The INSIDER daily digest -- June 22, 2023

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on funding for the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program plus Navy cybersecurity and more.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) wants to assess the real costs of retrofitting the Minuteman III facilities for the new Sentinel nuclear missile before setting firm fixed-price contracts for later production lots:

Sentinel ICBM silo construction may be done with cost-plus contracts

The House Armed Services Committee approved Wednesday an amendment to the fiscal year 2024 defense policy bill that would allow the Defense Department to award cost-plus incentive-fee contracts for construction projects for the Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program's facilities.

Bacon also introduced an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would require the Air Force keep the number of fighter aircraft at a certain level and not go below that:

House authorizers would block cuts to Air National Guard fighter squadrons

House Armed Services Committee members voted Wednesday to prevent the Air Force from reducing the number of fighter squadrons it maintains.

A senior Navy official emphasized the importance of cybersecurity this week:

Acting Navy CIO prioritizes cybersecurity, lauds zero-trust cloud

The Navy’s acting chief information officer said today that cybersecurity must be "baked into everything" the service does.

The Navy needs to "replenish our stocks," according to a senior service official:

Surface Warfare Division chief says Navy needs to replenish munitions

The Navy "has an inventory issue" with munitions stockpiles that it is addressing with industry, according to Rear Adm. Fred Pyle, director of the Surface Warfare Division.

The T2 Tracking Layer will be responsible for accelerating the capability to provide global, persistent indications, detection, warning, tracking and identification of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems:

SDA issues draft solicitation notice for Tranche 2 Tracking Layer

The Space Development Agency has issued a draft solicitation for a Tranche 2 Tracking Layer, an experimental military satellite constellation for the agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

House Armed Services seapower subcommittee Ranking Member Joe Courtney (D-CT) introduced an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would give the Navy authority to use incremental funding to enter a contract for advance procurement and construction of a submarine tender in fiscal year 2024:

Lawmakers add advance procurement of submarine tender to defense policy bill

The House Armed Services Committee has approved an amendment to its draft defense authorization bill that would add advance procurement authority for a submarine tender to the Navy's fiscal year 2024 shipbuilding plan, bringing total ship procurement up to 10 vessels.