The INSIDER daily digest -- May 17, 2021

By John Liang / May 17, 2021 at 2:01 PM

This Monday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on a NATO maritime missile defense event, plus defense contractors' efforts to get their workforces vaccinated against COVID-19 and more.

An ongoing NATO maritime event is involving more than 14 ships, 10 aircraft, and approximately 3,300 personnel from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States:

NATO 15-ship flotilla readies to assess missile defense chops during North Atlantic 'at-sea demonstration'

A NATO flotilla -- including a 15-ship task force representing 10 nations -- is in the North Atlantic this week for an integrated air and missile defense demonstration, Formidable Shield 2021, to assess allied interoperability and command-and-control structures against subsonic, supersonic and ballistic missile threats.

While many defense contractors are facilitating employee access to COVID-19 vaccines, they are stopping short of requiring employees receive them:

Defense contractors take varied approach to COVID-19 vaccine, but most are encouraging employees

With the COVID-19 vaccine now widely available nationwide, many defense contracting executives say they see the vaccine as a path forward, allowing them to ramp up their work and move past this challenging time.

Missile Defense Agency Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill recently disclosed MDA's plan to decommission a pair of Space Tracking and Surveillance System satellites, noting the advent of the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor constellation obviates the need for STSS:

MDA to sunset STSS, bring satellites down 'in a couple of years'

The Missile Defense Agency plans to decommission a pair of Space Tracking and Surveillance System satellites originally launched in 2009 -- assets that have already delivered three times their originally forecast service life, according to the agency's director.

Inside Defense interviewed the Army's director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team:

Army RCV experiments serve as 'mythbusting,' NGCV director says

The Army's experiments with soldiers and Robotic Combat Vehicles are "mythbusting" the ways that robots will and will not change the battlefield, Maj. Gen. Ross Coffman, the director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team, told Inside Defense in a May 5 interview.

The Defense Department's acting acquisition executive spoke at the recent McAleese conference:

Pentagon continues to seek billions in pandemic-related costs

Acting Pentagon acquisition chief Stacy Cummings said the Defense Department still needs at least $11 billion in supplemental funding from Congress to support defense contractors with pandemic-related costs and avoid cutting modernization programs and military readiness accounts.

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