Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Common Hypersonic Missile, the Pentagon's secretive Replicator program and more.
Two next-generation missile programs were successfully flight-tested this week:
U.S. military readying hypersonic weapon for fielding after successful flight test
The U.S. military inched closer to fielding a new class of ultra-fast, maneuvering weapons -- a 16-year odyssey to precisely attack targets more than 2,000 miles away with a non-nuclear strike -- following a "successful" flight test over the Atlantic Ocean of the Common Hypersonic Missile.
PrSM Inc. 1 completes 'successful' LUT; urgent fielding next for new ballistic missile
The Army is poised to seek permission to provisionally field its next-generation, short-range ballistic missile following a key test at White Sands Missile Range, NM, where the service successfully executed a salvo launch of a pair of the first increment of Precision Strike Missiles, a major development for the $8.4 billion program.
The latest on the Pentagon's secretive Replicator program:
DIU deputy says 'biggest challenge' for Replicator 2 will be homeland defense
The Defense Innovation Unit is positioning the Replicator 2 program, which is focused on countering small drones, for homeland defense, according to DIU's deputy director.
The Air Force this week released its Installation Infrastructure Action Plan, which is based around the idea that "our installations are no longer a sanctuary":
New Air Force infrastructure plan centers resiliency and alignment with mission-critical functions
While the Air Force is changing the way it deploys and urgently modernizing the kind of platforms it would rely on to execute certain missions in the Indo-Pacific, service infrastructure worldwide has fallen significantly behind, said Ravi Chaudhary, assistant Air Force secretary for energy, installations and environment.
Document: Air Force's I2AP
The latest from this week's Spacepower Conference in Orlando:
SDA to request proposals for Tranche 3 integration
ORLANDO -- The Space Development Agency will post its request for proposals tomorrow for program integration for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture Tranche 3, SDA Director Derek Tournear announced this week.
Space Force and NRO project Silent Barker coming online next year
ORLANDO -- The Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office's watchdog satellites are set to go online next year, according to the head of U.S. Space Command.
Last but by no means least, the Government Accountability Office released a report this week on Defense Department acquisition reform:
Watchdog finds DOD reforms have not sped up slow acquisition process
The Defense Department's efforts to accelerate its notoriously slow acquisition process have proved unsuccessful, despite years of reform work, according to the Government Accountability Office, which released a new report today doubling down on its recent assertion that DOD procurement remains "alarmingly slow."
Document: GAO report on DOD acquisition reform