The INSIDER daily digest -- Feb. 28, 2020

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest looks at a senior congressional Democrat's effort to redirect Trump administration defense funding priorities, plus coverage from the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando and more.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) spoke with reporters this week about the upcoming fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill:

Top House defense Dem plans to 'claw back' billions in nuke, wall funds

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said today he has plans to "claw back" billions of defense dollars the Trump administration has slated for modernizing nuclear weapons and building a southern border wall.

Inside Defense has been attending the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando this week. Here's our coverage so far:

Air Force doubles down on FY-21 budget pitch to Congress

ORLANDO, FL -- The Air Force is preparing to defend its fiscal year 2021 budget realignments to Congress, holding classified briefings with lawmakers and staffers ahead of hearings likely to expose the service's proposals to heavy scrutiny.

PACAF chief Brown advocates info sharing with allies, disconnected cloud services for ABMS

ORLANDO, FL -- As planners in the Pentagon develop the Advanced Battle Management System, the head of Pacific Air Forces says they need to prioritize communication with foreign partners and ensure warfighters disconnected from the cloud can still operate.

Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, is leading the review of DOD Directive 3000.09 "Autonomy in Weapon Systems." The document was signed in 2012 by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter and has had minimal updates since its inception:

Pentagon reviewing policy on autonomy in weapon systems amid advances in artificial intelligence

The Pentagon is reviewing its bedrock policy governing how the U.S. military approaches autonomy in weapon systems, as defense officials say the directive may be outdated due to advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The Navy's top civilian official testified in front of the House Armed Services Committee this week about his service's fiscal year 2021 budget:

Modly says he expects to submit shipbuilding plan 'in a couple months'

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said Thursday he plans to send Congress the service's long-term shipbuilding plan in a few months.

More from that hearing:

Could the Army's newest program be Aegis Ashore?

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) appeared to throw the Navy's top officer a curveball this week when the lawmaker raised the prospect of the Army taking responsibility for any land-based variant of the Aegis ballistic missile system the Pentagon might acquire to bolster homeland defense against North Korean threats.

Northrop Grumman paid for reporters to travel to Utah this week to observe a test of the company's Omega launch vehicle:

Northrop conducts second-stage, static-fire test of Omega launch vehicle

PROMONTORY, UT -- Northrop Grumman has conducted a static-fire test of the second stage of the company's Omega launch vehicle -- a significant step toward meeting the Defense Department's launch certification requirements.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper this week told lawmakers the Missile Defense Agency remains in charge of a new space-based capability but allowed there might be some confusion about jurisdictional lines:

Lawmaker challenges DOD proposal to shift funding for HBTSS from MDA to SDA

A key House missile-defense proponent this week challenged the Defense Department's proposal to realign funding in fiscal year 2021 for the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor from the Missile Defense Agency to the Space Development Agency.