Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Air Force's GPS program, NAVSEA being reorganized and more.
The Air Force is disagreeing with the Pentagon's latest operational test and evaluation report regarding the GPS III system:
Air Force disagrees with DOT&E assessment of GPS III, IIIF testing risks
A February report from the Pentagon's top weapons tester highlighted several concerns about GPS III and IIIF testing simulators, claiming the program lacks sufficient resources to provide realistic threat testing. The Air Force said this week it disagrees with those conclusions.
The Navy has a new program office:
The Navy this month will stand up Program Executive Office Columbia as a way to ensure the service's stated No. 1 acquisition priority has a senior officer dedicated to monitoring its progress.
In related news, Naval Sea Systems Command has been reorganized:
Standing up new PEO only one of multiple personnel swaps planned at NAVSEA
While standing up Program Executive Office Columbia, the Navy is also shifting roughly a dozen uniformed and civilian personnel among acquisition leadership posts overseeing the surface and subsurface fleets.
The Air Force used less fuel last year but wound up spending more for it:
USAF reduced fuel consumption in FY-18, but costs grew by $230M
The Air Force's fuel consumption decreased by 6.2 percent between fiscal years 2017 and 2018, but costs rose by $230 million during the same time frame, according to a service spokesman.
The Air Force won't say no if Congress provides funding for more F-15 fighter aircraft:
Air Force officials make case for F-15X buy while confirming they didn't ask for it
Air Force officials recently confirmed that the service's original fiscal year 2020 budget submission did not request funding to buy new F-15X aircraft, while also claiming that buying the fourth-generation aircraft may be the most cost-effective way to boost the service's fighter inventory in the near term.
A new Government Accountability Office report looks at the Pentagon's Cyber Mission Force:
GAO finds Pentagon sacrificed readiness in rush to build up Cyber Mission Force
U.S. Cyber Mission Force teams have "generally low" readiness levels, as senior Defense Department leaders prioritized completing the build-up of the force to meet a self-imposed deadline rather than sufficiently training the teams, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Is the ICBM leg of the nuclear triad still needed? Some House authorizers don't think so:
House Armed Services Committee tees up debate on nuclear modernization spending
Democrats and Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee this week offered a glimpse into the latest debate brewing over U.S. nuclear weapons, with Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) saying he does not believe the intercontinental ballistic missile leg of the triad is necessary to deter Russia and China.
Raytheon is now back in a competition to build a tactical hypersonic missile:
DOD pulls Raytheon back into competition against Lockheed for tactical hypersonic weapon
The Defense Department has re-opened a competitive project in its expanding efforts to develop an arsenal of hypersonic weapons, pulling Raytheon back into a program launched in 2015 to go head-to-head against Lockheed Martin in an effort to develop a tactical-range, hypersonic boost-glide weapon that could be air-launched -- and possibly also fired from a ship.
Here's some news from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:
Software industry presses lawmakers to address supply-chain risks in upcoming defense bill
The software industry is urging the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees to address supply-chain risks in drafting the upcoming defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2020, indicating concerns that ongoing efforts to cleanse the system of foreign influences and other vulnerabilities could run counter to the global nature of the tech sector.