The Insider

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has coverage of the Air Force canceling a new requirements command, an Army intelligence and targeting ground station and more.

A recent decision, made by Air Force Secretary Troy Meink and outgoing Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, puts an end to uncertainty that has reigned for months over whether the service would stick with a Biden-era effort to establish a new major command dedicated to writing requirements to align with key enterprise-level mission threads:

Air Force canceling new requirements command but keeping underpinning principles

The Air Force will no longer stand up the Integrated Capabilities Command -- one of the hallmark institutional changes of last year's "Reoptimization for Great Power Competition," the service announced Wednesday.

Service leaders originally envisioned the basic variant of the Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) pairing solely with Joint Light Tactical Vehicles -- but instead, in line with the Army Transformation Initiative, the service recently wrapped up a three-month sprint to adapt it to the Army's newest tactical vehicle:

ATI-inspired sprint yields new TITAN ISV prototype

The Army and a team of industry partners have swiftly tailored the next-generation intelligence and targeting ground station to an Infantry Squad Vehicle amid preparations for a production decision in the first half of next calendar year.

The recently completed Operation Clear Horizon assessed every counter UAS capability in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps inventory against the most advanced known threats:

JIATF 401 documents nearly two-dozen validated cUAS requirements, capability gaps, more

The Pentagon's new Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF 401) is moving fast to chart a new course for counter-drone defenses after its first major exercise, Operation Clear Horizon, revealed critical gaps in how the military detects and defeats small, unmanned aircraft.

For about a year, the Army has been working with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Army Europe and Africa to look at capabilities needed to deliver more mass and survivability while reducing the number of pilots needed:

Army wants to develop requirement similar to Air Force's CCA concept

Army aviation leaders said this week that as the service places a heavier emphasis on unmanned systems and Launched Effects, a new requirement similar to the Air Force's Collaborative Combat Aircraft could be in the works.

A Navy industry day, intended to brief companies on a potential multiple-award contract for steel and aluminum vessels for the Navy and foreign military sales, was originally scheduled for Oct. 15 but is now "postponed until further notice," a Wednesday announcement states:

Navy delays another industry day as shutdown worries grow

The Navy has postponed an industry day on support craft acquisitions, citing the ongoing government shutdown, which has sparked heightened concern for contracting and workforce disruptions as it enters its third week.

Document: Navy RFI on PMS 300 SCB MAC

A majority of Senate Democrats made it clear today they want to deal with the ongoing government shutdown before considering new spending packages, blocking a key vote to advance a defense appropriations bill.

The vote failed 50-44, with three Democrats voting with Republicans in favor: Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), John Fetterman (D-PA) and Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV).

Along with defense, the spending bill included appropriations for labor, health and education programs.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, said on the floor that he could not support the bill given the current dysfunction in the federal government, referencing the ongoing shutdown and the White House’s attempts to rescind spending already approved by Congress.

"Bluntly, the process here in this Senate, the process with our president, the process of spending or not spending appropriated funds has destroyed a lot of the trust that is essential for the Senate as a body to work, for the Congress to legislate, for our federal government to reopen,” he said.

Though the chamber was considering a defense spending bill today that had already been passed by the House, Senate leadership would likely have substituted their own bipartisan measure had the vote been successful.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who chairs the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, blamed Democrats for continuing to block funding for the Pentagon by opposing a bill that has bipartisan support.

“Last week, the Senate passed a National Defense Authorization Act that raised the defense topline by more than $30 billion to meet these growing threats,” he said. “However, without appropriated dollars, such an authorization only grows the gap between our rhetoric and our action.”

The vote failed shortly after Democrats also rejected a stopgap continuing resolution that would have temporarily ended the shutdown. Democrats assert that they will not vote to reopen the government until the White House and congressional Republicans negotiate with them on extending investments in healthcare subsidies.

Meanwhile, President Trump has ordered the Defense Department to redirect $8 billion in research and development funds to pay U.S. troops.

The Space Development Agency successfully launched its second slate of Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites yesterday, according to satellite-maker Lockheed Martin.

The 21 Lockheed satellites join the 21 York Space Systems satellites launched last month as part of SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

The satellites entered low-Earth orbit after being launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Lockheed said in a press release.

“These data transport satellites will provide unprecedented levels of space-based connectivity for national security situational awareness, enabling our forces to respond faster to emerging threats. We are proud to continue to support the SDA’s development of the PWSA and bring this crucial capability to our warfighters,” said Joe Rickers, vice president of Transport, Tracking & Warning Programs at Lockheed Martin.

This was the second of six T1TL launches. Another four launches are scheduled for Tranche 1 Tracking Layer satellites, which will provide missile-warning capabilities. Launches are expected to take place about once a month.

Northrop Grumman is also building T1TL satellites while Northrop and L3Harris are building the T1TRK satellites.

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on a strike at a Boeing defense plant, the effects of the ongoing government shutdown on Army acquisition and more.

Roughly 3,200 Boeing mechanics and other defense workers at three factories in St. Louis, St. Charles, MO and Mascoutah, IL began a work stoppage in early August, marking the first time since 1996 that members of the local International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers chapter voted to walk off the job:

F-15EX deliveries hamstrung by Boeing defense strike

Boeing will not deliver Lot 2 F-15EX Eagle II's on time because of the ongoing defense worker strike at several of the company's production facilities, according to President Trump's pick to be the next Air Force chief of staff.

Senior Army officials spoke this week about the effects of the ongoing government shutdown:

Longer shutdown could necessitate more reprogramming, new Army acquisition czar warns

The longer the now-two-week-old government shutdown lasts, the more the Army will need to find areas within the budget to reprogram funds to keep critical programs on schedule, the service's newly appointed acquisition chief warns.

Driscoll doesn't anticipate 'meaningful' impact from shutdown on Army transformation

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said this week that he doesn't expect a shift in Pentagon research and development dollars during the ongoing government shutdown will have a significant impact on Army transformation initiatives.

Driscoll also talked about installing commercial nuclear reactors on service installations:

Army to build commercial nuclear microreactors for resilient domestic installation energy

The Army is teaming up with the Energy Department and Defense Innovation Unit to launch its latest nuclear reactor program aimed at putting fully operational commercial microreactors on domestic military installations to support energy resilience for the warfighter, service officials announced this week.

Outgoing Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin spoke at his retirement ceremony this week:

Allvin's legacy points to a 'Reoptimization for Great Power Competition' that may never take flight

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, MD -- Despite his efforts to shift the Air Force's focus to the Indo-Pacific, service Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin may be ending his 39-year career while the Air Force instead structures itself to prioritize homeland defense.

Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano, the Army’s program executive officer for missiles and space, spoke this week at the AUSA Conference:

Army eyes mid-2026 procurement decision for PrSM Inc. 2 following early flight tests

The Army is on track to begin flight testing the Increment 2 variant of the Precision Strike Missile early next year, with a goal of obligating initial procurement funds by mid 2026, according to a senior service official.

For decades, the defense trade media has been a trusted source of news and insight about Defense Department programs, budgets and strategy. Ethical, accurate and timely reporting makes that possible. The public, industry and indeed the department itself benefit from granting credentialed defense reporters access to unclassified areas in the Pentagon and from the trust engendered by that access.

The Pentagon has been seeking to impose unprecedented restrictions on journalists’ ability to cover the military for several months. Having restricted where unescorted media may go in the Pentagon -- such that even visiting the public affairs offices of the military services now requires an escort -- department leaders are asking reporters to sign a document acknowledging a vague new policy that, on its face, appears to contravene the First Amendment. This policy threatens to punish reporters who ask legitimate questions in the course of their daily work and to impose material harm on our news organizations for factual reporting.

Journalists from the undersigned defense trade publications will not sign this new policy. Our newsrooms will continue to cover topics of military, defense, and national security fairly and independently.

Breaking Defense

Aviation Week

Defense Daily

Defense One

Defense News

Inside Defense

Military Times

USNI

Defense & Aerospace Report

(Editor’s note: Tony Bertuca, the author of this piece, has been a credentialed member of the Pentagon press corps for 15 years and will be impacted by this new policy.)

Dozens of news outlets, including Inside Defense, are rejecting a new Pentagon policy they say bars journalists from seeking or obtaining information not explicitly provided by the Defense Department, resulting in the revocation of press access.

Statements of rejection from various media organizations began lighting up social media on Tuesday afternoon, hours before a Pentagon deadline requiring journalists to sign on to the new press access policy.

Fox News -- the former employer of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth -- along with ABC, CBS and NBC, released a joint statement on their decision.

“Today, we join virtually every other news organization in declining to agree to the Pentagon’s new requirements, which would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues,” they wrote. “The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will continue to cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press.”

A host of other media outlets have also refused to sign off on the new policy, which has been condemned by press advocacy organizations including the Committee to Protect Journalists, the National Press Club and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

At present, the conservative cable channel One America News Network appears to be the only outlet publicly saying it will honor the new policy.

Hegseth, speaking at the White House alongside President Trump, defended the new media regulations.

“It’s commonsense stuff, Mr. President,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure national security is respected, and we’re proud of the policy.”

Trump said he supported the policy.

“[I]t bothers me to have soldiers and, even, you know, high-ranking generals walking around with you guys on their sleeve asking -- because they can make a mistake, and a mistake can be tragic,” he told a reporter.

Hegseth, meanwhile, is under investigation by the Pentagon inspector general for his role in the potential leak of classified information related to the “Signalgate” controversy.

Hegseth responded Monday on X to several media statements with a waving hand emoji, misstating the extent of the new policy.

“Here is @DeptofWar press credentialing FOR DUMMIES,” he wrote. “Press no longer roams free. Press must wear visible badge. Credentialed press no longer permitted to solicit criminal acts. DONE.”

Tom Bowman, a Pentagon correspondent for NPR, wrote an opinion piece on the policy.

“Did I as a reporter solicit information? Of course. It's called journalism: finding out what's really going on behind the scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon Press Association released a statement saying there “is no reason for the Pentagon to require reporters to sign a new document.”

“For decades, reporters seeking a badge to work inside the Pentagon simply signed a single-page form outlining certain access limits,” the PPA said. “The new 21-page document adds extensive legal claims, laying out unprecedented contentions about what is and is not acceptable newsgathering and gagging Defense Department employees, from the highest official to the lowest junior officer in the field, from providing information to a reporter without permission.”

While the PPA acknowledged the Pentagon “certainly has the right to make its own policies, within the constraints of the law,” the group said there is no need “to require reporters to affirm their understanding of vague, likely unconstitutional policies as a precondition to reporting from Pentagon facilities.”

Additionally, the PPA said the Pentagon’s required acknowledgement “demands reporters to express an ‘understanding’ that harm inevitably flows from the disclosure of unauthorized information, classified or not -- something everyone involved knows to be untrue.”

The Joint Air-to-Ground Missile successfully integrated with a cannister-based launcher, known as the JAGM Quad Launcher (JQL) during a ground-based demonstration at Yuma Proving Ground, AZ in late August, prime contractor Lockheed Martin announced today.

During the Aug. 28 demonstration, the JAGM was shot from a quad launcher positioned at a 45-degree angle and the shot directly hit a “stationary ground target,” according to Lockheed. The launch enabled data collection for the JAGM’s ignition, launch and flight, the company said in a news release.

Casey Walsh, Lockheed’s program management director of Multidomain Missile Systems, said in a statement that “this pivotal milestone showcases the versatility and adaptability of JAGM to provide a robust defense capability for multiple mission scenarios.”

“By driving progress in areas like vertical launch and counter-UAS capabilities with JAGM, we're helping to ensure that our users have the tools they need to stay innovative and ahead of emerging threats,” he said.

Walsh, speaking to reporters last week ahead of the Association of the United States Army Conference, said the Yuma demonstration shows that JAGM is moving into a role where it can be utilized in a “360-degree defense” capability.

The JAGM is expected to eventually be used in Navy surface vehicles against unmanned surface vehicles, and it was also recently used in a counter UAS demonstration by the Army when the missile was fired from an Apache helicopter, Walsh said.

“Primarily right now, these munitions can be used off of Apaches in attack battalions with the Army. This is a new market space for the JAGM in vertical launched missile defense,” he said.

Walsh added that the JAGM’s counter UAS capability using a dual mode seeker head has been demonstrated a few times. Lockheed plans to conduct more vertical launch live fire demonstrations, including one in November.

“This first demonstration, [with] a 45-degree shot, is paving the way for future software updates and adjustments to optimize our JAGM for a vertical launch scenario, and for those new targets that are big threats in our services right now in counter UAS,” he said.