The Insider

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the possibility of setting up another combatant command, Sikorsky losing its Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft contract protest and more.

A new combatant command could be in the offing:

DOD debates possibilities for new Joint Futures Command; Milley lends horsepower

Inside the Pentagon, a small team of experts is preparing to brief Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on options for addressing the future of warfare amid rapid technological change, which could lead to the creation of a new “Joint Futures Command.”

Sikorsky has lost its protest of a multibillion-dollar, next-generation helicopter contract:

GAO denies Sikorsky's protest of Army's FLRAA decision

The Government Accountability Office has denied Sikorsky's protest of the Army's decision to award the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft to competitor Bell, clearing a hurdle for the multibillion-dollar program to move forward.

Lockheed Martin will increasing the number of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles the company produces:

DOD increasing JASSM and LRASM production quantities

The Defense Department is increasing the production quantities of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles, which will cover JASSM production Lots 22-26 and LRASM Lots 9-12 for quantities up to 5,010 in various configurations and variants, according to a government notice.

Many of the Navy's platforms were not designed with sustainment in mind, according to senior service officials:

Navy faces uphill battle curtailing maintenance delays, service officials say

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- Service officials gathered this week at the Navy League's annual Sea-Air-Space conference to chronicle their efforts expediting submarine and surface ship repairs and recapitalizing aging public infrastructure -- presenting a snapshot of measured progress with an uphill battle ahead.

The Space Force's Rapid Capabilities Office has a new component:

Space Force stands up rapid resilient command and control office

The Space Force stood up a Combined Program Office in February for its Rapid Resilient Command And Control effort, according to a request for information on the program posted last week.

The Air Force is looking into adding money to programs funded under Middle Tier Acquisition authorities:

Air Force assessing funding shortfalls for MTA programs

The Air Force is assessing options to address funding shortfalls for Middle Tier Acquisition programs, according to service budget documents.

A Pentagon legislative proposal submitted to Congress would decrease the number of Navy carrier wings required to nine until additional carriers can support a 10th air wing:

Navy seeks to clip carrier wing mandate to nine

The Navy once again is asking Congress to remove the Title 10 requirement for standing up a 10th carrier air wing (CVW) by Oct. 1, 2025.

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has continuing coverage of this year's Sea-Air-Space Symposium, as well as the Army's proposed unified data reference architecture and the Missile Defense Agency's hypersonic defense system development effort.

We start off again with coverage from this year's Sea-Air-Space Symposium:

CNO: Columbia lags accelerated 78-month delivery timeline, not 84-month schedule

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday today provided clarification on the delivery schedule for the Columbia-class submarine program, saying the lead boat is approximately 10% behind the Navy's accelerated 78-month delivery schedule, lagging by roughly 7.6 months.

ONR doubles down on key tech investments

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Office of Naval Research is doubling down on key technology investments, seeking to inform a strategy that can contend with new global threats and environmental challenges in a rapidly changing world.

Meier: 'I need carriers to come out on time'

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- Navy Rear Adm. John Meier, speaking at the Sea-Air-Space conference Tuesday, called the capacity for shipyards to meet construction and delivery dates a "national imperative."

Pentagon seeking trustworthy, reliable AI

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- Senior defense officials say they are prioritizing trustworthiness and reliability as they search for new artificial intelligence capabilities.

Navy to expand unmanned operations to 4th Fleet

​NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Navy plans to expand unmanned operations to the 4th Fleet, drawing on experimentation efforts that it has pioneered with Task Force 59 in the 5th Fleet.

Integrated warfighting moving away from 'metal-on-metal solutions'

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- A modernized approach to integrated fighting is transforming strategies and the mindset for future maritime combat operations, according to a panel of Navy and Marine Corps leaders speaking Tuesday at the Sea- Air-Space conference.

BAE looks to expand vehicle offerings with ARV competition

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- BAE Systems is looking to the Marine Corps' next-generation Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle as an opportunity to expand its product line, competing for an ARV contract with a modified version of its amphibious combat vehicle.

Read our full Sea-Air-Space Symposium coverage.

Unified data reference architecture is a decentralized, data-mesh-based architecture the Army has been developing, Jennifer Swanson, the service's deputy assistant secretary for data engineering and software, told reporters this week:

Army standing up 'innovation exchange' lab

The Army is standing up an "innovation exchange" lab at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, to test the implementation of the service's planned unified data reference architecture framework.

The Missile Defense Agency's FY-24 budget request details for the first time a development schedule for the GPI program, which aims to develop a new guided-missile interceptor to thwart an ultra-fast maneuvering glide vehicle in the “glide” phase, or midcourse, of flight:

DOD sets 2034 fielding target for Hypersonic Defense system; 17-year development path

The Pentagon plans to field a hypersonic defense system in fiscal year 2034, a target date that falls 17 years after Congress directed the Missile Defense Agency to begin work on the project and a schedule that doesn't appear to reflect the accelerated plans associated with nearly $300 million in additional funding lawmakers gave to the Defense Department's FY-23 budget for the Glide Phase Interceptor.

Satellite communications company iDirect Government announced today that Tim Winter has been named interim president by the iDirect Government Proxy Board, replacing John Ratigan as president as of April 3.

Previously vice president of global accounts and global government and defense at ST Engineering iDirect, the parent company of iDirect Government, Winter managed its strategic global account engagements and captured pursuits for international defense opportunities. Prior to joining ST Engineering iDirect, Winter managed businesses across the defense industry at L-3 Communications and Northrop Grumman.

Before his work in the defense industry, Winter was a naval aviator, flying P-3 Orion aircraft and the BAMS-D unmanned aerial vehicle through 2022. He retired from the Navy with the rank of commander in 2022.

Ratigan served as president of iDirect Government for 20 years, managing the Defense Department business "and was instrumental in the company’s growth, bringing advanced satellite communications used for voice, video, Internet, imagery and data to military, homeland security, first responders and other government users," according to a company statement.

The United States "has not yet begun" to train Ukrainian troops on how to use the Abrams tank, according to a senior Defense Department official.

"We're still working on the equipment procurement so we have not yet begun the training, but I would expect that that will happen relatively soon," the official told reporters today during a background briefing.

DOD announced late last month that it would accelerate the delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine by several months, now planning for the tanks to arrive sometime this fall.

Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, said March 21 that the department was able to speed up the delivery because, rather than delivering the M1A2 tank variant as originally planned, DOD will now be providing Ukraine with the M1A1 variant.

"This is about getting this important combat capability into the hands of the Ukrainians," he said.

Ryder said last month that the timeline could be compressed because the M1A1s will be built using "excess hulls in our inventory that we will refurbish."

The U.S. has trained more than 7,000 Ukrainian soldiers since the beginning of Russia's invasion last year, the senior defense official said today. Of those, more than 4,000 have been trained to use Bradley and Stryker combat vehicles at the U.S. Army's Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany, the official added.

The Defense Department today announced a $2.6 billion security assistance package for Ukraine, including additional ammunition, artillery rounds, air defense interceptors and anti-armor systems as well as other weapons.

Part of the package is funded via $500 million in presidential drawdown authority and includes:

• Additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems;

• Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);

• 155 mm and 105 mm artillery rounds;

• 120 mm mortar rounds;

• 120 mm and 105 mm tank ammunition;

• 25 mm ammunition;

• Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;

• Approximately 400 grenade launchers and 200,000 rounds of ammunition;

• 11 tactical vehicles to recover equipment;

• 61 heavy fuel tankers;

• 10 trucks and 10 trailers to transport heavy equipment;

• Testing and diagnostic equipment to support vehicle maintenance and repair;

• Spare parts and other field equipment.

Meanwhile, the package also includes items put on contract with vendors via $2.1 billion in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds:

• Additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS);

• Nine counter-Unmanned Aerial System 30mm gun trucks;

• 10 mobile c-UAS laser-guided rocket systems;

• Three air surveillance radars;

• 30 mm and 23 mm anti-aircraft ammunition;

• 130 mm and 122 mm artillery rounds;

• 122 mm GRAD rockets;

• Rocket launchers and ammunition;

• 120 mm and 81 mm mortar systems;

• 120 mm, 81 mm, and 60 mm mortar rounds;

• 120 mm tank ammunition;

• Javelin anti-armor systems;

• Anti-armor rockets;

• Precision aerial munitions;

• Approximately 3,600 small arms and more than 23,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition;

• Seven tactical vehicles to recover equipment;

• Eight heavy fuel tankers and 105 fuel trailers;

• Armored bridging systems;

• Four logistics support vehicles;

• Trucks and ten trailers to transport heavy equipment;

• Secure communications equipment;

• SATCOM terminals and services;

• Funding for training, maintenance and sustainment.

While drawdown authority allows for the rapid transfers of weapons directly from U.S. stocks, USAI involves procuring capabilities from industry and could take months or years before arriving on the battlefield.

The Space Development Agency on Sunday announced the successful launch of Tranche 0 satellites, which took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, after postponing the original launch date of March 30.

"This is a major accomplishment for SDA and for the whole Department of Defense,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said in a statement. “It shows that our key pillars, proliferation and spiral development, can deliver for national security space.”

A SpaceX Falcon 9 reusable, two-stage rocket was launched with a set of 10 satellites, including eight transport satellites from York Space System and two tracking satellites from SpaceX.

The launched T0 is part of SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, the transport and tracking layer satellites intended to demonstrate the low-latency communication links to a network of integrated capabilities, including tracking of advanced missile threats from low-Earth orbit, according to SDA.

For the second T0 launch, scheduled for June, York Space Systems and Lockheed Martin will produce 10 transport satellites each, for a total of 20 T0 transport satellites, according to SDA, while SpaceX and L3Harris will produce four tracking satellites for a total of eight T0 satellites.

T0 demonstration will begin once all 28 satellites are placed in two orbital planes at an altitude of approximately 1,000 km. After undergoing a period of test and checkout of the bus and mission payloads, the tranche will support military exercises, including advanced missile tracking tests in the summer of 2023 and the future, according to SDA.

"Through this launch (T0 initial launch), we've demonstrated that SDA can keep a schedule to deliver enhanced capabilities every two years,” Tournear said. “This revolutionary approach is enabled by the growth in the commercial marketplace, allowing the PWSA to move forward to deliver warfighting capabilities in each future tranche.”

SDA plans the first operational generation of the PWSA, Tranche 1, to begin in late 2024, which will include 126 transport layer satellites, 35 tracking satellites and 12 tactical demonstration satellites.

The Navy has awarded HII a $1.3 billion contract for the procurement of its third flight II San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, according to a Friday service announcement.

The award paves the way for construction to begin on LPD-32 after Congress approved the ship’s purchase in the fiscal year 2023 budget cycle. Work is expected to be completed by September 2029, the announcement states.

Ingalls Shipbuilding, the sole contractor for the LPD class, received $240 million in advance procurement funding in 2022 for the ship, according to a separate company announcement.

After the Navy omitted amphibious warships from its FY-24 budget request, the Marine Corps listed $1.7 billion for a fourth LPD as its top unfunded priority.

A Pentagon-directed pause in LPD procurement has put Navy and Marine Corps leadership at odds. While Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday argued that cost-reduction measures are necessary before procurement continues, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger has urged continued fielding of LPDs to maintain a fleet of 31 amphibious warships.

During a March appearance, Gilday suggested LPD-32 could cost as much as $2 billion by the end of the buy -- 21% to 25% cost growth over the first hull. Berger presented a more moderate cost increase picture, which he attributed largely to inflation.

During last week’s congressional budget hearings, lawmakers indicated support for continued LPD buys and skepticism toward the pause and cost-reduction study, while Marine Corps leadership said the LPD cannot afford to have its capabilities scaled down to reduce costs.

Gilday and Berger steered clear of the LPD debate today when they appeared on stage together at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference.

Gilday said the Navy and Marine Corps are in “good shape” in terms of shipbuilding with ample support from Congress. He said LPD-32 was put on contract at a “good price,” adding he hopes to leverage the Navy’s multiyear procurement authority to keep the LPD line active.