Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
Army readiness, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental and a slew of Air Force news highlight this Friday INSIDER Daily Digest.
The Army's chief of staff testified before House appropriators this week:
Milley: Army on 'glide path' to readiness recovery by FY-22
After years of declining readiness due to end-strength reductions and high operational tempo, the Army is now "significantly more combat-ready" today than it was less than three years ago, according to its chief of staff.
Document: House appropriators' hearing on the Army's FY-19 budget
News on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States:
Congress weighs foreign investment against national security as Trump blocks $117B deal
On the heels of President Trump's executive order to block Singapore-based Broadcom's $117 billion bid to buy U.S. chip maker Qualcomm, the Pentagon's top industrial base official urged lawmakers Thursday to further expand the authority of the powerful and secretive government committee that helped kill the deal.
An official from the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental explained a recent billion-dollar cloud agreement:
DIUx: 'Misunderstanding' over scaled-back cloud agreement
A Defense Innovation Unit Experimental representative says there are misconceptions surrounding a nearly $1 billion cloud agreement DIUx awarded that was later reduced to just $65 million.
The Pentagon recently launched a Mobility Capabilities and Requirements Study led by the cost assessment and program evaluation office and U.S. Transportation Command:
DOD launches new mobility capability and requirements study to influence FY-20 POM
The Defense Department has commenced a sweeping new mobility study, an assessment that aims to consider the precise number of aerial refueling tankers, cargo aircraft and supply ships needed to support the Trump administration's National Defense Strategy and drive any related new investment decisions in the military's fiscal year 2020 spending plan.
The Air Force will push for personnel reform instead of trying to tackle additional organizational shifts:
Nearly 80K await Air Force security clearances as SECAF requests reforms
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson has a message for Congress this week: Stop reorganizing the Defense Department and focus on personnel reform.
More news from today's Inside the Air Force:
Air Force to retire fourth JSTARS as lawmakers question plan to defund recap
The Air Force plans to retire a fourth E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System in fiscal year 2021, after its latest budget request revealed a plan to retire three of the 16-aircraft fleet in FY-19.
Document: House hearing on Air Force airborne ISR programs
Pawlikowski: Light-attack experiment a success, but Air Force needs buy plan
The head of Air Force Materiel Command said this week she counts the service's ongoing light-attack experimentation effort as a success, but that the challenge will be in readying its acquisition enterprise to rapidly procure the aircraft.
Air Force report shows GBSD reentry vehicle draft RFP slated for late FY-18
The Air Force plans to release a draft request for proposals for the Mark 21A nuclear reentry vehicle in late fiscal year 2018, according to a new acquisition report published this week.
Document: Air Force 2017 annual report on acquisition
Air Force focusing prototyping work on design approaches, not just capabilities
The Air Force's new acquisition executive is encouraging lawmakers to "take an active interest" in prototyping as a means of maturing and fielding new capabilities faster.
Air Force awards $640 million in launch contracts to ULA, SpaceX
The Air Force this week awarded contracts worth more than $640 million to SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance for five future national security space missions.
Air Force still studying options for short-term laser demo on mobility aircraft
The Air Force will continue fleshing out a path to add lasers to mobility aircraft after considering demonstrating a laser weapon on a range of those platforms last year, one of the service's research chiefs said this week.
News on Army manned and unmanned combat vehicles:
CFT director: NGCV prototypes will offer two capabilities
The Army plans to develop prototypes for one robotic combat vehicle and one optionally manned fighting vehicle, according to the Next Generation Combat Vehicle cross-functional team's director.
The chief of U.S. European Command was on Capitol Hill this week:
EUCOM chief wants to bolster forces in Europe
The head of U.S. European Command is calling for additional forces on the continent, including some permanently assigned units, preferably fires and aviation brigades.