The Insider

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Pentagon's Replicator drone effort, a Defense Science Board report on position, navigation and timing control and more.

Here's the latest on the Defense Department's Replicator drone effort:

DIU, Navy award contracts for small sea drones for Replicator

The Pentagon's innovation hub and the Navy have awarded contracts to prototype small sea drones, in line with the department's Replicator program timeline to field thousands of attritable, unmanned systems by August 2025 to counter China's military mass, the Defense Innovation Unit announced Monday.

More unmanned systems news, specifically on MQ-4C Triton cost increases:

Drastic cost increase of MQ-4C reflects widespread problem, with unique causes

The MQ-4C Triton uncrewed aircraft system recently experienced significant unit cost increases, mirroring what some other Defense Department programs go through every year.

The recently released executive summary of a June 27 Defense Science Board report on Position, Navigation and Timing Control "examined a variety of alternative navigation systems, space-based and otherwise, and considered warfighter needs and future opportunities for meeting them":

DSB recommends military use of commercial PNT systems

A Defense Science Board task force is recommending the Pentagon try to leverage commercial markets to rapidly scale and lower the cost of position, navigation and timing systems for military use, according to an executive summary of the advisory panel’s latest report.

Document: Executive summary of DSB report on PNT control

Office of Strategic Capital Director Jason Rathje spoke at the National Defense Industrial Association’s emerging technology conference last week:

Strategic capital chief expects loan funds available by year's end, awards in early 2025

The Defense Department office aimed at catalyzing private investment in technology areas deemed critical to national security expects to announce its first available funds by the end of this year, with its eye on awarding the money in early 2025, according to its director.

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

Second proposed rule for Pentagon's CMMC program clears OMB regulatory review process

The second rulemaking to implement version 2.0 of the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program has cleared the interagency regulatory review process at the Office of Management and Budget, setting up the potential for the closely watched initiative to be put into place by the end of the year.

This Monday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on MQ-4C Triton cost increases, the Air Force's multibillion-dollar, next-generation AWACS aircraft and more.

Prompted by the Navy, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council -- the organization charged with assessing and evaluating joint military requirements -- decided in 2022 to reduce MQ-4C procurement numbers from 70 to 27 aircraft, due to increasing costs:

Drastic cost increase of MQ-4C reflects widespread problem, with unique causes

The MQ-4C Triton uncrewed aircraft system recently experienced significant unit cost increases, mirroring what some other Defense Department programs go through every year.

In other unmanned systems news, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu, who spoke at the National Defense Industrial Association's recent emerging technology conference, pointed to the increasingly widespread availability of commercial UAS products:

Shyu says counter-drone warfare 'never going to die'; Anduril touts new production facility

The global proliferation of unmanned aerial systems and the technologies to counter them has the Pentagon's technology chief predicting continued "explosive growth."

Boeing and the Air Force have put the finishing touches on a multibillion-dollar contract for the next-generation AWACS aircraft:

Air Force, Boeing finalize E-7A Wedgetail contract for $2.6 billion

The Air Force and Boeing finalized the E-7A Wedgetail contract, inking the deal for $2.56 billion for the rapid prototype program, according to a service announcement.

Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins said a prototype integrated air and missile defense architecture developed by his agency called the Joint Track Management Capability (JTMC) Bridge will be the starting point for tying together different air and missile systems originally developed by the military services as stand-alone capabilities:

'Bridge' to link Army-Navy sensor tracks on Guam not ready to handle 'advanced' threats

The U.S. military is planning to roll out a Defense of Guam capability that effectively identifies from Army and Navy radar a single track for air-breathing threats but not yet adversary ballistic and hypersonic missiles, even as top brass assess that incoming raids in a conflict with China could be in the "hundreds" or "thousands."

The services have received several systems under the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve program:

DOD highlights successful prototype transitions to defend RDER funding

The Pentagon has released project details for several systems that have successfully transitioned to the military services via the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve program, which senior officials have been defending amid recent congressional criticism.

The Office of Naval Research is seeking information on technology that will assist in subsea and seabed warfare and plans to use this knowledge for technology operational experimentation event (TOEE) 25.2 -- part of a series of experiments that take place in operationally relevant conditions.

Three focus areas for TOEE 25.2 include autonomous undersea navigation and collaborative autonomy, sensors and automated target recognition and command and control tools as well as decision aids for planning and mission coordination, according to a request for information posted today.

“TOEEs is a series of events designed to provide decision-quality information to Naval Research & Development Establishment (ND&RE) leadership informing future Science and Technology (S&T) investments (further development, transition, or divestiture) through live force experimentation executed in operationally relevant scenarios and environments,” today’s notice reads. “Past events have focused on Expeditionary Sustainment, Maritime Reconnaissance and Counter-Reconnaissance, and Small Boat Payloads in support of Littoral Maneuver.”

The Navy is interested in technologies with a technology readiness level of five or greater and that can conduct live experimentation in fiscal year 2025.

After an initial demonstration, successful technologies will be allowed to join in a limited objective experiment, currently scheduled for January to February 2025. If the technology is successful here, it may participate in an advanced capability experiment, which will tentatively take place in September 2025, according to today’s notice.

An industry day will also occur from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CST on Aug. 28 virtually on Microsoft Teams. Responses to today’s RFI are due by Sept. 27.

The Defense Department has announced a $125 million transfer of U.S. weapons to Ukraine, including air defense capabilities, multimission radars and anti-tank weapons.

The aid package being provided via Presidential Drawdown Authority contains:

• Stinger missiles;
• Ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
• 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition;
• Multimission radars;
• Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) missiles;
• Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems;
• Humvee ambulances;
• Small arms ammunition;
• Demolitions equipment and munitions;
• Equipment to protect critical national infrastructure; and
• Spare parts, ancillary equipment, services, training and transportation.

“This announcement is the Biden administration's sixty-third tranche of equipment to be provided from DOD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021,” DOD said.

The aid announcement comes as Ukraine has launched a surprising cross-border attack on Russia's Kursk region.

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Navy searching for cheap solutions to foreign adversaries' use of inexpensive weapons, the Defense Innovation Unit's work in Europe and more.

Since last October -- when Houthi drone and missile attacks on ships transiting the Red Sea began -- the Navy has struggled to identify cost-effective methods for countering these threats:

Global solution needed to preserve stability in Red Sea, 5th Fleet commander says

Although unmanned technology may provide the Navy an edge when countering Houthis in the Red Sea, the long-term solution is not any one weapon system, Vice Adm. George Wikoff, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces, said yesterday.

Glenn McCartan, DIU's representative to EUCOM, spoke this week at the National Defense Industrial Association’s annual technology conference:

DIU's EUCOM lead says Ukraine has speed, risk tolerance that DOD lacks

The Ukrainian military has the emerging technologies the Pentagon has been scrambling to field at the scale it desires, and the difference is risk tolerance, according to the Defense Innovation Unit's lead at U.S. European Command.

The Space Force is looking to break apart software development programs into smaller components, rather than comprehensive but complicated programs that tend to experience more delays:

Calvelli: Breaking up software development could prevent problems affecting OCX delivery

The Space Force is shifting its software acquisition policies, acquisition chief Frank Calvelli said today, learning from the problems and delays of the Next Generation Operational Control System for the GPS enterprise.

A program office is always on the lookout to acquire technical data to support a weapon system:

Acquisition of Super Hornet technical data package will allow Navy to be self-sufficient, program manager says

As the shutdown of the production line for Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is imminent, the Navy's steps to acquire the aircraft's technical data will boost sustainment -- allowing the service to operate the Super Hornet over the next two decades, at least.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, in its mark of the fiscal year 2025 defense spending bill, recommends adding $200 million to begin work on a project that would install skis on Air Force C-130 aircraft, which Lockheed Martin and the New York Air National Guard have been eyeing for at least seven years:

Congress eyes brand new C-130J variant for the High North: Ski-equipped LC-130J

A key congressional panel wants a new, ski-equipped C-130 intratheater aircraft to give the U.S. military a fully modernized polar tactical airlift capability, recommending funding for a first-ever LC-130J in what could be the start of a project to recapitalize an aging fleet needed to ensure logistical capability across the High North.

Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu said this week that bureaucratic roadblocks are exacerbating the "valley of death" many companies face when trying to move a developmental technology to a production contract:

Shyu defends RDER and DOD's rapid tech push

The Pentagon's technology chief said she and her team are working hard to accelerate rapid defense innovation, despite a system that seems designed to stifle it.

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Air Force integrating systems across the enterprise, plus Boeing's Next Generation Automatic Test System and much more.

We have one more deep-dive story from last week's Life Cycle Industry Days conference:

Air Force 'not just talking about' integrating systems across enterprise

DAYTON, OH -- The Air Force will be making fundamental changes to its capability development strategy to prioritize integration so all of the service's systems can work together, a key part of the Air Force modernization plan for a potential conflict with China.

The Next Generation Automatic Test System is a "mobile diagnostic tool" that offers "fault detection and isolation of electronic line-replaceable units (LRU) in the field":

Boeing developing Next Generation Automatic Test System for Apache

Boeing is developing a version of its Next Generation Automatic Test System (NGATS) for the Army's Apache helicopter, according to the company.

The Pentagon's No. 2 civilian official spoke this week at the National Defense Industrial Association's annual emerging technology conference, where she first publicly launched the Replicator program last year:

Hicks says Replicator signals 'golden age' if Congress gets on board

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said the fledgling Replicator program represents a breakthrough in Pentagon acquisition that could herald a "golden age" of defense innovation and production if Congress is willing to extend greater trust.

A carrier strike group exercise will take place at the end of 2025 involving the United States and foreign allies:

Upcoming GIDE exercise to connect U.S. force with foreign allies

The next Global Information Dominance Experimentation series is going to culminate in a "worldwide joint activity" next year, according to a top official at the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office.

Senate appropriators have taken issue with many of the Planning, Programing, Budgeting and Execution Reform Commission's recommendations:

Senate appropriators withhold support from budget reform commission's key recommendations

The Senate Appropriations Committee is clear in its version of the fiscal year 2025 defense spending bill that it does not support the kind of broad overhaul recommended by a key reform commission to update the Pentagon's sprawling, 1960s-era budgeting system.

The Air Force is targeting an "aggressive fielding" schedule to counter small unmanned aerial systems:

Air Force wants to purchase upgraded C-sUAS on an 'aggressive fielding' schedule

The Air Force is setting its sights on modernized counter small unmanned aircraft systems fitted with modular machine learning algorithms, the latest command and control technology and more capable sensors and effectors, according to a recent request for information.

Senate appropriators want to cut $67 million from the Multi-Domain Artillery Cannon System and $165 million from the Hypervelocity Gun Weapon System programs:

Senate appropriators scrutinize Army's new-start Multi-Domain Artillery Cannon System

The Senate Appropriations Committee does not believe the Army's new Multi-Domain Artillery Cannon System effort should be funded in fiscal year 2025, pointing to what lawmakers believe is a flawed acquisition strategy for that program and the Strategic Capabilities Office's Hypervelocity Gun Weapon System -- a similar program with overlapping capabilities.

Booz Allen Hamilton has been awarded a $506 million contract that will support the Army's Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team and Program Executive Office for Aviation "to enhance military capabilities through innovative technology solutions," the company announced today.

Under the five-year contract, Booz Allen will “champion” a modular open systems approach (MOSA) strategy that drives the “development, integration and fielding of critical technologies to empower the nation’s warfighters,” the company stated in the announcement.

Booz Allen was awarded the contract under the Defense Department’s Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC), as a multiple award contract task order. The Army awarded the task order in collaboration with the Air Force’s 774th Enterprise Squadron to “develop and create new knowledge for the enhancement of the DTIC” repository, according to the company.

The effort will involve enhancing the quality of current Army weapon systems and evaluating new technologies that could be used across a range of programs, according to Booz Allen. It includes support for experimentation events such as the service’s Project Convergence and Experimental Demonstration Gateway Events (EDGE).

Under the contract, the Army and Booz Allen will “develop and integrate” critical combat systems that support the service’s aviation modernization initiatives in future multidomain operations.

Supporting the effort will be a group of 20 businesses and universities that Booz Allen has assembled, the company said today. Booz Allen’s role will be to provide expertise in digital engineering, analytics, cyber, exercise planning and software development.

Brian Orr, vice president at Booz Allen who leads the company’s Army aviation portfolio, said in a statement that the contract will help “close the gap between science and technology discovery and experimentation, and rapid deployment of critical technology to the battlefield.”