The INSIDER daily digest -- August 9, 2023

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Air Force's E-7 Wedgetail early warning aircraft program, a recent Defense Department cloud workshop, the Army's contested logistics cross-functional team and more.

We start off with more coverage from the recent Air Force Life Cycle Industry Day:

U.K. working out DMS problems with E-7 ahead of U.S. acquisition

DAYTON, OH -- The U.S. will benefit from the kinks in the manufacturing and supply chain for the E-7 Wedgetail that are being worked out by the U.K., which has faced rising procurement costs on its version of the aircraft, senior materiel leaders told reporters last week.

Read our full industry day coverage.

The Defense Department held a cloud workshop this week:

Naval tech leaders prioritize integrating data delivery for warfighters

The Navy and Marine Corps are advancing development of a digital identity services platform -- called a naval identity service -- for managing credential-access capabilities, according to Hank Costa, Marine Corps enterprise services planner, DCI, IC4.

The announcement of the Army's new contested logistics cross-functional team came more than a year after the start of Ukraine's war with Russia, which Army officials have said has driven home the need to ensure the "service’s ability to sustain large-scale combat operations in a contested environment":

Army Futures Command official outlines themes of contested logistics CFT

The Army's new contested logistics cross-functional team will focus roughly on areas such as data-based logistics, autonomous technology and fuel efficiency, an Army Futures Command official said Tuesday.

While the Navy's Infrared Search and Track (IRST) system has faced a series of delays that pushed operational testing from early FY-21 to the middle of FY-24, the program is now progressing through production readiness assessments and holding to its first quarter FY-25 target for full-rate production:

Navy predicts new Super Hornet sensor will begin full-rate production in early FY-25 despite IOC delay

The Navy expects its next-generation F/A-18E/F Super Hornet infrared sensor to enter full-rate production in early fiscal year 2025 even though the system's anticipated initial operational capability date has slipped from the third to the fourth quarter of FY-24.

Here's an update on the Space Development Agency's Tranche 1 Transport Layer program:

Lockheed completes CDR for SDA's military satellite constellation

Lockheed Martin has completed the critical design review for the Space Development Agency's Tranche 1 Transport Layer program, a part of the SDA's contract awarded to build 42 satellites.