Sunday, May 12, 2024
Sunday, May 12, 2024
This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on a proposed munitions acquisition fund, Air Force and Navy airborne early warning aircraft and more.
We start off with coverage of Senate appropriators' disapproval of a Defense Department proposal for a new munitions acquisition fund:
Senate appropriators look to block new 'Critical Munitions Acquisition Fund'
The Senate Appropriations Committee is taking a dim view of a new Pentagon proposal to create a $500 million "Critical Munitions Acquisitions Fund" intended to help the United States surge production of key anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to continue to aid Ukraine and prepare for other potential crises.
Appropriators also want the Air Force to speed up its replacement of aging E-3 early warning aircraft:
Senate appropriators push for faster E-7A fielding to replace E-3 AWACS
Senate appropriators could double the budget for the Air Force's program to replace its aging E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft, according to a committee mark-up of the fiscal year 2023 defense spending bill.
Speaking of early warning, Northrop Grumman paid for reporters to visit the company's facility that builds the Navy's E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft:
What's next for the E-2D? Northrop looks to sixth-gen capability
ST. AUGUSTINE, FL -- As the Navy's E-2D Advanced Hawkeye operates in the Mediterranean Sea and the Indo-Pacific, Northrop Grumman is pursuing a sixth-generation command and control capability to keep the aircraft relevant into the 2040s and beyond.
Senate appropriators also want to plus up funding for the Army's Future Vertical Lift efforts:
Senate panel proposes increase for new technologies under FVL umbrella
The Army would receive additional funding for some key programs underneath its broad effort to develop future aviation systems under a draft spending bill released by a Senate panel.
Last but by no means least, the last of the Space Force's Space Based Infrared System satellites was launched this week:
Space Force launches sixth and final SBIRS satellite
The sixth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Orbit satellite launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL this morning aboard an Atlas V United Launch Alliance rocket, rounding out the current generation of missile warning and tracking satellites for the Space Force as the service looks to pivot to the next generation of threat detection.