Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the delay of a hypersonic missile intercept attempt, the defense secretary warning of the dangers of continuing resolutions and more.
Missile Defense Agency Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill told Congress last week that the agency now plans to deliver a counter-hypersonic capability in 2025, not this year as originally planned:
DOD delays by two years maiden intercept attempt of hypersonic glide vehicle target
The U.S. military has delayed by two years the planned first test of a naval counter-hypersonic capability, pushing from 2023 to 2025 an intercept attempt by a Standard Missile-6 against an ultra-fast maneuvering target to validate a new version of the Aegis Sea Based Terminal capability designed to protect aircraft carrier strike groups from the new class of threats.
The Pentagon's top civilian official is reiterating the damage that continuing resolutions can do to the defense budget:
Austin sounds alarm on specific CR damages, previews new weapons aid to Taiwan
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Senate appropriators Tuesday that a stopgap continuing resolution would seriously hinder key weapons modernization programs needed to compete with China, including a $9.7 billion pause in Navy shipbuilding.
A component of Space Systems Command's Enhanced Polar System has been delivered:
SSC accepts delivery of EPS-R Control and Planning Segment
Space Systems Command has accepted formal delivery of the Control and Planning Segment of its Enhanced Polar System, the command announced May 11.
The Marine Air Defense Integrated Systems (MADIS) Increment One -- a research and development initiative that mounts a short-range air defense system on a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle -- is expected to enter low-rate initial production in the near future:
Marine Corps poised to begin low-rate production of MADIS Inc 1 air defense system
The Marine Corps has completed operational analysis and is preparing for a milestone C decision for a prototype ground-based air defense capability intended to protect forward-deployed forces from missiles, aircraft and unmanned systems.
On April 25, the president signed the Unified Command Plan 2023 that establishes the missions and geographic responsibilities among the 11 U.S. combatant commands, and one of those missions has been shuffled from one command to another:
Biden approves shift of global missile defense ops support from STRATCOM to SPACECOM
President Biden has codified changes to the U.S. military's command structure in an update of the Pentagon's Unified Command Plan that includes a major shift: moving global missile defense operational support responsibilities from U.S. Strategic Command to U.S. Space Command.