The INSIDER daily digest -- Feb. 20, 2020

By John Liang / February 20, 2020 at 1:53 PM

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on a counter-A2/AD missile for the Joint Strike Fighter, the Army's Modular Active Protection System program, hypersonic missile development and more.

The Air Force wants to put money into a Navy-developed Joint Strike Fighter missile program:

USAF wants $1.1B over FYDP, industry proposals to upgrade counter-A2/AD missile for F-35

The Air Force is looking to invest more than $1 billion over the next five years and will publish a request for proposals this spring to upgrade a developmental Navy guided missile that's intended to enhance the F-35 fighter jet's performance against anti-access/area-denial defenses.

The Army wants to use the Modular Active Protection System, with an open systems architecture design, as "the basis for future APS by allowing industry to develop and integrate solutions onto a platform without the need for a complete APS":

Army seeking proposals for MAPS

The Army is issuing a request for prototype proposals for the Modular Active Protection System, according to a recent notice.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is seeking $116 million in FY-21 for a competitive effort to develop a tactical-range, hypersonic boost-glide weapon for the Air Force and Navy, a decrease from the $152 million allocated to the TBG project in FY-21:

Pentagon eyes key milestones in FY-21 for tactical hypersonic weapon development

The Defense Department plans major advances in fiscal year 2021 for its Tactical Boost Glide project, including manufacture of Raytheon's first air-launched flight test vehicle and critical design review of Lockheed Martin's ship-launched variant.

The Missile Defense Agency is not requesting any money for its "Directed Energy Demonstrator Development" (DEDD) project this year:

Pentagon punts MDA's laser ambitions, shifts funding toward OSD-led 'laser scaling'

The Pentagon's technology chief has pumped the brakes on the Missile Defense Agency's move toward an airborne, ballistic missile-killing laser, instead consolidating "laser scaling" efforts under the umbrella of his own office.

The Defense-Wide Review, which examined $99 billion in total spending managed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, resulted in a $500 million cut to OSD's $4.7 billion research, development, test and evaluation programs:

Defense-wide budget review claims three classified weapons programs

An internal Pentagon review that resulted in $5.7 billion in savings has led to the termination of three classified weapons programs managed by the secretive Strategic Capabilities Office, according to newly released budget documents.

Document: DOD's defense-wide review

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