Thursday, April 18, 2024
Thursday, April 18, 2024
In today’s INSIDER Daily Digest, we have the latest on the battle over the defense policy bill, new developments in the F-35 program and remarks from the Navy chief information officer.
First off, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith told reporters this week that Sen. Jim Inhofe’s “skinny bill” proposal is akin to “chickening out’:
Defense policy bill still tangled in debate over Trump’s wall
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said partisan disagreement over how to address President Trump’s use of Pentagon money to fund the construction of a southern border wall continues to be the most contentious issue holding up the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization bill.
A hearing on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter yesterday revealed none of the aircraft variants is hitting maintainability and reliability metrics:
DOT&E: All F-35 variants ‘breaking more often’ and ‘taking longer to fix’
The three variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are “breaking more often” and “taking longer to fix,” according to the Pentagon’s top weapons tester.
At the same hearing, F-35 Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. Eric Fick said the program is working to combine efforts to improve the program’s Autonomic Logistics Information System:
F-35 JPO working to combine ALIS intervention efforts to rearchitect system
The F-35 joint program office plans to “coalesce” by next September four lines of effort aimed at improving the jet’s troubled Autonomic Logistics Information System and is crafting a detailed plan for how to implement the redesigned ALIS.
Aaron Weis, newly tapped as the Navy’s chief information officer, said at an event yesterday the service “can only improve” if given another cybersecurity readiness review:
Navy CIO says he ‘hopes’ for second cybersecurity review
A senior Navy official today said he “hopes” the service will have another cybersecurity readiness review to redeem itself following a largely critical March 2019 report commissioned by the Navy secretary.
Finally, a new report says the president of China has been frustrated with the pace of its military advancements as well as its dependence on foreign suppliers:
U.S. commission report on China cites President Xi's press for cyber warfare capabilities
The congressionally mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission issued its annual report, saying Chinese President Xi Jinping is pressing the military to up its investments in cyber warfare despite progress over the past several years by the People's Liberation Army in developing cyber defensive and offensive capabilities.