The Insider

This Friday INSIDER Daily Digest has news from this week's AUSA Global Force Symposium, Oshkosh's ongoing protest of a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle contract award, the Air Force's T-7 trainer aircraft and a lot more.

Let's start off with the latest on Oshkosh's protest of a multibillion-dollar Joint Light Tactical Vehicle contract award to AM General:

In JLTV protest, Oshkosh alleges problems with AM General's production process, corrosion testing

In protesting the recent award of the follow-on contract of the Army’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle to AM General, Oshkosh claims that the government ignored problems related to AM General’s production process, corrosion testing and the cost evaluation.

Here's more coverage from this week's AUSA Global Force Symposium:

New-start counter-drone budget proposed for FY-25 to align with Army strategic priorities

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Army leaders drafting the service's fiscal year 2025 budget proposal are considering establishing a dedicated program element for counter-drone technology, a move that if adopted would stake out a consolidated place in long-term spending plans for projects currently dispersed across multiple air defense research and development funding lines.

PAC-3 armed with new software intercepts advanced medium-range ballistic missile target

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- The Army last week executed a live-fire test of the Patriot air defense system -- pitting a developmental PAC-3 software upgrade to address more advanced threats -- against a medium-range ballistic missile target at a test site in the Western Pacific.

Army executes prototype cannon-launched, hypervelocity guided projectile, sets record

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- The Army achieved record-setting distance when demonstrating a cannon-launched hypervelocity projectile prototype -- a munition capable of maneuvering in flight and striking moving targets -- in an event that points to a future where artillery units will be able to reach targets at ranges that today require missiles at a fraction the cost.

BAE making room to ramp up AMPV production by moving other combat vehicle lines

HUNTSVILLE, VA -- BAE Systems today announced a major realignment of its combat vehicle manufacturing operations -- including repositioning significant industrial capacity -- as part of a long-term plan to increase manufacturing rates and speed delivery of fighting vehicles to the Army and Marine Corps.

The U.S. military's top uniformed officer spoke this week about a potential new combatant command:

Milley highlights plans for new joint futures 'command' or 'entity' for innovation

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said the Defense Department is preparing to stand up a new joint futures "command" or "entity" sometime this summer to focus on military innovation.

News on Army night-vision goggles:

Lawmaker questions Army secretary over night-vision goggle funding

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) questioned Army Secretary Christine Wormuth during a congressional hearing Thursday about the service's lack of funding for one night-vision goggle program, and its faith in another program that has had challenges.

Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter was on Capitol Hill this week:

Hunter says Boeing will proceed with T-7 production at company's 'own risk'

Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter told lawmakers on Wednesday that Boeing has notified the service of its intent to begin production of the initial T-7 aircraft without a formal contract and the company will assume all risk if the initial aircraft do not meet service requirements.

Hunter: Air Force not planning ARRW procurement

The Air Force isn't planning to procure more Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon hypersonic missiles, service acquisition chief Andrew Hunter told lawmakers Wednesday.

Hunter: Air Force aiming to field CCAs in late 2020s

The Air Force plans to field its uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft concept by the end of the decade, service acquisition chief Andrew Hunter told lawmakers Wednesday.

The Navy's top civilian official talked about a dispute between the government and Boeing over Super Hornet intellectual property rights:

SECNAV weighs in on Super Hornet IP dispute

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro defended the service's push to acquire intellectual property related to 20 F/A-18 Super Hornets that have yet to be put on contract with Boeing, saying the Navy needs this data package to perform repairs in the field.

The lead boat of the Columbia-class submarine program is facing delays:

Del Toro: Lead Columbia sub is 10% behind schedule

The lead Columbia-class submarine is now 10% behind schedule, trailing its 84-month timeline by roughly 8.4 months, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told lawmakers at today's House Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing.

Lawmakers want the Army to speed up replacing the weapons it's giving to Ukraine:

Some on House Appropriations defense subcommittee want faster Army weapons procurement

Some members of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee during a hearing Tuesday pushed the Army to replenish its weapons stock faster as it continues to send aid to Ukraine.

Last but by no means least, the latest cyber defense news from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:

DOD CIO acknowledges CMMC launch challenges, commits to rollout as program review continues

DOD Chief Information Officer John Sherman assured lawmakers at a Thursday hearing on the rollout of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, acknowledging it has faced delays following an internal review while committing that it will be carried out successfully.

The Navy has awarded Raytheon Technologies a $650 million low-rate initial production contract for its next-generation airborne electronic attack jamming system, which will replace the legacy ALQ-99 jamming pod carried by the service's fleet of EA-18G Growlers.

The Lot III LRIP contract funds the production and delivery of 15 Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band (NGJ-MB) ship sets -- with two pods per ship set -- including 11 sets for the Navy and four for the Australian government, according to a Thursday Navy release.

Work is expected to conclude in April 2024, the announcement states.

The Navy’s fiscal year 2024 budget request contains $40.5 million for NGJ-MB research and development and forecasts funding to climb to more than $87 million in FY-25 and continue through FY-28.

FY-24 R&D will focus on “delivering pod operational flight program software builds that address deficiencies identified during completion of developmental flight testing,” budget documents state.

According to the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation’s annual report, the program is still working to remedy reliability and performance issues that were identified prior to milestone C -- which was achieved in May 2021, enabling LRIP procurement to begin.

The NGJ-MB pods have not proven mature enough to conduct operational test flights, the report states, although it notes that some progress has been made to improve system performance through software updates. Due to these lingering issues, test flights were postponed until after the start of initial operational test and evaluation.

The program is slated to begin operational testing in May 2023, budget documents state.

Although the Navy’s budget request predicts the program will achieve initial operational capability before the end of FY-23, the DOT&E report warns that the service should prepare to extend IOT&E due to “uncertainty around the availability and reliability of operational test ready LRIP pods.”

The Defense Department has launched a new website to accompany its long-running "Hack the Pentagon" program.

The department began the HtP program in 2016 using “bug bounties” as “innovative way to secure critical Department of Defense (DOD) systems and assets,” according to DOD.

The program invites “vetted, independent security researchers, known as ‘ethical hackers,’ to discover, investigate and report vulnerabilities, which DOD can then remediate,” DOD said.

The new website is intended to be a resource for other DOD organizations, vendors and “ethical hackers” wanting to learn how to conduct similar “bug bounty” programs.

"With the HtP website launch, [DOD] is scaling a long running program, which historically offered services on a project-by-project basis, by offering the Department better access to lessons learned and best practices for hosting bug bounties," said Craig Martell, DOD’s chief digital and artificial intelligence officer.

The Pentagon also said it intends for the website to recruit new talent.

"Through Hack the Pentagon, we're building a global talent pipeline for cybersecurity experts to contribute to our national defense outside of traditional government career paths," said Jinyoung Englund, acting director of CDAO’s Directorate for Digital Services.

“Since HtP's initial launch in 2016, DDS has run 40+ bug bounties with over 1,400 ethical hackers who have collectively flagged 2,100+ vulnerabilities for remediation,” DOD said.

The Army will hold an industry day focused on "Soldier 2030 and Beyond" May 17-18 in Springfield, VA, which will focus on future technologies for soldiers.

Those attending the event will include representatives from the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier, Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation and Program Executive Office for Command Control Communications Tactical, according to a notice posted Tuesday.

Among the programs to be discussed will be the Integrated Visual Augmentation System, Soldier Maneuver Sensors and Soldier Precision Target Devices, according to the notice. DOD contractors, product managers and the Technology Management Directorate will discuss the technologies.

Interested attendees are asked to reply to the notice by May 5.

Lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee are disappointed with the Navy's failure to deliver its 30-year shipbuilding plan, which they expected to receive before today's budget hearing.

“I will start with just throwing something down on the table that I’m a little bit not happy with, which is we don't yet have the 30-year shipbuilding plan,” subcommittee Chairman Tim Kaine (D-VA) said at the top of the hearing.

“When we know the hearing like this is going to be about seapower investments in shipbuilding and ship repair, of course the idea is, we get the plan first,” Kaine said. “That plan was supposed to come over with the president's budget on March 9, today is the 28th. We don't have it. We talked last week with Navy leadership [who] said that we would have it on Friday or Monday.”

During a Monday roundtable, Kaine told reporters he expected the plan would be delivered “in the next day or so.” But with no sign of the document at today’s hearing, Kaine said he now anticipates it will arrive at some point before the Senate Armed Services Committee convenes for the full Navy posture hearing. The committee has not yet announced a date for the hearing.

Ranking member Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) echoed Kaine’s comments and suggested the committee should reconvene for additional questioning once the plan is delivered.

Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition Frederick Stefany, who testified before the committee, apologized but offered no explanation for the delay. Stefany told lawmakers he would reappear at a future hearing once the 30-year plan is delivered.

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the future of the Pentagon's unfunded priorities lists, the Navy's shipbuilding plans, the Sentinel LGM-35A nuclear missile program and more.

Looks like Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-MA) efforts to outlaw unfunded priorities lists are bearing fruit:

DOD supports repealing law requiring unfunded priorities lists

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin supports an ongoing effort by some lawmakers to repeal a law requiring that military leaders send annual "unfunded priorities lists" to Congress outside the regular budget submission, according to a new letter from Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord.

The Navy's shipbuilding plans have come into question by at least one lawmaker:

Collins questions proposed ship buying levels for FY-24

Contrasting projections for the U.S. fleet of 291 ships by 2028 to forecasts for China to have 440 ships, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told naval officials Tuesday she is concerned about the Navy's shipbuilding plans in the fiscal year 2024 budget.

Related:

Kaine: Classified study affirms 31 amphibious warships; seapower subcommittee remains supportive

The Navy's classified amphibious warship study supports the need for 31 L-class ships, according to Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee chairman, who said he is "mystified" by the lack of amphibs in the Navy’s budget request.

The successor to the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile could be facing a delay:

House panel questions potential delay in Sentinel nuclear missile

House lawmakers expressed concern Tuesday over a schedule slip in the Sentinel LGM-35A nuclear missile program, which faces a potential two-year delay.

Some funding news for the Army's Future Unmanned Aircraft System program:

Army includes $53 million in FY-24 request for new-start FUAS

The Army's fiscal year 2024 request includes $53 million for the procurement of the Future Unmanned Aircraft System family of systems.

Last but by no means least, a look at the Space Force's FY-24 budget request:

Space Force seeks $30B in FY-24 to combat emerging space threats

The Space Force is requesting $30 billion in its fiscal year 2024 budget, an increase of $3.4 billion over the FY-23 enacted figure. This funding is a critical step to combat emerging space threats and meet pacing challenges, according to an FY-24 budget overview document.