The INSIDER daily digest -- Jan. 23, 2023

The bulk of this Monday INSIDER Daily Digest has news from the Pentagon's latest operational test and evaluation report.

We start off with a look at DOT&E's evaluation of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program:

DOT&E: F-35 Block 4 testing 'deficient,' JSE conclusion date 'at risk'

The F-35 Joint Program Office's efforts to upgrade jets with Block 4 software are "deficient" and its goal of concluding Joint Simulation Environment testing later this year is "at risk," according to a new Pentagon report.

. . . followed by the Marine Corps' Amphibious Combat Vehicle program:

ACV-C effective as a stationary command post, but not as a mobile one, DOT&E report says

The Marine Corps' Amphibious Combat Vehicle is operationally effective as a stationary command post, but not as a mobile one, according to an annual report from the Pentagon's chief weapons tester.

. . . the Army's Stryker Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station-Javelin program:

DOT&E recommends more testing for CROW-J vehicles

The Army should establish a failure review board for the Stryker Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station-Javelin to understand why tank-killing technology, mounted on a wheeled vehicle and which commanders say is urgently needed, did not pass muster during operational testing, according to the Pentagon's top weapons tester.

. . . the Air Force's newest training aircraft:

T-7 FRP re-baselined to FY-26, DOT&E report says

The T-7 Red Hawk's schedule has been re-baselined to support a milestone C decision in fiscal year 2024 and a full-rate production decision in FY-26, according to a report from the Pentagon's chief weapons tester.

. . . the Army's Integrated Visual Augmentation System:

Top weapons tester urges Army to fix IVAS deficiencies

In an annual testing report released Friday, the Defense Department's chief weapon tester is calling on the Army to fix deficiencies with the Integrated Visual Augmentation System that were discovered during during demonstrations last year.

. . . the Ford-class aircraft carrier:

DOT&E: Flight system reliability challenges continue for Ford

The first-in-class aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) continues to struggle with the reliability of its flight operations systems, according to an annual report from the Pentagon's chief weapons tester.

. . . the Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter:

Navy's Super Hornet infrared sensor plagued with continual delays

Operational testing of the Navy's newest version of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet infrared sensor has been pushed back to the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 -- marking another delay in the program.

. . . and hypersonic weapons:

DOD readies first-ever East Coast long-range offensive hypersonic weapon test

The Defense Department is readying a first-ever hypersonic weapon test over the Atlantic Ocean, preparing to launch a rocket from Florida that will loft a glide vehicle thousands of miles into the open water in a high-stakes assessment that aims to validate design of a new, two-stage booster paired with the ultra-fast maneuvering payload.

Last but by no means least, a non-DOT&E-report-related story on zero-trust systems:

Can zero trust be done in the cloud? NSA will hack cloud vendors to find out

Starting this spring, "red team" hackers from the National Security Agency, and potentially hackers from the military services, will attack four Pentagon cloud service providers' zero-trust systems in each of the companies' cloud infrastructures.