Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Government Accountability Office's latest report on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, plus the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program and more.
A new Government Accountability Office report on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program recommends the Defense Department "evaluates Lockheed Martin's capacity to meet planned deliveries on time; reevaluates the use of incentive fees to better achieve the desired schedule; and expands and formalizes the use of leading practices for product development":
GAO: F-35 remains years behind schedule, billions over budget
A new government watchdog report has found the F-35 aircraft is still years behind schedule and over budget, even as the Defense Department prepares to establish a subprogram to aid in meeting cost, schedule and performance goals. Total program costs are now pegged at over $2 trillion.
Document: GAO report on the F-35 program
The latest cyber defense news from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:
DOD issues class deviation to postpone CMMC requirement from 2020, as final rulemaking clears interagency review
The Defense Department has clarified its plans for the rollout of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program through the release of a class deviation postponing an Oct. 1 compliance requirement for contractors in a 2020 interim final rule put on hold by the Biden administration.
Former ONCD official urges defense industrial base to integrate formal methods to ensure software cyber resilience
Former Office of the National Cyber Director official Anjana Rajan said the defense industrial base should move toward integrating formal methods to prove software is secure from cyber vulnerabilities, as the Defense Department and other agencies look to prioritize efficiencies.
The tug-of-war between two states vying to be the headquarters of U.S. Space Command seems to have been resolved:
Trump: SPACECOM HQ will move to Alabama
U.S. Space Command will move to Huntsville, AL, President Trump announced today, restoring the original plan for the young organization's headquarters.
The Missile Defense Agency issued a solicitation last week seeking "innovative approaches to rapidly demonstrate very low cost (<$750K per missile), modular interceptor designs to counter ballistic and hypersonic threats":
MDA seeks sub-$1M interceptor white papers to flip cost paradigm, deal with mass raids
The Missile Defense Agency is seeking industry proposals for a new class of low-cost interceptors to blunt the threat of massed missile attacks in a new project that aims to develop modular weapons that cost less than $750,000 apiece and can be produced on a compressed schedule to counter ballistic, cruise and hypersonic threats.
Document: MDA's low-cost interceptor solicitation