The INSIDER daily digest -- Jan. 15, 2021

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Pentagon's transition to the incoming Biden administration and more.

We start off with a look at the leadership changes within the Pentagon as it transitions to the Biden administration:

Pentagon preps for leadership shift

The Pentagon, which saw four years of chaotic senior leadership churn under President Trump, is preparing for yet another change in personnel, this time for the team nominated by President-elect Biden.

(Transition 2021: Read all of our transition coverage here.)

Inside Defense recently chatted with Gregory Sanders, a fellow and deputy director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies:

Open architectures could increase subsystem competition, CSIS expert says

The adoption of open and modular architectures on the Army's ground vehicles could increase the number of subsystems that make up a vehicle, a defense industry expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told Inside Defense last week.

The Army is holding a communications exercise at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, the first of a "multitude" of exercises, ahead of some joint demonstrations planned with other services later this year:

Army holds comms exercise with 'key stakeholders' ahead of Project Convergence 21, plans formal radio program of record test for modernization effort

The Army's team in charge of the integrated tactical network is conducting a communications exercise with key stakeholders ahead of Project Convergence 2021, while simultaneously planning to complete a formal program of record test with radios this month for its first capability set.

L3Harris Technologies has nabbed a Missile Defense Agency contract to work on the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor program:

MDA taps L3Harris to develop, build HBTSS prototype for on-orbit testing

The Missile Defense Agency has selected L3Harris Technologies as a finalist from a pool of four contenders in the contest to develop a Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor.

The Government Accountability Office released a report this week on the Navy's Columbia-class submarine program:

GAO: Design software challenges threaten Columbia timeline

The Navy's schedule for delivering the first Columbia-class submarine is threatened by ongoing design software challenges that will likely increase the program's cost, a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday concludes.

Document: GAO report on Columbia-class submarine

Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord has signed an acquisition decision memorandum approving an Army proposal to move the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System program into low-rate initial production:

Army's 'game-changing' IBCS program pivots toward $4 billion, decade-long production run

The Pentagon's acquisition executive has cleared Northrop Grumman's Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System -- a program that has suffered delays and technical setbacks since 2009 -- to transition from development to initial production, marking the start of a 10-year, $4.4 billion plan to deliver 454 units.