The INSIDER daily digest -- May 27, 2025

This post-Memorial Day INSIDER Daily Digest has news on startup company JetZero's idea for the Air Force's future fleet of refueling platforms, plus Guam missile defense and more.

Inside Defense recently got a chance to tour startup company JetZero's facility in California:

JetZero's blended wing body peels back curtain on Air Force's NGAS vision

LONG BEACH, CA -- When JetZero executive Nate Metzler thinks about his company's offer for the Air Force's future fleet of refueling platforms, he imagines a giant manta ray gliding through the air.

A new Government Accountability Office report finds that while the Defense Department has made structural and organizational progress in launching the Guam Defense System, it still lacks the most basic building blocks needed to sustain the project: a fully defined strategy, a clear chain of responsibility and an accurate count of troops who will be stationed on the island to operate the system:

Guam missile defense architecture overhauled in early January, GAO reveals

The Biden administration's Pentagon leadership directed significant changes to the architecture of the multibillion-dollar missile defense system for Guam in the final days of its term, according to a newly released Government Accountability Office report.

More on that GAO report:

Missile shield for Guam faces organizational gaps, GAO warns in damning report

The Pentagon's ambitious plan to ring Guam with a state-of-the-art missile defense system is running into fundamental obstacles that could delay or disrupt the project's completion, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

Document: GAO report on Guam BMD

A new White House executive order has designated the Army as the lead on installation and operational nuclear energy across the Defense Department:

New EO directs Army to build domestic nuclear energy reactor

The White House is directing the Army to build a nuclear reactor at a domestic military base or installation within the next three years, according to an executive order published Friday.

General Atomics' unmanned aerial vehicle, the MQ-9B SeaGuardian -- a next generation variant of the MQ-9 Reaper -- will be paired with Ultra Maritime’s small form factor sonobuoys to boost anti-submarine warfare in GPS-denied environments:

Ultra Maritime, General Atomics partner to advance 'new era' of anti-submarine warfare

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Ultra Maritime have partnered to further airborne detection and tracking of enemy submarines, according to a news release this week.