Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
The Strategic Capabilities Office, the Defense Department's newest policy chief and submarines are among the issues covered in this Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest.
DOD's Strategic Capabilities Office will release a solicitation for a project, called "Avatar," next week through the Interior Department:
Pentagon soon to solicit proposals for secretive 'Avatar' project
The Pentagon's Strategic Capabilities Office will soon begin accepting proposals for a secretive project to allow semi-autonomous unmanned aircraft systems to team with manned fighter aircraft.
Document: DOD solicitation, industry day Q&A for the Avatar prototype project
More coverage of the SCO can be found in this story available to all:
DOD innovation insurgents gain footing in Pentagon bureaucracy
The students at Stanford University were tackling one of the Pentagon's most perplexing problems: How do you constantly monitor important regions of the world for emerging developments, such as preparations for a ballistic missile launch in North Korea?
While the Senate voted 81-7 Wednesday to confirm former Lockheed Martin executive John Rood as the Pentagon's new under secretary of defense for policy, the move didn't come without opposition:
Warren blasts Pentagon officials over defense industry ties
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) took to the Senate floor Wednesday to criticize Pentagon officials with defense industry backgrounds, specifically targeting a former Lockheed Martin executive tapped for a senior Defense Department post.
Rood does have supporters in the Senate, though:
Inhofe says he disagrees with McCain on Trump's defense contractor nominees
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), a senior GOP member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said last November he disagrees with the approach Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) has taken with the Trump administration's nomination of defense contracting executives to some of the Pentagon's top posts.
Also, check out our previous coverage of Rood's confirmation hearing:
Rood's nomination advances through committee
The Senate Armed Services Committee voted last November to advance the nomination of Lockheed Martin executive John Rood, tapped to be under secretary of defense for policy, despite concerns lawmakers voiced over his potential conflicts of interest.
The Congressional Submarine Caucus recently wrote the chairman and ranking member of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee asking for the lawmakers to increase construction funding to match levels included in the FY-18 National Defense Authorization Act:
Submarine proponents urge appropriators to fund FY-18 Virginia-class increases
Thirty-six House members are lobbying top defense appropriators to "send a clear signal of support" to fleet commanders and the industrial base as they finalize the Pentagon's fiscal year 2018 spending bill by funding the Virginia-class attack submarine program "to the maximum extent possible" with levels authorized for FY-18.
Document: House lawmakers' letter on submarine funding
Check out our recent coverage of submarine issues:
GAO: Navy 'underrepresented technology risks' in Columbia-class program
The Navy underrepresented technology risks in its largest acquisition program, the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, during a readiness assessment completed two years ago, according to a Dec. 21 Government Accountability Office report.
Lawmakers skeptical Navy can keep to cost, schedule plan for sub efforts
Senate lawmakers are skeptical the Navy can juggle its new construction submarine programs without giving more financial support to the industrial base with the Senate Appropriations Committee recommending a $175 million addition to the service's budget request to help sub production.
Navy undersea warfare director seeks attack sub tech insertion funding line
The Navy's undersea warfare resource sponsor is in discussion with the Office of the Secretary of Defense to include a funding line in the fiscal year 2019 budget request for inserting new technology in attack submarines to keep pace with the threat.