The INSIDER daily digest -- Sept. 12, 2024

By John Liang / September 12, 2024 at 2:19 PM

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Anduril unveiling a new family of cruise missiles, a couple of Space Force missile warning programs passing certain reviews and more.

Anduril today unveiled a new family of cruise missiles:

Anduril debuts new family of autonomous cruise missiles as a low-cost and 'mass-producible' option

Anduril Industries today unveiled its new "Barracuda" strain of software-defined, air-breathing cruise missiles that are described as similar in performance to one-way drones but would cost significantly less than comparable systems and be easy to build at scale, according to company officials.

The Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Polar and Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution programs both passed certain reviews late last month, a significant step toward fielding the capabilities:

Next Gen OPIR Polar and FORGE pass critical design review

Two of the Space Force's missile warning programs have completed ground-critical design and system-critical integration reviews, Space Systems Command announced today.

DIU awarded the agreements in January to vendors Ditto, Syntiant and HarperDB, who “demonstrated project capabilities” in line with its Common Operational Database initiative:

DIU awards three prototypes for uncrewed Navy platform operations

The Defense Innovation Unit announced today that three prototype agreements were awarded to vendors earlier this year for commercial technology meant to enable a database that allows uncrewed Navy systems to "operate effectively in disconnected, denied intermittent and/or limited bandwidth environments."

The National Industry Security Program -- a partnership between federal agencies and the private sector aimed at safeguarding classified information -- allows agencies to evaluate the foreign ownership, control or influence (FOCI) of an entity seeking partnership with or contracts and awards provided by the federal government:

DOD seeks to adopt NISP process to better assess foreign ownership risks

The Pentagon is seeking to adopt a process used across the federal government to collect information on the foreign ownership of entities seeking government contracts, arguing the move would create more consistency in efforts to evaluate foreign interest-related risks, according to a Federal Register notice scheduled to be published tomorrow.

Facing financial constraints imposed by the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act, the Air Force in FY-25 sought to slash its planned buy of MH-139s nearly in half, from 80 to 42 helicopters:

Air Force to 'buy back' 14 Grey Wolf helos starting in FY-26, lessening Nunn-McCurdy breach

The Air Force will narrowly reduce cost growth for its MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter program from "critical" to "significant" status as the Pentagon allows the service to purchase additional aircraft in the fiscal year 2026 budget "to support mission requirements," according to a recent Selected Acquisition Report.

Document: DOD modernized SAR on the Air Force's Grey Wolf program

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