The INSIDER daily digest -- June 30, 2022

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Aegis interceptors, Air Force aircraft upgrades, the Army's European posture and more.

The Government Accountability Office found new issues with Aegis interceptor deliveries:

MDA missed mark for advanced Aegis interceptor deliveries, including No. 1 unfunded priority

The Missile Defense Agency failed to deliver one-third of the most advanced guided missiles the Navy requires to defend ships and allies from ballistic missiles around the world, with particular difficulty producing the newest and most powerful Aegis interceptor -- the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA -- slated for Japan, U.S. destroyers and land sites to defend against Iranian threats.

The Air Force recently issued a request for information seeking industry input on certain aircraft upgrades:

Air Force seeks KC-46A, KC-135 upgrades

The Air Force is looking to enhance its current tanker fleet with a suite of upgrades for the KC-46A Pegasus and KC-135 Stratotanker, according to a request for information recently posted by the service.

Many of the stepped-up rotations to Europe the U.S. Army has implemented during the war in Ukraine will continue:

Army expanding European posture, not adding permanent BCTs

The Army will station more support elements in Europe but will not increase the number of brigade combat teams permanently based there, the Defense Department announced this week.

Some more cyber news from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:

Pentagon considers creating cyber framework for industrial base partners modeled on CSF guidance from NIST

Pentagon cyber chief David McKeown says there are ongoing discussions to create a "cyber secure framework" for the defense industrial base that will go beyond the CMMC program and be based on the NIST cybersecurity framework.

DOD memo directs AQ officials to ensure contractor compliance with cyber standard

The Pentagon's acquisition office has issued a memorandum reminding acquisition officials of the Defense Department's current standard for the handling of controlled unclassified information and potential remedies for non-compliance.

Document: DOD memo on handling CUI

By approaching AI development through a new lens, said Margaret Palmieri, the deputy chief digital and AI officer, the Defense Department then "opens up the potential to innovate across the whole problem space":

DOD seeks to leverage existing AI tech, explore new ways to boost development

Top officials within the Pentagon's newly stood up artificial intelligence outfit want to see the capability discussed not just as a technology but as a "solution to a mission problem" -- a framing they hope would allow experts to be part of early development talks and ensure late-stage requests to "sprinkle some AI on" a given program are minimized.

The Marine Corps has released "Doctrinal Publication 8, Information," to elevate information as a warfighting function:

Marine Corps releases new doctrine making information a warfighting function

As information warfare takes shape on the battlespace, the Marine Corps has released a framework, informed by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, to elevate information as a warfighting function.

Document: Marine Corps' information doctrine document