The Insider

The Army has awarded other transaction agreements to Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for the first phase of the Launched Effects (LE) program, the service announced Wednesday.

Launched Effects “will provide standoff sense and effect capabilities for soldiers while keeping air and ground forces outside the range of adversary weapon systems,” according to the service’s Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors. LE will also support forces “entering and exiting mission areas.”

The LE program consists of three phases, and during that span the Army aims to mature payloads from a technology readiness level of 6, a prototype system that has been tested in a relevant environment, to TRL 7 -- a prototype that has been demonstrated in an operational environment.

Northrop has been awarded for two payloads and Lockheed has been awarded for one, with each award valued at about $100,000, according to the Army. The OTA will total about $37 million over all three phases.

In Phase 1, the payloads will be integrated and tested within infrared and electronic warfare realms, and Phase 2 involves maturing the TRL 6 payloads and integrating them into a “captive carry test event,” Dennis Teefy, the project director for sensors-aerial intelligence (PD SAI) said in a statement. Phase 3 will be “a final integration and flight test in a chosen uncrewed aerial vehicle.”

The LE program of record is currently “being defined” by the Army’s Program Executive Office for Aviation. The first iteration, expected no earlier than fiscal year 2030, will be used to support user evaluations before fielding the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft and Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, according to the service. PD SAI will manage the payloads and will work with PEO Aviation and Project Manager Uncrewed Aircraft to ensure the payloads meet threshold requirements.

The Navy last week published its first comprehensive cyber strategy detailing seven lines of effort to ready the service for a global operating environment where cyber capabilities are increasingly important for national defense.

With an eye toward deterring China, the seven lines of effort are: “improve and support the cyber workforce; defend enterprise IT, data and networks; secure defense critical infrastructure and weapon systems; conduct and facilitate cyber operations; partner to secure the defense industrial base; and foster cooperation and collaboration,” according to the strategy report.

“The next fight against our major adversary will be like no other in prior conflicts. The use of non-kinetic effects and defense against those effects prior to and during kinetic exchanges will likely be the deciding factor in who prevails,” the report states.

“The side that most effectively sequences and synchronizes non-kinetic effects will have a decisive advantage. We must ensure our capabilities to project power and defend in cyberspace take top priority to ensure the success of the traditional power projection capabilities of our naval forces,” it continues.

The strategy arrives several months later than service officials initially predicted and follows the Defense Department’s release of a Pentagon-wide cyber strategy emphasizing lessons learned from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and underscoring a need to protect industry from cyber espionage.

The Navy’s strategy was developed jointly by the service’s chief information officer, Jane Rathbun, and its principal cyber adviser, Chris Cleary.

“Achieving a competitive advantage in the cyber domain is critical to strengthening our maritime dominance," Rathbun said in a statement included in the release. "The Cyber Strategy sets the DON on a course to more effectively defend our Information Ecosystem and emphasizes the importance of our cyber workforce."

According to a forward in the report authored by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, the strategy’s development was prompted by a review of the Navy’s cyber readiness posture that began in 2019 and revealed the need for rapid mitigation of cyber vulnerabilities.

“This inaugural strategy builds on years of lessons learned from cyber domain operations across the globe,” Del Toro said in a statement included in the release. “We are focused on aggressively enhancing our cyber enterprise, while fostering cooperation and collaboration with our allies and partners.”

This post-Thanksgiving weekend INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Air Force weather monitoring systems, a recent Defense Department inspector general's report on the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aircraft system and more.

We start off with news on the lack of space-based military weather monitoring systems:

Air Force official: Absence of reliable SBEM affects global operations

The lack of modern space-based environmental monitoring systems affects not only the Air Force but also the Army, Navy and Space Force as well as global operations, Col. Patrick Williams, Air Force director of weather, said last week.

The Pentagon's inspector general recently released a report on the Navy's MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aircraft system:

DOD IG says Navy should delay production, IOC decisions on MQ-25

The Defense Department inspector general is recommending the Navy hold off on a production decision and declare the MQ-25 unmanned air system operational until certain developmental tests are completed.

Document: DOD IG report on the Navy's MQ-25 program

In case you missed it, here's the latest on the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program:

DOD's CMMC rulemaking clears OIRA review process

The Pentagon's rulemaking to implement its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program has completed the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs review process, a major milestone that indicates the new regulation should show up in the Federal Register soon.

Pentagon finalizes change to acquisition rules setting up DOD methodology for cyber assessment standard

The Pentagon will use a methodology developed by the Defense Contract Management Agency's Defense Industrial Base Cyber Assessment Center for National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publications 800-171 assessments moving forward, according to a final rule formalizing an arrangement that is seen as a placeholder for the upcoming rollout of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program.

CMMC ecosystem prepares for rulemaking release, while exact timing remains uncertain

Stakeholders are getting ready for the upcoming release of a long-awaited rulemaking to implement the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, while the exact timing and content of the rule remains unclear two years after the Defense Department announced a major revamp.

This pre-Thanksgiving INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Pentagon's Replicator drone effort, the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, the Navy's MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aircraft system and more.

The Pentagon's No. 2 civilian official spoke to reporters at a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington this week:

Hicks says Replicator drone picks will be made within the next few weeks

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said today the Pentagon intends to select within the next three weeks the "first tranche" of low-cost, attritable, autonomous drone systems to be included in its new Replicator initiative.

Our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity have the latest on the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program:

DOD's CMMC rulemaking clears OIRA review process

The Pentagon's rulemaking to implement its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program has completed the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs review process, a major milestone that indicates the new regulation should show up in the Federal Register soon.

Pentagon finalizes change to acquisition rules setting up DOD methodology for cyber assessment standard

The Pentagon will use a methodology developed by the Defense Contract Management Agency's Defense Industrial Base Cyber Assessment Center for National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publications 800-171 assessments moving forward, according to a final rule formalizing an arrangement that is seen as a placeholder for the upcoming rollout of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program.

CMMC ecosystem prepares for rulemaking release, while exact timing remains uncertain

Stakeholders are getting ready for the upcoming release of a long-awaited rulemaking to implement the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, while the exact timing and content of the rule remains unclear two years after the Defense Department announced a major revamp.

The Pentagon's inspector general this week released a report on the Navy's MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aircraft system:

DOD IG says Navy should delay production, IOC decisions on MQ-25

The Defense Department inspector general is recommending the Navy hold off on a production decision and declare the MQ-25 unmanned air system operational until certain developmental tests are completed.

Document: DOD IG report on the Navy's MQ-25 program

A pair of House lawmakers want the Pentagon to cooperate with the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on artificial intelligence:

Reps. Gallagher, Khanna bill would create a DOD working group on 'Five Eyes' AI cooperation

The Biden administration should establish a Pentagon-led working group to coordinate a multinational effort to test, develop and procure artificial intelligence systems in tandem with its "Five Eyes" allies, the chair and ranking member of the House Armed Services cyber, information technologies and innovation subcommittee say in a new bill.

Editor's Note: Happy Thanksgiving! The next INSIDER Daily Digest will be posted on Monday, Nov. 27.

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on a recent Defense Science Board study, the Pentagon's new information operations strategy and more.

The Defense Science Board Task Force on Secure Electronic Processing has provided its findings to Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu, who commissioned the project a year ago:

DSB Secure Electronic Processing Task Force completes work, withholds findings from public

A Pentagon advisory board commissioned to assess secure electronic processing has completed its work but is not disclosing recommendations on how to address the U.S. military's conundrum of relying on microprocessors produced by a global supply chain that allows adversaries to corrupt technologies, launch malicious code and steal weapon system blueprints.

A new Pentagon information operations strategy "informs and guides the investments that the department should make to improve its abilities to influence our rivals and adversaries’ decisions and behaviors, while protecting DOD personnel and institutions against foreign malign influence":

DOD releases information ops strategy to 'guide investments'

The Defense Department has released the 2023 Strategy for Operations in the Information Environment, which aims to strengthen national security and counter U.S. adversaries through building integrated deterrence and directing future investments.

Document: DOD's 2023 information ops strategy

The Army's Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) took part in a recent live-fire event:

LTAMDS 'nominal' in first live-fire test; surrogate cruise missile intercepted

The Army's Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) -- in a seminal event for the service's decade-long effort to field a next-generation, 360-degree radar -- detected a cruise missile target and guided a Patriot interceptor to destroy the threat during a live-fire test at White Sands Missile Range, NM.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin gave remarks at his welcome ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, MD last week:

Allvin says 'adjustments' and 'variations in execution' are necessary

The Air Force needs to make some "adjustments" and "variations in [its] execution" to adapt to the current strategic environment and defend the U.S. from aggressors, according to the service's newly appointed chief of staff.

The White House's new National Spectrum Strategy isn't going over well with some congressional lawmakers:

Lawmakers split over DOD spectrum sharing in new White House strategy

Lawmakers disagree over the White House's new National Spectrum Strategy announced Monday, with parties divided over the possibility of spectrum sharing between the Defense Department and the private sector.

Oshkosh won a $160 million contract to produce the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle for seven foreign militaries, the Defense Department announced Thursday.

The company will manufacture JLTVs for Mongolia, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia at the company’s facility in Oshkosh, WI, by an estimated completion date of Sept. 25, 2025, the announcement reads.

Other foreign purchasers of the JLTV include Brazil, Lithuania and Montenegro. Oshkosh received contracts earlier this month and in September to produce the JLTV for the Army.

Intended to replace a portion of the Army’s humvees, the JLTV is a family of four-wheeled vehicles designed to transport personnel and payloads during military operations.

It has a four-seat combat tactical variant and a two-seat combat support variant. The combat tactical variant features a turret and cargo hold designed to carry heavier weapons. The combat support variant is designed to transport cargo.

To reduce fuel consumption and minimize engine noise, the JLTV will also feature lithium-ion batteries.

Earlier this month, the Army issued a request for information for a Mobile Long Range Precision Strike Missile designed to be carried on the JTLV and Army’s forthcoming electric Light Reconnaissance Vehicle.

In October, Oshkosh announced a decrease in sales after losing the next JLTV production contract to AM General. In June, the Government Accountability Office denied Oshkosh’s protest of the Army’s decision.

The Army is slated to procure 2,601 JLTVs in fiscal year 2024, according to budget documents.

The Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force will also procure smaller portions of JLTVs.