The Insider

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is scheduled to travel to Israel tomorrow to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli troops move toward the border with Gaza for a possible ground invasion against Hamas.

A senior defense official told reporters that Austin, who is traveling directly from a NATO meeting in Brussels, would also meet with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other senior officials.

Austin "will underscore his unwavering commitment to Israel’s security,” the official said. “He is looking forward to speaking in-depth with Israeli leaders about their operational planning and their objectives for this conflict in response to Hamas’ brutal, ISIS-style attack.”

Israeli air strikes have now pounded Gaza for the past six days as Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have pledged to wipe out Hamas following a series of surprise attacks that killed more than 1,000 people.

Austin will also discuss current and future U.S. military aid to Israel, the first shipment of which the senior defense official noted arrived earlier this week and included munitions and air defense capabilities, specifically to replenish the Iron Dome system.

“We fully expect to see continuous delivery of U.S. security assistance to Israel in response to their requests,” the official said.

President Biden has said he intends to seek an emergency supplemental package from Congress to help fund U.S. military aid to Israel, along with one he has requested for Ukraine.

Congress, however, remains partially paralyzed as the GOP-led House has not yet elected a new speaker.

The senior defense official said the United States is capable of supplying Israel and Ukraine with munitions simultaneously, despite recent assertions from other DOD leaders that U.S. defense industrial base capabilities are being squeezed in several areas, including 155mm artillery munitions.

Austin, speaking earlier today in Brussels, said the United States can “walk and chew gum at the same time.”

“We will stand by Israel even as we stand by Ukraine,” he said.

As fiscal year 2023 came to a close, General Dynamics Electric Boat received a contract modification worth $967 million for Virginia-class submarine design work, according to a Navy announcement.

A separate release from Electric Boat -- which collaboratively builds the fast-attack submarines through a teaming agreement with HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding -- says the award will fund “lead yard support and development studies and design efforts,” for the vessels.

With the bulk of work to take place at Electric Boat’s Groton, CT, facility, company spokesperson Daniel McFadden told Inside Defense the funds will be used for “upkeep and maintenance” of the Virginia design.

“For example, incorporating improvements and replacing [obsolescent] parts as the design evolves,” he said. “Also, development and design work for areas such as [subsea and seabed warfare], the Virginia Payload Module and undersea dominance.”

According to a Navy spokesperson, the funding will “maintain, update and support the Virginia-class design and related drawings and data for each Virginia-class submarine, including technology insertion, throughout its construction and Post Shakedown Availability (PSA) period.”

Funding will finance development studies related to Virginia design improvement endeavors, the spokesperson told Inside Defense, saying the award will also encompass engineering efforts related to design, testing, logistics and production.

“The contractor will continue development studies and design efforts related to components and systems to accomplish Research and Development tasks and prototypes and Engineering Development Models (EDMs) required to fully evaluate new technologies to be inserted in succeeding Virginia-class submarines,” the spokesperson continued.

The contract follows a $517 million award to Electric Boat earlier in September for the procurement of spare parts for Virginia maintenance availabilities.

Both production and maintenance of the submarines are pressing issues for the Navy, with the United States preparing to begin transferring vessels to Australia in the 2030s under the AUKUS security partnership while industry struggles to meet delivery targets and maintenance delays undercut operational readiness.

During a recent confirmation hearing, acting Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said U.S. industry is producing only 1.2 Virginia boats per year and must improve to 2.2 vessels per year to deliver on AUKUS.

The Navy is working on stabilizing Virginia construction at a rate of 1.4 per year by the end of calendar year 2023 before ramping up to 1.5 per year by the end of 2024, Franchetti said at the time.

Shipbuilder HII has received a $20 million award to build nine small unmanned undersea vehicles for the Navy's Lionfish program in a contract that could climb to as many as 200 SUUVs and almost $350 million over the next five years, according to a Wednesday company announcement.

The initial $20 million award, announced by the Navy in late September, will see HII’s Mission Technologies division working through September 2024 to deliver nine of the seven-foot-long unmanned vessels intended to perform a variety of undersea missions.

The Navy selected HII’s REMUS 300 SUUV to serve as the basis for the Lionfish program of record in March 2022, beginning an initial programmatic phase consisting of low-rate initial production and prototype testing.

At the time of this selection, an HII spokesperson told reporters he could not speak directly to the desired capabilities of the Navy’s Lionfish program but said uses for the commercial REMUS 3000 include mine countermeasures, data collections and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

HII’s Wednesday release describes Lionfish as a “highly portable, two-person SUUV with an open architecture design and versatile payload options.”

“Lionfish provides increased capability and interoperability that aligns with the Navy’s undersea priorities, and we look forward to delivering next-generation vehicles that can readily adapt to and support a variety of mission needs,” said HII Executive Vice President and Mission Technologies President Andy Green in a statement included in the release.

The Navy and the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit jointly developed the Lionfish program through a two-year process of spiral development incorporating feedback from “multiple user groups to uniquely meet the needs of the warfighters,” the release adds.

The Navy’s fiscal year 2024 budget request seeks $8.7 million in research and development funding for Lionfish and indicates FY-24 funds will support initial acceptance testing, delivery, and fielding of production units following an authority to operate decision.

President Biden said today that he will ask Congress -- half of which is destabilized due to the ousting of the former House speaker -- to approve an emergency security aid package for Israel in the coming days that will help the Defense Department continue to send ammunition and replenish Iron Dome interceptors needed to fend off Hamas rocket attacks.

“The United States stands with Israel,” he said during a White House press conference.

“When Congress returns, we're going to ask them to take urgent action to fund the national security requirements of our critical partners.”

The president did not say how much aid will be sought. Though Biden did not reference it directly, the White House also seeks $24 billion in security, economic and financial aid for Ukraine, which has been blocked by the same Republican infighting that pushed Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) out of the speakership. Houses Republicans, meanwhile, have begun meeting to determine a way forward.

“This is not about party or politics,” Biden said. “It's about the security of our world and the security of the United States of America.”

The president noted that DOD is already doing what it can to “surge” ammunition to Israel and replenish its anti-rocket Iron Dome defense system.

“We're doing it to make sure Israel does not run out of these critical assets,” he said.

On Sunday, a senior defense official told reporters the Pentagon is also "contacting U.S. industry to gain expedited shipment of pending Israeli orders for military equipment that otherwise may have been considered routine for movement.”

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters that the White House and Pentagon are working with Israeli leaders to determine what additional U.S. military capabilities can be provided but offered no details on the high-level discussions.

“You can expect to see American planes flying into to Israel to deliver military capabilities to support Israel,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sullivan said the first surge of Iron Dome interceptor replenishments is coming from U.S. stocks that were already in Israel.

“We will be flowing in additional Iron Dome interceptors,” he said. “We are also looking at other ways that we can help augment their air defense capabilities.”

The Pentagon, Biden said, has also ordered the Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) carrier strike group to deploy to the eastern region of the Mediterranean Sea.

“We stand ready to move in additional interests as needed,” he said.

The president also said the U.S. government is sharing intelligence with Israel and working to recover U.S. hostages taken by Hamas.

Biden, amid reports that Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel was supported by Iran and could enflame global terrorism, issued a stern warning to any nation, organization or group that might seek to take advantage of the escalating military situation in Gaza.

“I have one word,” he said: “Don’t.”

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has a look at what the Pentagon's budget could look like if congressional dysfunction continues through next January, a new solid-rocket motor supplier entering the domestic market, plus coverage of this year's AUSA conference.

If the current congressional dysfunction continues through January, the Pentagon could face "ugly" budget cuts:

DOD readying potential $90 billion in FY-24, FY-25 cuts required by debt ceiling deal

The Defense Department is bracing for potential budget cuts of about $90 billion to fiscal year 2024 and 2025 plans -- painful reductions likely to squeeze weapons system modernization accounts -- in the event congressional dysfunction extends into January triggering a statutory sequester provision of the June law enacted to raise the debt ceiling.

X-Bow Systems, a New Mexico-based start-up, has been awarded a $64 million contract to expand manufacturing capacity and reduce the production cost of solid-rocket motors used in hypersonic weapons:

DOD qualifies new solid-rocket motor supplier, breaks Northrop-Aerojet domestic duopoly

The Defense Department has qualified a new large solid-rocket motor domestic supplier -- breaking up an effective duopoly between Northrop Grumman and Aerojet Rocketdyne -- and expanded the industrial base to support the U.S. military's high-priority project to develop and field a long-range hypersonic strike missile.

Our coverage so far of this year's AUSA conference:

New Army chief outlines strategy for reducing excess equipment

The Army's new chief of staff has outlined an effort to rid formations of excess, or unneeded, equipment, which will begin at two installations over the course of the next few months.

DOD orders prototype 300-Kw lasers to test new cruise missile killing capability for Army

The Defense Department is advancing plans for a 300-kilowatt combat laser -- sufficient energy to knock down enemy cruise missiles -- and has commissioned the manufacture of a pair of truck-mounted prototype systems for testing in fiscal year 2025 of a fundamentally new capability that holds the potential to change the way armed forces fight.

General Dynamics announces Stryker technology demonstrator vehicle

General Dynamics Land Systems has unveiled a technology demonstrator vehicle that would increase the Stryker's survivability on the battlefield.

Leonardo DRS successfully tests vehicle power system

Leonardo DRS successfully demonstrated its On Board Vehicle Power system during an Army operational user assessment, the company announced Monday in advance of the Association of the United States Army's annual meeting in Washington.

With FARA prototype engines on the way, Sikorsky looks ahead to testing

Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky is looking ahead to the next series of tests its prototype for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft will undergo, namely flight testing sometime next year.

View our complete coverage of AUSA 2023.

The U.S. government is "surging support to Israel, that includes air defense and munitions," according to a senior Defense Department official.

"Planes have already taken off and we anticipate the continual delivery of some of the requests Israel has made," the official said during a Pentagon background briefing this afternoon.

"We remain in constant and ongoing contact with our counterparts in Israel to determine and then support their most urgent requirements," the official added.

While the official wouldn't go into details about what specific equipment was being supplied, "the bottom line is we are working as fast as possible to provide critically needed munitions of various types and other equipment."

The Pentagon is also "contacting U.S. industry to gain expedited shipment of pending Israeli orders for military equipment that otherwise may have been considered routine for movement," the official said.

Further, the department is also "working across the DOD enterprise including with U.S. Central Command to assess what munitions and other equipment are in the U.S. inventory that . . . can be made quickly available for Israel. All of [these] are actions that we are undertaking within our existing authority and appropriations."

When asked whether the Pentagon can maintain aiding both Israel as well as Ukraine, the official said: "We are able to continue our support both to Ukraine, Israel and maintain our own global readiness."

Given that the Pentagon is operating under a stopgap continuing resolution that only lasts through next month, the official called the situation "a clarifying moment in which we would welcome working in a bipartisan manner with Congress and the executive branch to ensure that we're sending a signal to allies and partners across the world that our government, both parties and both branches of our government are working together to ensure that appropriate authority and appropriations are available to support and respond to crises and contingencies."