The Insider

The Defense Department is postponing two high-profile missile defense events originally slated for late April in Huntsville, AL, after receiving what officials called "overwhelming response" from industry.

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced the change April 8, moving both the April 29 Next-Generation Missile Defense Summit and the April 30-May 2 Space-Based Interceptor (SBI) Industry Engagement to later, unspecified dates. Both events will remain in the Huntsville area. Updated registration information is expected in the coming days.

The shift marks a significant moment in the Pentagon’s push to attract a broader range of companies -- including nontraditional contractors -- to help shape “Golden Dome for America,” the Trump administration’s ambitious new missile defense initiative.

The rescheduled summit, originally to be held at Redstone Arsenal’s Von Braun Complex III, was designed as an unclassified event aimed at informing industry of the Pentagon’s evolving vision for a layered homeland missile shield. MDA and the Space Force emphasized they want to equip potential partners with the knowledge to align future technologies with government needs, particularly from companies offering “outside the box” thinking.

The SBI engagement, scheduled to follow the summit, is more technically focused and includes classified briefings and one-on-one sessions. MDA is seeking concepts for orbital interceptors capable of destroying missiles in the boost phase -- potentially reviving elements of Reagan-era space defense efforts. The agency is considering both kinetic and non-kinetic solutions, and specifically prioritizing proposals that could mature into full fire control systems or interceptor packages.

The surge in interest underscores growing private-sector momentum behind Golden Dome, which President Trump formalized in a January executive order. While critics warn of cost and feasibility concerns, proponents argue advances in space launch, sensor miniaturization and artificial intelligence make a national missile shield more realistic than ever.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has been appointed to serve as the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in addition to his current job.

Driscoll, who was confirmed as Army secretary Feb. 25, will continue to serve in that role while taking on the additional position with the ATF, a defense official confirmed to Inside Defense on Wednesday. The official did not have additional details.

Reuters first reported Wednesday that FBI Director Kash Patel had been removed from his role as acting director of the ATF, and that Driscoll would be replacing him.

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- Lawmakers today expressed concern with the Navy's Constellation-class frigate program -- which is filled with delays and design changes -- questioning if the program should be scrapped altogether.

“Are we at a point where we either quickly recover and get back on track with this, get back to schedule and get back to budget?” Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA), vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, asked Wednesday at Sea-Air-Space.

“I don't know that you can make up schedule,” he continued. “Or do you say, 'Maybe we're too far along with this; we go in a different direction.' And the Navy’s going to have to ask that question now. It can't push it off in the future. Same question that should have been asked with LCS years and years ago.”

Built by Fincantieri, the program is based on an existing frigate used by the Italian and French navies. The U.S. Navy’s version used to share about 85% commonality with its parent design but was reduced to about 15% following heavy alterations.

The ship still does not have a complete design, despite construction beginning in 2022 on the lead vessel. Naval Sea Systems Command personnel have worked with the shipbuilder in the company’s Wisconsin shipyard to complete this design work and speed up construction. Now, the design is expected to be completed by summer.

Fincantieri is also losing money on the program, NAVSEA Commander Vice Adm. James Downey told lawmakers in March.

“I think my colleagues did a good job of mentioning that the consistency and planning is very frustrating,” Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA) said Wednesday.

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- Fairbanks Morse Defense has signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korean shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries today at Sea-Air-Space, an agreement which will seek to further shipbuilding capabilities.

The agreement, signed by Fairbanks Morse Defense CEO George Whittier and HHI Chief Executive of Naval and Special Ships Won-ho Joo, will allow for “collaboration on future international Navy initiatives,” according to the news release.

“The U.S. is signaling to the world that it’s ready to reestablish itself as a shipbuilding nation, and global companies are eager to be part of that effort by working with the American industrial base,” Whittier said in a statement. “This MOU allows both our companies to explore avenues that drive mutual growth while still supporting our national manufacturing and maritime defense priorities.”

The partnership with HHI is not the only one announced this week, as American shipbuilder HII signed a MOU with the South Korean company on Monday to accelerate ship production.

“Today’s agreement reflects our commitment to explore all opportunities to expand U.S. shipbuilding capacity in support of national security,” HII Executive Vice President and President of Ingalls Shipbuilding Brian Blanchette told reporters. “By working with our shipbuilding allies and sharing best practices, we believe this MOU offers real potential to help accelerate delivery of quality ships.”

These two partnerships are the latest example of South Korean companies entering the U.S. industrial base, with defense conglomerate Hanwha purchasing the Philadelphia-based Philly Shipyard last year.

The Senate voted 54-45 today to confirm Elbridge Colby as under secretary of defense for policy.

Three Democrats voted for Colby -- Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) -- while Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was the only Republican to oppose him.

Colby’s nomination ran into early resistance amid discussion of his views that the United States should consider lesser roles in Europe and the Middle East in order to properly pivot to the Indo-Pacific region to compete with China.

McConnell released a statement after Colby’s confirmation saying the “prioritization that Mr. Colby argues is fresh, new and urgently needed is, in fact, a return to an Obama-era conception of a la carte geostrategy.”

“Abandoning Ukraine and Europe and downplaying the Middle East to prioritize the Indo-Pacific is not a clever geopolitical chess move,” McConnell continued. “It is geostrategic self-harm that emboldens our adversaries and drives wedges between America and our allies for them to exploit.”

Vice President Vance responded to McConnell’s statement by posting on X: “Mitch’s vote today -- like so much of the last few years of his career -- is one of the great acts of political pettiness I’ve ever seen.”

McConnell has broken with the Trump administration over several nominees, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose nomination needed to be saved by Vance’s historic tie-breaking vote.

During his March 4 nomination hearing, Colby, who would be one of the primary authors of the Trump administration’s upcoming national defense strategy, said he wants to deliver a “realistic strategy of prioritization focused on China” while working with allies in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

“We don’t have a military that's capable of fighting four adversaries,” he said. "Because the threat is so acute and so realistic, and because of the very real possibility of multifront war, we must have a realistic plan. I feel a special obligation that, if confirmed, I must deliver a strategy that actually deals with that.”

McConnell, however, argued that Colby’s confirmation “leaves open the door for the less-polished standard-bearers of restraint and retrenchment at the Pentagon to do irreparable damage to the system of alliances and partnerships which serve as force multipliers to U.S. leadership,” while also encouraging “isolationist perversions of peace through strength to continue apace at the highest levels of administration policymaking.”

In a written statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Colby said the United States should prioritize the defense Taiwan, while showing less concern for Ukraine and U.S. allies in Europe.

“As President Trump has repeatedly emphasized, it is vitally important that our European allies take the lead in providing security assistance to Ukraine and deterring further Russian aggression, including by rapidly increasing their own defense spending and production,” he wrote.

In the face of a "global force posture review" by the Trump administration and a potential shakeup of the military's combatant commands, both House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA) today urged the United States to maintain its current force posture in Europe.

Rogers, in his opening statement at a committee hearing Tuesday, emphasized the U.S. cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to drag out potential peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine -- the desired solution by President Trump to bring the three-year conflict to an end.

“The reality is, Russia maintains the world’s largest and most diverse nuclear arsenal. And despite suffering massive losses in Ukraine, the Russian Army is now larger than it was before the war,” Rogers said.

The chairman added Russia’s military is “reconstituting faster than expected,” and the industrial base is being supported by China, North Korea and Iran.

“Given these threats, I’m concerned by reports that some at DOD are considering not only giving up NATO command, but also significantly reducing our posture in Europe. I’m especially concerned that Congress has not been consulted,” he said.

Rogers went on to say that “pulling back prematurely would risk inviting further Russian aggression -- potentially even against NATO.”

“That’s why I strongly support maintaining the current U.S. force posture in Europe at this time,” he said.

Smith, following Rogers’ statement, emphasized that the U.S. must find an end to the war, but it should not be done by “undermining support for Ukraine and praising Putin and Russia.”

Smith urged the U.S. must stand up for its European allies to deter Putin, stop the war and “protect economic and political freedom as we have done for a very long time.”

“I think we made it very clear how we feel about this,” Rogers then said following Smith’s remarks.

CNN reported on March 19 that the Pentagon was considering a consolidation of combatant commands, with the possibility of merging U.S. European and U.S. Africa commands into one command based in Germany. However, in the weeks since that report, DOD officials have not given clear answers on what that would look like.

When Rogers asked Katherine Thompson, who is performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, whether the U.S. should maintain its current posture in Europe for the foreseeable future, she answered the Pentagon is “undergoing a global force posture review.”

“And so, we are taking into account, not only the dynamics in EUCOM, but in all of our theaters and evaluating that based on President Trump’s stated interests and upsizing our force and our resources appropriately to that,” she said.

No decisions have been made yet as part of the review, she added.

Rogers then responded by saying he and Smith had made it “very clear” in previous correspondence that DOD should maintain its surge posture in Europe “for the foreseeable future.”

Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commander of EUCOM, testified Tuesday that the command currently has 80,000 service members throughout Europe, which is down from the 105,000 that were postured in the theater at the start of the war in 2022. The 80,000 figure represents about 20% of U.S. forces that had been stationed in Europe during the Cold War to deter the Soviet Union at the time, he added.

“Russia continues to reconstitute its conventional forces, and possesses advantages in geography, domain, and readiness. A conventional fight with Russia will be decided on land, and it would likely begin with a comparatively large Russian force positioned on a NATO border in order to negate traditional U.S. and NATO advantages in, and preferences for, long-range, standoff warfare. Therefore, NATO, including U.S. EUCOM, must be postured to blunt Russia’s ability to rapidly mass numerically superior land forces,” he said.