Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Long-Range Standoff Weapon program along with the defense industry's monitoring of the Pentagon for coronavirus-related cost reimbursement.
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee is suggesting a funding reduction to the Air Force's $474 million proposed budget for the Long-Range Standoff Weapon program:
House appropriators cut LRSO funding, raise possibility of W80-4 production delay
House lawmakers are proposing a $170 million cut to the Air Force's fiscal year 2021 funding request for the Long Range Standoff Weapon and are recommending a study into the government's backup plans if the new cruise missile's warhead faces a production delay.
Inside Defense recently interviewed representatives of the National Defense Industrial Association, Professional Services Council and Aerospace Industries Association on the Defense Department's efforts to reimburse contractors for COVID-related costs:
Industry closely watching DOD's reimbursement plans
Industry groups say contractors are tracking the Pentagon and Capitol Hill's plans to reimburse them for pandemic-related expenses as discussions continue.
The Senate Armed Services Committee's mark of the FY-21 defense policy bill notes a statutory requirement in the FY-18 National Defense Authorization Act for DOD to improve protection of Hawaii against ballistic missile threats from North Korea:
Congress moving to reinstate Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii funding in FY-21
In rebuke of Pentagon plans to defund the Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii project, three congressional committees have reinstated funding in fiscal year 2021 for the ground-based sensor in recent weeks -- a move that comes as an internal Defense Department report aims to recommend what to do with the program in the FY-22 budget proposal.
The Joint Hypersonics Transition Office is looking to expand cooperation between academia, industry and government to ready a new class of high-speed, maneuvering weapons:
House recommends $90M in FY-21 for JHTO, new office seeks hypersonics consortium manager
House lawmakers are recommending $90 million in fiscal year 2021 for the Joint Hypersonics Transition Office, looking to bankroll the newly established shop with additional funds to extend a host of research and development projects the Pentagon recently asked academia to propose.
Lawmakers are pushing to create American manufacturing jobs and reduce U.S. reliance on foreign sources:
House advances legislation to ramp up 'Buy American' requirements on Pentagon
The House is poised to pass legislation that gradually ramps up "Buy American" requirements on the Defense Department's largest programs of record, but industry representatives and analysts say the "arbitrary" rules could trip up important weapons developments and hurt international cooperation on defense programs.