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The Navy expects its new training helicopter, the TH-73A, to reach initial operational capability in 2021, according to a service statement.

The service has not previously disclosed an IOC date for the program. In the same statement, the service said Leonardo has begun training instructor pilots.

Separately, the Pentagon’s annual omnibus reprogramming request said the Navy had $24 million available for reprogramming as a result of TH-73A “contract savings.”

Former Engility chief executive Tony Smeraglinolo has established a new company, Sincerus Global Solutions, which has acquired the international development services portfolio of Science Applications International Corp.

Sincerus said today the portfolio includes “peacekeeping and law enforcement training, ‘rule of law’ consulting, and related implementation services for the State Department and the Department of Justice.”

“Effective immediately, employees and contractors serving programs operating in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East will transition to Sincerus,” the company added.

The privately-held Sincerus is led by Smeraglinolo, who is its chief executive, and Glen Schuhmacher, who is now chief operating officer and previously was vice president of the SAIC international development services business unit.

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Pentagon's chief management officer position, the Air Force's Passive Active Warning Survivability System, the Marine Corps wanting to integrate the Iron Dome system and more.

The Pentagon's chief management officer position looks to be on thin ice:

Pentagon CMO job increasingly endangered after House vote

The House Armed Services Committee has joined Senate lawmakers in adopting a fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill measure that would eliminate the Pentagon's chief management officer position.

The F-15 program office confirmed in a recent email to Inside Defense that the Air Force updated the Passive Active Warning Survivability System cost estimate as part of a program rebaseline that was approved Jan. 31:

EPAWSS cost estimate grows by $2 billion as USAF moves to buy 144 systems for F-15EX

The Air Force has approved a new, $5.2 billion lifecycle cost estimate for the F-15 Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System -- a $2 billion increase that reflects the Air Force's decision to buy 144 additional systems for the new F-15EX even as the program faces significant fielding delays due to an unexpected component redesign.

The Marine Corps wants more money to integrate the Israeli-developed Iron Dome system:

Marine Corps wants to double FY-20 funding to integrate Iron Dome launcher, missiles with organic systems

The Marine Corps wants to double the cash it has on hand in fiscal year 2020 to continue development of a new air defense capability that aims to stitch together elements of the Israeli-designed Iron Dome system with the service's organic sensors and command-and-control tools.

Platform One is the go-to team for programs in the Defense Department looking to adopt commercial best practices to develop software:

Platform One modernizing DOD software development to enable digital operations

The Air Force's nascent DevSecOps initiative is giving warfighters modern software development services while tapping into the private sector's data analytics, artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies to build more virtual-friendly weapon systems and operations.

The new joint all-domain command and control contract winners, announced in a Defense Department notice Wednesday, accompany 28 contractors that last month received IDIQ vehicles to deliver JADC2 capabilities over a five-year period:

Air Force adds 18 companies to list of JADC2 IDIQ contractors

The Air Force has awarded another 18 companies indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts each worth up to $950 million to share technologies that enable joint all-domain command and control.

Last but certainly not least, some defense cyber news from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:

House authorizers' defense policy bill clears Armed Services panel, steeped in cyber provisions

The annual defense authorization bill cleared a hurdle late Wednesday, passing the House Armed Services Committee on a 56-0 vote and advancing a number of Cyberspace Solarium Commission and other cybersecurity proposals.

Happy Fourth!

The next INSIDER Daily Digest will be published Monday, July 6.

The Senate plans to vote on the fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill when Congress returns from the July 4 recess, according to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK).

Inhofe said on the Senate floor today that Republicans and Democrats have come to agreement on a number of amendments and plan to pass the legislation when they come back in two weeks.

"I feel very good about the progress we're making," he said. "When we come back from this Fourth of July recess, we're going to be able to finish it and it should be in good shape. . . . We'll set up so when we come back from the recess, we'll be able to pass this bill."

Meanwhile, the House Armed Services Committee passed its version of the bill late last night. That bill will now advance to the House Rules Committee and then to the full House for a final vote in the coming weeks.

A final bill agreed upon by the House and Senate is not expected to reach President Trump's desk until this fall.

The Navy is seeking congressional approval to reprogram $51 million for a variety of research and development efforts, including several aimed at the Marine Corps commandant's new force design priorities.

The request is detailed in the annual omnibus reprogramming signed June 23 by then-acting Pentagon Comptroller Elaine McCusker and obtained by Inside Defense.

The largest share of the $51 million is about $20 million "in support of the Commandant's Force Design priorities to focus on rapidly developing and prototyping critical technology to enable a dispersed, expeditionary, and agile force," according to the document.

While the Marine Corps has shared some details on Commandant Gen. David Berger's vision for the service, the reprogramming request sheds light on specific technologies the service sees as important to Berger's priorities.

The funding would provide "for sufficient support costs, to inform requirements towards initial operating capability (IOC) of a replacement maritime [Marine Expeditionary Unit intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] platform," according to the document.

The ISR platform will "operationalize new commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) force design capabilities for expeditionary air-base operations (EABO)/littoral operations in a contested environment (LOCE)," the document continues.

Part of those funds would go towards "Artemis," which the document describes as a rapid prototyping effort to modernize infantry units with "emerging and disruptive technologies."

Separate from the funding for the Marine Corp chief's research and development efforts, the $51 million also includes roughly $11 million for a "critical shortfall" for the Network Tactical Common Data Link.

"Funding will prevent a prime and subcontractor stop-work situation during critical final engineering development model integration and test of no less than six months, followed by a six-month prime/subcontractor restart and ramp up," according to the document.

The rest of the funds would be used for munitions testing associated with a fast-attack craft, continued development of the Marine Corps' ground-based defense systems against aerial threats and an ammunition inventory management system being developed by the Marine Corps, Air Force and Army.

The House Armed Services Committee last night voted 56-0 to approve its version of the fiscal year 2021 defense authorization bill.

The bipartisan vote stands in stark contrast to last year, when not a single House Republican voted for the committee’s bill.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), the committee’s ranking Republican, said the bill is on track to pass for the 60th consecutive year.

“While I don’t agree with everything in this bill, we have many opportunities ahead of us to continue perfecting it and I am pleased to support it,” he said in a statement.

The committee was largely able to sidestep heavily partisan issues and a previously agreed upon budgetary topline allowed the panel to bypass debates on defense spending.

But the committee did not eschew controversial debate altogether, voting down an amendment that would have transferred $1 billion from the Air Force’s Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program to a pandemic preparedness fund.

Additionally, the bill would restrict President Trump’s ability to move 9,500 U.S. troops out of Germany.

The legislation would also rename military bases that currently honor Confederate leaders, something Trump has said would make him the veto the bill.

The bill must pass the full House before it can be reconciled with one slated to soon be passed in the Senate.

Stay with Inside Defense for continued coverage.

The Defense Department is asking Congress for a $122.6 million transfer to support Army flight training to mitigate readiness risk resulting from the service's pilot shortage.

Funding would support rotary wing flight instructor support, simulations, maintenance of training aircraft and more.

"Without additional funding, the aviation readiness levels will degrade as the Army will continue to have a pilot deficit across the Army’s aviation formations," according to the request obtained by Inside Defense. "Additionally, lack of funding will impact the graduate pilot course, which generates the Army’s instructor pilots and maintenance test pilots, thereby limiting the Army's ability to train pilots in future years."

The shift would bring the Army's total fiscal year 2020 training and recruiting funding to over $5.3 billion.

DOD in its request is also asking to shift $9.9 million to the Army's cyberspace operations effort as a part of its annual omnibus reprogramming request.

The funding would be used to reduce and address risk from adversaries targeting mission critical cyber vulnerabilities in defense weapon systems, the document states.

The requested increase is divided into two new starts: $6.3 million to "expedite technology transition from laboratory to operational use for anomaly detection/data analysis to 'detect, prevent, analyze and neutralize' malicious events for enhanced Vehicle Security System to an existing platform" and $3.6 million to "provide an automated, distributed, scalable and web-based platform for planning, executing and assessing full spectrum cyber tactical operations to include RF-enabled operations."

The transfer would bring the Army's FY-20 funding for cyberspace operations support to $62 million.