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The Navy plans to hold an industry day for a new missile program -- the Naval Modular Missile -- this fall, introducing industry to a next-generation initiative that will focus on multimission flexibility, enhanced capacity and a modular open architecture.

Naval Sea Systems Command will hold the industry day Oct. 21-22 at the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD, where the NMM will be introduced to industry partners and more details on the program’s acquisition strategy will be shared, according to a recent government notice.

“The goal is to identify performers to support the development of a dynamic, multimission Family of Missiles (FOM) that will enhance naval lethality and operational flexibility,” the notice states.

According to the notice, NMM will be made up of a long-range hypersonic variant and scalable configurations, multiple weapons in a single launcher cell, and will be created through a collaborative approach with the U.S. Air Force to begin an open government-reference architecture. This will allow “industry to develop and integrate best-of-breed solutions -- from individual components to the All-Up-Round,” the notice states.

There will be a high-level presentation of the program and its top-level requirements, a Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems program overview, an open architecture discussion and Q&A and feedback sessions.

The Navy plans to release several Request for Proposals in fiscal year 2026, the notice adds. It is seeking participation from non-traditional defense contractors and small businesses, and parties interested in attending the industry day must respond by Oct. 3.

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Pentagon's Joint Fires Network battle management system, the White House's fiscal year 2027 research and development priorities for all federal agencies and more.

We start off with coverage from this week's Air and Space Force Association's Air, Space, Cyber conference:

Air Force C3BM office taking over Joint Fires Network, other programs of record

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Pentagon's Joint Fires Network battle management system is transferring to the Air Force's Command, Control, Communication and Battle Management office next week, a senior service official said, but much of the JFN process will be the same.

Space Force creating Objective Force, Future Operational Environment documents

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Space Force is developing two reports to guide the service's long-term planning through 2040, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said today.

Saltzman: Pentagon in 'generational moment' to improve acquisition process

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Defense Department is in the midst of a "generational moment" to reshape the acquisition process to deliver more effective capabilities more quickly, according to Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman.

A White House memo realigns the fiscal year 2027 federal research and development portfolio "to serve its core purposes: driving economic growth and high-wage employment for all Americans, promoting high quality of life, and ensuring U.S. leadership in critical sectors to our national security":

White House's FY-27 R&D plan highlights areas of DOD interest

The Trump administration today released its fiscal year 2027 research and development priorities for all federal agencies, highlighting several focus areas that have already attracted sustained attention from senior Pentagon leaders.

Document: OMB memo on FY-27 R&D budget priorities

Our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity covered the testimony of the Trump administration's nominee to be the next Pentagon chief information officer:

DOD CIO nominee Davies identifies opportunities for realignment to meet zero-trust goals

Defense Department Chief Information Officer nominee Kirsten Davies highlighted the importance of reaching zero-trust implementation goals set out by the Pentagon and plans to address gaps if confirmed, in response to questions submitted in advance of her recent confirmation hearing.

Document: Senate hearing on DOD IG, CIO, R&E, SOLIC nominations

The Marine Corps today announced plans to officially establish an initiative intended to identify and adopt artificial intelligence-enabled decision-making tools in a bid to accelerate force modernization and increase the service's contribution to Pentagon-wide, combined joint all-domain command and control (CJADC2) efforts.

Dubbed Project Dynamis, the initiative will run in partnership with the Navy’s Project Overmatch. It was initiated via a memorandum signed Sept. 10 by Assistant Commandant Gen. Christopher Mahoney.

According to the announcement, Project Dynamis is aligned with the service’s larger force design initiative and has “a specific focus on developing end-to-end, joint interoperable capabilities that enable Marines to act as the forward element of the Joint Force -- sensing, making sense, and communicating weapons quality data at the speed and scale of relevance.”

Mahoney’s memo directs the establishment of a three-star council to oversee the initiative, consisting of the deputy commandant for combat development and integration and the deputy commandant for information. This council is tasked with delivering an initial plan and a “charter for governance, organization, authorities, and responsibilities” within 30 days.

The council has also been directed to coordinate with the assistant Navy secretary for research, development and acquisition to designate a Marine Corps deputy direct report program manager within Project Overmatch.

According to the service’s announcement, Col. Arlon Smith has been appointed as the Director for Project Dynamis.

“As Marines, our ability to aggregate, orchestrate, analyze and share fused data at machine speeds is a warfighting imperative,” Smith said in a statement in the release. “It is central to our value proposition. Project Dynamis is our bid for success to realize that vision.”

The Army is hosting an industry event at the end of the month to assess the level of ability and interest in what is geared up to be the service's first program of record for directed energy.

The Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office will host the event in Huntsville, AL, on Sept. 30 to give a production requirement overview and glean feedback on the Enduring High Energy Laser (E-HEL) program, according to a special notice posted today.

The program is planned to kick off in fiscal year 2026, wherein E-HEL will start “development, test and evaluation, systems engineering and program management,” according to Army budget books, while at the same time continuing directed energy development “to support modular, palletized and maneuverable capabilities.”

The Army has researched directed-energy capabilities for decades, but recently it has homed in on employing it specifically for short-range air defense to counter the rise in drones swarming the skies.

The Army’s capability office in June conducted a live-fire exercise at Ft. Sill, OK, centered around taking out drones using directed-energy prototypes alongside the Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) system.

The exercise was designed to see how directed-energy systems pair with kinetic systems like M-SHORAD, an Army release said -- but RCCTO has also developed a directed-energy variant of M-SHORAD, or DE M-SHORAD, which entails mounting a 50-kilowatt directed energy onto a Stryker vehicle.

“Now that we have delivered directed-energy capabilities to the Army we are developing and maturing the domains of policy, doctrine, organization, training and personnel to employ the capability optimally,” Col. Steven Gutierrez, RCCTO project manager for directed energy, said in a statement following the testing in June.

RCCTO earlier this month also received two Infantry Squad Vehicles fitted with AeroVironment’s LOCUST directed energy weapon system for prototyping under the Army Multi-Purpose High Energy Laster (AMP-HEL) prototyping program.

LOCUST offers a 20 kw-class laser for air defense, according to the company, and next month AeroVironment will deliver the system integrated into two Joint Light Tactical Vehicles.

RCCTO is expected to put out a request for information with a draft statement of work before the industry day, according to the notice; to attend companies must reply by the end of the day Sept. 26.

U.S. Central Command is launching a task force aimed at rapidly delivering innovative capabilities to deployed forces, according to a new announcement.

The Rapid Employment Joint Task Force (REJTF), to be led by CENTCOM’s chief technology officer, will fast-track processes to equip deployed forces with novel capabilities, the combatant command said today.

“Our goal is to rapidly deliver innovation,” CENTCOM CTO Joy Shanaberger said, “meaning putting combat-credible capability into the hands of our warfighters in 60 days or less.”

The new team will also align existing efforts from service components to accelerate the delivery of cutting-edge capabilities into warfighter hands and support Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s July directive to establish military drone dominance, according to CENTCOM.

The task force will focus innovation initiatives across three focus areas -- capability, software and tech diplomacy -- which CENTCOM said would build on previous work from service-component task forces.

Those teams -- like the Air Force’s Task Force 99 and the Navy’s Task Force 59 -- mostly focus on technology capabilities to counter uncrewed systems across their relative domains.

Aside from Shanaberger, the team would also include experts in resourcing, evaluations, information systems, data integration, acquisition, integration and logistics, the notice said.

The announcement comes a week after U.S. and Saudi forces completed Red Sands -- a live-fire counter-drone exercise in the Middle East, which CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper said demonstrated how working with regional partners to innovate and adapt “is more critical than ever.”

Brent Ingraham was sworn in as the Army's next assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology Monday, the service announced in a news release.

Ingraham was nominated for the role in April and appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee in late June.

The Senate confirmed Ingraham Sept. 18 by a 51-47 vote that was along party lines, with two senators not voting, according to a congressional notice.

In advance policy questions sent to the committee prior to his June 26 hearing, Ingraham wrote that Army requirements must be “agile, flexible and adaptable,” as opposed to being so prescriptive that they tie acquisition programs to “unachievable or outdated technology.”

Ingraham also said he would ensure requirements are properly vetted for cost, schedule and performance risks, and use a series of acquisition panels to ensure this is adhered to.

Ingraham’s answers to the committee echoed service Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and Secretary Dan Driscoll’s calls to get away from long-term programs of record and divest from technology that is no longer relevant on the battlefield.

Ingraham most recently had been performing the duties of deputy under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, in which he handled matters “pertaining to acquisition, contract administration, logistics and materiel readiness, installations and environment, operational energy” as well as other areas, according to the Army. Prior to that role, he served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for platform and weapon portfolio management, in which he managed “major platforms and weapons capability portfolios,” across the Pentagon.

As acquisition chief, Ingraham will oversee more than 550 acquisition programs totaling about $170 billion. He succeeds Jesse Tolleson Jr, who had been serving in the role in an acting capacity during the Trump administration, and Doug Bush, who served as acquisition chief during the Biden administration.

Raytheon has completed a major review of a new Advanced Electronic Warfare prototype for the Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, that comes as the Navy prepares to test prototype systems in fiscal year 2026.

The prototype, or ADVEW, will replace electronic warfare systems currently in place on Super Hornets across the fleet, increasing the aircraft’s overall defensive capabilities and survivability, according to a company news release today.

In 2023, the Navy awarded Raytheon $80 million to create an ADVEW prototype to replace the existing AN/ALQ-214 integrated defensive electronic countermeasure and the AN/ALR-67(V) 3 radar warning receiver, according to another company announcement.

Raytheon is currently in competition with L3Harris Technologies for the final contract. In November 2024, L3Harris announced it had completed critical hardware checks and capability demonstrations for its own version of the technology.

According to FY-26 budget justification documents, the cost of ADVEW’s Middle Tier of Acquisition effort totals $179 million -- including research, development, test and evaluation of prototype units.

"Our ADVEW prototype continues to showcase significant progress in both hardware and software that will improve the aircraft's ability to detect and counter electronic threats," Daniel Theisen, president of advanced products and solutions at Raytheon, said in the announcement. "We are on track with our fast-paced schedule and will continue developing the system to meet all necessary requirements on the U.S. Navy's accelerated fielding timeline."

Raytheon also recently completed a test plan working group that ensures ADVEW’s in-flight performance is coordinated and streamlined, the release added.

The Super Hornet fleet is in the process of aging and is set to stop production by 2027. The Navy’s next-gen fighter -- F/A-XX -- is the planned successor to the Super Hornet, though questions currently surround the Navy’s commitment to the program.