The INSIDER daily digest -- Feb. 27, 2018

By John Liang / February 27, 2018 at 2:19 PM

The Littoral Combat Ship program, a Senate hearing on CYBERCOM and more highlight this Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest.

Inside the Navy takes a look at the changes the service wants to make to the Littoral Combat Ship program:

Navy identifies slew of Littoral Combat Ship modifications

The Navy has identified a slew of modifications for its Littoral Combat Ship program and is requesting $70 million in fiscal year 2019 to begin tackling those projects.

Adm. Mike Rogers said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that Russia and China have only become more aggressive when it comes to stealing and, in some cases, legally purchasing sensitive data from cleared U.S. defense contractors:

Outgoing CYBERCOM chief warns of need to better manage cleared defense contractors

The outgoing head of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency today said the Defense Department needs to better manage defense contractors and risks they pose if their data is compromised by “malicious state actors” like Russia or China.

The director of aviation on the Army staff recently told Inside the Army "there is absolutely no walking away from Army aviation from the perspective of our priorities, our budgets, our emphasis, our need":

DAMO-AV chief deems FY-19 ITEP funding 'a win,' touts FVL work

A half-billion-dollar reduction in aircraft procurement funding in the Army's fiscal year 2019 budget request is "a slight dip in one year," not evidence of a diminished commitment to the branch, according to the director of aviation on the Army staff.

According to budget justification documents released Feb. 12, the Army is seeking $119.4 million in research, development, test and evaluation funds in FY-19 to support Next Generation Combat Vehicle prototyping efforts:

Army eyes funding boost to accelerate NGCV prototyping efforts

The Army aims to nearly quadruple its projected spending on Next Generation Combat Vehicle prototyping in fiscal year 2019, in a bid to accelerate the second of senior leaders' six modernization priorities.

A new bill has been introduced to improve the Navy's surface force readiness:

Wicker bill aims to improve Navy surface force readiness

An influential Republican senator is unveiling legislation today to improve the Navy's surface force readiness that includes language providing new authorities for the service's acquisition executive.

Document: Surface Warfare Enhancement Act


As part of its implementation of the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, the Defense Department is considering putting control of low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) in the hands of geographic combatant commands like U.S. Pacific and European commands:

DOD considers running C2 for low-yield nukes through geographic combatant commands

The Pentagon may run the command-and-control for new low-yield nuclear weapons through the geographic combatant commands, rather than U.S. Strategic Command, according to defense officials.

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