Friday, April 19, 2024
Friday, April 19, 2024
This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the draft defense policy and spending bills.
We start off with coverage of the defense policy bill, the draft chairman's mark of which was obtained today by Inside Defense:
House committee matches Biden's defense request amid lawmaker plans for big plus-up
The House Armed Services Committee intends to match President Biden's request for fiscal year 2023 defense spending in its early version of the annual defense authorization bill, but the chairman says the panel is sure to increase the topline, according to a new document obtained by Inside Defense.
Smith predicts defense budget will be increased
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said today he is sure the defense budget will be increased beyond what President Biden has requested by the time Congress finishes passing legislation, including the fiscal year 2023 defense authorization bill his panel is preparing to approve for the 61st consecutive year.
Draft law would mandate new DOD strategy to counter hypersonic threats with directed energy
A draft bill would require the Defense Department to codify a formal strategy for adding a layer to the Missile Defense System, outlining a path to potentially fielding directed-energy technologies to give U.S. forces a non-kinetic option for countering advanced threats, including ultra-fast maneuvering weapons.
Wittman: Lawmakers aiming for $35B to $45B increase over defense topline
House lawmakers are looking to increase the Pentagon's fiscal year 2023 defense budget request by $35 to $45 billion, according to a prominent House member.
. . . Followed by the defense appropriations bill:
House defense appropriators seek to boost space launches, trim program funds
House lawmakers' proposed defense spending bill would increase launches for the National Security Space Launch program and lower funds for other projects requested by the Space Force in its fiscal year 2023 budget request.
Lawmakers want to block decommissioning of five LCS in House approps bill
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee has proposed a spending bill that would save five out of the nine Littoral Combat Ships pegged to be decommissioned in the Navy's fiscal year 2023 budget request.
A microelectronics bill, which now sits in conference committee as a group of bipartisan lawmakers work to reach consensus, has been inching its way through Congress over the last year:
DOD officials call for passage of CHIPS funding to bolster semiconductor industry
Pentagon officials are hoping to see lawmakers advance legislation aiming to direct money toward microelectronics production, a measure the Defense Department's No. 2 official called "the most important thing that can be done right now" to address semiconductor supply issues.
The latest on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program:
F-35 program wrapping up full qualification of new suppliers following Turkey's ouster
The maker of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's engines is on track to green light the last of the remaining sources needed to fully replace the propulsion parts that Turkey had supplied prior to that country's removal from the program.
The operational test of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System, a militarized version of Microsoft’s HoloLens headset, will finish on June 25 after starting on May 9, according to an Army spokeswoman:
Army to complete IVAS operational test by the end of the month
The Army will complete operational testing of its new augmented reality headset by the end of the month, an Army spokeswoman said, culminating a months-long delay in completing the test and moving the system closer to fielding.