Friday, April 19, 2024
Friday, April 19, 2024
This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has a deep dive into the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit, U.S. Special Operations Command's fiscal year 2021 unfunded priorities list and more.
We start off with a deep dive into what the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit is up to these days:
Pentagon's Silicon Valley outfit seeks to shift from 'experimental' to 'transformative'
In 2017, the Defense Innovation Unit began working with several start-up companies to develop tools to automatically find and fix software vulnerabilities in the U.S. military's highly advanced weapon systems.
U.S. Special Operations Command's latest unfunded priorities list includes 28 requirements totaling $941 million, with $635 million specifically for SOCOM appropriations and $306 million for Air Force appropriations:
U.S. Special Operations Command sends Congress $1B wish list
U.S. Special Operations Command has sent Congress a nearly $1 billion "unfunded priorities" list, which includes aircraft, precision munitions and communications systems mostly to support operations in the Middle East and Africa, according to "for official use only" documents obtained by Inside Defense.
Document: SOCOM's FY-21 unfunded priorities list
The Air Force released a formal solicitation for the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar program this week, seeking companies to demonstrate production-ready radar capabilities to replace its aging TPS-75 radar as soon as fiscal year 2022:
Northrop confirms plan to bid for SpeedDealer competition
Northrop Grumman confirmed this week it will compete to develop a prototype in the Air Force's new Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar competition.
Document: Air Force 'speeddealer' OTA solicitation
The Army identified a number of problems -- including cyber vulnerabilities and operational challenges -- during efforts to integrate elements of the Iron Dome system as part of a potential Enduring Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2-Intercept solution:
Iron Dome shortcomings prompt Army to overhaul IFPC 2 Inc. 2 with new 'shoot off' competition
The Israeli-made Iron Dome is not compatible with existing U.S. air defense systems, forcing the Army to launch a new acquisition strategy this week for the Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2-Intercept (IFPC Inc. 2) program that features an open invitation to all industry to participate in a "shoot-off" next year in a bid to deliver a cruise missile defense capability in 2023.
The Air Force has sent the High-Energy Laser Weapon System to an undisclosed testing location abroad:
AFRL sends counter-UAV directed-energy weapon overseas, eyes anti-cruise missile testing
ORLANDO, FL -- Air Force researchers studying how warfighters can use directed energy as defensive weapons have shipped out the first system in their overseas counter-drone experiment and are planning to begin a new testing campaign to bolster anti-cruise missile capabilities.