The Insider

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Navy submarines, the Defense Innovation Unit seeking ways to bolster the domestic supply chain and more.

We start off with some submarine news:

Navy plans to extend Virginia submarine program to Block VIII before transition to SSN(X)

The Navy plans to build an eighth block of its Virginia-class submarine program before transitioning to the next-generation SSN(X) vessel in the early 2040s, according to Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program Director Adm. William Houston.

Navy 'finishing up' contract negotiations for FY-24 Virginia subs despite $1.95B funding shortfall

The Navy is "finishing up contract negotiations" for Block V Virginia-class submarines Baltimore (SSN-812) and Atlanta (SSN-813), service officials said today, despite Congress' refusal to provide an additional $1.95 billion to cover cost growth in the program.

Aditi Kumar, deputy director for strategy, policy and national security partnerships at the Defense Innovation Unit, said the Replicator project should show China at the United States is serious about building the capacity and agility the military industrial base:

DIU targeting U.S. industrial base expansion to deter China

The Defense Innovation Unit is pushing to rapidly expand the Pentagon's domestic supply chain to better deter China, according to senior DIU officials, who highlighted ongoing work with the Replicator drone program and other efforts.

A look at Air Force modernization prospects in the wake of Republicans taking control of the Senate next year:

As Senate flips to GOP control, Wicker's defense policy bill plan may help Air Force's affordability problem

The possible ascendance of Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) to the chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee could be a turning point in Air Force modernization efforts as the ranking member has pushed for boosting the existing topline for national defense spending by billions of dollars to ensure legacy and new platforms can rule the air domain.

Speaking Wednesday at the Naval Submarine League Symposium, Rear Adm. Jonathan Rucker, program executive officer for attack submarines, suggested the weld issue is the result of a relatively new and inexperienced submarine industrial base workforce:

Navy nearly done reviewing suspected faulty welds

The Navy expects to complete an initial review of all the suspected faulty welds on aircraft carriers and submarines by the end of December, according to service officials, who said they have already inspected over 90% of these suspicious welds.

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Pentagon's secretive Replicator program, the Naval Strike Missile and more.

We start off with news on the Pentagon's secretive Replicator program:

After months of secrecy, Pentagon reveals new Replicator systems

The Defense Department has released new information about the classified Replicator drone program, naming systems and companies fielding weapons in the latest tranche of units.

The Navy plans to ask Congress for multiyear authority to buy as many as 516 Naval Strike Missiles between FY-24 and FY-28:

Navy initiates multiyear NSM buy with $960 million award to Kongsberg

The Navy has awarded Norwegian contractor Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace a five-year, $960 million contract for the Naval Strike Missile after Congress provided multiyear authority and funding in its fiscal year 2024 defense legislation.

The Defense Department has outlined the initial scope of the T-AGOS 25 project in a Selected Acquisition Report (SAR), noting that the original plan to procure seven ships for $3.9 billion has been expanded to 10 vessels following a decision made earlier this year:

New $3.9B T-AGOS 25 faces delays as Austal works to deliver new SWATH design

The Navy plans to spend more than $3.9 billion on a new fleet of T-AGOS 25-class Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance ships, crucial for detecting and tracking submarine activity in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and for strengthening anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

Document: DOD modernized SAR on the Navy's T-AGOS program

An Air Force tanker is on track to get an autonomous pilot soon:

Test flight for AI-enabled KC-135 planned for next year

The Air Force today accepted Merlin’s airworthiness plan to add its autonomous pilot to an operational KC-135 Stratotanker, putting the project on track for ground testing, flight testing and other demonstrations in 2025, according to a company news release.

The Defense Department is mulling over changes to CMMC compliance:

Lawyers argue for allowing plan of action and milestones to address security lapses in CMMC compliance

The American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law section is urging the Defense Department to consider allowing a plan of action and milestones for contractors to address ongoing compliance issues with the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, as the Pentagon works to finalize a rulemaking to change its acquisition regulations.

The Space Development Agency has awarded Kratos a $117 million contract to design and deliver the Advanced Fire Control Ground Infrastructure.

Kratos will lead a group of industry partners in creating a “common, enduring ground infrastructure” for the AFC effort, which includes the Fire-control On Orbit-support to the warfighter (FOO Fighter) system and future fire-control programs, according to an SDA announcement.

As the prime contractor, Kratos will also fit-out and manage the government-owned Demonstration Operations Center and the cloud environment for software, a Kratos news release added.

Kratos is working with ASRC Federal Systems Solutions, Peraton, Sphinx Defense and Stellar Solutions, the company said.

For the ground infrastructure, Kratos will provide a ground resource manager, the company said, which will be built for FOO Fighter but designed to also support future fire control demonstrations.

“Advancements in missile technology and hypersonics that can travel at more than 3,000 mph present new adversarial threats and will require new defensive capabilities to identify, track and respond to them rapidly,” Phil Carrai, president of Kratos’ space division, said. “The AFCGI will serve as a standing sandbox for exploring and validating new technologies, solutions and techniques to address these threats with commensurate speed and agility.”

President-elect Trump has selected Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) to be his national security adviser, tapping a second member of the House Armed Services Committee to join to his administration. Earlier this week, Trump picked Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to serve as ambassador to the United Nations.

Waltz currently serves as chairman of the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee.

“America will keep its allies close, we will not be afraid to confront our adversaries, and we will invest in the technologies that keep our country strong. America’s greatest strength is its booming economy and our energy dominance, and those tools will keep us out of wars and allow us to once again lead from a position of strength,” Waltz tweeted today. “I fully believe that America’s best days are still ahead, and that with President Trump’s America First Agenda, we will secure our freedoms and forge a future where our nation remains the land of the free, and the land looked to for leadership and courage by the world.”

Trump, in a statement announcing his selection of Waltz, noted the congressman's 27 years serving in the Army's special forces.

"Mike has been a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda, and he will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of Peace through Strength!" Trump said.

Waltz is known on Capitol Hill as a China hawk but has voted against providing additional aid to Ukraine.

In September 2023, Waltz authored an op-ed criticizing what he viewed as the Biden administration’s “blank check” approach to Ukraine.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said today that he hopes Trump is done picking House lawmakers for his administration, as the potential incoming GOP majority will likely be razor thin.

“President Trump truly understands and appreciates the math here,” he said. “I don’t expect we will have more members leaving but I'll leave that up to him.”

Meanwhile, Trump is demanding that the incoming Republican Senate majority allow him to make recess appointments to bypass the confirmation process, allowing him to place nominees in his administration without congressional hearings.

As national security adviser, Waltz does not need to be confirmed by the Senate, though Stefanik does if she is to serve as ambassador to the U.N.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) issued a statement praising the choice of Waltz as national security adviser. Rogers’ office did not respond to a request for comment.

“There is no one more capable or qualified for this crucial role,” Rogers said. “As a Green Beret, Rep. Waltz bravely fought to defend our nation. As a leader on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Waltz has continued to work around the clock to bolster U.S. national security. Our national security is in good hands with Rep. Waltz at the helm.”

The Air Force is focused on 13 technical research areas to get its munitions portfolio on par with advancements in air dominance, including advanced control actuation systems, autonomy and improved aircraft integration, according to a broad agency announcement the service posted today.

Among the service’s top priorities are modeling, simulation and analysis. The idea, according to the Air Force Research Laboratory, is to be able to foster collaborative, simulated scenarios to evaluate the weapons performance under a sustained threat or in various environments.

“Concepts include, but are not limited to, intercommunicative weapons, novel damage mechanisms, lethal and novel destruct mechanisms, multiple targeting and time critical delivery,” the BAA states. “Detailed modeling includes, but is not limited to, sensors, aerodynamics, autopilots, navigation and guidance schemes, propulsion, warheads, fuzes, datalinks, fire control, launcher, suspension, carriage and release, error filters, environment (wind, fog, and dust), lethality, vulnerability and threats.”

Other important research areas include modular aircraft integration technologies, more precise guidance algorithms against maneuvering targets, innovative Find, Fix, Target, Track and small datalink technologies for the detection of threats to aircraft and related information sharing in part via high velocity fuzing. Additionally, the Air Force is interested in optionally autonomous engagement management systems to maximize aircraft survivability in battle zones and determine the best countermeasure response.

Any machine learning capability developed for the weapons systems should “facilitate a swarm of networked collaborative and autonomous weapon systems,” the service wrote. “Technology must demonstrate the ability to reconcile prescribed targets within a dynamic battlespace.”

Affordability is also a crucial requirement for future munitions, with the service indicating it wants to investigate both conventional and conceptual munitions warhead technology as it relates to the destruction, damage, defeat or denial of function of targets of interest. The researchers should focus on varying amounts of blast or damage outcomes, selectable effects and micro-warheads.

“Novel concepts of target defeat are encouraged to augment or replace the more traditional kinetic energy methods,” according to the BAA. “Research and development of energetic materials that could increase overall warhead performance. Including new or advanced explosive formulations and characterization, additive manufacturing of energetic materials, and high energy-rate fabrication advancement.”

On the power side, the service is looking to reduce the amount of energy and weight required to fire air-to-air missiles, starting with innovative thermal management, guidance electronics, and power generation and storage techniques, plus the miniaturization of batteries and internal packaging components to include propellant formulations and grain structures.

Specifically, the service is seeking “technologies that are able to maintain the operating pressures of a rocket motor while reducing mass to increase the performance,” the BAA notes. “As well as non-eroding throat technology utilizing advanced material (metallic inserts, ceramics, etc.) able to perform in severe environments such as high stagnation temperatures and pressures, abrasive propellants (high aluminum content) and high stress/strain.”

This BAA is intended to direct service-wide munitions research, design, development and eventually prototyping through 2029. Businesses are invited to submit white papers throughout the period of this BAA, and related proposals may be requested by a contracting officer. The cumulative amount for awards issued under this BAA is not expected to exceed $750 million.

U.S. Special Operations Command is nearly doubling the ceiling of a 2022 indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for Counter Unmanned Systems from $967.6 million to $1.9 billion, according to a Nov. 6 justification and approval notice from the Defense Department.

SOCOM chose Anduril Industries to be a “counter-unmanned systems, systems integration partner” at the time of the original award in January 2022. SOCOM chose Anduril out of 12 competing proposals, Inside Defense reported then.

The contract ceiling increase, as stated in the Nov. 6 J&A document, is to “fulfill immediate C-UxS capability expansion and support requirements from Ukraine and Israel Supplemental funding for USSOCOM, United States Army, United States Marine Corps and other agencies.”

As the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts have raged on, DOD has continued to place a heavy emphasis on rapidly fielding UAS and counter UAS capabilities. The J&A document notes that SOCOM “continues to pursue technical solutions to fulfill its SOF-peculiar requirements” under DOD Directive 3800.01e -- the executive agent for groups 1, 2 and 3 counter sUAS.

The J&A document also notes that the special operations forces counter drone program has had “continued congressional interest” for the past four years, “enabling SOF to accelerate C-UAS capabilities for austere locations abroad.”

“Based on the current high threat environment driving an increased force protection footprint for deployed SOF, USSOCOM is facing urgent procurement demands in support of US SOF and our partners,” it states.