The Insider

The INSIDER daily digest -- May 23, 2025
By John Liang
May 23, 2025 at 1:44 PM

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Pentagon's plan to ring Guam with a state-of-the-art missile defense architecture, plus additional coverage of the proposed Golden Dome system and more.

A new Government Accountability Office report finds that while the Defense Department has made structural and organizational progress in launching the Guam Defense System (GDS) -- a multibillion-dollar effort intended to provide 360-degree defense against Chinese missile threats -- it still lacks the most basic building blocks needed to sustain the project: a fully defined strategy, a clear chain of responsibility and an accurate count of troops who will be stationed on the island to operate the system:

Missile shield for Guam faces organizational gaps, GAO warns in damning report

The Pentagon's ambitious plan to ring Guam with a state-of-the-art missile defense system is running into fundamental obstacles that could delay or disrupt the project's completion, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

Document: GAO report on Guam BMD

More missile defense news:

MDA unveils $151 billion SHIELD plan to advance Golden Dome

The Missile Defense Agency has unveiled plans for a contract vehicle that could reshape the future of U.S. missile defense, outlining a $151 billion procurement framework to field next-generation capabilities across nearly every dimension of the enterprise.

The Space Force issued Axient -- now part of Astrion -- a stop-work order on the Resilient GPS program in January, service spokeswoman Laura McAndrews confirmed this week. Meanwhile, Astranis, Sierra Space and L3Harris successfully completed design concept reviews:

Three vendors complete R-GPS reviews, Space Force drops one from contract

Three vendors for the Space Force's Resilient GPS effort have successfully completed design concept reviews, a service spokeswoman told Inside Defense, while one contractor was removed from the program.

The Army's top uniformed and civilian officials have mapped out the timeline of the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program:

Army leaders mulling 'wartime footing' for aggressive scale-up of FLRAA program

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has announced an ambitious new timeline for the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program that, if successful, would yield two dozen MV-75 prototypes in two years.

More Army helicopter news:

Army aviation official says he expects FVL CFT to be consolidated with CDID

NASHVILLE, TN -- With the Army's recently announced impending merger of Army Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command, the Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team will likely be consolidated into its respective Capability Development Integration Directorate (CDID), a service aviation official told Inside Defense last week at the Army Aviation Association of America conference.

(Read our full Quad-A coverage.)

Army wants LASSO in IBCTs to give formations long-range fires capabilities
By Dan Schere
May 23, 2025 at 11:05 AM

Army officials believe its Infantry Brigade Combat Teams are "at risk of failing to achieve tactical overmatch" against peer adversaries' armored vehicles, targets and enemy fire. To address that concern, the service this week issued a call for solutions for Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO).

LASSO is a “man-portable, tube-launched, lethal payload munition, unmanned aerial system” that came out of a directed requirement for lethal unmanned systems Army Futures Command leader Gen. James Rainey approved in 2022. The Army had requested new-start authority to begin buying the systems in fiscal year 2025, including $120 million in its request to buy 31 semi-autonomous LASSO UAS in the Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility, Inside Defense previously reported.

More recently, Army senior leadership issued its transformation initiative on May 1 at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which calls for the transition of all IBCTs to Mobile Brigade Combat Teams to “improve mobility and lethality in a leaner formation.”

In the May 20 call for solutions, the Army states LASSO is required due to a “lack of adequate proportional organic capabilities to apply immediate, point long-range fire with minimal collateral damage” in complex terrain.

The notice also states IBCTs currently do not have the ability to pass information between sensors and “organic direct/indirect fire precision effect systems,” or deconflict and engage targets. LASSO will resolve these problems by extending “engagement ranges” while allowing “seamless communications and target hand-off abilities,” it states.

The Army aims to mature the LASSO program with a number of capabilities, including:

  • Integrated common control
  • Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) principles
  • Reduced size, weight and power
  • Build in resiliency and survivability
  • Antiarmor munitions

Supplementary documents included in the notice state the LASSO system must be launchable “within a variety of strong head and cross wind conditions” and have the ability to transmit payloads at various altitudes above sea level.

Solution briefs are due to the government by July 3. The Army is asking that all test hardware be delivered within 365 days, and within 18 months systems must show “some level of modularity and MOSA compliance.”

Army to spend up to $423 million for 24 more Paladin howitzers
By Dominic Minadeo
May 22, 2025 at 5:03 PM

The Army has ordered 24 additional M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzer systems from BAE Systems in an undefinitized contract with a ceiling of $423 million, according to a recent Pentagon contract announcement.

The order, announced May 21, is for 24 “sets” of the system, meaning the Army will receive two dozen Paladins paired with the same number of its ammunition-carrying companion, the M992A3 vehicle, a BAE spokesperson told Inside Defense.

And while $423 million is the ceiling for the contract, $214 million in procurement funds from fiscal year 2024 and FY-25 have already hit the vendor’s coffers, according to the announcement, listed on the Defense Department website.

The upfront dollars are “so that they can order things like long-lead materials” far before beginning production, the spokesperson said; the Army lists July 31, 2028 as its estimate for contract fulfillment, with work taking place at a slew of BAE facilities across the United States: York, PA, Sterling Heights, MI, Aiken, SC, Elgin, OK and Anniston, AL.

The M109A7 and M992A3 are part of the Paladin Integrated Management program, designed as upgraded systems to replace the M109A6 self-propelled howitzer and M992A2 munition supply vehicle, which are part of the M109 Family of Vehicles.

The Army requested $417 million for FY-25 for 20 sets of the M109A7 and M992A3 pair under the PIM line-item; congressional appropriators, under the yearlong continuing resolution, added $150.8 million on top of that, which brings the number up to $568.6 million for FY-25.

Pentagon surges Palantir Maven Smart System contract spending to more than $1B
By Theresa Maher
May 22, 2025 at 3:44 PM

Just under a year in, the Pentagon is set to increase spending on an initial $480 million contract to deploy Palantir's Maven Smart System prototype across combatant commands, bringing the total agreement to a value of nearly $1.3 billion.

The contract modification, which the Defense Department announced yesterday, will tack an additional $795 million onto the agreement struck at the end of May 2024. The timeline remains the same, though, with the estimated completion date for late May 2029.

The announcement comes just over seven months after Shannon Clark, Palantir head of defense growth, told Inside Defense about the growing demand for MSS prototype adoption following initial deployment across the COCOMs, which gave way to a separate, Army-led $99.8 million contract for the company to expand its availability beyond the COCOMs.

MSS is part of the ecosystem that makes up National Geospatial Agency’s program of record, Project Maven, which is meant to allow users to scan the battlefield to predict, screen and counter threat activity.

SOFWERX 'Drone in a Box' competition opens for submissions
By Theresa Maher
May 22, 2025 at 2:54 PM

U.S. Special Operations Command's innovation platform opened submissions yesterday for its competition to identify modular, adaptable and scalable solutions for flexible and responsive intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to be used on uncrewed ground and aerial systems.

The request for submissions is the second phase in the “Drone in a Box” competition, hosted by SOFWERX in collaboration with SOCOM’s program executive office for tactical information systems. Participants selected during this portion will be invited to participate in the contest’s culminating assessment event.

The submissions window -- which will close June 11 -- follows an April collaboration event allowing interested participants to interact with warfighters and gain further insight into the operational needs an ideal solution would fulfill, according to the contract opportunity notice.

SOCOM is seeking assembly packages consisting of swappable parts and components like modular frames, propulsion systems, sensors, payloads, power and energy modules, control and navigation systems and communication systems. At a maximum weight of 55 pounds, the “Drone in a Box” would allow operators to rapidly adjust systems to meet changing mission requirements, including tasks like area surveillance, target tracking and damage evaluation. These capabilities would support both Group 1 and Group 2 drones as well as small uncrewed ground systems.

Selected participants would attend the assessment event in mid-July, where they will meet one-on-one with a SOCOM evaluation panel to pitch, demonstrate and discuss their solutions, with a question-and-answer portion. Award negotiations could begin immediately following a favorable evaluation from the panel, SOFWERX said.

Assessment criteria include the following, according to supplemental material from SOFWERX:

  • Two soldiers carrying backpacks must be able to transport the entire system, including drone(s), ground control system, batteries and accessories.
  • Reliable operation in “harsh environmental conditions” such as dust, moisture, vibration and extreme temperatures.
  • Compliance with legislation prohibiting procurement of equipment, systems and system components sourced in China.
  • 256-bit encryption of all radio communication between uncrewed systems and ground control systems.
  • A primary payload enabling day and night vision, electro-optical and infrared camera.
  • A design with a modular open system architecture.
  • Ability to integrate with modular payloads including laser designation, communications, camera, signal intelligence and dropped effects as well as compliance with SOCOM Modular Payload Standard.
  • A single ground control station for all system operations.

SOCOM will down select submissions received and send invitations in late June for the assessment event, SOFWERX said.

The INSIDER daily digest -- May 22, 2025
By John Liang
May 22, 2025 at 1:49 PM

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Space Force's Resilient GPS effort, the Army's Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program and more.

The Space Force issued Axient -- now part of Astrion -- a stop-work order on the Resilient GPS program in January, service spokeswoman Laura McAndrews confirmed this week. Meanwhile, Astranis, Sierra Space and L3Harris successfully completed design concept reviews:

Three vendors complete R-GPS reviews, Space Force drops one from contract

Three vendors for the Space Force's Resilient GPS effort have successfully completed design concept reviews, a service spokeswoman told Inside Defense, while one contractor was removed from the program.

The Army's top uniformed and civilian officials have mapped out the timeline of the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program:

Army leaders mulling 'wartime footing' for aggressive scale-up of FLRAA program

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has announced an ambitious new timeline for the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program that, if successful, would yield two dozen MV-75 prototypes in two years.

We have more coverage from last week's Army Aviation Association of America conference:

Army aviation official says he expects FVL CFT to be consolidated with CDID

NASHVILLE, TN -- With the Army's recently announced impending merger of Army Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command, the Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team will likely be consolidated into its respective Capability Development Integration Directorate (CDID), a service aviation official told Inside Defense last week at the Army Aviation Association of America conference.

(Read our full Quad-A coverage.)

On May 21, the Missile Defense Agency published a pre-solicitation notice stating its Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense effort will be competed on a full and open basis, with the government planning to make awards to all offerors with technically acceptable proposals:

MDA unveils $151 billion SHIELD plan to advance Golden Dome

The Missile Defense Agency has unveiled plans for a contract vehicle that could reshape the future of U.S. missile defense, outlining a $151 billion procurement framework to field next-generation capabilities across nearly every dimension of the enterprise.

Several contractors are vying for a piece of the Marine Corps' Landing Ship Medium pie:

Construction of Marine Corps' Ancillary Surface Craft to begin this summer

Contractors Birdon and C&C Marine and Repair are set to begin production of two prototype vessels designed to carry gear and personnel and perform beach landings under a contract with the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory linked to the service's Landing Ship Medium and interim bridging solution efforts.

Driscoll suggests Army can take a page from Silicon Valley business model
By Dan Schere
May 22, 2025 at 11:32 AM

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll thinks the Army could take a lesson from Silicon Valley when it comes to how the service does business.

Driscoll, speaking Thursday at an event hosted by Axios in Washington, recalled visiting Applied Intuition’s headquarters in California about seven weeks ago along with Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George. The secretary and chief told company officials they would provide the company with a humvee or Infantry Squad Vehicle and asked them to “make it look cool.”

“We got them a vehicle. Ten days later they sent us a video. Fully autonomous, they had linked it with their drone network, it was awesome,” Driscoll said. “Two days later, we had a carrier there, and we took these new vehicles. We drove them to our training units. Our soldiers from start to finish within 25 days are testing these things and sending us videos of whether it works or not.”

Driscoll said Thursday that the Army must reward companies that deliver products soldiers “like and need,” by incentivizing them to innovate.

“That’s the place where Silicon Valley and a lot of these venture-backed businesses have figured out what minimum viable product means and what it means to get it in the hands of your customer and learn from them,” he said.

Since coming into the job about three months ago, Driscoll has made a series of appearances on television shows and podcasts in which he has emphasized the Army has been a poor customer in the past and must get away from parochial interests. On Thursday, Driscoll used the recent humvee cancellation as an example of how the Army must change how it does business.

“We then have to ship that humvee to a depot in somebody’s state, and get antilock brakes put on it, and then ship it back, and then the humvee just sits on the sideline,” he said.

“I think that system has just created very bad behavior in a lot of the companies in the defense space. And so, what I mean by that is, any company who continues to operate that way and optimize their resources not to innovation, not to what the American soldier needs to stay safe, I hope they go out of business.”

House appropriators to mark up defense bill June 13
By Tony Bertuca
May 21, 2025 at 5:05 PM

The House Appropriations Committee will meet June 13 to mark up its version of the fiscal year 2026 defense spending bill.

The committee’s defense panel will meet in a classified session on June 10 to do its work on the bill. The White House, meanwhile, has yet to submit a detailed FY-26 budget request but appropriators have said during committee hearings that it might be some time in early June.

Meanwhile, senior GOP appropriators say they are displeased with the Trump administration’s FY-26 "skinny" defense spending request, which names a topline that would not keep pace with inflation if not for its reliance on separate budget reconciliation legislation that would bring the total defense budget to $1 trillion.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) has said he is worried the White House’s use of a one-time reconciliation bill to increase defense spending will mean "creating a cliff out there for somebody, whoever the next president is going to be, and that's a very dangerous thing to do."

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has defended the FY-26 request and the administration’s use of reconciliation, noting that the yet-to-be-passed bill would help increase defense spending by 13%.

“The American people are asking us to be very judicious with their taxpayer resources . . . 13% is a very, very healthy increase and we want to make sure this is going toward capabilities that DOD needs,” he said.

Air Force to award a classified contract to modify Qatari 747 for presidential airlift
By Vanessa Montalbano
May 21, 2025 at 3:30 PM

The Air Force is "preparing to" award a contract to begin the enormous modifications necessary to transform a Boeing 747 aircraft from Qatar into a platform usable for U.S. executive airlift, according to a service spokesperson.

Other details related to the contract will remain classified, the Air Force spokesperson told Inside Defense.

The contract revelation comes on the same day the Pentagon accepted the luxury jet as a gift from Qatar “in accordance with all federal rules and regulations,” chief DOD spokesman Sean Parnell said in an emailed statement.

“The Department of Defense will work to ensure proper security measures and functional mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the president of the United States,” Parnell added.

Speaking at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the service has started to plan for modifications to turn the Qatari aircraft into the next Air Force One.

The highly technical security modifications would likely cost more than $1 billion and be paid for through the Air Force budget, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said during the hearing, citing experts.

It is unclear how the service will shuffle its already constrained budget to make room for the new charge.

“They’re giving the United States Air Force a jet, OK, and it’s a great thing,” President Trump said today in response to reporter questions at the White House. Democrats and some Republicans have raised ethics and national security concerns about the prospect of equipping the foreign-owned aircraft for presidential airlift.

“So -- they could help us out because we need an Air Force One,” the president added.

Boeing has been working to deliver two VC-25B jets to replace current Air Force One aircraft since Trump’s first administration. But that program has faced delays due to developmental challenges and likely won’t be in the hands of the Air Force until at least 2027, the company recently indicated.

“Two of them are being built, but Boeing’s a little bit late unfortunately,” Trump said today, defending the administration’s decision to accept the 747 as a donation from Qatar.

The INSIDER daily digest -- May 21, 2025
By John Liang
May 21, 2025 at 2:37 PM

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Marine Corps looking at alternatives to the Landing Ship Medium, the Army's second iteration of its "transforming in contact," or TiC, series of exercises, the cancellation of the Gray Eagle uncrewed aircraft system and more.

We start off with coverage of contractors vying for a piece of the Marine Corps' Landing Ship Medium pie:

Construction of Marine Corps' Ancillary Surface Craft to begin this summer

Contractors Birdon and C&C Marine and Repair are set to begin production of two prototype vessels designed to carry gear and personnel and perform beach landings under a contract with the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory linked to the service's Landing Ship Medium and interim bridging solution efforts.

The Army's 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division is currently deployed to the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany to participate in exercise Combined Resolve 25-02, which focuses on the use of counter UAS and electronic warfare:

TiC 2.0 unit incorporates 3D printing of drones into recent exercise in Germany

As the Army begins its second iteration of its "transforming in contact," or TiC, series of exercises, soldiers have begun testing out the performance of unmanned systems they've assembled themselves while deployed overseas.

The cancellation of the Gray Eagle uncrewed aircraft system was a big topic of conversation at the recent Army Aviation Association of America summit:

Questions remain after Gray Eagle cancellation

The Army's announcement this month that it will cancel its Gray Eagle program has sparked questions about when the platform will be dropped from the force, how it impacts other capabilities and what's going to replace it.

(Read our full Quad-A coverage.)

The proposed Golden Dome missile defense system should be fully operational by the end of President Trump's term:

Trump launches Golden Dome rush from the White House

President Trump, flanked in the Oval Office by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and several GOP senators, promised a huge windfall for U.S. defense companies as he officially launched the new Golden Dome program, naming a top Space Force general to manage the ambitious missile defense system, which he predicted would be complete in three years for a total cost of $175 billion.

The Air Force's top uniformed officer discussed the problem-plagued KC-46 airborne refueling tanker program on Capitol Hill this week:

Allvin: Only about half of the KC-46 fleet is actually available

The beleaguered KC-46 Pegasus fleet has an availability rate around 51%, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said today, pointing to efforts between the service and Boeing to resolve several persistent problems on the aircraft.

Document: Air Force's FY-26 posture statement

Hegseth taps DOD's top spokesman to run Afghanistan review
By Tony Bertuca
May 20, 2025 at 2:55 PM

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said today that after a three-month review of the actions related to the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan and the deadly Kabul airport suicide bombing that killed 13 servicemembers, he has determined an even more "comprehensive review" is needed and should be overseen by Sean Parnell, his chief spokesman and adviser.

In a new memo released on X, Hegseth, referencing the Aug. 26, 2021, suicide attack at the Kabul International Airport’s Abbey Gate, wrote DOD has spent the past three months reviewing “this catastrophic event in our military's history.”

However, he has “concluded that we need to conduct a comprehensive review to ensure that accountability for this event is met and that the complete picture is provided to the American people.”

Hegseth has appointed Parnell, the assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, to convene a “Special Review Panel” that will “thoroughly examine previous investigations, to include but not limited to, findings of fact, sources, witnesses and analyze the decision making that led to one of America's darkest and deadliest international moments.”

The first Trump administration arranged the terms of a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan before leaving office, though it was the administration of former President Biden that executed the exit, facing harsh criticism for the chaos and violence surrounding Kabul’s rapid fall to the Taliban amid the departure of U.S. forces.

Several reviews of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan have already taken place, including by the State Department, the GOP majority of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Defense Department’s inspector general.

Hegseth, without providing further details in his memo, said Parnell’s new Special Review Panel “will ensure ACCOUNTABILTY to the American people and the warfighters of our great Nation.”

Navy asks industry for small UUV technology
By Abby Shepherd
May 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM

The Navy is seeking more unmanned underwater vehicle technology, asking industry members to come forward with commercial-off-the-shelf products that could be included under a small UUV program of record.

The request for information, posted Monday, asks that industry members submit a description of their technology and the technical readiness level, adding that rapid fielding of the technology requires a TRL of seven as a minimum.

A small UUV is defined as less than 45 inches in length and less than 200 pounds. The Navy is aiming for industry options to include a UUV that can have at least an eight-hour endurance at three knots, is able to operate down to 300 meters in depth, and that has a modular open system architecture.

Additionally, the UUV should be capable of encrypted data storage, object detection, recognition, avoidance, and redirection, and equipped with navigation that utilizes global positioning and inertial navigation.

Responses to the RFI are due June 30.

The INSIDER daily digest -- May 20, 2025
By John Liang
May 20, 2025 at 1:29 PM

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Qatar's proposed donation of a Boeing jumbo jet to the United States as the next Air Force One, the Marine Corps wanting to own the data rights to future weapon systems and more.

The Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing this morning on the Air Force's fiscal year 2026 posture, during which Air Force One was a topic of discussion:

Hegseth orders Air Force to plan modifications to Qatari jet for Air Force One

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Air Force to plan modifications to turn a Qatari-owned jumbo jet into the next Air Force One aircraft, service Secretary Troy Meink disclosed today.

Document: Air Force's FY-26 posture statement

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith spoke this week at a Council on Foreign Relations event:

Smith: Marine Corps must own data rights for platforms like F-35

The Marine Corps must own the technical data rights for the platforms it operates, the service's top officer said yesterday, describing a situation in which a forward-based F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was sidelined while the contractor delivered a replacement component that could have been 3D printed onsite in a fraction of the time.

The program executive office for command, control, communications and network (PEO C3N) published a commercial solutions opening (CSO) on Friday that lays out steps for companies to enter prototype projects for Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2), the Army's wholesale network modernization program that requires "continuous iteration of flexible requirements" through contracts with quick turnarounds:

Army to award three OTAs for NGC2 prototype projects

The Army will soon select up to three companies to deliver prototypes for its next-generation network under a competitive solicitation that may lead to a variety of projects leveraging industry's mature technology, according to a May 16 announcement.

Rather than the initial "white glove way" the Defense Innovation Unit had been vetting uncrewed aerial systems and components for clearance on the "Blue List," DIU Director Doug Beck told lawmakers the most basic tier will now enable companies to "pursue and fund their own [National Defense Authorization Act] compliance assessments with trusted partners" selected by DIU:

New DIU drone vetting process to include outside tests to hasten approvals

The new two-tiered structure for the Defense Innovation Unit's program to pre-approve dual-use drones for military use will use third-party assessments to enable the acceleration and scaling of compliance evaluations, the agency announced Friday.

On May 16, the Missile Defense Agency announced an award for deliveries of the SM-3 Block IB All-Up Rounds through March 2031, using procurement funds from fiscal years 2024 and 2025:

MDA awards $1B for SM-3 Block IB as Golden Dome prompts rethink of missile inventory

The Pentagon has awarded Raytheon Technologies a $1 billion contract to produce up to 55 Standard Missile-3 Block IB interceptors, a move that comes as defense leaders reconsider the future of the combat-tested interceptor -- slated for a production sunset -- amid growing demands from the emerging Golden Dome domestic missile defense architecture.

New SECAF to receive first Sentinel ICBM brief Friday
By Shelley K. Mesch
May 20, 2025 at 12:55 PM

Recently sworn-in Air Force Secretary Troy Meink will receive his first briefing Friday on the beleaguered LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program, which is in the midst of a major restructuring.

“The fifth day into the job, I will be having my first deep dive into the Sentinel program,” he said today at a Senate Armed Services Committee posture hearing.

The nuclear missile modernization effort, which is set to replace the Cold War-era Minuteman III system, breached the “critical” cost growth threshold last year, leading the Defense Department to rescind the milestone B decision and order the Air Force to reassess the structure and requirements of the program.

“Obviously the Nunn-McCurdy led to some restructuring on the program,” he said. “What exactly that’s going to be, I’ll be working with the team, and I’m happy to get back to the committee when I get more detail on that.”

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) urged Meink to quickly find a solution for the program to prevent any more cost growth that would be related to delays.

“I also don’t want to see the Air Force choose to raid Sentinel budget lines to pay for other programs because the Air Force has delayed milestone B decisions,” she said.

DIU to team up with UAE tech council
By Theresa Maher
May 20, 2025 at 11:45 AM

The Defense Innovation Unit and the United Arab Emirates' Tawazun Council signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday, signaling an agreement to strengthen defense technology cooperation.

The MOU follows the signing of a letter of intent by United States and UAE military leadership to establish a new “major defense partnership,” which would see DIU in charge of facilitating potential investments in the co-development of defense technologies, according to an earlier Pentagon announcement.

The U.S.-UAE agreement resembles one the United States signed with India in 2016, most recently updated in September 2024. Like the India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X), the collaboration with the UAE will include bilateral prize challenges to address shared warfighter needs and lowering barriers for start-ups looking to access test and evaluation infrastructure.

“We are building a global network by fostering collaboration to stay ahead of emerging threats,” DIU Director Doug Beck said. “By co-developing technologies, converging national security and private sector expertise, and onboarding non-traditional companies, we are accelerating the integration of commercial technologies into the defense market.”