The Insider

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Sentinel nuclear missile program's cost, the Air Force pondering whether to keep older F-22 fighter aircraft and more.

We start off with more coverage of the Sentinel ICBM system's ballooning costs:

Lawmakers criticize Sentinel's ballooning cost

Lawmakers overseeing the Defense Department are criticizing the management of the Sentinel nuclear missile program as the price tag has jumped to $140.9 billion, but many still support the Pentagon's decision to continue the acquisition effort.

The head of the Air Force's Air Combat Command spoke at a Mitchell Institution event this week:

ACC chief wants to keep aging F-22s, says NGAD down select will happen this year

Air Force Air Combat Command boss Gen. Ken Wilsbach says the service has no official plan to replace its fleet of F-22 Raptors, despite leaders for years saying a replacement would be the Next Generation Air Dominance system.

More coverage of the Senate Armed Services Committee's fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill, including language on missile defense, Navy autonomous systems and the nuclear-armed, sea-launched missile program:

Draft bill eyes 'comprehensive integrated' domestic air and missile defense architecture

Draft legislation would require the Pentagon to develop a "comprehensive" integrated architecture to defend the United States against all missile types -- ballistic, cruise and hypersonic -- and assign an official responsibility for identifying the collection of radar, command and control and guided missiles or non-kinetic systems.

Senate policy bill pushes Navy to develop 'dual-modality' autonomous systems

The Senate version of the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill directs the Navy to invest in developing "dual-modality" autonomous systems, authorizing an $18 million addition to the service's research and development budget to experiment with up to seven uncrewed vehicles.

Senate authorizers signal strong support for nuclear-armed, sea-launched missile

Senate authorizers are pushing the nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile program forward, with a new provision that would limit the Navy secretary's travel if certain steps are not taken to further establish the program.

Last but by no means least, the latest on the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program:

Pentagon final rule to establish CMMC program remains on track for November release

The Defense Department plans to finalize in November its first final rule for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program amending Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations, according to the latest unified agenda and regulatory plan.

The Office of Management and Budget director and the national cyber director said that fiscal year 2026 agency budget submissions for cybersecurity investment priorities should align with the five pillars outlined in the National Cybersecurity Strategy.

The five pillars outlined in the strategy, which aims to advance the U.S.’s cybersecurity posture, are defending critical infrastructure, disrupting and dismantling threat actors, shaping market forces to drive security and resilience, investing in a resilient future and forging international partnerships to pursue shared goals.

“Sustained investments across these five pillars are critical to mitigate cybersecurity risks and should be addressed within the FY 2026 Budget guidance levels provided by OMB,” Shalanda Young, OMB director, and Harry Coker, national cyber director, said in a memo released yesterday detailing budget submission details.

Across the pillars, budget submissions should look towards modernizing federal defenses, scaling public-private collaboration, improving baseline cybersecurity requirements, improving open source software security and sustainability, countering cybercrime to defeat adversaries, securing software development and leveraging federal procurement to improve accountability, leveraging federal grants and other incentives to build in security, strengthening the cyber workforce, preparing for the post-quantum future and securing the technical foundation of the internet.

“The administration is committed to data-driven decision-making and departments and agencies are expected to incorporate performance measurement strategies into resource requests in order to build visibility in requested activities and allow effective measurement of investments,” the memo, which was sent to all executive department and agency heads, said.

During FY-26 budget submissions, OMB and the Office of the National Cyber Director will review agency responses regarding these priorities together and then identify possible gaps and find solutions to said gaps.

“OMB, in coordination with ONCD, will provide feedback to agencies on whether their submissions adequately address and are consistent with overall cybersecurity strategy and policy, aiding agencies’ multiyear planning through the regular budget process,” the memo said.

The bulk of this Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest centers on coverage of the Senate Armed Services Committee's fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill.

Before we get to the bill though, we have coverage of the NATO summit being held this week in Washington:

Hicks calls for multinational procurement efforts at NATO summit

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks called for a multinational surge in defense industrial capacity procurement at a NATO summit today amid officials' discussions of Ukrainian aid pledges.

Moving on to the authorization bill, let's start off with the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program:

Senate authorizers raise concerns over DOD's CMMC program

The Senate Armed Services Committee outlined its concerns over the implementation of the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program and the upcoming launch of version 2.0 in the report accompanying its version of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill.

The bill also has ground vehicle provisions:

Senate authorizers want to know when Army will field protection systems for combat vehicles

Senate authorizers want to know when the Army plans to field active protection systems that would make combat vehicles more survivable against threats on the future battlefield.

Senate authorizers want Army to finish humvee rollover prevention program five years early

Senate authorizers are asking the Army to speed up a program that retrofits humvees with kits designed to prevent rollovers and increase the survivability five years ahead of schedule.

. . . Along with unmanned systems language:

Senate defense authorization bill seeks proposal for UAS budget line 'consolidation'

Senate authorizers are asking the Army secretary to submit a proposal for "consolidating" funding lines related to small unmanned systems, according to the Senate version of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill.

MQ-25 early manufacturing effort needs nearly $50 million capital injection

The Navy's MQ-25 Stingray needs an immediate $50 million cash infusion to prop up early engineering and manufacturing development efforts, a 22% increase compared to service plans for the Boeing-led project to deliver a first-ever operational uncrewed aircraft to the aircraft carrier fleet.

. . . Plus Navy shipbuilding provisions:

Senate authorizers take aim at frigate and LSM design maturity standards

Senate authorizers aim to raise shipbuilding design maturity standards with their version of the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill, which would fence procurement funding for the Navy’s Landing Ship Medium and Constellation-class frigate until ship designs satisfy heightened maturity requirements.

. . . As well as Army night vision gear:

Senate authorizers propose steep cuts to embattled Army night vision program

Senate authorizers, in their version of the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill, have proposed cutting most of the procurement funding requested by the Army in the upcoming fiscal year for its Integrated Visual Augmentation System.

Ukraine's military will begin flying operational F-16 fighter jets later this summer, according to a joint statement from the White House, Denmark and the Netherlands.

The Danish and Dutch governments are giving the country the jets with support from the United States, according to the statement, and Belgium and Norway have committed to supplying more aircraft.

President Joe Biden, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof are co-leaders of the Air Force Capability Coalition for Ukraine.

“We are committed to further enhancing Ukraine’s air capabilities, which will include squadrons of modern fourth-generation F-16 multirole aircraft,” the co-leaders said. “The coalition intends to support their sustainment and armament as well as further associated training for pilots to enhance operational effectiveness.”

Military support for Ukraine as it continues its more than two-year battle against Russia’s invasion is a key issue for NATO leaders as they meet this week in Washington, DC.

Ukrainian pilots began training on F-16s in the U.S. last year.

Many lawmakers last year urged DOD to send U.S. F-16s to Ukraine, but the Biden administration and allied countries hesitated to provide the jets.

Last week, the Defense Department announced the most recent aid package to Ukraine: $2.3 billion for air defense interceptors and other capabilities.

The Defense Department inspector general's office will assess the Navy's efforts to recapitalize its sealift fleet, according to a memo released Tuesday.

The office will specifically evaluate the effectiveness of service life extensions, acquisition of used vessels and new vessel construction, yet the memo adds that the office may revise its objectives as the evaluation proceeds.

Evaluation at the Navy, U.S. Transportation Command, Military Sealift Command and the Transportation Department’s Maritime Administration will begin this month.

The announcement follows discussion and legislative proposals surrounding sealift recapitalization, including an amendment in the House’s defense policy bill that would codify and update sealift capacity-focused National Security Directive 28.

The Senate Armed Services Committee also released its version of the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill Monday, which calls for strategic sealift modernization. Senate authorizers require “a better understanding of the existing cargo ship market, including vessels that might be available for purchase, and how new ships from the U.S. Navy’s long-range shipbuilding plans and purchases of used vessels will meet our strategic sealift needs,” the bill’s committee report notes.

Senate authorizers have also directed the TRANSCOM commander to brief congressional defense committees no later than Jan. 31, 2025, on several sealift issues, including the market for used cargo ships and long-term plans for new ship construction.

The Navy brought forward a sealift legislative proposal in May that would allow the service to buy foreign, used vessels. In a House Armed Services Committee Navy budget hearing that month, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti detailed several sealift capacity solutions, calling the function “critically important.”

“We’ve already bought a number of ships and we are projected to buy up to nine, which is our limit, so we have a legislative proposal in there to remove that limit, so we can continue to do that,” she told lawmakers at the time.

Senate appropriators are preparing to mark up a defense spending bill that exceeds the caps mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act by $21 billion through "emergency funding."

A Capitol Hill staffer said the increase will accompany a $13.5 billion boost in non-defense emergency spending.

The increase is being characterized as “emergency funding” and not in violation of the FRA.

Meanwhile, the House has approved a defense appropriations bill that sticks to the FRA cap of $895 billion for national defense, with $850 billion specifically for the Defense Department.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), per her office, confirmed the $21 billion defense increase for reporters yesterday.

“We came up with about $21 billion, so we got remarkably close to the amount that the authorizing committee recommended,” she said.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has filed a bill that would break the defense cap by $25 billion.

Collins characterized the non-defense increase sought by Democrats as “emergency funding.”

“This will be emergency funding so it will not break the caps, and I believe it will allow us to fulfill our obligations to the people of this country,” she said.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI) and Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) filed the fiscal year 2025 defense authorization bill today.

The bill supports a total of $923 billion in national defense spending, breaking the cap mandated by the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act by about $25 billion. The bill authorizes $878 billion for the Defense Department and $33 billion for the Energy Department, with about $11.5 billion being out of the legislation’s jurisdiction.

The advancement of the bill, which does not match the FRA-aligned topline sought by the House, will be closely watched on the Senate floor, especially since Reed voted against it during committee deliberations, citing concerns about how it might pressure Senate appropriators to break the FRA.

The bill, among numerous other things, authorizes increased funding to build a second Virginia-class submarine as well as an additional $1.43 billion for a third Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, which stands in contrast to House authorizers and appropriators whose bills only fund two ships.

The bill does not change the Pentagon’s request for 68 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, though House authorizers are looking to cut 10 jets and House appropriators seek to procure an additional eight jets.