Saturday, April 27, 2024
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Air Force's airborne refueling tanker development effort, the V-22 Osprey, taking risks when acquiring weapons and more.
Inside Defense got a chance to chat with the head of Air Mobility Command at this week's Air and Space Force Association’s Warfare Symposium in Colorado:
AMC commander: Follow-on to the KC-46A should have some next-gen characteristics
DENVER -- Any aircraft procured following the last deliveries of the KC-46A tanker “needs to absolutely have some of the characteristics of what we need in NGAS,” or the Air Force’s highly secretive Next Generation Air-Refueling System, Air Mobility Command’s top commander told Inside Defense in an exclusive interview.
News on the status of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor:
Air Force wants to fly Osprey again, but safety investigations are ongoing
DENVER -- The Air Force is eager to get its fleet of CV-22 Ospreys back into the air, but Air Force Special Operations Command officials said the tiltrotor will remain grounded until they are confident in its safety.
The House Armed Services Committee held a hearing this week on "Outpacing China: Expediting the Fielding of Innovation":
Lawmakers want DOD to take more risk in weapons programs
Lawmakers and Pentagon officials say the Defense Department needs to take more risks and change its compliance-based culture, aligning DOD development efforts more closely with Silicon Valley’s approach to innovation.
A Defense Department pilot program aims to speed up innovative technology fielding by helping small companies quickly transition into the production stage by bridging the “valley of death,” a time when many companies fail due to lack of funding:
APFIT announces four new projects; Shyu plans to fund additive solid-rocket motor tech
The Defense Department has announced the projects selected for the next batch of funding through the "Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies" pilot program as Pentagon technology chief Heidi Shyu touted APFIT's success during a congressional hearing.
More news from that hearing:
DOD acquisition chief focusing on unit cost dilemma in counter-drone fight
Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante told House lawmakers today that the Defense Department is preparing to fund about 40 developmental systems to counter small drones, but he stressed that the individual "interceptors" many of the systems use are still too expensive when compared to the cheaply made targets they are meant to shoot down.
Document: House hearing on 'outpacing China'
The Pentagon this week announced that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lofted into orbit six satellites, two for the Missile Defense Agency -- a pair of Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor prototypes -- and the final four Space Development Agency Tranche 0 (T0) Tracking Layer satellites of its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture:
DOD says new missile-tracking satellites in orbit just in time for new Russian threat
The Defense Department confirmed the successful launch of new, low-orbit missile tracking satellites on the same day the public learned U.S. intelligence assesses Russia is developing a space-based nuclear weapon to destroy America's satellite network, highlighting the risk to Pentagon plans for proliferating new capabilities in low-earth orbit.
Last but by no means least, coverage of remarks by the Navy's top civilian official at this week's AFCEA West Conference in California:
Navy to test at-sea Transportable Re-Arming Mechanism this summer
SAN DIEGO -- Naval Sea Systems Command is planning an at-sea demonstration of the developing Transportable Re-Arming Mechanism, a capability aiming to re-arm a warship’s missile tubes while underway, according to Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro.