The INSIDER daily digest -- March 15, 2024

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on funding for the Marine Corps' CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter program, the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office's large language model maturity model effort and more.

The Navy's FY-25 budget request aims to purchase up to 321 engines from FY-25 to FY-29 for the King Stallion heavy-lift helicopter program:

Navy looks to enter five-year block buy for CH-53K engines

The Navy's fiscal year 2025 budget request looks to enter into a multiyear procurement contract for CH-53K helicopter engines in a five-year deal expected to save approximately $125 million, according to budget documents.

Large language model maturity models, which are trained artificial intelligence systems that use algorithms to analyze data sets and create responses based on their intended design, can transform industries:

CDAO's LLM maturity model will be ready for evaluation next month

The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office intends to release its large language model maturity model, which aims to help industry and the Defense Department determine what LLMs are truly capable of and if they can achieve their intended purposes, for evaluation within the next month.

Just over $910 million is being requested for fiscal year 2025 to fund Strategic Capabilities Office programs specifically aimed at the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a $9.9 billion pot of regionally focused money that covers everything from missile defense to installation construction to rapid prototyping:

DOD's classified tech office eyes Pacific theater weapons gaps

The Pentagon's secretive Strategic Capabilities Office wants to spend about $1 billion managing 20 classified prototyping programs focused on developing new weapons technology to aid U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in its mission to counter China's increasingly modernized military, according to recently released budget documents.

Document: DOD's FY-25 Pacific Deterrence Initiative budget justification book

The Space Warfighting Analysis Center determined there are gaps in protected SATCOM capabilities, leading to more funding in the Space Force's FY-25 budget request:

Space Force seeking $248 million for assured SATCOM new start

The Space Force is requesting $248 million for an assured satellite communications new start Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global, which the service calls a "key and enabling capability" of its force design, according to fiscal year 2025 budget request documents released this week.

Our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity have the latest on industry's responses to the Pentagon's new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program rule:

Wireless group seeks clarity on CMMC exemption for telecom providers, role of harmonization to address other agency requirements

Wireless group CTIA supports the Defense Department's decision to create an exemption for telecommunications providers under the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, while asking for more guidance on the trigger for applicability in the response to a proposed rule on implementation.