The INSIDER daily digest -- Oct. 30, 2024

By Thomas Duffy / October 30, 2024 at 1:34 PM

This midweek INSIDER Daily Digest begins with a look to the future of Army combat vehicles, some bad news for taxpayers on Air Force spending, news from the Microelectronics Commons community, and our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity report on zero trust issues.

The Army says its next combat vehicle will be a very big fuel saver:

New Abrams tank will be first hybrid-electric combat vehicle, Army under secretary says

The newest version of the Abrams tank, known as the M1E3, will be the Army’s first hybrid-electric combat vehicle, leveraging lessons learned from the Ukrainian battlefield, a senior defense official said Monday.

The Air Force bought some really expensive soap dispensers:

Air Force overpaid $149,072 for C-17 soap dispensers

Boeing unfairly charged the Air Force for 12 out of 46 C-17 Globemaster spare part items, including a 7,943% markup for lavatory soap dispensers, according to a report the Pentagon's inspector general released today.

The Pentagon expects to release its next set of microelectronics projects late next year:

Next Microelectronics Commons call for projects to come late next year

The Defense Department plans to release the next Microelectronics Commons call for projects at the beginning of fiscal year 2026, a senior defense official said today.

An industry executive discussed how companies can work through zero trust issues:

Microsoft Federal CTO: Civilian agencies should map zero trust work to Navy solution architecture, red teaming efforts

Government leaders plotting the next steps for civilian agencies in their zero trust journey should look to a solution architecture from the Navy as a model for implementation and apply a similar red-teaming approach for assurance, according to Microsoft Federal chief technology officer Steve Faehl.

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