The Insider

We start off this Friday INSIDER Daily Digest with some missile defense news:

Army, Northrop, Raytheon notch cruise missile intercept in first test of new system

A new Army missile defense system -- still in development and also being readied for potential export to Europe and the Middle East -- scored a direct hit on a cruise missile target in its first intercept attempt, early validation of the $6.9 billion Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) that aims to integrate all air and missile defense sensors, weapons and mission control.

Lots of Air Force news to talk about today as well:

Air Force to determine GPS OCX way ahead by early next year

The Air Force and the Office of the Secretary of Defense are preparing to launch a second deep dive review of the next-generation Global Positioning System operational control segment, and should know within two months whether the service will continue forward with the current development program.

JSTARS risk reduction continues without milestone A approval

The Air Force's plan to recapitalize its Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System has been approved for continued risk-reduction work, but the service is still awaiting milestone A approval for the program.

Air Force relying on European partners for near-term Mi-17 sustainment

The Afghan Air Force is investigating a replacement for its Mi-17 helicopters, but until a long-term solution is found, the U.S. military is turning toward former Soviet Bloc nations to keep them flying.

Air Force finalizing funding profile, timing for Air Force One replacement

With an approved acquisition strategy in place, the Air Force is now working to define a risk-reduction plan for the Presidential Aircraft Replacement program.

EC-130H simulator provides cost savings for 55th Wing training forces

The addition of a new EC-130H Compass Call simulator at Air Combat Command's Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, AZ has not only provided high-fidelity training for the 55th Wing, it is also projected to save more than $18,000 per training mission, according to command officials.

Highlights from this week's edition of Inside the Pentagon:

1. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has launched an investigation into alleged misspending by a now-disbanded Pentagon business task force -- a move welcomed by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, who alleges that defense officials have failed to provide satisfactory answers to his inquiries.

Full Story: SIGAR welcomes Senate Judiciary Committee interest in former OSD task force

2. The Pentagon is working to assure industry officials that their intellectual property will be protected as the Defense Department continues to introduce open architecture into weapon systems, according to a senior defense official.

Full Story: Baldwin: DOD must work to protect intellectual property in open architecture

3. The Pentagon is examining the microelectronics industrial base in an effort to determine the industry's current capabilities and help improve partnerships going forward, according to defense officials.

Full Story: DOD study is examining microelectronics industrial base

We start off this Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest with some budget news:

FY-17 promises less for third-offset strategy, stability for big-ticket weapons programs

The two-year budget deal enacted last week will require the Pentagon to execute a spending plan in fiscal year 2017 that is $14.9 billion short of the amount originally sought, a decrement that will curtail desired investments to develop new “third-offset” capabilities, but not likely to disrupt acquisition plans for the portfolio of legacy, big-ticket weapons programs.

Defense contractor news that was just posted:

Seabury hires Aerojet Rocketdyne executive following Kubasik departure

Seabury Global Aerospace & Defense Consulting said Thursday it has named Paul Meyer, formerly of Aerojet Rocketdyne, executive vice president.

Intellectual property is important to the Defense Department:

Baldwin: DOD must work to protect intellectual property in open architecture

The Pentagon is working to assure industry officials that their intellectual property will be protected as the Defense Department continues to introduce open architecture into weapon systems, a senior defense official said last week.

Unmanned aircraft now have a longer leash:

Army's ground-based, sense-and-avoid program receives FAA approval

In a significant step toward allowing unmanned aircraft to fly without the use of a visual observer or chase plane, the Federal Aviation Administration has given the Army's Gray Eagle drones the green light to fly at Ft. Hood, TX, using just the service's ground-based, sense-and-avoid system to avoid other aircraft, according to service officials leading the effort.

The microelectronics industrial base is something DOD is taking a close look at:

DOD study is examining microelectronics industrial base

The Pentagon is examining the microelectronics industrial base in an effort to determine the industry's current capabilities and help improve partnerships going forward, according to defense officials.

BAE Systems said today that following a strategic review, the contractor will retain its U.S.-based manpower and services businesses within its intelligence and security sector.

In April, the company announced it had hired external advisers to assess the businesses, which it said had "generated external interest and a number of inquiries."

Yesterday, Reuters reported BAE was in advanced talks with Veritas Capital Management about selling the businesses.

But BAE said today the "review has concluded that retaining the businesses within BAE Systems, Inc. delivers greater value. The business continues its good performance and order intake."

In an email to Inside Defense, BAE spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said "there was never any certainty that a transaction would occur."

He noted the business recently won a single-award contract worth up to more than $1 billion over 10 years for government information technology services and a recompete contract for five more years of air traffic control and landing systems work for the Marine Corps.

The company added that the product-focused geospatial intelligence business within the intelligence and security sector is still set to move to BAE's electronic systems sector on Jan. 1.

On Veterans Day, we start off this INSIDER Daily Digest with coverage of a new DOD report on the defense industry:

Pentagon identifies excessive requirements imposed on defense industry

The Pentagon has released a 160-page report identifying excessive costs imposed on the defense industry, as well as recommendations on how to begin eliminating them.

Document: DOD report on excessive industry requirements

The Pentagon has issued a final rule regarding supply chain risk-reduction standards:

With new rule in place, contractors taking increasingly hard look at supply chain

Contracting advocates say the defense industry is increasingly under pressure to verify and diversify their groups of suppliers, facing expanding regulation from the Pentagon.

Document: DOD regulation on supply chain risk-reduction standards

The Pentagon's cyber chief spoke this week about industry vulnerabilities:

Government withholding 9 percent of discovered cyber vulnerabilities from industry

The federal government has withheld from industry 9 percent of cyber vulnerabilities found over the past year because secret knowledge of them could prove advantageous in the future, according to Adm. Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency and chief of U.S. Cyber Command.

In case you didn't know, we have a Notification Center where you can sign up to receive alerts as they are posted on key topics, "cyber" for instance. Click here to start.

Some more Army news from this week's Inside the Army:

Industry day set for effort to boost commanders' cyber situational awareness

The Army announced it would host a Nov. 18 industry day to disclose information about a new effort to improve brigade commanders' understanding of cyber threats in their area of responsibility.

ISIL's roadside bombs prolonging fight to win back Ramadi

U.S. military officials cited improvised explosive devices littering the area around Ramadi as one reason for the holdup in the campaign to retake the Iraqi city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

And some more from this week's Inside the Navy:

Defense Department considering giving allies access to MUOS

Officials within the defense secretary's office initiated discussions with allied nations earlier this year to potentially give those countries access to the Navy's next-generation satellite communications system, a Defense Department spokesman confirmed.

Navy to release LDUUV solicitation 'very soon'

The Navy will release a request for proposals for development of the Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle "very soon," with the service working to finalize the document before the end of the calendar year, according to a program official.

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said today that Defense Secretary Ash Carter expects President Obama to sign the newly passed $607 billion defense authorization bill, despite language prohibiting the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

“Overall, the secretary supports the president's decision to move forward and sign this bill,” Cook said during a press conference. “We'd like to move this process forward. There may be aspects of the bill -- in the Guantanamo section in particular -- that are problematic, but the larger bill and the importance of getting some certainty going forward” are enough to outweigh those concerns.

The Senate voted 91-3 today to pass the bill, while the House overwhelmingly passed it 370-58 on Nov. 5. Obama vetoed the first version of the bill, but a broad congressional budget deal has made the legislation more palatable for Democrats.

Meanwhile, media reports indicate that the Pentagon will soon roll out a plan for closing the detention facility, though it remains unknown whether the president will seek congressional approval to do so or use an executive order.

We start off today's Daily Digest with some news on the Iranian ballistic missile threat:

Senior military officer says Iranian ICBM threat delayed until later this decade at 'earliest'

Iran will not deploy an operational intercontinental ballistic missile until "later this decade at the earliest," according to a senior U.S. military official, in a statement that appears to reflect a recalibration of a longstanding U.S. government prediction that Tehran could flight test an ICBM capable of hitting the United States by 2015.

In case you didn't know, we have a Notification Center where you can sign up to receive alerts as they are posted on key topics, missile defense for instance. Click here to start.

In the realm of defense acquisition, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is looking through the Pentagon organization with a fine-tooth comb:

McCain & co. launch review of U.S. defense organization

Promising to "first, do no harm," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) has begun a review of the U.S. defense organization, specifically with an eye toward updating the landmark Goldwater-Nichols reform legislation passed 30 years ago.

Even though it's Tuesday, we have a fair bit of Air Force news:

Air Force may back down from near-term A-10 retirement push

The Air Force's fiscal year 2017 budget request may propose delaying its plan to retire the A-10 Warthog by a few years due to increased demand, according to the head of Air Combat Command.

Air Force expanding space, cyber and ISR work among coalition partners

The Air Force and its allied partners have no shortage of strike forces around the globe, but they are still lacking in both cyber and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, according to the service's assistant deputy under secretary of international affairs.

Air Force: New 3DELRR award now delayed three to six months

The Air Force now expects to make a new award decision on the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar program in the second quarter of fiscal year 2016, according to a service spokesman.

Last (but not by no means least), the senior U.S. military officer in Europe is calling on industry to help mitigate a revanchist Russia:

Breedlove asks for industry's help to counter Russian capabilities

The head of U.S. forces in Europe wants the Pentagon to collaborate with industry to ensure the United States' ability to operate successfully amid anti-access/area denial challenges posed by the Russian military.