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Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith has been hospitalized following an Oct. 29 medical emergency, according to a service press release.

Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, deputy commandant for combat development and integration and commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, will serve as the acting service chief in the interim, the release states.

Further information on Gen. Smith’s condition will be released at a later time, according to the announcement.

The Space Development Agency has awarded $1.3 billion to Northrop Grumman and York Space Systems to build 100 Alpha variant satellites for the Tranche 2 Transport Layer, the agency announced today.

According to the announcement, the T2TL-Alpha variant is part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture that aims to provide global communication access and deliver “persistent, regional and encrypted connectivity to support missions.”

The agency awarded $617 million to York Space Systems to build and deliver 62 TLT2-Alpha variant space vehicles across eight orbital planes. At the same time, Northrop was awarded $732 million to build and deliver 38 T2TL-Alpha space vehicles across two orbital planes.

“The T2TL Alpha awards demonstrate our forward momentum in the procurement phase for Tranche 2 of the PWSA to support delivery beginning in 2026,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said.

“With the Beta variant and now the Alpha constellation, we’ll have more than 170 T2TL satellites on order. SDA is leading the DOD into launching proliferated constellations into low-Earth orbit to enhance responsiveness, resilience, survivability and warfighting capability beyond our current space systems architecture,” he added.

The agency in August awarded Lockheed Martin and Northrop contracts to build 72 data transport for Tranche 2 Transport Layer-Beta variant satellites. Additionally, the agency recently issued a request for information for developing warlock capacity for the T2TL-Gamma variant satellite constellation.

The agency noted the details of the Gamma variant RFI is classified due to the sensitive nature of the capabilities being sought.

The National Security Council and the White House chief of staff have been assigned to develop a National Security Memorandum detailing responsible military use of artificial intelligence, according to an executive order from President Biden today.

“The Executive Order establishes new standards for AI safety and security, protects Americans’ privacy, advances equity and civil rights, stands up for consumers and workers, promotes innovation and competition, advances American leadership around the world and more,” the order states.

The order, which the Biden administration says builds upon previous AI directives, states the National Security Council and the White House chief of staff will develop a National Security Memorandum for “further actions on AI and security.”

“This document will ensure that the United States military and intelligence community use AI safely, ethically and effectively in their missions, and will direct actions to counter adversaries’ military use of AI,” the order states.

In July 2022, the Defense Department released the Responsible AI Strategy and Implementation Pathway, a framework for how it plans to further ethical artificial intelligence use throughout the military.

However, in June 2023 the Government Accountability Office said the government has yet to release a department-wide AI acquisition strategy, despite forming plans to invest billions into artificial intelligence.

“Although numerous entities across DOD are acquiring, developing or already using AI, DOD has not issued department-wide guidance for how its components should approach acquiring AI,” a June 29 GAO report stated.

The Executive Order released today, meanwhile, provides ethical outlines to proper development of artificial intelligence, including requiring that developers of the most powerful AI systems share vital information, like the results of their safety tests, with the U.S. government.

“In accordance with the Defense Production Act, the Order will require that companies developing any foundation model that poses a serious risk to national security, national economic security, or national public health and safety must notify the federal government when training the model and must share the results of all red-team safety tests,” the order states. “These measures will ensure AI systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy before companies make them public.”

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the foreign military sales process, Oshkosh's and L3Harris Technologies' quarterly earnings and more.

Defense Security Cooperation Agency Director James Hursch, speaking at this week's annual Common Defense Conference, discussed the "six pressure point recommendations" that the Foreign Military Sales Tiger Team created and released in June:

DSCA director pledges continued FMS reform, signaling lessons learned from global crises

The director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency spoke this week about Pentagon and State Department efforts to reform and streamline the foreign military sales process, detailing how work is ongoing to follow new “tiger team” recommendations and how they might impact the war in Ukraine and the future of allyships like AUKUS.

More defense contractors held their quarterly earnings calls this week:

Oshkosh Defense sales decrease after JLTV contract loss

After losing a production contract for tactical vehicles, Oshkosh Defense experienced a loss in sales in the third quarter but expects a “strong” fourth quarter and production capacity to increase, according to the company’s earnings call.

L3Harris planning to use Defense Production Act funding to boost Aerojet Rocketdyne capacity

L3Harris Technologies plans to use $216 million in Defense Production Act funding to boost capacity and long-term growth at recently acquired Aerojet Rocketdyne, executives said today.

House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and House Foreign Affairs Indo-Pacific subcommittee Chairman Young Kim (R-CA) sent a letter to Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro calling on the service to speed up the production and sale of weapons Taiwan needs to defend itself in the instance of a Chinese invasion, like Harpoon and SLAM-ER missiles:

Lawmakers call on Navy to accelerate Taiwan weapons transfers including Harpoon and SLAM-ER missiles

Lawmakers are calling on the Navy to speed up the production and delivery of weapons to Taiwan and are demanding an explanation for months-long delays in the transfer of two key missile systems in a letter to Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro.

Document: Lawmakers' letter to Navy on weapons sales to Taiwan

A final request for proposals for the missile warning and tracking satellite program will be released in the "May timeframe," according to a U.S. Space Command official:

SSC plans to award contracts for 18 MW/MT satellites by early 2025

U.S. Space Systems Command is expecting to award contracts for 18 new missile warning and tracking satellites between late 2024 and early 2025, a senior command official said last week.

The Defense Department has plans to send two U.S.-based Iron Dome air defense batteries to Israel, along with additional missile interceptors, according to Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon's chief spokesman.

Ryder, “for security reasons,” declined to say where the Iron Dome batteries, made by Israeli company Rafael, would be stationed and when they are expected to be operational in Israel’s conflict against Hamas.

President Biden, in his recent emergency spending request to Congress, is seeking $4 billion in DOD procurement funds that would be transferred to Israel “for the procurement of the Iron Dome Defense System capabilities and David’s Sling short-range ballistic missile defense in order to counter short-range rockets and mortar threats.”

Additionally, the administration seeks $1.2 billion for research, development, test and evaluation work on Iron Beam, a proposed laser upgrade to Iron Dome.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has tapped 900 U.S. military personnel to deploy or to prepare to deploy to the Middle East, along with Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Air Defense systems, though Ryder stressed they are not going to Israel.

The U.S. troops and air defense systems, Ryder said, are "intended to support regional deterrence efforts and further bolster U.S. force protection capabilities.”

Ryder said U.S. and coalition forces in the Middle East have been attacked by Iran-backed groups using a mix of rockets and drones at least a dozen separate times in Iraq and four separate times in Syria between Oct. 17 and Oct. 26, including one attempted attack today against U.S. forces in Erbil, Iraq.

Ryder said 21 total U.S. personnel have suffered minor injuries during the attacks on Oct. 17 and Oct. 18, with some being diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. He said all have returned to duty.

Ryder declined to discuss any potential U.S. response to the attacks.

“We will reserve the right to self-defense,” he said. “I’m not going to telegraph any response other than to say we would do so at a time and place of our choosing.”

The Army has chosen Elbit Systems of America to develop and qualify a prototype for the service's new Joint Effects Targeting System (JETS II) variant, the company announced Thursday.

Nearly a year ago, the Army released a request for prototype proposals for JETS II to solicit information from the private sector.

The Army, in its RPP, indicated that it intends to integrate a military code GPS receiver to handle call-for-fire missions. It will be used for “coordinate seeking, laser guided and conventional munitions,” according to the service.

The Army selected Elbit America to develop and qualify a prototype JETS II product, which will make targeting “easier and more precise” and will provide “faster effects on targets” according to the company. Development of the prototype system will be done at Elbit America’s Merrimack, NH facility through 2026.

Elbit America’s handheld system “allows soldiers to rapidly prosecute threats in all operational environments,” including for contested battlefields. The company’s system will ensure that “forward observers in the U.S. Army can operate with exceptional mobility, lethality and survivability, no matter where the battle takes place,” Erik Fox, the vice president of warfighter systems for Elbit America said in a statement Thursday.

“Responding to soldier feedback on such systems, we are designing a prototype lightweight JETS II system so it can be carried and effortlessly set up, shaving precious time off the targeting process in the field,” he said.