The INSIDER daily digest -- August 18, 2023

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Ukraine getting proficient in flying F-16s, Army cybersecurity, Marine Littoral Regiments and more.

U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa Commander Gen. James Hecker spoke to reporters during a Defense Writers Group event this morning:

USAFE commander: Ukraine may need four to five years for F-16 proficiency

Ukraine's Air Force may not become proficient with F-16 fighter jets for four or five years, a top U.S. Air Force official said Friday morning, and the aircraft won't be a "silver bullet" for the country to gain air superiority as it fights off Russia's invasion.

Army Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett spoke about cybersecurity at this week's annual TechNet conference:

Army general stresses cybersecurity

The Army will need to prioritize security of its networks, according to a general from the Army’s Cyber Command.

Marine Littoral Regiments are an important piece of the Marine Corps' Force Design 2030 initiative, designed as stand-in forces operating in the littorals with heightened mobility, sustainability and lethality:

Marine Corps' 3rd MLR on track to achieve IOC by October

The Marine Corps' 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment is on track to achieve initial operational capability by the end of fiscal year 2023, drawing on a series of large-scale training exercises to refine and advance its capabilities and capacity, a Marine Corps spokesman told Inside Defense.

Our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity have the latest on the National Institute of Standards and Technology's work on handling controlled unclassified information:

NIST plans to reduce number of tailoring parameters in foundational CUI publication

The National Institute of Standards and Technology will reduce the number of "organizational-defined parameters" in the next draft update to its foundational guide on the handling of controlled unclassified information on nonfederal systems, in response to stakeholder feedback.

JetZero has nabbed a contract for the Air Force's blended-wing body prototype aircraft:

Air Force awards $235M to JetZero to build blended-wing body prototype

The Air Force has awarded a $235 million contract to JetZero to build the next phase of a blended-wing body prototype aircraft by 2027, according to an announcement yesterday.

An upcoming assessment of the Army's Integrated Visual Augmentation System will measure "system performance to ensure engineering efforts are on schedule and meeting design objectives":

Newest version of IVAS will undergo user assessment this month

The latest variant of the Army's Integrated Visual Augmentation System is set to undergo a user assessment this month, which is the beginning of a series of assessments for the night vision system.