The INSIDER daily digest -- Feb. 29, 2024

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest features several stories on how the Pentagon and defense agencies are dealing with the increasingly possible prospect of a yearlong continuing resolution, plus Global Hawk drones getting a new mission as well as the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program.

We start off with several looks at how the Pentagon is dealing with the prospect of a full-year continuing resolution:

Military officials provide new details on how yearlong CR would hit modernization programs

The under secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force said today that weapons procurement and modernization programs would be hit hardest should Congress, which remains mired in partisan debate over spending, take the unprecedented step of passing a yearlong, stopgap continuing resolution, rather than agreeing to a full-year appropriations deal.

Army officials worried about CR's impact on counter UAS procurement

Army officials are concerned about the inability of the service to procure counter UAS systems in the event of a yearlong continuing resolution.

Allvin: Some of the Air Force's restructuring plan depends on FY-24 budget

The Air Force is hinging a majority of its future readiness and capability development around a recently announced organizational shakeup to better prepare for conflict in the Indo-Pacific. But a large swath of the modernization efforts tied to the new schema could be compromised if Congress puts forward a yearlong continuing resolution, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said today during a Brookings Institution event.

Global Hawk reconnaissance drones are being converted into hypersonic missile test monitoring aircraft:

Northrop to turn over first Range Hawk drones to DOD testing center this year

The Air Force's plan to retrofit its RQ-4 Global Hawk intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting drones for hypersonic missile testing is on track for initial fielding in 2025, Doug Shaffer, vice president for airborne ISR&T programs at Northrop Grumman, told Inside Defense.

Last but by no means least, our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity are closely following how industry is reacting to the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program's progress:

Defense group raises concerns to Pentagon over flow-down requirements for CMMC program

The Aerospace Industries Association is asking the Defense Department to provide information on how it will address flow-down requirements and the roles and responsibilities for primes and subcontractors, in response to the first proposed rule for the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program.

Major industry coalition seeks clarity from DOD on CUI, addressing assessment gaps for CMMC program

A coalition representing large defense and tech groups is asking the Defense Department to provide clarity on marking controlled unclassified information, defining responsibilities in contracts and flexibility on addressing assessment gaps, in formal comments on the first proposed rule for the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program.