The INSIDER daily digest -- March 21, 2018

By John Liang / March 21, 2018 at 2:00 PM

The omnibus spending bill that needs to be passed before the end of the week to avoid another government shutdown leads off this Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest.

The Pentagon could get new flexibility in how it spends O&M money under the pending omnibus appropriations bill:

Omnibus spending bill to grant Pentagon funding flexibility

The House's fiscal year 2018 omnibus appropriations bill will propose new flexibility for the Defense Department in how it spends operations and maintenance funds, according to a congressional staffer close to the matter.

The Pentagon's head of research and development spoke at an industry event this morning:

Griffin telegraphs new investments in directed energy

The Pentagon is embarking on an era of new investments in key developmental technologies, including directed energy, to ensure continued military superiority over China and Russia, according to Mike Griffin, the under secretary of defense for research and development.

The head of STRATCOM is comfortable with Air Force Global Strike Command's move to install M-240 machine guns onto the Huey helicopter fleet, as well as avionics updates and other changes:

Hyten no longer concerned about UH-1N's near-term viability due to upgrades

The head of U.S. Strategic Command told the Senate Armed Services Committee this week he's no longer concerned about the legacy UH-1N Huey fleet's ability to last until replacements are ready because the Air Force upgraded the helicopters over the past year.

The Army's program executive office for command, control and communications-tactical has received authorization to proceed to low-rate initial production for the Manpack radio:

Army receives LRIP approval for Manpack radio

The Army's program executive office for command, control and communications-tactical has received authorization to proceed to the next production phase for its Manpack radio.

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told Inside Defense this week that his service would reinstate plans to shock test the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) as soon as 2019 or 2020:

Navy reverts to earlier plan, will conduct full ship shock trials of CVN-78 in '19 or '20

The Navy is reverting to an earlier plan and will shock test the lead ship of its new aircraft carrier class, the Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), an apparent reversal after the service appealed to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

The White House recently received an interagency report on deterring adversaries like Russia and China in cyberspace:

White House reviewing agency recommendations on cyber deterrence

The White House is reviewing an interagency report offering recommendations on how the United States can deter adversaries like Russia and China in cyberspace, as lawmakers demand a national cyber strategy from President Trump.

The Navy anticipates work on repairing Trident missile components will begin this September and conclude one year later:

Navy asks industry to modify, repair Trident II D5 launcher

The Navy is gauging whether there are eligible vendors to modify, repair and recertify 100 components of the Trident II D5 launcher subsystem.

The Navy is seeking information on commercial, commercially modified, military or conceptual air vehicle technologies that are available and their related cost:

NAVAIR requests information from industry to inform MUX analysis

The Navy's multimission tactical unmanned air systems program office is seeking information from industry to inform an analysis of alternatives for the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Aircraft System Expeditionary (MUX) program.

Document: NAVAIR RFI for MUX expeditionary program

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