The INSIDER daily digest -- Dec. 9, 2024

The bulk of this Monday INSIDER Daily Digest features coverage from this weekend's Reagan National Defense Forum in California.

We start off with the thoughts of the top Republican House and Senate defense appropriators:

Top House defense appropriator sees FRA levels for FY-25, eyes FY-26 for spending surge

SIMI VALLEY, CA -- House Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert (R-CA) said today he believes the upcoming budget will be funded at levels mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, though he hopes the Trump administration will be able to work with Congress to boost spending for fiscal year 2026.

McConnell plans for defense approps subcommittee to help 'restore' U.S. primacy, hard power, boost budget

SIMI VALLEY, CA -- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the next Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee chairman, delivered a forceful call for massive increases in Pentagon spending on Saturday -- warning the United States must be prepared for the growing threat of simultaneous conflicts and advance a roadmap to "restore" U.S. primacy through alliances and re-invigorated deterrence.

Hypersonic defense news:

Shyu: DOD developed, deployed classified counter-hypersonic capabilities

SIMI VALLEY, CA -- The U.S. military rapidly developed and deployed still-classified means to defeat hypersonic missiles, the fruit of a focused effort the Pentagon's top technology official spearheaded to find ways to defeat a new class of ultra-fast maneuvering weapons deemed a "huge success."

More from the Reagan Forum:

DOD announces new APFIT projects

SIMI VALLEY, CA -- The Defense Department today announced five projects receiving funding from the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program, making them the first to be selected in fiscal year 2025.

Defense contractors urged to volunteer their own DOGE cuts

SIMI VALLEY, CA -- Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE), a senior Senate Armed Services Committee member, today urged executives from the nation's largest defense companies to identify cuts to their own military programs in preparation for the "Department of Government Efficiency" review set to be run by tech billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy at the behest of President-elect Trump.

Another piece of big news out of the weekend was House and Senate conferees releasing their negotiated fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill:

House and Senate negotiators unveil defense policy bill that honors FRA

SIMI VALLEY, CA -- House and Senate lawmakers have released a fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill that would approve $895 billion for national defense, sticks to the spending cap mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act but includes funds for an additional Virginia-class submarine.

Document: House, Senate FY-25 defense policy conference bill

Anduril and Palantir say they plan to expand their artificial intelligence partnership to other industry partners:

Palantir and Anduril join forces on defense AI

LOS ANGELES -- Defense technology companies Palantir and Anduril announced today they are teaming up on artificial intelligence, joining their Maven and Lattice AI systems and launching a new consortium with plans to include other contractors.

Coverage of the Army's Gray Eagle uncrewed aircraft system:

Newest common sensor payload for Gray Eagle 'potential game changer' for coordinate seeking weapons

The Army will receive the third version of its Common Sensor Payload for the MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aerial system in June, the system’s product manager announced at a media day at Ft. Belvoir Tuesday. The latest iteration comes with a new, more precise targeting system for Coordinate Seeking Weapons.

A joint exercise taking place this month is drawing on available technologies, used by companies in commercial offshore industries like intercontinental communications and oil and gas, to improve U.S., U.K. and Australian navies' ability to locate, monitor and manipulate objects on the ocean floor:

AUKUS allies look to civilian industries for a seabed warfare advantage

NORFOLK, VA -- On a blustery December day at Naval Station Norfolk, sailors from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia were busy preparing a small fleet of robotic and unmanned undersea systems for two weeks of offshore experimentation intended to expand subsea and seabed warfare capabilities under AUKUS Pillar II.

The "Protecting AI and Cloud Competition in Defense Act of 2024" also requires that those competitive processes include requirements for modular open system frameworks and consider “multi-cloud technology where feasible and advantageous,” according to the bill text:

Bipartisan Senate duo introduces bill encouraging competition for DOD AI, cloud contracts

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Eric Schmitt (R-MO) introduced legislation Thursday requiring the Defense Department to conduct "competitive award processes" for cloud computing and artificial intelligence-related contracts.