Friday, April 19, 2024
Friday, April 19, 2024
This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missile replacement effort, the Next Generation Overheard Persistent Infrared satellite program, Navy submarine maintenance and more.
Inside Defense interviewed Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Strategic Deterrent Systems Division, during this week's Air and Space Force Association's Air, Space and Cyber conference:
Northrop runs first wind-tunnel test of Sentinel nuclear missile system
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Air Force's replacement for the ground-based nuclear missile underwent its first wind-tunnel test and is on track to conduct its first flight tests in 2024, according to Northrop Grumman's program manager.
Space Development Agency Director Derek Tournear also spoke at the same conference this week:
SDA director: Next Gen OPIR will be final missile warning satellites in GEO
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Next Generation Overheard Persistent Infrared satellites planned for launch to geosynchronous orbit will be the Space Force's final missile warning and tracking satellites deployed to that layer, according to the director of the Space Development Agency.
. . . as did Space Force acquisition chief Frank Calvelli:
Space Force should 'stop' long-term, cost-plus contracts, Calvelli says
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Space Development Agency’s model of rapid satellite acquisitions is poised to shake up the Space Force's procurement strategy, the service's top acquisition official said today, who heralded SDA's operations ahead of the agency's planned transition into the Space Force next month.
Vice Adm. William Galinis, head of Naval Sea Systems Command, spoke this week at the American Society of Naval Engineers' Fleet Maintenance & Modernization Symposium:
Navy still 'really struggling' with on-time maintenance for Virginia
The Navy continues to be plagued by submarine maintenance delays -- experiencing a "significant growth" in the number of days needed to complete a Virginia-class submarine availability, according to a top service official.
A new Government Accountability Office report discusses the Defense Department's use of other transaction agreements:
Audit finds lack of 'systemic approach' for tracking tens of billions of dollars of OTA awards
A congressional audit of more than $24 billion contracted by the Defense Department using other transaction authorities (OTA) found the Pentagon does not have a systematic approach for tracking which consortia receive awards, limiting the ability of contracting personnel to make informed decisions on how and whether to use consortia-based OTAs.
Document: GAO report on DOD and OTAs