The Insider

The Senate voted 86-0 today to confirm Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney as Marine Corps assistant commandant days after Commandant Gen. Eric Smith was hospitalized following an undisclosed medical emergency, leaving the service with no Senate-confirmed No. 2 officer.

Although Mahoney was nominated in July, the post of assistant commandant has been vacant due to a blanket hold on military nominations and promotions by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who is blocking the Senate’s normal confirmation process in opposition to the Pentagon’s leave and travel policies for servicemembers seeking abortion services. Tuberville voted in favor of Mahoney’s nomination today.

With no Senate-confirmed assistant commandant, Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, deputy commandant for combat development and integration and commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, has been performing the duties of commandant while Smith recovers. The job falls to Heckl because he is the most senior officer at Marine Corps Headquarters, according to a service press release.

According to a Wednesday Marine Corps release, Smith is in stable condition and is recovering in a Washington, DC hospital. While the service has not disclosed the nature of the medical emergency, other media outlets have reported it was a heart attack.

Earlier today, senators confirmed Adm. Lisa Franchetti as the new chief of naval operations and Gen. David Allvin as the next Air Force chief of staff. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) filed cloture on the three nominations on Tuesday, bringing them to the Senate floor for individual votes.

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Air Force's KC-46A airborne refueling tanker program, the newly minted House speaker floating an idea to keep the government open beyond the current continuing resolution and more.

The Air Force is working on a plan for the Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness certification of "commercial-off-the-shelf cameras" for the KC-46A's Remote Vision System 2 which is the "final critical action item" that, once approved, will complete the system's critical design review:

Air Force to complete KC-46A's RVS 2.0 critical design review before end of year

The Air Force is expecting to close the KC-46A's Remote Vision System 2.0 critical design review before the end of the calendar year, a service spokeswoman told Inside Defense.

The House's recently elected speaker is floating a new idea to keep the government open beyond the current continuing resolution:

Johnson floats idea of 'laddered' stopgap funding to keep government open

Newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said today that among Republican lawmakers there is growing recognition Congress needs to pass another stopgap funding patch to avert a government shutdown in two weeks, adding the GOP is considering a "laddered" continuing resolution that would involve individual appropriations bills.

HII executives discussed the company's quarterly earnings this morning:

HII exceeds annual hiring goal with over 5,000 new personnel

Shipbuilder HII has exceeded its annual hiring goal with over 5,000 new hires through the third quarter of 2023, according to company executives, who said they are still working to improve retention rates.

New legislation would prohibit the federal government from using U.S. taxpayer dollars to purchase commercial drones from countries like China:

House lawmakers propose bill to ban federal drone purchases from China

Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Joe Courtney (D-CT) introduced a bipartisan bill today that would ban the federal government from buying commercial drones made in countries, like China, that are listed as possible national security threats.

Document: American Security Drone Act of 2023

Lockheed Martin recently demonstrated a 5G network:

Lockheed touts successful 5G demo with commercial tech companies

Lockheed Martin today announced the completion of a successful demonstration of its Hybrid 5G-Tactical Mesh Network, noting new collaboration with leading commercial technology companies like Microsoft, Verizon and Intel, partnerships Lockheed's CEO recently told House lawmakers will be vital for the future of the defense industry.

The Senate voted 95-1 today to confirm Adm. Lisa Franchetti as the next chief of naval operations, breaking a months-long hold that left Franchetti serving as the acting CNO while awaiting senate confirmation.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) was the only senator to vote against the nomination. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) was among those who voted for it.

Franchetti was nominated for the position in July and has been performing the duties of both the Navy’s No.1 and No. 2 positions since previous CNO, Adm. Michael Gilday, reached the end of his term in August. Franchetti is the first woman to become the Navy’s top officer.

Tuberville maintains a blanket hold on over 300 military nominations and promotions in opposition to the Pentagon’s leave and travel policies for servicemembers seeking abortion services. The hold prevents the Senate from using its usual process for approving nominees in large blocks.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) filed cloture on Franchetti’s nomination on Tuesday along with two additional senior military nominations -- Gen. David Allvin for Air Force chief of staff and Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney for assistant Marine Corps commandant. The Senate is likely to vote on the additional two officials in the coming days.

In September, Schumer used the same workaround, holding individual votes to confirm Gen. Eric Smith as Marine Corps commandant, Air Force Gen. Charles “C.Q.” Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Gen. Randy George as Army chief of staff.

An August Congressional Research Service report found it would take the Senate more than 30 days to confirm all the nominees impacted by Tuberville’s hold if lawmakers worked 24 hours per day without stopping. It would take the Senate 89 days if lawmakers worked eight hours a day on just the nominations.

The Army released a digital weapons handbook cataloguing current and future weapon systems, the service announced Wednesday.

Dubbed the Acquisition Program Portfolio, the document details each of the weapon systems the Army currently uses and intends to procure ranging from small arms to battlefield surveillance systems.

Published by the Army’s Acquisition Support Center, which oversees the service’s acquisition and procurement programs, the portfolio also details the organization of the agencies, such as the numerous program executive offices.

“This portfolio is the successor to the U.S. Army Weapon Systems Handbooks, which have been periodically issued for more than three decades,” the service announced on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Clickable links allow navigation through the chapters, and the page design lets the user view the document on mobile devices.

The portfolio contains three chapters: the organization of the Army’s procurement offices, science and technology efforts and individual program portfolios. Each chapter is divided into subchapters, that offer details on programs or offices.

For subchapters covering weapons or vehicles currently in service, the portfolio outlines any current or proposed upgrade program, such as the M2A4 Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

Subchapters that cover the program executive offices outline their scope and purpose.

The Science and Technology subchapter outlines numerous development and experimentation efforts, such as the Next Generation Combat Vehicle and the Future Vertical Lift programs.

Prior versions of the portfolio, called U.S. Army Weapon Systems Handbooks, didn't contain clickable links and were issued in PDF or print form.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) advanced the nominations of three senior military officials on Tuesday, seeking to fill key Defense Department positions that have been left vacant due to a blanket hold by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).

Schumer filed cloture on the nominations of Gen. David Allvin for Air Force chief of staff, Adm. Lisa Franchetti for chief of naval operations and Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney for assistant Marine Corps commandant.

The move follows the hospitalization of Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith, who experienced an undisclosed medical emergency on Sunday evening.

With no Senate-confirmed assistant commandant, Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, deputy commandant for combat development and integration and commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, is performing the duties of commandant while Smith recovers.

The job falls to Heckl because he is the most senior officer at Marine Corps Headquarters, according to a service press release.

“In typical Marine fashion, I am the next Marine up. This is what we do, as so many have done before us throughout the history of our Corps,” Heckl said in a Tuesday statement, adding that all orders remain in effect.

During an appearance at the Military Reporters and Editors conference last week, Smith said without a No. 2 officer, he is forced to handle the workload of the service’s top two positions.

Mahoney, who currently serves as the deputy commandant for programs and resources, was nominated for the post of assistant commandant in July.

Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who is also doing two jobs at once as the Navy’s vice chief of naval operations and acting CNO, was also nominated to serve as Navy service chief in July.

Tuberville is blocking the Senate’s typically streamlined process for advancing military nominations because he is opposed to the Pentagon’s leave and travel policies for servicemembers seeking abortion services. The blockade has stalled more than 300 nominations and promotions.

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) has announced that she will not run for reelection in 2024.

Granager, who was first elected to Congress in 1996 and is the first female Republican House appropriations chair, said she plans to serve out the remainder of her term.

Over the years, Granger, who has also served as chair of the committee’s defense panel, has been known as a key supporter of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- and the Lockheed Martin facility located in her district that manufactures it.

“Although I am not running for re-election,” she said, “I plan to serve out the remainder of my term and work with our new speaker and my colleagues to advance our conservative agenda and finish the job I was elected to do.”

There remains plenty for Granger to do as the federal government faces a possible shutdown on Nov. 17 when a stopgap continuing resolution is set to expire.

The House, still reeling from weeks of chaos after the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who Granger supported, is also trying to move appropriations bills under new Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), including a standalone bill to aid Israel by cutting the Internal Revenue Service that the president has threatened to veto.

Space Systems Command has assigned 21 launch service missions for Phase 2 of space launch services for fiscal year 2024, the command announced today.

According to the announcement, this is the “fifth and final order” of the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 after completing the NSSL Mission Assignment Board’s process for FY-24 launch service awards.

“Over the five-year Phase 2 contract, we will have ordered a total of 48 missions, a significant increase over the 34 missions originally estimated leading up to Phase 2,” Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, the assured access to space program executive officer, said in the announcement.

“The increase in launch tempo is a clear reminder of how vital space-based capabilities are in providing our warfighters and our nation’s decision-makers with the information needed to stay ahead of and to deter adversarial forces,” she said.

The United Launch Alliance will deliver 11 mission launch services and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) will deliver 10 mission launch services, which the command is expecting to launch over the next two to three years with a focus on different mission areas.

The 11 mission launch services by ULA will include Global Positioning System III-9, National Reconnaissance Office Launch- 73; NROL-56; Space Test Program-5; SILENTBARKER-2/NROL-118; GPSIIIF-1; NROL-100; United States Space Force-95; NROL-109; Space Development Agency Tranche 2 Transport Layer Beta variant; and USSF-25.

At the same time, the 10 mission launch services by SpaceX will include SDA Tranche 1 Transport Layer -F; SDA Tranche 1 Tracking Layer- A; USSF-57; NROL-77; SDA T1TR-E; GPS III-10; USSF-75; SDA T2TL-Alpha; SDA T2TL- Gamma; and USSF-70.

“We maintain a close partnership with our mission customers and our domestic launch industry to protect our nation,” Col. Chad Melone, SSC’s Mission Solutions Space Acquisition Delta senior materiel leader, said.

“Under our Phase 2 contract, ULA and SpaceX have been committed partners, and our combined team remains dedicated to delivery of critical assets to our warfighters as we complete this phase of the NSSL program and embark on NSSL Phase 3 starting in FY25,” he continued.