The INSIDER daily digest -- May 16, 2024

By John Liang / May 16, 2024 at 2:27 PM

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the unfunded priorities included in the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill, plus Army modernization issues and more.

We start off with an analysis of how much unfunded priorities funding is included in the House Armed Services Committee's FY-25 defense policy bill:

House defense bill would fund key items on INDOPACOM's unfunded priorities list

The House Armed Services Committee's draft of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill would approve funding for more than $1 billion in "unfunded priorities" identified by the military, mostly U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

The Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee received joint testimony this week on Army modernization programs from several senior service officials:

Bush says supplemental replenishment fund will help increase PrSM increment 1 production

Army acquisition chief Doug Bush told lawmakers today that the fiscal year 2024 defense supplemental package passed last month will be key in increasing production of the Precision Strike Missile Increment 1 in the near term.

Document: Senate hearing on Army FY-25 modernization programs

The U.S. government has set up a new program aimed at getting more weapons to Ukraine:

New $2B 'defense enterprise program' would build up Ukraine's weapons industry

A new $2 billion initiative announced in Kyiv today by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is intended to help build a domestic defense industrial base in Ukraine as it faces long-term conflict with Russia.

The Pentagon's top acquisition official testified before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee this week:

LaPlante highlights DOD's ongoing desire for new funding flexibility to counter drones

Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante told Senate appropriators today that new funding flexibility would allow the department to more quickly counter the evolving threat of battlefield drones.

. . . as did the Navy's acquisition chief:

Guertin: Navy must 'up our game in understanding how to build ships'

The Navy needs to "up our game in understanding how to build ships," a senior service official said today, citing efforts to expand the use of modern design tools and hire more naval architects and marine engineers.

Navy invests $345M over FY-23, '24 for munition production capacity, Guertin says

To strengthen its organic industrial base -- made up of government-owned industrial centers -- the Navy has invested $345 million across 200 various projects at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division in Maryland.

A new U.S.-Japan missile defense interceptor development deal apparently denies Japan a role it sought in the "front end" of the missile:

U.S., Japan ink GPI co-development agreement; Japan denied role on missile 'front end'

The United States and Japan have formalized an agreement to co-develop a major new weapon -- the first-ever, clean-sheet design for a counter-hypersonic missile called the Glide Phase Interceptor, an estimated multibillion-dollar development that will take about a decade to ready for production.

A recent letter from Senate lawmakers is the latest evidence of growing congressional support for restoring a second Virginia-class submarine to the FY-25 budget:

Senate authorizers join push to fund two Virginia subs in new letter to appropriators

A bipartisan group of 15 senators sent a letter to appropriations committee leadership calling for the full restoration of funding for two Virginia-class submarines in fiscal year 2025.

Document: Senators' letter on Virginia-class sub funding

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