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United Launch Alliance successfully launched classified payloads into Geosynchronous Earth orbit on the Delta IV Heavy rocket for the National Reconnaissance Office, U.S. Space Systems Command announced today.

The launch took place early in the morning at 5:10 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex-37B at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL, according to the announcement.

“We had another successful launch for the NRO today,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, SSC’s Assured Access to Space program executive officer.

“The payload we’ve put into space today adds to the unique capability the NRO provides to keep us safe and out in front of the pacing challenges posed by our nation’s competitors,” he said.

ULA is expecting to launch its last Delta IV Heavy rocket in 2024, the announcement reads.

“By then, the Delta vehicle will have launched the NRO’s heaviest satellites for more than a decade and a half,” SSC said.

Noting the vehicle family's significant contribution, SSC said Delta vehicles had launched payloads including military, government, commercial weather, communications, science satellites, robotic probes for exploration, eight Mars rovers and a telescope.

“With only one Delta IV Heavy launch planned for 2024, the Space Force nears the end of the long and overwhelmingly successful Delta era,” the command added.

ULA’s Vulcan will replace the Delta vehicle next year, which will launch the next generation of national security and commercial satellites into space with innovations, the command noted.

RTX has partnered with Mynaric, a communications equipment company, to develop optical communication terminals for the Space Development Agency's military satellite constellation, the company announced yesterday.

The Tranche 1 Tracking Layer will focus on detecting, identifying and tracking hypersonic weapons and other advanced missiles from their earliest stages of launch through interception, according to the announcement.

“This critical mission demands the very best in technology to ensure our nation’s security,” RTX Intelligence & Space President of Space & C2 Dave Broadbent said.

In February 2023, the Defense Department awarded RTX the seven-vehicle mission satellite constellation. Each satellite will feature three communications terminals supplied by Mynaric, known as CONDOR Mk3 terminals, the announcement reads. Mynaric will provide 21 CONDOR MK3 terminals to RTX for the program, which are expected to be delivered in 2024.

“Once the T1 Tracking Layer is fully deployed, the low-Earth orbit constellations of networked satellites will become the fifth plane of satellites to provide missile warning and missile tracking for the U.S. Department of Defense,” Mynaric said in the announcement.

Additionally, Mynaric will also provide optical communications terminals to the 14 satellites developed by Northrop Grumman, another prime contractor for the T1 Tracking Layer, whose delivery is expected in 2024 for deployment in 2025.

In July 2022, Inside Defense reported that SDA aims to launch the first tracking layer satellite no later than April 2025, a timetable accelerated by a $550 million program increase in March 2022.

The House Armed Services Committee voted 58-1 to advance its version of the fiscal year 2024 defense authorization bill last night, signaling strong bipartisan support for the annual, must-pass legislation.

The only member of the committee who voted against the bill was Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA).

Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) said he is “incredibly proud of the bipartisan work” in the bill.

“This year’s [bill] includes provisions that counter China’s aggression, boost oversight of the Department of Defense, and support our servicemembers and their families,” he said. “Additionally, this year’s bill saves taxpayers billions of dollars while still making critical investments in innovative technologies and our defense industrial base.”

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the committee’s ranking member, said he supported the bill “in the spirit of compromise.”

“I am not supportive of everything in this bill,” he said. “However, I continue to be grateful for my colleagues from across the aisle who share the same desire to ensure those who serve and their families -- the people who are the heart of our national defense -- get the resources and respect they need and deserve. That includes provisions to strengthen the DOD civilian workforce, better support military spouses and military families, and a 5.2% pay raise for service members.”

The bill, which authorizes $886 billion in total national defense spending, now moves to the full House for consideration with a vote likely in the coming weeks.

The Senate Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, continues to debate its version of the bill but is scheduled to complete the process some time before Friday.

Watch Inside Defense for further coverage.

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro has declined a request from a group of Senate Armed Services Committee members who asked the service to produce an updated shipbuilding plan that ensures an amphibious warship fleet of at least 31 vessels.

In a June 19 letter obtained by Inside Defense, Del Toro said the Navy intends to meet legal amphibious warship requirements and indicated he is prepared to brief the committee on the subject but did not provide an updated plan.

“The [Navy Department] will continue to make investments to put us on course to achieve and maintain a ready and capable amphibious warship fleet that meets the needs of our Joint Force Commanders,” Del Toro wrote. “I am prepared to come brief you in more detail.”

The secretary’s letter is a response to a June 13 letter, authored by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and signed by a bipartisan group of 13 other Senate Armed Services Committee members, that called for an updated shipbuilding plan and a briefing from Del Toro by Monday, June 19.

Lawmakers criticized the Navy’s fiscal year 2024 budget request -- which excluded a new amphibious transport dock from procurement plans while decommissioning three aging amphibious warships -- and the subsequent 30-year shipbuilding plan.

Although Congress set the 31 L-class ship floor in the FY-23 National Defense Authorization Act, the Navy’s 30-year plan sees the fleet remaining below that level for the plan’s duration.

Del Toro’s letter says the Navy has “every intention to meet the legally mandated amphibious ship requirements,” adding that he is in “constant consultation” with the Marine Corps commandant and chief of naval operations to maintain an effective portfolio of capabilities for the services.

In a statement shared with Inside Defense, Sullivan expressed dissatisfaction with Del Toro’s reply.

“I wish the secretary of the Navy had simply said he will follow the law -- and presented a plan to the [Senate Armed Services Committee] to do so by the deadline we respectfully requested,” Sullivan said. “While he assures the committee he ‘has every intention’ of following the law, his 30-year shipbuilding plan says the exact opposite, never meeting the 31 amphibious ship statutory minimum over the next 30 years.”

Sullivan’s statement adds that the senator plans to introduce an amendment to the FY-24 defense policy bill that would “force” the Navy to adhere to the amphibious warship requirement.

Coverage of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee's proposed fiscal year 2024 military spending bill pretty much dominates this Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest.

Before we get to the appropriations bill, though, we start off with news about the Defense Department figuring out it has more money available for Ukraine than it originally thought:

Pentagon finds an additional $6.2B for Ukraine aid after 'accounting error'

The Pentagon, after reviewing an "accounting error," today said it now has an additional $6.2 billion in funding that President Biden can use to "drawdown" weapons from U.S. stocks and transfer them directly to Ukraine.

Switching to the spending bill, appropriators are cutting funding for a Navy hypersonic strike missile program:

House, citing test failures and delays, clips initial Navy hypersonic strike procurement by 25%

House lawmakers are recommending a 25% cut in the Navy's initial hypersonic strike missile procurement plan, citing concerns with increasing risk in the project caused by test failures and schedule delays, imposing a reduction that appears to decrease the Pentagon's proposed fiscal year 2024 acquisition of eight Conventional Prompt Strike rounds to six.

Appropriators also appear to be at odds with their authorization counterparts on shipbuilding:

House appropriators withhold LPD funding, differ from authorizers on shipbuilding

House appropriators are advancing a draft defense spending bill that excludes funding for amphibious warship procurement and looks to save two Littoral Combat Ships from decommissioning in fiscal year 2024 -- marking a significant departure from the draft legislation produced by the House Armed Services Committee.

. . . but appear to be in agreement over an Air Force hypersonic missile program:

House committees to defund troubled hypersonic ARRW program

House lawmakers from two key defense committees are set to zero-out the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon's fiscal year 2024 budget, ending the hypersonic program that has been plagued by test failures.

Lawmakers are also worried about funding for various Space Force programs:

House appropriators whack Space Force for program shortfall

The House Appropriations defense subcommittee is concerned the Space Force has underfunded critical programs, warning the service to not become overly comfortable with the double-digit budget growth of recent years, according to a draft report obtained by Inside Defense.

House appropriators are suggesting allocating $9.64 billion for 86 F-35 aircraft:

Lightning II naval aircraft acquisitions supported

The House Appropriations defense subcommittee wants to allocate 16 F-35B Lightnings -- the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variants (STOVLs) -- for the Marine Corps plus 19 F-35C carrier variants for the Navy and Marines.

. . . and are supportive of keeping up with funding for F-35 engines:

House appropriators would continue to fund F-35 AETP

The House Appropriations defense subcommittee would continue to fund the Adaptive Engine Transition Program that was originally intended for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, according to a draft report accompanying the annual defense spending bill obtained by Inside Defense.

Appropriators would grant multiyear procurement authority for certain Army missile programs, but not economic order of quantity intended to support the Defense Department's large-lot procurement concept:

House lawmakers seek cuts in Army missile programs

Reductions to the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement account are among the more than $478 million in cuts to Army missile procurement for fiscal year 2024 proposed by the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, according to a draft report obtained by Inside Defense.

Last but by no means least, the report accompanying the House Appropriations defense subcommittee's spending bill emphasizes the need for non-traditional entrants into the defense industrial base, a central goal of the Defense Innovation Unit's mission:

House appropriators want $1B tech 'hedge portfolio' managed by Defense Innovation Unit

The House Appropriations defense subcommittee wants to allocate about $1 billion for the Pentagon to build a "hedge portfolio" to fund emerging military technologies that can be fielded within one to three years, according to a draft report obtained by Inside Defense.

Raytheon Technologies, one of the world's largest defense contractors, is changing its name to RTX, per an announcement from the company on LinkedIn.

The company previously announced a corporate restructuring earlier this year into three businesses -- Raytheon, Collins Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney.

“This is more than a new brand,” the company said on its website. “It is a signal of the next step in our company’s transformation. Now, three market-leading businesses -- Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney and Raytheon -- are working as one to answer the biggest questions and solve the hardest problems in aerospace and defense.”

The corporate rebranding as RTX comes three years after The Raytheon Co. merged with United Technologies Corp., changed its name to Raytheon Technologies and moved its corporate headquarters from Waltham, MA, to Arlington, VA.

Raytheon was founded in 1922 in Cambridge, MA.