The INSIDER daily digest -- Dec. 12, 2019

This Thursday INSIDER looks at the Army's Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System, the Navy's unmanned surface vessel effort, the Space Force and more.

We start off with some Army and Navy unmanned systems news:

Army chooses five brigades to test Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System

The Army will begin testing prototypes of the Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System with five brigade combat teams next April.

Authorizers make deep cuts to new USV, despite Navy's argument to embrace unmanned

Lawmakers are moving to slow the Navy's push for a new unmanned, corvette-sized vessel the service highlighted in its fiscal year 2020 budget, a move that follows a year of conversations between lawmakers and Navy officers about the maturity of unmanned systems.

The proposed Space Force was in the news this week:

Rogers, Cooper: Trump's support elevated Space Force debate, brought DOD in line

Two of the House Armed Services Committee's biggest Space Force proponents told reporters today that while the idea for establishing a sixth branch of the military to focus on space warfighting did not originate with President Trump, the administration's support did help elevate the effort and secure backing in the Senate.

More space news:

SMC deepening industry engagement on special programs despite classification constraints

As momentum builds in Congress and within the Pentagon for declassifying information about threats in space and the Air Force's attempt to defend against them, the Space and Missile Systems Center is taking steps to share more information with industry about how it can contribute to that work.

The fiscal year 2020 defense policy conference report gives the Navy permission to ink a contract for the LPD-31 amphibious ship starting in FY-20 and authorizes $525 million for the LPD Flight II program:

Authorizers give Navy incremental funding authority for LPD-31

House and Senate lawmakers are providing the Navy incremental funding authority to purchase its next San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock vessel.

Last but certainly not least, some cyber defense coverage from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:

DOD working groups grapple with standards, governance and functions of cyber accreditation body

The Defense Department has convened a series of industry working groups to develop recommendations for creating an accreditation body that will be central to a cybersecurity certification program for Pentagon contractors expected to be up and running next year.