The INSIDER daily digest -- Nov. 2, 2017

In today's INSIDER Daily Digest, we have the latest on a congressional hearing for Pentagon nominees and contractor earnings.

Mark Esper, tapped to serve as the next Army secretary, appeared on Capitol Hill today to discuss a variety of issues, including the service's modernization efforts:

Esper seeks dramatic changes to Army acquisition

The Army must modernize to ensure its readiness for future conflicts, but cannot achieve this absent a “complete overhaul” of the existing acquisition system, according to the nominee picked to be the next secretary of the service.

More defense contractors issued quarterly earnings data this morning:

CACI, Leidos, Orbital ATK report sales boosts

Several defense contractors today said they saw increased sales during the most recent quarter.

Air Force Lt. Gen. John Shanahan, the director of defense intelligence within the under secretary of defense for intelligence's office, discussed the “Project Maven” effort at a conference yesterday:

'Project Maven' sending first FMV algorithms to warfighters in December

The Pentagon's algorithmic warfare cross-functional team will deliver the first algorithms for automating the processing, exploitation and dissemination of full-motion video data to teams in the Middle East and Africa this December, as the general heading up the project has his sights set on being a “pathfinder” for spreading artificial intelligence technologies throughout the Defense Department.

And lastly, Air Combat Command Chief Gen. Mike Holmes talked about a planned laser demonstration:

ACC chief: USAF planning laser demo on mobility asset prior to fighter jet

ORLANDO, FL -- Following a directed energy summit earlier this year, Air Force leaders have decided to first demonstrate a podded laser on a mobility platform as an interim step toward integrating the capability on a fighter jet.