Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on a senior GOP senator wanting to shatter the congressionally mandated defense spending cap, plus a Government Accountability Office report on the Navy's Constellation-class frigate program and more.
The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee today released a report that his office said "is both consistent with historical defense spending during periods of great power rivalry, as well as crucial to maintaining a technical edge over adversaries in multiple theaters":
Wicker unveils blueprint to inject $55B into FY-25 defense budget
Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) released a proposal today that would shatter the defense spending cap mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act by $55 billion, arguing U.S. military spending needs to skyrocket to deter China, Russia and other potential adversaries.
Document: Wicker 'peace through strength' report
The Government Accountability Office released a report today that finds the Navy's decision to begin construction on the Constellation-class frigate program "before the design was complete is inconsistent with leading ship design practices and jeopardized this approach":
GAO: Mismanagement of frigate design is the cause of program delays
A new report from government auditors points to a lack of design stability, stemming from critical mismanagement by the Navy, as the key factor responsible for years of delays now expected for the $22 billion Constellation-class frigate program.
Document: GAO report on the Navy's frigate program
The House Armed Services Committee's Chairman's mark of the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill would authorize the creation of a new line in the budget for Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense Family of System Components and approve procurement for one unit of the initial project called "Uplinker":
Army wins support for new-start RIG-360 production launch in draft legislation
A key House lawmaker has endorsed a small but significant new-start request by the Army in fiscal year 2025 that promises outsized improvements in the U.S. military's ability to conduct air and missile defense and potentially more by authorizing first-ever procurement funding for the Remote Interceptor Guidance-360.
The Defense Department is seeking "autonomous solutions capable of passively detecting and gathering data primarily against wideband, high bandwidth, electromagnetic spectrum while also storing this data securely":
DIU seeking autonomous systems to detect electromagnetic spectrum signatures
The Defense Innovation Unit posted a new solicitation today seeking autonomous systems that can discover, group and securely store data that can capture wideband, high bandwidth and electromagnetic spectrum signatures.
The Defense Department is in the final stages of drafting an updated missile defense management policy:
New MDA charter being finalized as statutory deadline to rescind 2020 DTM approaches
The Pentagon is finalizing a new update of seminal missile defense governance policy mandated by law to replace a controversial memorandum advanced during the Trump administration that curtailed the Missile Defense Agency's autonomy by elevating approval authority for key activities to senior Defense Department officials.
Document: Integration of missile defense report
Document: DOD directive on missile defense system policies