Thursday, April 25, 2024
Thursday, April 25, 2024
This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on artificial intelligence, the Marine Corps' latest aviation plan and more.
Executives from Microsoft and Google testified this week at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s cyber panel:
Microsoft, Google execs say broader AI adoption, top-down push needed in DOD
While cyber experts gave credit to some in the Pentagon for their work to leverage artificial intelligence, they said broader adoption and a top-down push is needed to ensure implementation of a military-wide strategy.
The Marine Corps this week unveiled its new aviation plan:
Marine Corps' new aviation plan invests in digital interoperability
A new aviation plan outlines how the Marine Corps will be fully networked to enable the force to operate from distributed locations.
Document: Marine Corps aviation plan
Research, development, test and evaluation funding for the Joint Effects Targeting System increased to $11.4 million for FY-23 from the Army’s $5.1 million request for FY-22, according to Pentagon budget documents:
Funding shifts to next-generation targeting system as Army announces industry day
The Army will hold an industry day for a new targeting system in June to discuss the service's fiscal year 2023 efforts for the program after it bumped its funding request for the program to support product development.
Despite congressional skepticism, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee this week that DOD's request for $773 billion in FY-23 contains "significant capability":
Senate appropriators question planned cuts in DOD's budget
Senate appropriators today questioned Pentagon leaders and voiced concern regarding the Defense Department's plans to divest two-dozen ships and hundreds of aircraft in its fiscal year 2023 budget proposal, which they also noted does not keep pace with the current level of inflation.
Cost growth in FY-23 comes from the planned beginning of the detailed design phase for three contractors in the OMFV competition:
OMFV spending could double in FY-23, then reach $1 billion in FY-24
The Army wants to double development funding for the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle in fiscal year 2023, to $560 million, and development costs could surge again the following year, to more than $1 billion.
The latest on the Missile Defense Agency's effort to develop a missile defense system for Guam:
MDA readies first of more than two-dozen contracts slated to launch new Guam project
The Missile Defense Agency this month is set to award the first of nearly two-dozen contracts planned this calendar year worth almost $500 million to begin in earnest the race to develop and field by 2026 a new mobile missile defense system that draws on existing Navy and Army technologies to bolster Guam against advanced Chinese air threats.
In response to a lawmaker's question about transparency for KC-Y production and concepts for a future KC-Z tanker, the Air Force's top civilian said this week that shifting conditions and new assessments have caused service leadership to re-evaluate the need for a bridge tanker:
Kendall: Air Force might not pursue KC-Y tanker
The Air Force is reconsidering its plan to field a bridge tanker, known as the KC-Y, that will follow the KC-46 Pegasus, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said today during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.