The INSIDER daily digest -- Nov. 21, 2019

By John Liang / November 21, 2019 at 2:14 PM

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news from the head of Air Force Materiel Command, the Air Force's "vanguard" technologies, the Pentagon's proposed cybersecurity certification program and more.

The head of Air Force Materiel Command spoke this morning at a Defense Writers Group breakfast:

Air Force identifies three 'vanguard' technologies

The Air Force has confirmed its first three "vanguard" programs are Golden Horde, Skyborg and Navigation Technology Satellite-3 -- all of which are demonstrating revolutionary technology the service wants to quickly transition into programs of record.

"Palletized munitions" is something the Air Force is looking into:

Air Force leaders considering research into 'palletized munitions'

The Air Force's strategic development planning and experimentation office says it's exploring the possibility of a small proof-of-concept effort to examine the feasibility of a "palletized munitions" concept.

Pentagon acquisition officials held a closed-door meeting this week with industry representatives on establishing a contractor cybersecurity certification program:

Pentagon sets December date for MOU talks on accrediting auditors under cyber certification plan

The Defense Department is planning a December meeting to begin discussions with industry and standards-writing groups on a binding agreement to establish an accreditation body for auditors under a landmark cybersecurity certification program that the Pentagon expects to be "operational" by January.

Inside Defense recently interviewed Air Force Col. Jennifer Krolikowski, senior materiel leader for the Space Command-and-Control program:

Space C2 lead wants to beat FY-22 target date for SPADOC shutdown

The Air Force is required to shut down its legacy Space Defense Operations Center by fiscal year 2022, but the official leading an effort to replace the outdated system with a new, open architecture command-and-control capability is aiming to beat that time line.

In case you missed it yesterday, we have a story on the Pentagon vastly decreasing the security clearance backlog:

Security agency aims to speed up background investigations as backlog drops

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency has continued to put a dent in the background investigations backlog, as the case inventory is nearing the point at which federal officials believe they should start to achieve "timeliness" goals for completing investigations.

Document: NISSPAC meeting briefing slides

205563