Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Navy's long-awaited 30-year shipbuilding report to Congress and more.
The Navy has finally submitted its 30-year shipbuilding plan to Congress:
Navy shipbuilding plan calls for 400-ship battle force fleet by 2045
The Navy's latest 30-year shipbuilding plan calls for an over 400-ship battle force fleet by 2045, driven largely by increases in amphibious warfare ships, small surface combatants, submarines and logistic ships.
Document: Navy's 30-year shipbuilding plan
Related info drawn from the FY-22 "fiscal planning framework" that accompanied the shipbuilding report:
Trump trims Army to finance Navy fleet in lame-duck FY-22 budget gambit
The Army would be forced to dial back modest end strength increases planned for the near-term in order to help finance a lame-duck proposal by the Trump administration to dramatically increase the size of the Navy fleet, a move that would shave 1,700 troops from a planned increase of 6,700 -- a 25% decrement between fiscal years 2021 and 2022.
Several drones had problems during a recent test:
Gremlins mid-air retrieval testing extended to 2021 after failed demo
Three X-61A Gremlins drones failed to enter the proper position for mid-flight recovery during the program's latest test, again delaying the long-awaited first demonstration of the signature airborne retrieval system to 2021, according to a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency press release Thursday.
BAE Systems has nabbed a multimillion-dollar Amphibious Combat Vehicle contract:
Marine Corps awards BAE Amphibious Combat Vehicle full-rate production contract
The Marine Corps has awarded BAE Systems a $184 million contract for 36 full-rate production Amphibious Combat Vehicles following the program's initial operational capability declaration last month.
The Air Force's top uniformed official has issued a bunch of action orders to his service:
CSAF Brown's 'Accelerate Change or Lose' action orders could drive changes to FY-22 POM
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Brown today released a list of action orders guiding the implementation of his "accelerate change or lose" mandate, including the creation of new force presentation plans that could drive changes to fiscal year 2021 and 2022 program execution and planning.
The defense policy bill approved by both chambers of Congress this week has a provision that would give the Defense Department's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center more authority:
Pentagon's Joint AI Center set to get acquisition authority under compromise defense bill
The Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center would get its own acquisition authority as part of the fiscal year 2021 defense policy bill.
Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord was supposed to attend a hearing of the Congressional Oversight Commission this week but could not:
Congressional commission keeps pressure on DOD over trucking company loan
The bipartisan Congressional Oversight Commission charged with reviewing pandemic stimulus spending is pressing Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord to provide more public information about the Defense Department's support for a controversial $700 million loan to a financially troubled trucking company.
The House-Senate conference version of the fiscal year 2021 defense policy bill would authorize $120 million for the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, a $100 million boost above DOD's FY-21 request:
Lawmakers add funds for HBTSS, delay testing until 2023, mandate MDA responsibility
Lawmakers have delayed a statutory deadline for on-orbit testing of the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor from the end of 2022 to the end of 2023, authorized additional spending and definitively assigned the Missile Defense Agency responsibility for developing the new payload project.
Last but certainly not least, some news on the Defense Department's efforts to protect the electromagnetic spectrum:
DOD evolving acquisition, operational processes for EMS warfare
Concern about threats in the electromagnetic spectrum is driving the Pentagon to refine its internal acquisition processes to enable faster development of new weapons and set up operational units to leverage these new capabilities against adversaries in the field, according to several military officials speaking at a Mitchell Institute event Wednesday.