Thursday, April 18, 2024
Thursday, April 18, 2024
This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has a scoop on a piece of the Pentagon's COVID-19 spending, plus defense contractors' quarterly earnings and a lot more.
Inside Defense obtained a letter sent by Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord to the Congressional Oversight Commission established to review the $2.2 trillion in COVID-19 stimulus spending:
DOD responds to congressional watchdog on controversial YRC loan
The Defense Department has responded to the inquiries of a special congressional commission in the matter of a controversial pandemic stimulus loan made to a trucking company with connections to the White House, according to a letter obtained by Inside Defense.
Document: DOD's response to congressional watchdog on YRC loan
Our continuing coverage of defense contractors' quarterly earnings:
Contractors warn of uncertainty ahead, but report increased sales
Top contracting executives noted this week the current period -- with surging COVID-19 cases, a continuing resolution and an upcoming election -- is uncertain, but said so far they have been able to maintain sales and profit.
CACI, Oshkosh defense group, others report improved quarterly sales
Less than 1% of CACI International's 23,000 employees have contracted COVID-19, the company's chief executive said today.
The House Armed Services Committee's top Democrat is calling for a rewrite of the National Defense Strategy:
Smith calls for new National Defense Strategy if Biden wins
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) said the current National Defense Strategy places too much emphasis on militarily dominating China and Russia and called on Democrats to rewrite it if former Vice President Joe Biden wins the presidential election.
Some Navy unmanned systems news:
Navy finishing unmanned surface vehicles concept of operations 'in next few months'
The Navy is set to complete and release a concept of operations for the medium and large unmanned surface vehicles in "the next few months," a Navy spokesman told Inside Defense.
With MQ-27 expected to sunset, L3Harris, Martin UAV will demo drone capabilities in Arizona
L3Harris Technologies and Martin UAV will conduct live demonstrations of their unmanned aerial systems later this year at Yuma Proving Ground, AZ, as part of the Pentagon's effort to replace a current drone used by naval special forces for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
Navy shipbuilding news:
Navy's SIOP plans will require two environmental impact statements
Before the Navy can proceed with its plan to revamp the four major public shipyards, the service will have to prepare two environmental impact statements, one for the Hawaii-based shipyard and one for its Washington-based facility.
Force structure review will continue past current analysis, Kilby says
The Navy needs to continue evaluating the future needs of its amphibious force past the current force structure analysis, according to a senior Navy official.
Gillian Bussey, director of the Joint Hypersonic Technology Office, said DOD recently awarded Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne a contract as part of the JHTO's effort to promote advanced-concept development projects, an effort now managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory:
Boeing, AFRL eye dual-mode scramjet design to arm F/A-18s with hypersonic cruise missiles
The Defense Department this week disclosed a significant new hypersonic project that is tailored to potentially outfit naval aviators with an ultrafast cruise missile -- particularly F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters operating from aircraft carriers -- that aims to advance a Boeing concept for a dual-mode scramjet design.
Last but never least, some defense cyber news from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:
DOD rule establishes cyber compliance regime ahead of full CMMC implementation
The Pentagon will require government contractors to submit a self-assessment of their compliance with the 110 controls in National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-171 starting Nov. 30, establishing a new cyber regime for contractors under the Defense Department that will have a wide-ranging impact on the DOD supply chain.