Thursday, April 18, 2024
Thursday, April 18, 2024
This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Air Force foreign military sales, the Family of Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminals program, an interview with the Navy's acting secretary and more.
The head of foreign partnerships in the Air Force's international affairs office is prioritizing bolstering the service's acquisition and sustainment teams and tracking internal progress with joint all-domain command and control in 2020:
Air Force regional affairs team adapting to new 4th gen sales, networked defense in 2020
The Air Force's effort to help allies modernize their militaries is facing a new set of challenges -- higher demand for fourth-generation fighter jets and segregated air and missile defense systems.
An Air Force contract awarded last week will support the current Family of Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminals program of record, which will procure terminals and spares for 76 B-52s and 17 RC-135 aircraft:
Air Force could expand $442M FAB-T airborne terminal contract to accommodate tanker requirement
The Air Force could expand its recent $442 million contract to Raytheon to develop force element terminals for the Family of Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminals program if the service secures funding for a validated objective requirement to install the systems on its tanker fleet.
Inside Defense recently interviewed the Navy's top civilian official:
Modly: Navy expects to release FSA by spring
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly expects the service to unveil its integrated force structure assessment "sometime this spring."
Modly says industrial base for hypersonics not there yet for transition to production
The Navy needs to send clear signals to the hypersonics industrial base in anticipation of the coming transition from developing prototypes to producing the weapon systems at scale, according to the service's acting chief civilian.
Army Col. Kurt Thompson, deputy director of the soldier lethality cross-functional team, told Inside Defense in an interview this week the service has shifted its approach to looking at things "holistically" instead of focusing on an individual weapon system:
Army using soldier-centered design to inform IVAS
The Army's "soldier-centered design" approach is aiding in the development of next generation technologies and capabilities, including the new Integrated Visual Augmentation System, by putting the needs of the soldier first.