The INSIDER Daily digest -- March 19, 2024

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on INDOPACOM and NORTHCOM submitting their latest unfunded priorities lists, the Missile Defense Agency's Long Range Discrimination Radar and more.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command's fiscal year 2025 unfunded priorities list is broken down into about $3 billion for MILCON, $2.7 billion for procurement, $2 billion for research, development, test and evaluation, $1.2 billion for operations and maintenance and $1.6 billion for classified programs:

INDOPACOM sends Congress $11B unfunded priorities list

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command has sent Congress a list that identifies $11 billion in "unfunded priorities," including a range of weapon systems, munitions, sensors and military construction projects, according to a document obtained by Inside Defense.

Document: INDOPACOM's FY-25 unfunded priorities list

U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command also submitted an unfunded priorities list:

NORTHCOM/NORAD sends Congress $35M UPL

U.S. Northern Command and U.S. North American Aerospace and Defense Command have sent Congress an unfunded priorities list for fiscal year 2025 totaling less than $35 million for "foundational IT," according to a document obtained by Inside Defense.

Document: NORTHCOM/NORAD FY-25 unfunded priorities list

The Missile Defense Agency is seeking $100.8 million for the Long Range Discrimination Radar program in fiscal year 2025:

LRDR plans operational test do-over in FY-25 while readying early space detection role

The Defense Department, which last summer was unable to determine the efficacy of the Long Range Discrimination Radar's ability to detect ballistic missile targets, is pressing ahead with plans to begin early fielding of space domain awareness capabilities as soon as this year.

Document: MDA's FY-25 budget overview, justification books

The Pentagon's fiscal year 2025 budget request includes a new-start project to buy the lead vessel of the Medium Landing Ship class with an estimated average unit cost of $214 million, a mere five years after the then-Marine Corps commandant first publicly broached the idea for a "light amphibious warship":

Navy estimates $3.8 billion for new ship class to create anti-access problems for China

The Navy has unveiled a $3.8 billion blueprint to begin buying a new fleet of 18 relatively low-cost warships to ferry Marines -- particularly units armed with ship-killing guided missiles -- from shore to shore in a highly contested environment during a fight against China.

Although the Marine Corps' Amphibious Combat Vehicle program was fully funded to buy the "approved acquisition objective" of 104 vehicles in FY-25 and 105 in FY-26, procurement has now been reduced "due to 1) the loss of $102 million from the [Fiscal Responsibility Act] across FY-25 and FY-26, 2) the effects of inflationary increases, and 3) a much higher than anticipated vendor proposal," budget documents indicate:

Marine Corps prunes ACV procurement quantities, citing loss of buying power

The Marine Corps is trimming its Amphibious Combat Vehicle procurement plans for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, reducing acquisition quantities by 48 vehicles across the two years due to spending caps under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, inflation and a higher-than-expected vendor proposal.

A new Space Futures Command, which is part of the Air Force's "Reoptimization for Great Power Competition" plan, will be stood up to handle requirements generation and wargaming for the Space Force:

Official: Space Futures Command should assess use case for refueling, cislunar operations

Space Futures Command's first order of business should be determining the military worth of on-orbit refueling capabilities and cislunar operations, according to Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton, deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements.

The M10 Booker combat vehicle will be fielded with the 10th Mountain Division, the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division, starting in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025:

Booker combat vehicle to be fielded with Army airborne and mountain units starting in 2025

The Army's newest combat vehicle will be fielded with two airborne units and a mountain unit beginning in 2025, according to a service official.

Last but by no means least, our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity have the latest on the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program:

Electric sector group seeks clarity on addressing CUI in DOD contracts with CMMC requirements

The Edison Electric Institute is making recommendations for how controlled unclassified information should be addressed in Defense Department contracts with Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification requirements in a manner that aligns with current practices for sharing sensitive data in the electric sector.