Thursday, April 18, 2024
Thursday, April 18, 2024
This Monday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Air Force chief of staff's new action orders, the Gremlins drone experiencing testing problems, a Marine Corps Amphibious Combat Vehicle contract award and more.
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.
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 recently won 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.
In case you missed it, the Navy 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.