This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Army energetics procurement, Air Force aircraft availability, Navy mine countermeasures and more.
Inside Defense recently held exit interviews with the Army and Air Force acquisition chiefs:
Congress worries about foreign energetics procurement, but OIB is in 'excellent shape,' former acquisition chief argues
Congress is concerned about the Army procuring energetic materials outside the United States, but that's the way it's always been done, argued Doug Bush, the service's previous acquisition chief, before he left office.
'I don't like the trend line': Exiting Air Force acquisition chief warns of depleting aircraft availability
More than a decade after the fiscal year 2013 sequestration, the Air Force's foundational accounts are still recovering from negative impacts to readiness, modernization and operations and maintenance.
The deployment of MCM mission packages on trimaran-hulled, Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships marks the Navy's departure from using MH-53 helicopters and Avenger-class MCM ships for similar missions:
Deployment of mine countermeasures package marks a 'generational change'
Rollout of the mine countermeasures mission package on the Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship remains on track for later this fiscal year, according to a Navy official.
A new Defense Department report provides an overview of the implementation of 26 Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution reform initiatives:
DOD implementing budget reforms but seeks more flexibility from Congress
The Defense Department is working to implement internal reforms to its 1960s-era budget planning and execution process, but the Pentagon is still asking Congress for greater spending flexibility that appropriators have thus far declined to provide.
Document: DOD's PPBE implementation plan
A spiking firing rate of M777 lightweight howitzer systems has caused a requirement to produce more cannon tubes:
Lightweight howitzer tube production proves reliable for Army, and in demand
Watervliet Arsenal, NY, has seen more production in the last three months than it has in the last 40 years, and each month was faster than the last, according to the commanding general of Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command.
The Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies Initiative was the result of a partnership between the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital and SBA’s Office of Investment and Innovation -- aimed at pairing sources of private capital with federally guaranteed loans meant to boost investment in technology areas deemed high-priority for DOD:
DOD, SBA unveil names of first funds under new critical technology investment initiative
The Defense Department and Small Business Administration on Friday published the names of all but one of 18 licensed and "green light approved" funds forming the first cohort of the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies Initiative.