The Insider

This Monday INSIDER Daily Digest starts with a look at the Army’s plans for artificial intelligence, how the government shutdown is affecting one defense-related agency, some missile defense news, and cybersecurity news.

The Army is making some adjustments to its AI plans:

Project Linchpin undergoing revamp, name change to match NGC2 advances

The Army's pipeline for artificial intelligence and machine learning integration will be revised going forward, a senior leader announced this week, which involves a new name and consolidation under the service's next-generation network.

Looks like more than 1,000 employees at one government agency are about to be furloughed:

NNSA will furlough 1,400 workers as shutdown grinds on, Congress says

The National Nuclear Security Administration has told Congress the ongoing government shutdown is forcing the agency to furlough 1,400 workers as its funding for salaries and expenses is nearly exhausted.

Raytheon is making a big investment in one of its missile defense radar programs:

Raytheon breaks ground on LTAMDS expansion to ramp production

Raytheon has broken ground on a $53 million expansion of its Andover, MA radar production campus, a move company executives say will allow it to ramp up output of the Army's new Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor after a year of throttled production.

Conference news from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:

CMMC stakeholder community convenes for annual conference without DOD leaders in attendance

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- An annual conference for the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program struck a positive note among stakeholders who are preparing for a Nov. 10 start to requirements showing up in defense contracts, while raising some eyebrows over potential impacts from the ongoing government shutdown.

Defense contractor Anduril Industries has acquired American Infrared Solutions (AIRS), a U.S.-based manufacturer of high-performance cooled infrared cameras and components, Anduril announced today.

AIRS has provided key component technologies to Anduril for the company’s solutions across all military domains for several years, but the acquisition will make Anduril “a merchant supplier of cooled infrared cameras and components,” the company said.

“AIRS has been a trusted supplier to Anduril for several years on some of the company’s longest running and most frequently used technologies,” AIRS said.

Details of the acquisition were not disclosed, but Anduril says AIRS will continue to serve its existing customer base from its New Hampshire facilities.

“Like Anduril, AIRS excels at addressing complex challenges where the demands are greatest and the potential impact is significant,” the California-based company said.

The acquisition will also see AIRS’ hardware further integrated into Anduril’s sensing systems, which AIRS says will expand what its technologies can offer customers.

The AIRS products will join existing Anduril imaging product families like Iris -- airborne autonomous imaging and targeting sensors leveraging imaging technologies -- and Wisp, the company’s AI-enabled full-motion, wide area imaging system that supports continuous situational awareness and threat detection.

“With AIRS on our team in its deepened capacity,” Anduril said, “American warfighters equipped with Anduril mission systems will be protected from threats -- thanks to standard-setting technology integrated into an organization that is supercharging weapons system manufacturing.”

The news comes just a week after Anduril unveiled its latest offering -- a super soldier helmet called EagleEye. The company currently has four variants of EagleEye, including one Anduril built for the Army’s Soldier Borne Mission Command program.

A defense innovation conference is being held in the Washington area this week. The federal government, however, remains partially shut down.

Wednesday

Axios hosts its Future Defense Summit.

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has coverage of the Air Force canceling a new requirements command, an Army intelligence and targeting ground station and more.

A recent decision, made by Air Force Secretary Troy Meink and outgoing Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, puts an end to uncertainty that has reigned for months over whether the service would stick with a Biden-era effort to establish a new major command dedicated to writing requirements to align with key enterprise-level mission threads:

Air Force canceling new requirements command but keeping underpinning principles

The Air Force will no longer stand up the Integrated Capabilities Command -- one of the hallmark institutional changes of last year's "Reoptimization for Great Power Competition," the service announced Wednesday.

Service leaders originally envisioned the basic variant of the Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) pairing solely with Joint Light Tactical Vehicles -- but instead, in line with the Army Transformation Initiative, the service recently wrapped up a three-month sprint to adapt it to the Army's newest tactical vehicle:

ATI-inspired sprint yields new TITAN ISV prototype

The Army and a team of industry partners have swiftly tailored the next-generation intelligence and targeting ground station to an Infantry Squad Vehicle amid preparations for a production decision in the first half of next calendar year.

The recently completed Operation Clear Horizon assessed every counter UAS capability in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps inventory against the most advanced known threats:

JIATF 401 documents nearly two-dozen validated cUAS requirements, capability gaps, more

The Pentagon's new Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401) is moving fast to chart a new course for counter-drone defenses after its first major exercise, Operation Clear Horizon, revealed critical gaps in how the military detects and defeats small, unmanned aircraft.

For about a year, the Army has been working with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Army Europe and Africa to look at capabilities needed to deliver more mass and survivability while reducing the number of pilots needed:

Army wants to develop requirement similar to Air Force's CCA concept

Army aviation leaders said this week that as the service places a heavier emphasis on unmanned systems and Launched Effects, a new requirement similar to the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft could be in the works.

A Navy industry day, intended to brief companies on a potential multiple-award contract for steel and aluminum vessels for the Navy and foreign military sales, was originally scheduled for Oct. 15 but is now "postponed until further notice," a Wednesday announcement states:

Navy delays another industry day as shutdown worries grow

The Navy has postponed an industry day on support craft acquisitions, citing the ongoing government shutdown, which has sparked heightened concern for contracting and workforce disruptions as it enters its third week.

Document: Navy RFI on PMS 300 SCB MAC

A majority of Senate Democrats made it clear today they want to deal with the ongoing government shutdown before considering new spending packages, blocking a key vote to advance a defense appropriations bill.

The vote failed 50-44, with three Democrats voting with Republicans in favor: Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), John Fetterman (D-PA) and Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV).

Along with defense, the spending bill included appropriations for labor, health and education programs.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, said on the floor that he could not support the bill given the current dysfunction in the federal government, referencing the ongoing shutdown and the White House’s attempts to rescind spending already approved by Congress.

"Bluntly, the process here in this Senate, the process with our president, the process of spending or not spending appropriated funds has destroyed a lot of the trust that is essential for the Senate as a body to work, for the Congress to legislate, for our federal government to reopen,” he said.

Though the chamber was considering a defense spending bill today that had already been passed by the House, Senate leadership would likely have substituted their own bipartisan measure had the vote been successful.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who chairs the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, blamed Democrats for continuing to block funding for the Pentagon by opposing a bill that has bipartisan support.

“Last week, the Senate passed a National Defense Authorization Act that raised the defense topline by more than $30 billion to meet these growing threats,” he said. “However, without appropriated dollars, such an authorization only grows the gap between our rhetoric and our action.”

The vote failed shortly after Democrats also rejected a stopgap continuing resolution that would have temporarily ended the shutdown. Democrats assert that they will not vote to reopen the government until the White House and congressional Republicans negotiate with them on extending investments in healthcare subsidies.

Meanwhile, President Trump has ordered the Defense Department to redirect $8 billion in research and development funds to pay U.S. troops.

The Space Development Agency successfully launched its second slate of Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites yesterday, according to satellite-maker Lockheed Martin.

The 21 Lockheed satellites join the 21 York Space Systems satellites launched last month as part of SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

The satellites entered low-Earth orbit after being launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Lockheed said in a press release.

“These data transport satellites will provide unprecedented levels of space-based connectivity for national security situational awareness, enabling our forces to respond faster to emerging threats. We are proud to continue to support the SDA’s development of the PWSA and bring this crucial capability to our warfighters,” said Joe Rickers, vice president of Transport, Tracking & Warning Programs at Lockheed Martin.

This was the second of six T1TL launches. Another four launches are scheduled for Tranche 1 Tracking Layer satellites, which will provide missile-warning capabilities. Launches are expected to take place about once a month.

Northrop Grumman is also building T1TL satellites while Northrop and L3Harris are building the T1TRK satellites.