The INSIDER daily digest -- May 5, 2022

By John Liang / May 5, 2022 at 1:40 PM

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the impact of inflation on the defense budget, the Marine Corps' Force Design 2030 effort and more.

In a letter sent this week to Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord and the three service secretaries answer congressional questions about the impact of inflation on the defense budget:

DOD says inflation has spooked some defense contractors

Though it is "too early to tell" the true impact of historic inflation on major defense acquisition programs, the Pentagon says it has seen several "changes in behavior" among contractors, including companies being skittish about entering into long-term agreements, and at least one that wants to pull out of an existing contract, according to a new letter sent to senior Republican lawmakers.

Document: DOD letter on inflation's impact

Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, spoke about the service's Force Design 2030 effort this week:

Heckl: Force Design 2030 will make it 'damn hard' for China to make a move

The Marine Corps' Force Design 2030 will interrupt China's calculus on making a move in the Indo-Pacific, according to a senior service official.

The Army is looking into whether any other company other than AeroVironment can make a loitering antitank munition:

Army issues sources-sought notice for antitank Switchblade

The Army wants to know whether any companies besides AeroVironment can produce the antitank variant of the company's Switchblade loitering munition, or a comparable capability, to fulfill urgent operational requirements, according to a May 3 sources-sought notice.

On May 3, the Army revealed a new feature in a public notice of a planned sole-source request for prototype proposals that outlined the scope of improved capabilities slated for Long Range Hypersonic Weapon batteries the service aims to deploy in 2025 and 2027:

DOD readying hypersonic weapon with new feature: ability to strike moving targets

The Defense Department is developing an upgraded, long-range hypersonic weapon with a dynamic new capability: the means to attack a moving target.

While the Landing Craft Utility has completed autonomous missions, the ship always has a fully manned crew on board, even if the crew is just watching the system conduct an autonomous operation:

Autonomous landing craft to be deployed later this year

The Navy and Marine Corps' first autonomous landing craft will deploy later this year with Amphibious Squadron 8 in U.S. 2nd Fleet.

The Airbase Air Defense Systems' Battle Management Command and Control, or BMC2, would start with $47 million for research, development, test and evaluation in the next fiscal year to create an integrated system to defend airbases from threats including small-unmanned aircraft systems, rockets and other missiles:

Air Force eyes new battle management system to protect air bases

The Air Force will begin development of a new battle management system to protect air bases from airborne threats should the request in the fiscal year 2023 budget pass, according to recently released justification books.

The latest cyber defense news from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:

CMMC assessors see momentum to get official certifications underway while rulemaking uncertainty continues

Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification assessment organizations are waiting on several details to fall into place so they can start conducting official assessments for companies that want to compete for defense contracts, but stakeholders say uncertainty over rulemaking timing is not impacting demand from companies wanting to be early adopters.

The Defense Department is ramping up its Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft System efforts:

Air Force C-sUAS effort advances with third contract to Black River Systems

The Air Force awarded another $76 million to a company developing open systems architecture for an Operational Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft System.

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