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The chief executive of Raytheon Technologies said today he does not expect the defense budget to grow or decline, but there will be some shifted investments.

Speaking at an Economic Club of Washington, DC event today, Greg Hayes said the company has tried to align itself with the National Defense Strategy as it readies for an anticipated flat defense budget.

"The key is, of course, some programs will not survive," Hayes said of how DOD will approach its budget. "We're going to have to invest in new technologies . . . and we're going to have to sacrifice some other programs."

As a result, he added, "the defense industry itself, I think, has to rethink how procurement works and how we're going to work with the Department of Defense."

Meanwhile, Hayes said he also expects a different approach to work following the pandemic.

"I think fundamentally the office has changed," he said, adding that he expects a hybrid working environment in the future.

Hayes said Raytheon is offering employees "a small financial reward" to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

"Our hope is to get at least 80% of our people vaccinated," Hayes added. If employees don't want to be vaccinated for religious or medical reasons, "we're going to have to respect that, but we're also going to have to make sure we can keep the rest of the employee base safe."

Hayes also spoke out against proposed increases to the corporate tax rate, arguing that a higher tax rate will cut investments in innovation.

"I spend about $5 billion a year . . . on capital and [research and development] that I self-fund," he said, adding that President Biden's proposal would cost the company about $1 billion per year in cash taxes.

As a result, Hayes said, Raytheon might need to reduce its investment budget by 20%. "I'm not sure that's exactly what the president wants to have us do," he said.

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on using controlled unclassified information, the Defense Department's Joint All-Domain Command and Control strategy and more.

The Pentagon recently released a controlled unclassified information "Quick Reference Guide" brochure, as well as an associated slide deck:

Pentagon releases guides for marking controlled unclassified information ahead of CMMC program launch

The Defense Department has issued two new resources for contracting officials regarding the identification of controlled unclassified information and how it should be identified on government documents.

The deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare spoke this week at a Navy League event:

Final DOD approval of JADC2 strategy is 'imminent,' Trussler says

The Defense Department's Joint All-Domain Command and Control strategy is "very close" to gaining final Pentagon approval, according to Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler, the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare.

The Marine Corps has a vision for increased long-range precision capability to sink Chinese ships in the event of a conflict in the Asia-Pacific region:

Successful test firing last November clears way for USMC to advance development of Chinese ship-killing vehicle

The Marine Corps last November notched a successful demonstration of the planned Navy and Marine Corps Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, firing a Naval Strike Missile from a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle in an event that validated the basic design concept and supports continued development of the Remote Operated Ground Unit Expeditionary -- or ROGUE -- vehicle, according to service officials.

The nominee to become the Pentagon's next acquisition chief has received endorsements from both sides of the political aisle:

Nominee for DOD acquisition chief brings background in Silicon Valley, counter-China

Michael Brown, director of the Defense Innovation Unit, has been picked to become the Pentagon's acquisition chief, putting a new spotlight on a career previously spent in Silicon Valley and a public profile focused on countering Chinese technology.

The Navy's top uniformed officer spoke with reporters at a Defense Writers Group event this week:

Gilday: Project Overmatch to test communications networks this year

The Navy's Project Overmatch will test four increasingly complex spirals in its attempt to tie together more networks and applications this year, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday said Monday.

The Army prior to an advance planning briefing set for later this month has released information on potential contracting opportunities focusing on fiscal years 2022 to 2023, according to an updated service notice.

The virtual briefing will be held from April 20 to 22 and address contracting opportunities for mission areas that focus on command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C5ISR); research and development; test and evaluation; chemical and biological defense; and Aberdeen Proving Ground Garrison.

No advance registration is required for the event, but questions can be submitted until April 12.

"In addition to the traditional contract opportunity briefings and small business highlights, this year's APBI will include breakout and special interest sessions," according to an April 6 Army notice. "These sessions will start on day [one] with a State of APG round table with senior leaders from the APG Centers of Excellence: R&D, test and evaluation, C5ISR, public health sciences and CBRND as well as the APG Garrison."

Breakout sessions during the first two days will also include total asset visibility contractor (CECOM); the project manager for electronic warfare and cyber strategic planning guidance; the Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors integration directorate; the position, navigation and timing open integration lab and an overview of xTechSearch.

Day three will include sessions on the Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications-Tactical's integrated tactical network capability sets 23 and 25, command post modernization increment 1 and common hardware systems 6.

PowerPoint slides accompanying the March 6 notice outline a path ahead this year for PEO C3T, which include supporting Project Convergence 21 sensor-to-shooter network integration, operational tests with the Integrated Visual Augmentation System and Command Post Computing Environment and a Handheld, Manpack and Small Form Fit (HMS) radios production decision.

The organization this month will also conduct a preliminary design review for Capability Set 23, the second integrated tactical network set in a series of two-year sets being fielded until fiscal year 2027.

Anticipated solicitation release dates for several PEO C3T efforts are also included in the PowerPoint slides, including the Combat Net Radio. The single-channel ground and airborne radio system for fire and air defense control will replace the SINCGARS radio and a solicitation release is expected to be released in the fourth quarter of FY-21.

The slides also lay out FY-21 to FY-24 PEO IEW&S contracting opportunities, including for the Common Infrared Countermeasure System, a laser-based system intended to protect aircraft from incoming missiles. The system, which will replace the Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures System, was deemed ready by the service for full-rate production in March.

CIRCM consists of A-Kits and B-Kits and a solicitation for the A-Kits is estimated to be released in the third quarter of FY-21, according to the slides. The estimated value of that contract is between $9 million and $19 million.

The Army has awarded two contracts to build prototypes of its new ground vehicle for the Arctic, the Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle, which will be tested this year at the Cold Regions Test Center in Alaska.

Oshkosh Defense will supply prototypes based on the Bronco 3 from ST Engineering, a Singaporean firm, according to an Oshkosh press release. Two BAE Systems divisions, Land and Armaments and BAE Hagglunds, will collaborate on the other prototypes, according to an Army spokeswoman.

Prototype deliveries are scheduled for June 14, Timothy Goddette, Army program executive officer for combat support and combat service support, wrote in a statement.

The vehicles will be tested in Alaska from August to December, before the Army chooses one of them for production in the third quarter of fiscal year 2022, Goddette wrote.

The CATV will replace the Small Unit Support Vehicle, which has been in service since the 1980s, and is based on technology from the 1960s, he wrote, adding the SUSV is "no longer sustainable," and that it "reaches obsolescence" in FY-23.

In December, the commander of U.S. Army Alaska said that about 50 SUSVs remain in service, down from 700 at the fleet's peak.

The Army procurement objective for the CATV is 110 vehicles, while the acquisition objective is 163, Goddette wrote.

Congress has shown support for the vehicle, such as when it appropriated more than nine times the procurement funding the Army requested in the FY-21 spending bill.

Last month, the Army released its new Arctic strategy, which detailed the steps the service will take to confront increasing competition in the region.

Oshkosh and ST Engineering will deliver two prototypes of their vehicle, one general-purpose variant and one cargo variant, according to an Oshkosh press release.

BAE has previously said it would submit its Beowulf platform for the CATV program.

The Defense Department's Rapid Reaction Technology Office is planning a meeting this year with select companies to discuss potential prototyping plans for technologies that fall under the broad auspices of DOD's modernization priorities, including artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and microelectronics.

The "virtual solutions meeting" will be conducted this fall, according to a federal notice released late last month.

"The meeting provides selected innovative companies with an opportunity to make short technical presentations to Government representatives about their technologies," the notice states. "There is a potential for companies to be selected for pilot prototyping, demonstration, or experimentation for the most compelling solutions."

Responses are due by April 21.

The RRTO is specifically focused on "highly innovative technologies that have the potential to provide leap-ahead capabilities against near-peer adversaries and fill gaps in critical joint mission needs no later than 2028," according to the notice.

DOD’s modernization areas, as listed in the notice, are artificial intelligence/machine learning; autonomy; biotechnology; cyber; directed energy; fully networked command, communication, and control (FNC3); hypersonics; microelectronics; quantum; space; 5G; and "other disruptive technologies."

"Solutions are expected to derive from companies' internal research and development (IR&D) or other research efforts and suitable for maturation through DOD prototyping funding, but not mature enough to be Commercial-Off-the-Shelf products," the notice states.

The office will consider technologies between Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3, or a "demonstrated proof of concept," and TRL 4, which is the "laboratory validation" stage, with the goal of advancing prototypes to TRL-6, a "relevant environment demonstration," or above. The details will be negotiated in a "transition agreement" with an interested military service or defense agency, which will be sponsored by the RRTO, according to the notice.

The Air Force's flagship boost-glide hypersonic vehicle -- the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon -- encountered a problem during a flight demonstration Monday and failed to launch from a B-52.

The flight over Point Mugu Sea Range, CA, was supposed to be the first time the Air Force released ARRW from a host aircraft, but the weapon was unable to complete its launch sequence and safely returned with the B-52 to Edwards Air Force Base, CA, according to a statement Air Force spokesman Capt. Jacob Bailey sent to Inside Defense today.

"The ARRW program has been pushing boundaries since its inception and taking calculated risks to move this important capability forward," Brig. Gen. Heath Collins, program executive officer of the Air Force's armament directorate, said in the statement. "While not launching was disappointing, the recent test provided invaluable information to learn from and continue ahead. This is why we test."

In addition to demonstrating safe release, the Air Force had hoped to assess booster performance, booster-shroud separation and simulated glider separation. Engineers will now evaluate the malfunction and return the weapon for another test, though the statement does not indicate how long that process may last.

ARRW prime contractor Lockheed Martin referred questions about the program to the Air Force.

Meanwhile, the defect sets flight testing back even further after the Air Force delayed the initial launch demonstration from December. The service has already conducted seven captive-carriage tests, the last of which occurred in August 2020.

The statement does not provide details about how the malfunction may affect ARRW's anticipated production schedule. Former Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper said in December he hoped production would begin this year.

The Navy will be experimenting with a variety of unmanned systems to better understand how these platforms could potentially contribute to naval operations, two Pacific Fleet public affairs officers confirmed to Inside Defense.

Lt. Janice Leister told Inside Defense the test, known as Integrated Battle Problem 21, will take place between April 19 and 26 off the coast of San Diego. IBP 21 comes just about one month after the Navy released its unmanned campaign framework on March 16, which seeks to integrate unmanned systems into naval and joint operations.

Commander Sean Robertson of the U.S. Third Fleet told Inside Defense that IBP 21 will integrate unmanned and manned systems "above the sea, on the sea and below the sea."

Robertson said IBP 21 will feature the MQ-9 Sea Guardian unmanned aerial vehicle, the MQ-8 Fire Scout UAV, the prototype medium displacement unmanned surface vessels Sea Hunter and Sea Hawk, the Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001), and other air, surface and submarine forces.

The Pacific Fleet's IBP 21 is a "major experiment," acting Assistant Navy Secretary for Research, Development and Acquisition Jay Stefany, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfighting Requirements and Capabilities (OPNAV N9) Vice Adm. James Kilby and Marine Corps Combat Development Command chief Lt. Gen. Eric Smith wrote in March 18 prepared joint testimony before the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee.

Stefany, Kilby and Smith also wrote the experiment "will focus on maneuver in a contested space using manned/unmanned teaming in all domains."