Friday, April 19, 2024
Friday, April 19, 2024
This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Pentagon's multibillion-dollar Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability program, U.S. initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region and more.
We start off with the next steps in the wake of the Pentagon's awarding contracts for the multibillion-dollar Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability program:
With cloud awardees named, DOD prepares to implement competitive task order process
With four vendors now selected to provide solutions under the multibillion-dollar Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability program, the Pentagon is focusing on releasing sub-orders to drive competition under what one official described as the "first-of-its-kind" contract.
Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said this week the U.S. government is planning several key announcements and initiatives in 2023 that will build on DOD’s work with Australia, the Philippines and other allies:
Top DOD official focused on China sees 2023 as 'most transformative year' for U.S. force posture
A senior Pentagon policy official charged with helping oversee the Defense Department's response to China's military buildup said today that 2023 will be "the most transformative year" in a generation for U.S. force posture in the Asia-Pacific region.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his counterparts, Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles and U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace this week on the tripartite agreement to build nuclear subs for Australia, and part of that meeting dealt with other capabilities the countries could work on:
War in Ukraine sparks new thinking on capability development for AUKUS pact
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has spurred leaders in the defense pact between Australia, United Kingdom and United States to consider how they could rapidly field capability in the interim while the tripartite agreement -- known as AUKUS -- likely won't deliver submarines for several years.
Recruiting woes have impacted the Army's personnel numbers:
Army approached Congress to make deeper cuts to active-duty numbers, aide says
In the eight months between the rollout of the Army's fiscal year 2023 budget request and this week's release of the compromise defense policy bill, the service determined its recruiting woes mandated a further 21,000-person cut in active-duty troop levels, a congressional aide told Inside Defense.
Continuing our coverage of the compromise defense policy bill, the Marine Corps' top uniformed official is bullish on amphibious warship funding:
Commandant sees defense policy bill as 'very positive' for amphibious force
Amphibious warships will be an important U.S. asset in a potential conflict with China, according to the Marine Corps commandant, who will play an expanded role shaping the amphib force thanks to provisions contained in the compromise fiscal year 2023 defense authorization bill agreed to by House and Senate lawmakers.
We also have the cyber funding end of it:
Defense bill produces incremental progress on cybersecurity programs at DHS and DOD
The fiscal year 2023 defense policy bill heading toward final passage in Congress contains an extensive inventory of cybersecurity provisions for the Department of Homeland Security, the Pentagon and other parts of the federal government, addressing issues ranging from the security of federal networks to cyber diplomacy, maritime cybersecurity and clarifying DHS roles and responsibilities in cyberspace.
. . . along with Space Force funding:
Defense policy bill would add Space Force launches and could reshuffle key orgs
An agreement between House and Senate authorizers would raise Space Force procurement, place restrictions on the Space Warfighting Analysis Center and pass on the creation of a space National Guard, according to the text of the annual defense policy bill released Tuesday evening.
. . . plus a look at Air Force aircraft funding:
House and Senate authorizers agree on A-10 divestments, procurement plus-ups
House and Senate authorizers have agreed to greenlight divestments of the A-10 Warthog and raise Air Force procurement, according to text of the annual defense policy bill released Tuesday evening.