Saturday, April 27, 2024
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
Army missile funding, the Joint Strike Fighter program, a government services provider acquisition and a slew of Air Force news highlight this Friday INSIDER Daily Digest.
The Army's research and development budget request seeks $16.3 million for a pair of overlapping projects the program executive officer for missiles is sponsoring with the aim of feeding different capabilities:
Army seeks new missile technology development in FY-19 to support Multi-Domain Battle
The Army's fiscal year 2019 budget request seeks funding to launch research and technology projects that aim to spawn new ways to strike the enemy -- the vanguard of capability development spawned by the service's Multi-Domain Battle concept -- with an eye toward a potential land-based, anti-ship missile and a new single, multimission attack missile.
C2D2 is meant to change the way the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program develops and delivers new software capabilities:
Budget request includes funding profile for new F-35 Block 4 strategy
The Defense Department's fiscal year 2019 budget request includes funding for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program's new Follow-On Modernization plan, dubbed Continuous Capability Development and Delivery, but it is unclear whether the projection incorporates a new cost estimate for the effort.
KBR has acquired another government services provider:
KBR continues push into government services with deal to buy SGT
KBR has agreed to buy Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies, better known as SGT, for $355 million as it increasingly moves into the government services market.
Defense news from our sister publication Inside U.S. Trade:
Pentagon warns of 'negative impact' of Section 232 remedies
While the Pentagon agrees that imports of steel and aluminum "impair" national security, it has warned that trade restrictions stemming from the Commerce Department Section 232 investigations could harm relationships with key allies.
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The Air Force plans to ramp up from 30 B61-12 tail kits in FY-18 to buy 250 units in FY-19 and 533 in FY-20, for a programmed total of 813:
B61-12 tail kit program sees funding shifts as two bombs stay in arsenal
A key nuclear modernization program, the B61-12 tail kit assembly life-extension program, requires about $52 million more for production in fiscal year 2019 than anticipated, according to the Air Force's latest budget request.
The first Space Fence radar, located at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, is slated to reach initial operational capability in the third quarter of FY-19:
Air Force defers Space Fence Increment 2 decision to future budget
The Air Force is delaying a decision about how to proceed with the second Space Fence radar site, excluding funding for the initiative from its fiscal year 2019 budget request.
The Air Force's FY-19 Reaper funding request includes $221.7 million in the base budget for eight aircraft and $339.7 million for 21 aircraft through the Overseas Contingency Operations account:
Air Force to buy new MQ-9s, add capabilities as force needs change
The Air Force plans to buy 29 new MQ-9 Reapers from General Atomics in fiscal year 2019, largely to replace aircraft lost in combat or those the service expects will be unusable.
The Air Force wants $106.1 million for AOC 10.1 baseline research and development in FY-19, which will be used to create and field new applications:
Air Force shifts AOC pathfinder funding into R&D as upgrades progress
The Air Force formally shifted the majority of funding for its Air Operations Center Weapon System pathfinder into research and development rather than procurement in the fiscal year 2019 budget request released last week, another sign of how the service plans to approach its agile development and operations initiatives.
Air Force Space Command chief Gen. John Raymond first acknowledged the Silentbarker mission in congressional testimony in May as a partnership between the service and the National Reconnaissance Office:
Air Force budget confirms 'Silentbarker' will replenish SBSS constellation
The Air Force's recent budget submission confirms that its highly secretive Silentbarker surveillance satellite is part of its strategy to replace the legacy Space-Based Space Surveillance constellation, providing new details on a little-known space situational awareness program.
The estimated price tag to develop the Air Force's new intercontinental ballistic missile has gone from $18 billion last year to $21.7 billion this year:
Air Force: Ground Based Strategic Deterrent development costs jumped 20 percent
The estimated price tag to develop the Air Force's new intercontinental ballistic missile is now $21.7 billion -- a 20 percent jump compared to the service's estimate last year -- a revision that comes after Northrop Grumman and Boeing were tapped last summer to develop prototypes for a Minuteman III replacement.
Republicans don't view the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review as a "significant change" from the Obama administration's nuclear weapons plans:
Congress set for 'vigorous' debate over new nuclear weapons plans
Lawmakers may divide along partisan lines in a debate over new weapons called for in the Trump administration's Nuclear Posture Review, as some Democrats are concerned about their cost, as well as the potential to undermine strategic stability and increase the chance of miscalculation, according to congressional staffers.