Rule on AUKUS export control revisions

On April 19, 2024 the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security published a rule that "removed license requirements, expanded the availability of license exceptions, and reduced the scope of end-use and end-user-based license requirements for exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) to or within Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) to enhance technological innovation among the three countries and support the goals of the AUKUS Trilateral Security Partnership."

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Top House Dem says U.S. intel community should disclose more info on China's defense spending

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said today that he would favor the U.S. intelligence community being more "aggressive" when it comes to disclosing information about the actual size of China's military budget, which U.S. officials and analysts have long said is not accurately reported by Beijing. “My central message here is we are not messaging this conflict correctly,” he said today at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, which recently released a...

DOD working with industry on bio manufacturing program

The Pentagon's technology chief said today the Defense Department is working on a "bio industrial manufacturing" program, highlighting recent awards that small businesses have received to provide the U.S. military with new technologies in that area. Heidi Shyu, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said at the AI Expo for National Competitiveness in Washington that DOD has recently begun the new program. “We have recently kicked off the DOD’s bio industrial manufacturing program and this is very exciting,”...

DIU head focuses on repeatability of Replicator weapons tranches

The head of the Defense Innovation Unit spoke today about the importance of consistently repeating the Replicator initiative as planning work has begun on the second tranche of weapon systems. Doug Beck said the Replicator initiative has two focuses: fielding attritable autonomous weapon systems by August 2025 to counter the challenge posed by China and creating a repeatable process that the Defense Department can use again multiple times in the future. “But it’s also critically about a second objective, which...

Allvin: Innovative technology is changing the way the Air Force deals with industry

As the military moves to maximize interoperability to prepare for a potential fight with a near-peer adversary, the services and industry need to "adapt together," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said Tuesday. “I think technology is allowing us, if we’re willing to bureaucratically adapt to it, it’s allowing us to shift the incentive structure,” Allvin said during a panel discussion at the AI Expo for National Competitiveness in Washington. “We want to incentivize industry in a way...

The INSIDER daily digest -- May 7, 2024

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Air Force's effort to transition Air National Guard space missions into the Space Force, the Army delaying a full-rate production contract for anti-armor missile launch units and more. A new Air Force report to Congress lays out the three options for space missions within the Air National Guard -- maintaining them within the Air National Guard, transferring them to the Space Force or creating a Space National Guard: Air...

Warfare moving toward 'fires over maneuver,' Rainey says

Army Futures Command Commanding Gen. James Rainey envisions warfare being more data-centric in the future and told attendees today at the Ash Carter Exchange on Innovation and National Security in Washington that he sees a "re-ascendance of fires over maneuver." “It’s gone back and forth in history. But for the Army, maneuvering to position fires in support of the joint force would drive some major changes in both how we build our formations, and the balance between say, fire brigades,...

Air Force report on consolidation/transfer of National Guard space functions to USSF

The May 3, 2024 Air Force report to Congress lays out the three options for space missions within the Air National Guard -- maintaining them within the Air National Guard, transferring them to the Space Force or creating a Space National Guard.

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DOD instruction on management of the standby reserve

The May 7, 2024 Defense Department instruction "establishes uniform policies, assigns responsibilities, and prescribes procedures for the peacetime management and preparation for mobilization of the Standby Reserve."

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Defense Business Briefing -- May 7, 2024

Welcome to today's Defense Business Briefing, your weekly roundup of the latest defense industry news. This week's top story HII CEO: Manufacturing and shipbuilding labor major factor in delays There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to shipbuilding delays, but labor is the most contributing factor, shipbuilder HII Chief Executive Officer Chris Kastner told investors in a first-quarter earnings call Thursday. News & notes State moves to ease weapons export regulations in support of AUKUS The State Department is proposing to exempt...

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