The INSIDER daily digest -- May 26, 2017

The Littoral Combat Ship and a slew of Air Force news highlight this Friday INSIDER Daily Digest.

The Navy is going to have to find an offset to include a second Littoral Combat Ship in the FY-18 budget:

OMB will publish budget 'errata' that adds second LCS in FY-18 request

The White House Office of Management and Budget will publish a budget "errata" that adds a second Littoral Combat Ship to the fiscal year 2018 budget request, according to a Pentagon spokesman.

GAO will issue a decision on Boeing's protest, filed May 19, by Aug. 28:

GAO considers second Compass Call bid protest, this time from Boeing

Boeing last week filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office to oppose the Air Force's decision to choose L3 Technologies as the lead systems integrator for the Compass Call cross-deck effort, becoming the second company to contest the award.

The Air Force is proposing changes to its nuclear weapons plans:

Air Force revises nuclear missile replacement cost, schedule in FY-18 request

The Air Force's fiscal year 2018 budget request sheds new light on how much the service expects to spend over the next five years on research and development to replace its ground- and air-launched nuclear missiles, after adjusting its figures to reflect new cost estimates.

Air Force moving money from B61, ICBM upgrades to fund 'higher priorities'

The Air Force wants to cut research and development funds from its life-extension program for the B61-12 gravity bomb tailkit and an effort to improve ground-based nuclear missile system capabilities to pay for other priorities within the nuclear enterprise.

The Air Force's KC-46 tanker program program has run into delays with its FAA airworthiness certification:

Air Force, Boeing to complete KC-46 schedule risk assessment next month

The Air Force and Boeing expect to complete an ongoing KC-46 schedule risk assessment by early June to determine whether the program can meet key milestones in the current time line.

Just because the Air Force won't retire the U-2 spy aircraft doesn't mean Northrop Grumman will stop installing upgrades to the Global Hawk unmanned system:

Northrop forges ahead with RQ-4 upgrades, despite change on U-2 retirement

Northrop Grumman's effort to prepare its RQ-4 Global Hawk to fly a new slate of sensors in the absence of Lockheed Martin's U-2 will continue, despite the Air Force's decision not to retire the U-2 in fiscal year 2019.

The Air Force's F-35 procurement plan reveals a slow-down in the service's build-up to an annual 60-jet buy:

FY-18 budget slows Air Force's path to 60 F-35s per year

The Air Force has said it needs to ramp its F-35A procurement to 60 jets per year as soon as possible, but its fiscal year 2018 budget request takes a step back from that plan, pushing that target out past FY-22.

The Air Force's SBIRS plans could change as the service is still refining its acquisition strategy for the future constellation:

Air Force teases $1.7B plan for Evolved SBIRS as it finalizes AQ strategy

The Air Force's fiscal year 2018 budget request includes $71 million -- and nearly $1.7 billion over the future years defense program -- to begin developing a follow-on capability to the Space-Based Infrared System, though officials confirmed they are still finalizing an acquisition strategy for the effort.

At a recent hearing, several senators criticized WIN-T's cost, efficacy, survivability and fielding time line:

Milley has 'concerns' about WIN-T and Army communications infrastructure

Army senior leadership is conducting a "rigorous review" of the service's communications and network backbone, as Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley has "serious, hard questions" about its reliability, survivability and interoperability.

Document: Senate hearing on the Army's FY-18 budget request