The INSIDER daily digest -- Feb. 8, 2024

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, unmanned underwater vehicles, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and more.

We start off with coverage of the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program:

Pentagon rejects industry request to extend comment period for CMMC proposed rule

The Defense Department is turning down a request from industry groups to extend the comment period for its long-awaited proposed rule to implement the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, according to a Pentagon spokesperson.

The U.S. military is working on a Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicles fleet that has diverse capabilities to help these platforms:

Navy partners with DIU for prototyping of unmanned underwater vehicle platforms

The Navy and Defense Innovation Unit have partnered to select three vendors tasked with Unmanned Underwater Vehicle platforms prototyping and development.

A recent Joint Strike Fighter review assessed the progress and efficiency of the platform's new computational core, known as Technology Refresh 3, which is meant to bring greater processing power, better computer memory and a panoramic display to F-35s:

Joint F-35 office completes critical technology review amid crucial delays

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program office in mid-January completed a technical baseline review for its long-overdue hardware and software upgrade, an F-35 Joint Program Office spokesman told Inside Defense.

Adm. Samuel Paparo, the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander nominated to replace retiring Adm. John Acquilino as the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, warned lawmakers this week that there is "no holiday" between now and when Beijing could potentially attack Taiwan:

Presumptive new INDOPACOM boss on China's massive navy: 'We are not overmatched'

China's naval forces -- the largest in the world, including a battle force of more than 370 ships and submarines -- cannot "overmatch" the U.S. Navy's 292-ship fleet, the presumptive new head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command assessed, while also cautioning the pace of Beijing's warship buildup is on a "concerning trajectory."

The Mitchell Institute think thank hosted a wargame in July 2023, during which three "blue" teams overwhelmingly opted for collaborative combat aircraft to disrupt and confuse a peer adversary, in this case China, by helping to "determine key threats and nodes, and then target them," and "impose costs, and open the path to follow-on crewed and uncrewed forces":

Report: Air Force needs an 'affordable mass' of autonomous drones to defeat China

The Air Force needs collaborative combat aircraft to fill capability gaps as its legacy fighter fleet shrinks and the service prepares for a potential fight with China, according to a report published yesterday by the Mitchell Institute.