The Insider

Congressional leaders have put forth a bipartisan proposal to extend funding deadlines to avert a partial government shutdown, saying more time is needed to craft a final deal on a fiscal year 2024 appropriations package that is within reach.

The proposal is a stopgap continuing resolution that would stop a partial government shutdown on Friday night by extending funding for several government agencies through March 8.

The proposal would also extend government funding for the Defense Department through March 22. Under the current CR, funding for DOD only runs through March 8.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) released a statement saying the CR extensions are needed to give Congress time to flesh out an FY-24 appropriations agreement that has -- “in principle” -- been struck.

“Negotiators have come to an agreement on six bills: Agriculture-[Food and Drug Administration], Commerce-Justice and Science, Energy and Water Development, Interior, Military Construction-[Veterans Affairs], and Transportation-[Housing and Urban Development],” he said. "After preparing final text, this package of six full-year appropriations bills will be voted on and enacted prior to March 8. These bills will adhere to the Fiscal Responsibility Act discretionary spending limits and January’s topline spending agreement.”

The remaining six bills, which includes funding for DOD, “will be finalized, voted on and enacted prior to March 22," McConnell said.

Meanwhile, President Biden is scheduled to send his FY-25 request to Congress on March 11.

The Navy this week selected technology company Sigma Defense to serve as its "autonomy baseline manager," a role that will help guide the integration of software for autonomous systems across the service, according to a Feb. 26 Pentagon contract announcement.

The $19 million award goes to SOLUTE, a subsidiary of Sigma Defense, which is expected to complete work in February 2025 for this initial one-year base period. The total contract value could reach $59 million with work stretching into 2029 if four additional option years are exercised.

As the autonomy baseline manager, or ABM, the company will support the Navy’s unmanned maritime systems office (PMS 406), performing “oversight and management of autonomous systems development and the associated central software repository for unmanned autonomy artifacts, processes and procedures,” the notice states.

Sigma Defense was one of two companies to bid for the contract, the Pentagon notice states. In a separate company announcement, Sigma Defense describes its new role as supporting the Navy’s development of a network of unmanned platforms by integrating the autonomy software employed by these systems.

“Leveraging its extensive expertise in DevSecOps, Sigma Defense will deliver tools and processes to manage pipelines and integrate autonomous capabilities among unmanned vehicles (UxVs),” the company announcement states. “Specifically, Sigma Defense will employ DevSecOps and agile methodologies using the Rapid Autonomy Integration Lab (RAIL) process, which includes a software factory for continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) of software to UxVs.”

In 2021, Inside Defense reported that the ABM role would be established in conjunction with the Navy’s Rapid Autonomy Integration Lab efforts to help advance the development of a network of autonomous platforms. The Navy hosted two ABM industry days in 2021 before releasing a preselection in September 2022 and an official solicitation in January 2023.

“The Sigma Defense mission is to autonomously connect people, systems and data, and we accomplish that through the development and delivery of software via a proven DevSecOps platform,” said Sigma Defense CEO Matt Jones in a statement included in the company’s release. “Providing integration services for autonomy software for unmanned vehicles under the Autonomy Baseline Manager (ABM) contract is further delivering on our commitment of ensuring decision dominance for NAVSEA.”

Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky will build a tiltwing, hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) demonstrator, the company announced today.

The initiative seeks to achieve “greater than a 500-nautical-mile range at high speed, fewer mechanical systems to reduce complexity and lower maintenance costs,” according to Sikorsky.

Sikorsky Innovations and GE Aerospace are also working on a hybrid-electric power systems testbed with a 600-kilowatt electric motor. The testbed will be used to evaluate the demonstrator, which will weigh a maximum of 9,000 pounds and have a 1.2-megawatt class turbogenerator.

This will be the first in a series of next-generation VTOL aircraft, which will feature “varying degrees of electrification and an advanced autonomy system for optionally piloted flight,” according to Sikorsky.

Sikorsky President Paul Lemmo said in a statement Tuesday that “autonomy and electrification will bring transformational change to flight safety and operational efficiency of large VTOL aircraft.”

“Our HEX demonstrator program will provide valuable insights as we look to a future family of aircraft built to the scale and preferred configurations relevant to commercial and military customers,” he said.

Tuesday’s announcement comes a few weeks after the Army canceled the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program as part of an aviation portfolio restructure, in which Sikorsky had been one of two finalists with competing bids. Sikorsky, which manufactures the Black Hawk, will also see production end for the UH-60V version of that aircraft, the Army announced Feb. 8 as part of the restructure. However, the Army also plans to invest in the newer UH-60M model of the aircraft.

Lt. Gen. Jon Jensen, director of the Army National Guard, ordered an aviation stand down of all Guard helicopter units Feb. 26 following two Apache helicopter crashes this month, the Guard announced today.

AH-64D Apache helicopters crashed in Utah Feb. 12, and Mississippi Feb. 23, the latter of which killed two pilots. The two crashes led the Guard to ground all helicopters “for safety reasons,” according to the service. The stand down will allow the units to review safety policies and procedures.

Jensen said in a statement Tuesday that “safety is always at the top of our minds. We will stand down to ensure all of our crews are prepared as well as possible for whatever they’re asked to do.”

In April 2023, then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville ordered a 24-hour aviation stand down following two helicopter crashes that killed 12 soldiers.

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Army force structure cuts, the Space Development Agency's struggles with the continuing resolution, Army arctic units and more.

The Army's top uniformed and civilian officials spoke this morning at a Defense Writers Group breakfast:

Army making thousands of force structure cuts to support modernization

The Army is cutting 24,000 authorizations, or spaces, to make way for 7,500 new spaces that will support a series of new capabilities the service aims to implement, service leaders announced today.

The ongoing stopgap spending measure continues to wreak havoc on various defense acquisition programs, most recently affecting the Space Development Agency:

Two SDA programs put on hold during CR

Two of the Space Development Agency's programs are on hold until Congress can pass a fiscal year 2024 budget, threatening the outfit's timeline for satellite launches, Director Derek Tournear said today.

Army Maj. Gen. Brian Eifler, commanding general of the 11th Airborne Division, based in Alaska, spoke with reporters this week:

Arctic units ready as fighting force and provide 'credible deterrent,' general says

Exercises show that the Army's arctic units are a "credible deterrent" and ready for large-scale conflicts in winter conditions, according to the unit's commanding general.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin recently spoke about the restructuring he has planned for his service:

Air Force wants to send whole units into combat, not just individual airmen

DENVER -- The Air Force is changing the way it presents units to the Defense Department's 11 combatant commands as part of a massive structural overhaul announced earlier this month at the Air and Space Forces Association's Warfare Symposium.

Our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity have the latest on the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program:

Comment period closes for proposed rule to implement Pentagon's CMMC program

The Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program enters a new stage this week with the end of the public comment period for a massive, proposed rulemaking that sets up parameters to implement the long-awaited initiative.

The Pentagon has concluded in an internal review that there was no "ill intent or an attempt to obfuscate" in how senior officials and staff handled the secrecy surrounding Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's hospitalization last month, releasing an unclassified summary today of key events and observations intended to improve the department's "transfer of authorities" and notification processes.

The classified review covers the period between Jan. 1 and Jan. 5 in which Austin was hospitalized for complications following surgery to treat prostate cancer. A key focus of the review was to evaluate the processes and procedures through which Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was notified that she would be assuming Austin’s duties due to his medical absence.

The review found that Hicks was “at all times positioned” to perform Austin’s duties while he was hospitalized.

Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, told reporters today that “there was no gap in terms of when the transfer of authorities occurred.”

“There was never any gap in authorities of command and control,” he said.

Additionally, the 30-day review “focused on understanding the facts and evaluating the processes and procedures in place at the time to inform recommendations on process improvements, including relating to notifications,” the unclassified summary states.

Austin has been the target of significant criticism, especially from congressional Republicans, following news of his hospitalization as he did not notify President Biden, the White House National Security Council or Congress.

The internal review, which is separate from an ongoing Pentagon inspector general investigation, is unlikely to end the political controversy around the matter as Austin, who has apologized for how he handled the situation, is scheduled to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday. Some lawmakers on the committee have called for his resignation over the incident.

The internal review itself has also been criticized by congressional Republicans as it was directed by Austin’s chief of staff Kelly Magsamen, who herself has been criticized by lawmakers for not notifying the White House and congressional defense committees.

The full review, which is classified, makes eight specific recommendations, while the unclassified summary attempts to provide “context” for the incident, noting Austin’s staff was “limited in three significant ways” when it came to notifying the White House and the public about his condition.

“First, medical privacy laws prohibited medical providers from candid sharing of medical information with the secretary’s staff,” the summary states. “Second, for privacy reasons, his staff were hesitant to pry or share any information that they did learn. Third, the secretary’s medical situation remained in flux and as long as he remained in the Critical Care Unit, timely secured communications could not be assured.”

The review summary states that in “hindsight” the department’s “process for making decisions to transfer the secretary’s authority could and should be improved.”

The summary states that “nothing examined during this review demonstrated any indication of ill intent or an attempt to obfuscate.”

The Navy has awarded shipbuilder HII a contract modification worth approximately $1.2 billion for the engineering overhaul of the Los Angeles-class submarine Boise (SSN-764), according to a Pentagon contract announcement.

Boise has been sidelined since 2017, with the fast-attack submarine awaiting its overhaul while the Navy worked to dig its way out of a maintenance backlog. A series of delays prevented Boise from beginning its maintenance availability at Naval Station Norfolk, a public shipyard.

The Feb. 23 award clears the way for HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding to begin work on the submarine, with the overhaul expected to be finished by September 2029.

In March 2023, a Navy spokesperson told Inside Defense the vessel was undergoing early production work at Newport News to support the overhaul.

During an October hearing, then-Naval Submarine Forces Commander Adm. William Houston told lawmakers that maintenance backlogs pose the greatest challenge to submarine fleet readiness.

The Navy improved submarine operational availability from a rate of 60% to 66% within the past year, Houston said at the time, and is leveraging ongoing investments in both public and private infrastructure to achieve further improvements. The service is on track to reach an 80% operational availability rate for its attack submarines by late 2027 or early 2028, he said.