The Insider

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on uncrewed aircraft systems being developed by both the Defense Innovation Unit and Marine Corps along with the Pentagon seeking accessible government data and more.

The Blue UAS program, which began in 2020 in response to legislation in the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act prohibiting Defense Department procurement of foreign-made UAS, aims to accelerate and scale the prototyping phase of reliable commercial UAS technology:

DIU updates Blue UAS program, adding new systems

After receiving user feedback, the Defense Innovation Unit has updated its Blue Uncrewed Aerial System program, including adding approved capabilities to its "Blue List," increasing the program's framework options and reducing update approval time through consistent software monitoring.

Open DAGIR, which stands for Open Data and Application Government Owned Interoperable Repositories, is meant to be a multivendor ecosystem that purchases the infrastructure needed so the government can own its data, procures enterprise licenses for mature applications and creates a competitive environment for future software development, according to the Defense Department:

CDAO announces new 'Open DAGIR' approach to government and industry data collaboration

The Chief Digital Artificial Intelligence Office today announced its intent to embark on a new approach to accessible government data and a smoother acquisition process for digital capabilities through enterprise-level contracts and licenses called Open DAGIR.

In fiscal year 2023, contractors Kaman and Leidos secured rapid prototyping contracts to develop solutions for the Medium Aerial Resupply Vehicle-Expeditionary Logistics program, solutions which are scheduled to be test-flown in July:

Marine Corps prepares for July flight test of mid-sized logistics drones

The Marine Corps is preparing for an initial "fly-off" test that will evaluate two drone prototypes competing for a future program of record that will field a medium-size uncrewed aircraft system to deliver supplies to forward-deployed forces.

A House lawmaker is planning to introduce an amendment to the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill that would require the placement of Apache helicopters at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, MI, if the bill is passed by both the House and Senate:

Michigan congressman wants Apache helicopters for Selfridge Air National Guard Base

Without a clear commitment from the Air Force to replace retiring A-10 Thunderbolt IIs at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, MI, with another fighter mission, a Michigan congressman is now asking the Army to deliver AH-64E Apache helicopters to the installation, according to documents shared exclusively with Inside Defense.

Document: Lawmaker's letter on basing Apaches at Selfridge

The chief executive of HII spoke this week about how his company is working to bolster its labor force:

HII CEO talks bolstering workforce, fighting back against delays

Labor is shipbuilder HII’s “biggest risk,” CEO Chris Kastner said Wednesday, and the company is implementing several programs and incentives to mitigate this -- amid a decline in the company’s workforce following the COVID-19 pandemic.

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on HII's efforts to bolster its labor force, the Army's Maven Smart System prototype, the Air Force's Sentinel ICBM program and more.

The chief executive of HII talked yesterday about how his company is working to bolster its labor force:

HII CEO talks bolstering workforce, fighting back against delays

Labor is shipbuilder HII’s “biggest risk,” CEO Chris Kastner said Wednesday, and the company is implementing several programs and incentives to mitigate this -- amid a decline in the company’s workforce following the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. Army Contracting Command in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, led the “firm-fixed-price” contract for the Maven Smart System prototype, which is meant to allow users to scan the battlefield to predict, screen and counter threat activity:

Army awards $480M contract to Palantir for Maven Smart System prototype

Palantir has received a $480 million contract to supply the Army with its Maven Smart System prototype, the Defense Department announced yesterday.

The House Armed Services Committee’s Chairman’s mark of the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill would authorize the Air Force's modification of its in-service aircraft request for $55 million in FY-25 for SLP-A, which is considered a Sentinel capability improvement, according to Air Force budget documents:

Sentinel SLP-A finds FY-25 new-start backing in draft legislation

The Air Force has secured backing in draft legislation for new-start procurement authorization in fiscal year 2025 of the Secondary Launch Platform-Airborne (SLP-A) for the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program, even as the Pentagon works to revise the program in the wake of cost growth that triggered a statutory acquisition review.

Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Pat Fallon (R-TX) have proposed an amendment that would task the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment and the director of the Office of Strategic Capital with forming a new dual-use technology program:

Bipartisan amendment seeks pilot program to accelerate DOD technology buys

A proposed bipartisan amendment to the House version of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill seeks to establish a pilot program at the Pentagon to incentivize new investment in dual-use military technologies.

A liquid hypersonic engine currently under development can maneuver objects in orbit without fully depleting its propellant store, making it a key defense technology ready for use against Russian and Chinese anti-satellite systems:

Ursa Major tests liquid hypersonic engine, drawing combatant command and PEO interest

Ursa Major has announced it has "hot fire" tested Draper -- its developmental liquid hypersonic engine -- over 50 times since March, meeting the project's 12-month timeline through a contract with the Air Force Research Lab, noting new interest from a U.S. combatant command and a program executive office.

A new Defense Department inspector general's report determines "whether the Army effectively managed contractor execution of storage, maintenance, and accountability requirements for Army Prepositioned Stock–5 equipment in accordance with Federal and DOD regulations and whether Army contracting officials reviewed and approved invoices to verify contractor‑reported costs before payment":

DOD IG: Army delivered inoperable equipment to units in Middle East

Army units deployed in Europe and the Middle East received inoperable equipment after being stored in poor environmental conditions, impacting their mission readiness, according to an audit report from the Defense Department's inspector general.

Document: DOD IG audit of Army's management of prepositioned stock-5 equipment

The Air Force is asking industry whether it can construct a sturdy shelter fit to protect F-15E Strike Eagles from small unmanned aerial systems, according to a request for information posted today.

“Small Unmanned Aerial Systems disrupt airfield operations and agencies have limited response capabilities due to restrictions on countermeasures posed by the Federal Aviation Administration,” the service said in the solicitation. The FAA bars the Pentagon from using kinetic means within the homeland airspace to protect the nation's bases, systems and other infrastructure.

The new passive barriers, which are needed to “prevent a Group 1 or Group 2 sUAS from making physical contact with an F-15E Strike Eagle using commercial-off-the-shelf material,” will be tacked onto existing Big Top Shelters, or fabric structures already built to store the jets and other assets.

Any material selected will need to be strong enough to stop one or more 55-pound drones traveling 125 miles-per-hour, the posting stated, and any gaps in the material or design should not be larger than six inches.

These kinds of barriers typically have no moving parts but can deter threats by absorbing energy caused by impact and transferring it to the structure’s foundation. The Air Force said in the request the chosen material should be flame-retardant, low-weight and able to be swiftly opened or closed. Likewise, the F-15E housed inside “needs to be tightly secured in both open and closed positions,” the service said.

Wednesday’s announcement doesn't necessarily indicate the government is committed to purchasing the barriers.

“All interested firms should submit a capabilities package that outlines the firm’s capabilities in providing the required services. The capabilities package should be brief and concise, yet clearly demonstrate an ability to meet the stated requirements,” the service said in the posting. “After reviewing all packages, firms will be contacted about the possibility and interest of conducting an onsite demonstration of their capabilities on an actual shelter.”

The notice comes as the Air Force and other services are working to bolster military bases against a growing mass of low-cost and attritable threats from foreign adversaries. A senior defense official told reporters on May 8 there are about two to three random instances per week of drones flying near U.S. military bases in America. These have not necessarily been nefarious, the official said at the time, and are more likely to be hobbyists. But, they said, these kinds of incursions are still a cause for concern.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is moving ahead with an effort to develop small, ship-launched drones, clearing six companies to advance their designs into a 10-month maturation phase, according to a May 22 agency announcement.

DARPA began this effort, dubbed the advanced aircraft infrastructure-less launch and recovery (ANCILLARY) program, in 2023 when it selected nine contractors for an initial concept design phase to develop autonomous vertical takeoff and landing ‘X-planes’ with Navy and Marine Corps missions in mind.

This initial crop of contractors has now been narrowed down to six competitors -- AeroVironment, Griffon Aerospace, Karem Aircraft, Method Aeronautics, Northrop Grumman and Sikorsky.

Design maturation efforts will focus on “reducing system risks through refined higher-fidelity design and analysis and by conducting component and configuration hover testing,” according to the announcement.

At the conclusion of this 10-month phase, the companies will submit competitive proposals for phase II of the effort, consisting of detailed design, fabrication and flight testing, the notice continues. X-plane flight testing is expected to begin in early 2026.

“The goal of ANCILLARY is to increase small vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) uncrewed aerial system (UAS) capabilities by a factor of three over the current state-of-the-art flying today,” said program manager Steve Komadina in a statement included in the release.

“Our performers are searching for innovative ways to increase payload weight and range/endurance of small, ship-launched UAS by means of novel configurations, propulsion and controls while also removing the need for special infrastructure,” Komadina’s statement continued.

The drones are intended to be deployed and retrieved from Navy ships without large, mechanical launchers or recovery equipment. They will take off and land vertically while carrying “significant payload,” DARPA’s notice adds.

According to a separate notice from AeroVironment announcing the company’s progression into the next program phase, DARPA is targeting a 450-nautical-mile mission radius, over 12 hours of endurance and a 60-pound payload capacity for the system.

While the resulting UAS is intended mostly for use in Navy and Marine Corps missions, other service branches including the Army and Air Force are also interested in the technology for logistics and offensive strike missions, according to DARPA’s notice.

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the drafting of an updated missile defense management policy, defense contractor M&A legislation, the tribulations of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and more.

The Defense Department is in the final stages of drafting an updated missile defense management policy:

New MDA charter being finalized as statutory deadline to rescind 2020 DTM approaches

The Pentagon is finalizing a new update of seminal missile defense governance policy mandated by law to replace a controversial memorandum advanced during the Trump administration that curtailed the Missile Defense Agency's autonomy by elevating approval authority for key activities to senior Defense Department officials.

A House lawmaker last week tried to include several military contractor mergers and acquisitions-related amendments in the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill:

Lawmaker targets defense company mergers and acquisitions

Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA) successfully included an amendment in the House Armed Services Committee's version of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill that would require the Pentagon to provide lawmakers a report outlining its goals to increase oversight of defense company mergers and acquisitions, though he tried to do more.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle slammed Lockheed Martin last week for allegedly allowing the more than $2 trillion Joint Strike Fighter program to go off track and, ultimately, hamstringing the operational capabilities of the warfighter:

Lawmakers are fed up with Lockheed Martin's handling of F-35

The House Armed Services Committee is willing to "impose consequences" on Lockheed Martin if the company isn't able to swiftly remedy compounding issues causing delays in software development and deliveries of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a senior congressional aide told Inside Defense on Thursday.

New zero-trust policy guidance has been released by the National Security Agency:

NSA provides steps to secure applications, workloads under DOD zero-trust model

The National Security Agency has published guidance on how to protect applications and workloads from unauthorized access, as part of a series focused on supporting adoption of the Pentagon's zero-trust model across national security systems, the Defense Department and the defense industrial base.

House authorizers last week adopted proposals on improving the cybersecurity of mobile devices used within DOD and allowing the military services "to accept voluntary and uncompensated services from civilian cybersecurity experts to train servicemembers on technical matters":

House defense policy bill advances with measures addressing vulnerability disclosure, critical infrastructure

The House Armed Services Committee added amendments to the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill in a mark-up session requiring federal contractors to have a vulnerability disclosure policy and ordering studies from the Pentagon on critical infrastructure threats.

Oshkosh has received a $108.9 million contract to build medium tactical trucks for the Army, the Defense Department announced Friday.

Issued as a firm-fixed-price contract, the Wisconsin-based company will build the family of medium tactical vehicles (FMTV) by an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2026, with funding and work locations being determined with each order, the May 24 announcement reads.

Performing 55% of the Army’s haul and resupply missions, the FMTV includes cargo, recovery and tractor variants on a six-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive chassis, according to Army budget documents.

In January, the Army announced an order of 1,343 FMTV A2s, an upgraded variant with a more powerful engine, and increased armor that can carry heavier payloads when compared to the earlier A1 variant.

Earlier variants of the FMTV can carry the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which the Army is also testing on the A2 variant, according to service research and development documents.

In its 2023 report, the Director for Operational Test and Evaluation concluded the FMTV is effective and survivable but recommended the Army eliminate secondary hazards after finding that crew members experienced strain, discomfort and blunt force injuries.

The Army intends to procure 208 trucks in fiscal year 2025 for $134 million and 695 trucks by FY-29 for an approximate $446 million, the budget documents add.

Earlier this month, the House Armed Services Committee approved the Army’s $134 million request to fund the FMTV program for FY-25.

Oshkosh also manufactures the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck and the M1070 tank transporter.