Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
This Monday INSIDER Daily Digest has news from the first day of the annual AFA Air, Space and Cyber Conference, Army lasers and more.
We start off with our initial coverage of this year's AFA Air, Space and Cyber Conference:
L3Harris, Embraer enter KC-Z consideration with KC-390 tanker
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- L3Harris Technologies and Brazilian aerospace company Embraer are offering a jointly developed KC-390 Millennium as a new tanker for the Air Force’s consideration, aiming to break into the U.S. military air refueling market as the service looks to field a new generation of aircraft, the two companies announced today.
Lockheed Martin recently delivered to the office of the under secretary of defense for research and engineering the most powerful laser the company has ever built: an electric 300 kW-class laser designed for tactical operations:
U.S. military receives first of three planned 300-kilowatt lasers, Army integration begins
The U.S. military has taken ownership of a prototype 300-kilowatt laser -- the first of three different variants of a high-energy weapon with cruise-missile killing power -- marking a key milestone in the Defense Department program to scale up directed-energy technology.
Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Joseph Clearfield spoke recently at an event hosted by Defense One:
Clearfield: Partnerships crucial to preserving peace in the Indo-Pacific
Maintaining strong partnerships with allied nations is integral to maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, according to the Marine Corps' deputy commander of Pacific forces.
The latest from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:
DOD, DOJ urge FCC to take action on internet routing system protocol security risks
The Defense and Justice departments are urging the Federal Communications Commission to move forward with work to secure the Border Gateway Protocol in a new filing, which explains associated national security risks and argues against using a voluntary approach to address vulnerabilities.
The Navy wants to decommission nine monohull, Freedom-variant LCS in its fiscal year 2023 budget request, which have faced challenges with anti-submarine warfare capability and drive trains, raising the question of whether mission packages will be left without a host LCS:
Navy: LCS mission package funding not 'hull-specific'
Despite the Navy's proposed early retirement of nine Littoral Combat Ships, the program's mission packages, aimed to provide modularity and flexibility for the ship class, are not dependent on the number of LCS in the fleet.
In case you missed it, check out our deep dive into the government's effort to renew the Small Business Innovation Research program and its effects on the defense industry:
SBIR faces down-to-the-wire program reauthorization
With two weeks remaining until the Small Business Innovation Research effort is set to expire, congressional negotiations surrounding a potential standalone reauthorization plan -- characterized by a keen interest in front-end changes to the decades-old program -- are getting down to the wire.