Thursday, April 18, 2024
Thursday, April 18, 2024
This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the defense industrial base, the Combat Rescue Helicopter program and more.
Now that a lame-duck session of lawmaking is coming to an end, the issue of the cost of the COVID-19 pandemic on the defense industrial base is being teed up for consideration by the Biden administration in the coming year:
DOD and Congress likely to wrestle with pandemic costs in the new year
The Pentagon and Congress have yet to fully reckon with the costs the COVID-19 pandemic may have imposed on the U.S. defense industrial base, including the roughly $11 billion defense officials tell lawmakers is needed to rectify the situation.
Progress on the Air Force's Combat Rescue Helicopter program has been delayed:
Air Force Combat Rescue Helicopter program eyes DT, RAA delays
The Air Force's new search-and-rescue helicopter program is running about two months behind schedule to achieve key milestones as a result of reduced testing site availability and production-related issues amid the COVID-19 pandemic, service spokesman Brian Brackens told Inside Defense.
Raytheon's protest of a satellite contract award has been dismissed:
GAO dismisses latest Raytheon protest as SDA reevaluates tracking layer bids
The Government Accountability Office this week dismissed Raytheon's most recent protest of a Space Development Agency contract for wide-field-of-view satellites.
Document: GAO CG decision on Raytheon's SDA protest
The Government Accountability Office has a new report on cybersecurity:
Audit of Pentagon software programs finds uneven approach to agile development, cybersecurity
A recent audit of Pentagon software programs found Defense Department organizations took a mixed bag of approaches to agile development and cybersecurity testing, often leading to schedule challenges, but the Pentagon says a new software "acquisition pathway" should yield better results in the future.
Document: GAO report on IT, cybersecurity
Last but certainly not least, continuing coverage of the FY-21 omnibus spending bill's defense portion:
Appropriators increase Army aviation funding
Congress is increasing funding for the Army's CH-47F Chinook Block II program in fiscal year 2021, including reinstating $29 million in advance procurement funding for the program for the second year in a row.
MDA's FY-21 budget gets $1.3B boost, DOD scolded for malleable plans
House and Senate lawmakers have proposed adding $1.3 billion to the Missile Defense Agency's fiscal year 2021 budget request -- a 14% hike that would allocate $10.4 billion for guided-missile interceptors, radars, space-based sensors and more -- while also taking the agency to task for inconsistent budgeting across its modernization portfolio.