Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
The bulk of this Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest deals with the House Armed Services Committee's draft fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill.
We start off with House authorizers' thoughts on the Pentagon's most expensive weapon system acquisition program ever:
House authorizers cut F-35 procurement to reinvest $1B in mitigating production issues
The House Armed Services Committee's draft of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill would cut 10 of the Pentagon's 68 requested F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and reinvest about $1 billion in the production of the Lockheed Martin-made aircraft, which continues to see performance and cost challenges.
House lawmakers also want more information on how vulnerable U.S. armored vehicles are:
House lawmakers want Army briefing on survivability of armored systems on the modern battlefield
House lawmakers are alarmed over the vulnerability of armored vehicles as shown in Ukraine, particularly from unmanned systems, and are asking the Army for a briefing on how it will address new battlefield threats, according to the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee's mark-up of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill.
Additionally, unmanned systems are an area of focus in the draft policy bill:
DOD tasked with defining use of 'attritable UAS,' commonly used in describing Replicator
Lawmakers are asking the defense secretary, in coordination with the service secretaries, to provide a briefing to the House Armed Services Committee defining what an "attritable unmanned aircraft system" is, according to the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee's fiscal year 2025 authorization mark released this week.
House subcommittee mark-up would establish drone corps in the Army
The House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee has proposed establishing a drone corps as a branch of the Army in its mark-up of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill.
House authorizers propose adding CUAS funding from Army UPL in chairman's mark
House authorizers have proposed adding millions of dollars in counter-drone funding in the chairman's mark of the defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2025.
The Navy's Constellation-class frigate program looks to be delayed:
House authorization mark adds $1 billion for a second Virginia sub and cuts frigate procurement
The House Armed Services Committee's initial mark-up of the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill looks to add $1 billion for the purchase of a second Virginia-class submarine while cutting all procurement funding for the Constellation-class frigate program.
Authorizers also want the Defense Innovation Unit to set up a pilot program focusing on commercial, dual-use technologies, specifically technologies that aren't already included in an established program of record:
CITI mark-up assigns DIU to establish testing and evaluation pilot program
The House Armed Services cyber, information technologies and innovation subcommittee's fiscal year 2025 mark-up released today requires the Defense Innovation Unit to perform a pilot program that establishes new testing and evaluation pathways within the Defense Department.
Last but by no means least, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing last week on missile defense programs:
MDA: Even with additional funding, GPI fielding by 2029 'very hard date to meet'
The Pentagon's project to develop a new counter-hypersonic weapon cannot be accelerated by a funding increase, which means U.S. forces for the next decade will rely on a pair of advanced guided-missile interceptors that have some capability against ultrafast maneuvering threats in the terminal phase.
Document: FY-25 BMD budget request posture testimony