The INSIDER daily digest -- March 7, 2024

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Pentagon's plan to reform its budget planning and execution process, coverage from today's McAleese conference and more.

Within hours of the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution Reform Commission releasing its final report, the Defense Department has issued an implementation plan of its own:

Pentagon moves to implement 'near-term' budget planning system overhaul

The Pentagon, in response to "near-term" recommendations released today by a bipartisan congressional commission, has formulated a new implementation plan to enact more than a dozen structural reforms to its decades-old budget planning and execution process.

Document: DOD's PPBE reform implementation plan

Senior service officials spoke this morning at the annual McAleese and Associates conference. Here's our preliminary coverage:

Army preparing to stand up deep sensing cross functional team

The Army is getting ready to stand up a cross functional team devoted to deep sensing, Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said today.

Air Force to make KC-46A follow-on decision this summer

The Air Force will reveal this summer how it plans to fill the gap period between the end of production for current KC-46A tankers in 2028 and the planned delivery of the Next Generation Air Refueling System in the late 2030s, a senior service official said today.

Last ARRW test to inform Air Force hypersonic strategy

The Air Force is waiting on the last test of the all-but-killed Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, and data from the program will help inform the mix of hypersonic capabilities the service looks for, acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said today.

Senior Army officials were on Capitol Hill this week, talking about their helicopter development efforts:

Money spent on FARA was not a 'waste,' Army officials tell lawmakers

Despite spending more than $2 billion on development of the now-canceled Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program, Army officials told Congress during a hearing today that the effort was not all for naught due to key takeaways that will help inform the service's pivot in its aviation modernization strategy.

For the first time in over two decades, the Missile Defense Agency won't be doing its traditional briefing on its upcoming budget request:

FY-25 rollout sidelines Missile Defense Agency, 'de-emphasizing' budget day

The Missile Defense Agency is not slated to publicly explain its expected $11 billion fiscal year 2025 request next week, breaking an annual practice that reaches back uninterrupted to at least 2000 that provides Pentagon reporters a once-a-year, carte blanche opportunity to ask agency leaders about program status, policies and more.

Keep an eye out for the Air Force's installation infrastructure action plan:

Air Force to release installation infrastructure action plan this spring

In the coming days, the Air Force will release an installation infrastructure action plan to bolster bases against energy-related vulnerabilities, such as cyberattacks and extreme weather events, a senior service official said today.