -- The Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve may not appear to reflect the first word in its acronym to Senate appropriators who have criticized RDER for failing to transition more weapon systems to the battlefield, but senior Pentagon officials suggest that lawmakers looking to cut the program don’t fully appreciate RDER’s challenges given the slowness of the traditional acquisition and budgeting cycle.
The Marine Corps' top uniformed officer released his planning guidance this week:
Smith affirms force design trajectory with 39th Commandant's Planning Guidance
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith released his official 39th Commandant's Planning Guidance Wednesday, confirming the service will continue its Force Design modernization path and focus on building and maintaining warfighting advantages over "pacing challenge" China.
Document: 39th Commandant's Planning Guidance
The new Compass Call aircraft modernizes the Air Force’s electromagnetic attack capabilities while denying, degrading or disrupting adversary communications and electronic systems:
ACC receives first Compass Call aircraft
Air Combat Command's first EA-37B Compass Call aircraft touched down at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, AZ last week, allowing aircrews to begin pilot mission planning and training, according to a service news release.
The Navy's upcoming autonomy roadmap will improve and increase air, surface and subsea fleet capabilities:
Navy projects autonomy roadmap completion for late fall
The Navy plans to complete an autonomy roadmap by late fall, which will “capture autonomy-based mission gaps over the next 10 years” to inform the service where to invest, a spokesperson told Inside Defense.
In case you missed it, here's our deep dive into the Army's modernization efforts:
Transformation in contact: Army designs roadmap modernization in an evolving world
FT. JOHNSON, LA -- Gen. Randy George, nearly a year into his job as the Army's chief of staff, is working to implement his strategy for modernizing the force, envisioning a process in which weapon system users, developers and testers work alongside soldiers who are training on the ground, and someone rewriting software code if equipment doesn't work.