The INSIDER daily digest -- Nov. 29, 2023

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on House and Senate conferees gathering to negotiate the fiscal year 2024 defense policy bill, a DARPA award for using diamonds to reduce heat in transistors and more.

House and Senate conferees have begun their annual negotiations to come up with the new defense policy bill:

Bipartisan lawmakers express need for compromise for defense policy bill, amidst varying party interests

House and Senate bipartisan lawmakers spoke about their commitment to passing the fiscal year 2024 defense authorization bill today despite varying priorities both parties have during a "pass the gavel" ceremony today.

Related:

House, Senate lawmakers to 'pass the gavel,' kicking off defense policy bill negotiations

Senior members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees will meet Wednesday for a "pass the gavel" ceremony that formally begins bicameral negotiations on the annual defense authorization bill that will likely lead to clashes over key Pentagon policies and programs.

RTX subsidiary Raytheon recently announced the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency had awarded the radar maker a four-year, $15 million contract "to increase the electronic capability of radio frequency with high-power-density gallium nitride transistors":

New atomic-scale cooling technology could unleash more powerful radar, radios, EW systems

The Defense Department is reaching for a next-generation microelectronics advancement that promises order-of-magnitude improvements for radar, communications and electronic warfare systems by using diamonds to reduce heat in transistors, awarding Raytheon an applied research contract to demonstrate the efficacy of such novel cooling technology.

The Army recently released a market survey seeking to develop the XM123 Ground Obstacle Breaching Lane Neutralizer (GOBLN), a mine and obstacle clearing system designed to "to maintain a high operational tempo through the reduction of non-explosive and explosive obstacles":

Army looking to make breaching vehicles 'more reliable and effective'

The Army wants to make its obstacle breaching vehicles "more reliable and effective" on the battlefield, according to a public announcement last week.

Space Systems Command's Space Sensing Resilient missile warning, tracking and defense program office will now begin to manufacture six space vehicles for delivery which are scheduled to lift off in late 2026:

SSC completes CDR of first MEO missile warning and tracking system

Space Systems Command today announced it has completed the critical design review of Epoch 1 space vehicles, the Space Force's first medium Earth orbit missile warning and tracking system.