The Insider

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

The Army has handed Lockheed Martin $26 million to lead a team to scale the service's next-generation network to the division level.

The Army announced yesterday that Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems won an other transaction agreement under a commercial solutions opening from the command, control, communications and network (C3N) program office, which first published the CSO in May.

The OTA will last 16 months and should yield an integrated data layer for the 25th Infantry Division in support of the Army’s Next Generation Command and Control program, according to a Sept. 2 service release.

Lockheed plans to harness its own command-and-control, engineering and project management work as well as taking advantage of technology from other, nontraditional companies like Raft and Hypergiant Industries to help scale, according to the company’s own release.

“By encouraging companies to self-organize and team with each other and enabling them to integrate and solve these problems directly with the operational force, we will be able to rapidly and continuously improve the command-and-control capabilities we deliver to soldiers,” Joseph Welch, deputy to the commanding general at Army Futures Command, said in a statement.

That comes after the service awarded Anduril a $100 million OTA in July to lead its own team designed to scale up the NGC2 architecture for the 4th Infantry Division in time for next year’s Project Convergence Capstone 6 test event, Inside Defense previously reported.

“The pace at which we are moving with NGC2, both in terms of contracting and getting the equipment into the hands of soldiers, is exceptional and laser-focused on making our formations faster and more lethal,” Brig. Gen. Shane Taylor, the program officer for C3N, said in a statement. “The NGC2 CSO is one way we are transforming our acquisition approaches to drive continuous competition and equip Soldiers with technologies that will win in the future fight.”

Anduril’s team has a focus on delivering its prototype architecture within a “technology stack,” while Lockheed homes in on the integrated data layer, according to the Army’s release.

The CSO that PEO C3N released in May announced the Army could end up selecting three winners for OTAs to kick off prototyping projects. The service plans to use the lessons learned from prototyping with the two infantry divisions to inform how to apply NGC2 to heavy and light units.

“This isn’t the end of competition, this is the beginning,” Welch said. “Through these two industry team lead agreements, we’ll evaluate different models for shared responsibility and aligned incentives during the NGC2 prototyping phase.”

This post-Labor Day INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Navy's F/A-XX fighter aircraft program, the Pentagon's critical technology areas list, the Army's Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor and more.

We start off with a deep dive into the future of the Navy's F/A-XX fighter aircraft program:

Congress presses Navy on F/A-XX's cloudy future; White House questions industry's capacity

Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA) -- whose congressional district encompasses the Navy's East Coast Master Jet Base -- says a next-generation fighter will be essential to counter China, but she is questioning the service's current commitment to F/A-XX.

Just because the Pentagon's critical technology areas list has been shortened doesn't mean it's lost any importance:

Pentagon S&T chief: Critical tech list trimmed, but importance remains

The Pentagon's plan to shorten its list of critical technology areas reflects a shift in terminology -- not a downgrading of priorities -- according to Michael Holthe, who is performing the duties of deputy assistant defense secretary for science and technology.

The potential contract ceiling on the LTAMDS program has been raised to $3.8 billion -- which includes $436 million appropriated in fiscal year 2025 for the Army and $397 million for Poland under the Foreign Military Sales program:

Pentagon approves potential $1.7 billion for LTAMDS initial production pivot

The Defense Department has awarded a $1.7 billion modification to Raytheon for production of the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, allowing the Army -- and Poland -- to execute new orders for the next-generation, ground-forces radar.

The U.S. Navy and the NATO Sea Sparrow Project Office will hold an industry day on Oct. 14 in Washington to brief industry on efforts to design and develop a new ESSM variant:

NATO Sea Sparrow consortium hosts industry day for new missile variant

The U.S. Navy and international partners are considering developing a new missile variant to serve as a successor to the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile Block II, which is currently used by 12 North Atlantic Alliance nations to defend warships from ballistic and cruise missiles.

In a recent memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directs the Army secretary to dissolve the service's five-year-old Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office (JCO) and to stand up what's coined as the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401) to "better align authorities and resources to rapidly deliver Joint C-sUAS capabilities to America's warfighters":

Hegseth orders Army to form counter-drone task force, scrap current office

The Army will get rid of its current joint counter-drone office to stand up an interagency task force with more authority to go fast, according to a new memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Document: DOD memo on JTIAF 401

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Army creating a new counter-small uncrewed aerial systems office, plus coverage from this week's National Defense Industrial Association's annual emerging technology conference in Washington.

In a memo issued this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directs the Army secretary to dissolve the service's five-year-old Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office (JCO) and to stand up what's coined as the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401) to "better align authorities and resources to rapidly deliver Joint C-sUAS capabilities to America's warfighters":

Hegseth orders Army to form counter-drone task force, scrap current office

The Army will get rid of its current joint counter-drone office to stand up an interagency task force with more authority to go fast, according to a new memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Document: DOD memo on JTIAF 401

Maj. Gen. Kenyon Bell, the Air Force's director of logistics, chatted with Inside Defense on the sidelines of the National Defense Industrial Association's annual emerging technology conference in Washington:

As GENUS ramps up, Air Force looks to move program into CENTCOM

The Air Force is considering a depot partnership with the United Arab Emirates' Advanced Military Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Center, according to a top service official.

The Army's Futures and Concepts Center is awaiting approval to put out what it calls a characteristics of need statement, a type of solicitation that marks a "fundamental change" in how the Army writes up requirements:

Army cooking up capability-based robotics requirements doc

Army technology leaders are planning to release a document to industry designed to spur innovation around autonomous systems, according to a senior leader.

Sarah Pearson, commercial engagement director at DIU, spoke this week at the NDIA’s annual emerging technologies conference:

DIU official says Replicator-1 goals met with hundreds fielded

Two years to the date after the Pentagon publicly launched its Replicator-1 mass drone deployment initiative, a senior official at the Defense Innovation Unit said the program has transitioned to the military services for surging and has been left in "highly capable hands."

The Navy was prohibited from pursuing overseas maintenance work prior to the passage of the FY-25 NDAA, which contained language that now allows maintenance availabilities of up to 21 days in overseas yards, according to Vice Adm. Jeffrey Jablon, the deputy chief of naval operations for installations and logistics:

Navy's first overseas maintenance availability improves sustainment picture, official says

The Navy has started performing brief surface ship maintenance availabilities in foreign shipyards after the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act legalized the practice, according to a senior official, who said these overseas repairs can improve the service's logistics and sustainment picture.

Defending the homeland against hypersonic salvos and massed missile attacks requires command and control systems that are fully autonomous, making decisions without human input, says Lisa Porter, former deputy under secretary of defense for research and engineering:

Golden Dome requires fully autonomous battle management, former DOD official says

The next generation of U.S. missile defense won't be run by generals in command bunkers studying wall-sized screens.

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has continuing coverage of the Pentagon's scrapping of the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System plus the B-21 Raider bomber program and more.

We start off with continuing coverage of the Pentagon's scrapping of the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System:

DOD seizing 'momentum' for procurement reform following JCIDS cancellation

Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Christopher Grady said Wednesday he is "very confident" the dramatic changes being made to the Pentagon's acquisition process will speed adoption of new technologies by cutting through the bureaucracy that has long slowed progress.

With JCIDS going away, Army will use TiC to drive high-level requirements

The decision by Pentagon leadership to get rid of the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) will mean the Army will use its "transforming in contact" initiative, or TiC, to help drive high-level requirements, an Army official told reporters this week.

The first B-21 test aircraft took its first flight in November 2023. Soon thereafter, the program entered low-rate initial production:

Gebara: Second B-21 to fly by end of the year

A second B-21 Raider nuclear bomber will likely fly before the end of 2025, according to Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration.

Since former Defense Innovation Unit Director Doug Beck's abrupt exit, the Defense Department named Emil Michael, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, acting director:

Pentagon tech chief says DIU will continue to report to SECDEF

Emil Michael said his stint as acting head of the Defense Innovation Unit will only last as long as the search for a full-time director, noting that the organization will remain an independent entity that continues to report directly to the defense secretary.

Hanwha, which completed a $100 million acquisition of a shipyard in Philadelphia in December, announced a new investment strategy this week following a christening ceremony for a National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) built by Philly Shipyard for the U.S. Maritime Administration:

Hanwha Philly Shipyard announces $5 billion infrastructure investment plan

South Korean conglomerate Hanwha has unveiled a $5 billion infrastructure investment plan for its Pennsylvania-based Philly Shipyard, including the construction of two new drydocks among other upgrades intended to increase production capacity at the facility.

General Atomics' YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft prototype flew for the first time today, the Air Force announced, inching the service closer to teaming its manned platforms with fighter drones.

“This milestone showcases what’s possible when innovative acquisition meets motivated industry,” service Secretary Troy Meink said in a statement. “In record time, CCA went from concept to flight -- proving we can deliver combat capability at speed when we clear barriers and align around the warfighter.”

The flight took off from a California test location, the Air Force and GA-ASI said in a press release. Flight testing “will begin soon” for the other production-representative prototype being built concurrently by Anduril Industries, called the YFQ-44A, according to an Anduril spokesperson.

“What a great moment for the U.S. Air Force and for GA-ASI,” GA-ASI president David Alexander said in a statement. “It’s been our collaboration that enabled us to build and fly the YFQ-42A in just over a year. It’s an incredible achievement and I salute the Air Force for its vision, and I salute our development team for delivering yet another historic first for our company.”

The Air Force selected GA-ASI and Anduril in April 2024 for continued funding to develop their CCA airframe designs for the earliest increment of the drones, beating out defense primes Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing in the contest.

Anduril’s YFQ-44A is based off the company’s Fury design, and GA-ASI’s YFQ-42A is based off that company’s Gambit family of systems.

The service has said it may choose one or both options to produce the first autonomous fighters. Other businesses are also eligible to compete prototypes for this production award on their own dime, and a decision is planned for fiscal year 2026.

The first CCA increment is being envisioned as missile trucks that would accompany manned aircraft like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, B-21 Raider and F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance platform into battle in sizable groups, officials have said.

Both prototypes began ground testing in May, and an Experimental Operations Unit to test and evaluate the first and future CCA increments stood up in June at Nellis Air Force Base, NV.