The INSIDER daily digest -- Feb. 21, 2018

The Pentagon's ongoing audit, prospects for an increase to the Army's budget, the Pentagon's Strategic Capabilities Office and more highlight this Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) wants a "line-item breakdown" of the $551 million slated to be used to rectify problems identified by more than 1,200 independent auditors:

Enzi seeks cost and schedule details on Pentagon's $2 trillion audit

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) wants Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to provide him with detailed cost and time line information on the Defense Department's ongoing $2 trillion audit, according to a recent letter the lawmaker sent to the Pentagon.

Document: Senator's letter to DOD on the Pentagon's $2 trillion audit

Lt. Gen. Thomas Horlander, military deputy to the Army comptroller, said this morning the working assumption is that the service could see a budget increase of approximately $6.5 billion in fiscal year 2018:

Horlander offers estimate of FY-18 topline increase, notes Congress has final word

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 provides for topline increases for the Defense Department in fiscal year 2018 and FY-19, but the Army's share of that funding growth has not yet been finalized, according to a senior service official.

The Pentagon's request for the Strategic Capabilities Office is the second-largest unclassified pot of research and development funding in the new defense budget:

DOD seeking $1.5B for SCO in FY-19, including $438M for seven new projects

The Strategic Capabilities Office is seeking nearly $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2019 -- an increase of more than 20 percent over FY-18 -- to develop new and surprising ways of using existing technology to bolster conventional deterrence against China and Russia.

DOD's FY-19 budget request seeks funding to develop ultra-fast strike weapons -- which fly at least five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5 -- across a few related projects:

DOD wants more than $400 million in FY-19 for air-launched, hypersonic-strike tech development

The Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are seeking more than $400 million in fiscal year 2019 -- up about 160 percent from the FY-18 request -- to mature "game-changing" technologies for potential aircraft-launched, hypersonic-strike weapons.

The head of the Army's 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade spoke with reporters recently:

Army brigade commander emphasizes role of aerial resupply in Afghanistan

Col. Michael Lalor, commander of the 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade, says aerial resupply capability and fuel distribution, as well as expeditionary fuel equipment, were major areas of investment in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel.

Inside the Army takes a look at the robotics programs the service wants to fund in FY-19:

Army shows commitment to robotics in FY-19 request

Robotics testing and prototypes would receive some sizable gains in the Army's fiscal year 2019 budget request.