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Continuing coverage of GAO's annual weapon system assessment report, the Arsenal Plane concept and more highlight this Friday INSIDER Daily Digest.

More on GAO's annual weapon system assessment report:

GAO: Pentagon making progress on cost controls as defense contractors appear healthy

The Pentagon is making progress on controlling cost growth in its acquisition programs, while defense contractors are performing well in the market, according to a Government Accountability Office report released March 31.

Air Force anticipates software, material risks in 3DELRR development

The Air Force is tracking several risk areas in development of the Three Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar, even as it works toward making a new contract award sometime this spring.

The Air Force could use more than one airframe for its Arsenal Plane missions:

SCO, Air Force exploring several platforms for Arsenal Plane role

The Air Force is exploring the possibility of using more than one aircraft type for Arsenal Plane missions, a new concept the Pentagon hopes to prove out in a prototype capable of ferrying huge amounts of ordnance to standoff ranges that waits for strike assignments from advanced fighters close to the action.

Some background info on the Air Force's plan to fly the F-35 an additional six years:

New F-35 service life decided last year, driven by 2011 beddown plan

Last week's revelation that the Air Force plans to fly the F-35 for an additional six years through 2070 had been in process for several years and relates back to a beddown plan introduced in the service's fiscal year 2012 budget.

The builders of the Joint Strike Fighter want to speed up testing schedules:

Lockheed, Pratt working to accelerate ALIS testing to mitigate IOC delay

As the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program braces for at least a two-month delay to the Air Force's initial operational capability, prime contractor Lockheed Martin and engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney are working to accelerate testing schedules and increase margin to avoid further delay.

Keep an eye out for an Air Force-funded DARPA project on unmanned, air-recoverable munitions:

Air Force unleashes Gremlins with research and development awards

The Air Force this week unloaded $16 million in research and development contracts for Gremlins, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program that aims to create unmanned, air-recoverable munitions.

Industry could gain a competitive advantage by focusing on research and development that benefits the Defense Department's goals, according to the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary of defense for space, strategic and intelligence systems.

Speaking at a breakfast in Washington Friday, John McNellis, who recently moved from industry into his new role at the Pentagon, said DOD's major acquisition reform initiative Better Buying Power can be a boon to industry. These comments came in response to a question regarding a Better Buying Power tenet that encourages industry to spend its own money to get ahead of DOD's requirements.

"There is a perspective that some have that I definitely don’t share that the defense industry moves at a certain speed that aligns itself with the so-called labyrinth that exists in the acquisition side," McNellis said, noting that was not what he witnessed.

Rather, he said his experience was that industry is focused on understanding what DOD’s evolving needs are and "making investment decisions that are prudent for them relative to being able to address those needs near term, as well as long term."

McNellis said the increase in competition incentivizes industry to invest in areas that would help the Pentagon, and not someone's "pet science project."

Better Buying Power has enabled the industry to focus on a more precise allocation of resources, so that during competition there are "multiple viable and innovative concepts," McNellis said. In addition, he noted that if industry got the investment right, it should give companies a cost-competition advantage that benefits both industry and the department.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter was in Boston on Friday to reveal a new $317 million manufacturing technology initiative to be spearheaded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology focused on cutting-edge textile technology.

The Defense Department will contribute $75 million to an 89-member consortium that will operate under MIT's management, while $250 million will come from non-federal sources. The consortium, known as the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America Alliance, is composed of universities, manufacturers and non-profits.

“The institute will bring together nontraditional partners to integrate fibers and yarns with integrated circuits, LEDs, solar cells, and other capabilities to create textiles and fabrics that can see, hear, sense, communicate, store energy, regulate temperature, monitor health, change color, and more,” according to a DOD statement.

“For example, the institute will pair the likes of leading audio equipment maker Bose, computer chip maker Intel, and nanofiber manufacturer FibeRio with textile manufacturers and textile users like Warwick Mills, Buhler Yarns, and New Balance,” DOD continued. “In doing so, the institute will accelerate technology transfer to enable revolutionary defense and commercial applications such as shelters with power generation and storage capacity built into the fabric, ultra-efficient, energy-saving filters for vehicles, and uniforms that can regulate temperature and detect threats like chemical and radioactive elements in order to warn warfighters and first responders.”

Carter announced a similar initiative in September for flexible, hybrid electronics in San Jose, CA, for $75 million in DOD investments.

The Boston initiative is aligned with Carter's focus on driving innovation into defense manufacturing and establishing new connections between DOD and companies not currently involved with the Pentagon.

(UPDATE 11:10 a.m.: Read the text of Carter's speech.)

The Government Accountability Office's annual weapon system assessment report, DOD's new disruptive combat capabilities and more highlight this Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest.

GAO's latest weapon system report is out:

GAO report on selected weapon programs

Our coverage so far (and stay tuned for more):

GAO, OSD at odds with Navy over CVN-79 cost and capabilities once delivered

The Government Accountability Office and the Office of the Secretary of Defense are at odds with the Navy over breaching the cost cap of the next-generation aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy and the capabilities the ship will have once it is delivered.

The Defense Department is revealing a sample of new disruptive combat capabilities:

Pentagon revealing new disruptive capabilities in signal to Russia, China, U.S. allies

The Pentagon is revealing a sample of new disruptive combat capabilities -- all derived since 2012 from utilizing existing weapon systems in innovative ways -- as part of a campaign to bolster conventional deterrence by signaling Russia and China, as well as American allies, that the U.S. military has a growing "strategic surprise" portfolio of never-before-seen means to strike and defend.

Don't be surprised if all Congress is able to do during this year's session is a continuing resolution:

Former GOP staffers see likely continuing resolution

It is all but inevitable Congress will be unable to return to regular order this year because of an internal GOP fight over spending, putting the federal government on course for another stop-gap spending measure known as a continuing resolution and, potentially, another shutdown, according to former Republican defense committee staffers.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke this week about adversaries who don't employ all-out war:

Dunford: Military leaders to discuss adversaries operating below threshold

The Pentagon's top military leaders intend to discuss how to best respond to adversaries who purposefully act just below the threshold to provoke U.S. military action, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford.

Just because the Pentagon is looking for new suppliers doesn't mean legacy contractors will stay passive:

Contractors tout innovation as Pentagon pursues new suppliers

As the Defense Department looks elsewhere for new ideas, large defense contractors are speaking up about the innovative technology development they have underway.

A look at the Pentagon's information technology budget:

Halvorsen: Fiscal constraints driving risk into IT modernization

The Pentagon's fiscal year 2017 information technology budget takes risks in the area of modernization because of ongoing fiscal constraints, according to Defense Department IT leaders.

 

Keep an eye out for some strategic documents U.S. Special Operations Command is working on:

SOCOM finalizes strategic documents to help rebalance efforts

U.S. Special Operations Command has finalized a set of strategic documents intended to help rebalance its efforts to understand regional issues and forge new relationships with allies, according to a spokesman.

The Navy's decision to extend the life of the Joint Strike Fighter by six years would give the service an additional five flight hours per month for the aircraft, according to a service spokeswoman.

The Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force as a whole will have an additional 1.6 million flight hours added to the JSF at a cost of about $45 billion in base-year 2012 dollars, Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, F-35 program executive officer, told reporters March 24 at the Pentagon.

"The Navy increased the forecast hours for F-35C fleet aircraft from 25 hours per month in the 2014 [selected acquisition report], to 30 hours per month in the 2015 SAR to support the fleet's predicted training requirements," Navy spokeswoman Lt. Amber Lynn Daniels wrote in a March 31 email to Inside Defense. "Life cycle O&S costs increased as a result of increased aircraft utilization rates."

Further, Daniels wrote that analysis and refinement continue with respect to the service's training and readiness maintenance requirements for pilot training, which may equate to airframe hours-per-month adjustments.

News on Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work, the Goldwater-Nichols Act and more highlight this Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest.

Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work spoke this morning about watching how Russia conducted its military campaign in Syria:

Work breaks down Russian capabilities; maps out future intel ops using commercial satellites

Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work on Wednesday discussed the Pentagon's new doctrine to maintain technological superiority over Russia and China amid the ongoing push to inject Silicon Valley's commercial technologies into future deterrence strategies.

Keep an eye out for certain forthcoming recommendations from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

Dunford: Goldwater-Nichols proposal will help defense secretary improve command and control

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff intends to make recommendations to Congress on how to modify the Goldwater-Nichols Act to ensure that the defense secretary is able to make better command and control decisions.

The Pentagon is shifting money to pay for Littoral Combat Ship maintenance:

DOD reprograms $10 million for Littoral Combat Ship maintenance

The Defense Department is realigning $10 million in fiscal year 2016 funds to pay for Littoral Combat Ship maintenance, according to a recent reprogramming action.

(Want more LCS news? Check out our Notification Center, where you can sign up to receive email alerts anytime a related story is posted.)

Don't expect the Army to take recommendations from an independent commission without a spending fight:

Cordial reception belies budget fight ahead for Army panel proposals

While Army officials have publicly described proposals by the National Commission on the Future of the Army as thoughtful and well-intentioned, the price tag associated with implementing the more capital-intensive recommendations could test the polite talk exchanged so far.

Testing of interceptors for a new base-protection missile shield is underway:

Tests begin with interceptors for new base-protection missile shield

Army officials have begun a series of tests to determine the performance of various missiles that could function as interceptors under the service's Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2-Intercept program, the service has announced.

The Army is reorganizing its R&D efforts:

Army Materiel Command reorganizes to meet current, future challenges

The Army has directed a reorganization of the service's research, development, and engineering centers as well as its contracting centers, having them report directly to their respective life cycle management commands.