Breaking Defense's Monday Morning Briefing

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead _____________________________________________________________________________________________________

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead How Northrop Grumman's Cygnus is Changing Space. Presented by Northrop Grumman Cygnus is an autonomous cargo spacecraft capable of resupplying astronauts with everything from scientific experiments to fresh produce. Thanks to Cygnus, more we're defining what's possible in space. Iridium Publicly Threatens Lawsuit To Overturn FCC's Ligado Vote By Theresa Hitchens; Friday, July 10, 2020 3:50 PM "I think there's some very compelling petitions for reconsideration before the FCC right now, so I'm hoping that they would hit the pause button," says Iridium's legal rep Robert McDowell.   Israelis Crafting Counter Drone System To Track, Kill Operators By Arie Egozi; Friday, July 10, 2020 3:43 PM "We insert all the points along the flight path into a deep neural network that was trained to be able to predict the exact launch point and the location of the drone operator," Eliyahu Mashhadi of Ben Gurion University says. Testing the model with the flight simulator, the team were able to locate and target the drone operator 78% of the time.   Silicon Valley Giants — Not Start-Ups — Dominate DoD Tech $$ By Kelsey Atherton; Friday, July 10, 2020 2:36 PM The dataset offers a window into not just the scale of tech involvement with the military, intelligence agencies, and federal law enforcement. It also highlights the size advantages that enable giants like HP, IBM, and Microsoft to navigate government contracting, while even explicitly military-friendly firms like Palantir and Anduril lag behind their more established peers.   Pentagon AI Gains 'Overwhelming Support' From Tech Firms – Even Google By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.; Friday, July 10, 2020 11:11 AM Despite past battles over Project Maven and other military uses of AI, "Google and many others" are now working with the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, its new acting director says.   Air Force Expands AI-Based Predictive Maintenance By Theresa Hitchens; Thursday, July 9, 2020 4:23 PM WASHINGTON: The Air Force plans to expand its "predictive maintenance" using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to another 12 weapon systems, says Lt. Gen. Warren Berry, deputy chief of staff for logistics, engineering and force protection. "I continue to believe that predictive maintenance is a real game changer for us as an Air Force,"…   Latvia Wants US Troops, And Is Ready To Pay For Them By Paul McLeary; Thursday, July 9, 2020 2:49 PM The Baltic country is looking to open talks with the US about putting American boots on the ground in Latvia, a move that would surely make Moscow unhappy.   Under Senate's Eye, NRO, NGA Stress Commercial Imagery Plans By Theresa Hitchens; Thursday, July 9, 2020 2:04 PM "NGA expects unclassified space-based geospatial data to become ubiquitous and widely available," says NGA's David Gauthier.   Long-Range All-Domain Prompts Roles & Missions Debate By Theresa Hitchens; Thursday, July 9, 2020 10:35 AM "It's ridiculous, to be quite candid. It is encroachment on roles and missions," says Mitchell Institute's Dave Deptula about Army plans for super long-range weapons that rival the capabilities of Air Force combat aircraft.   As CMMC Enters the Readiness Phase Will Subcontractors be Ready? [Sponsored] By Tommy McDowell - Celerium; Thursday, July 9, 2020 8:59 AM As CMMC, the DoD cybersecurity compliance program, continues to evolve, will prime contractors and their subcontractors be ready for assessment and certification?   Senate Ships vs. House Subs: Conference Clash To Come? By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.; Thursday, July 9, 2020 7:01 AM House Democrats want to add $2.5 billion to build a second Virginia-class submarine next year. Senate Republicans would rather spend on destroyers and amphibious ships.   Senate, House Set To Rumble Over Who Controls Nuke Budget By Theresa Hitchens; Wednesday, July 8, 2020 5:11 PM The provision seeks to prevent the Nuclear Weapons Council "from further encroaching on the development of the NNSA budget," Kingston Reif, director of arms control and threat reduction policy at the Arms Control Association, told Breaking D.   Top Defense Execs Ask For Help in Next COVID Stimulus Package By Paul McLeary; Wednesday, July 8, 2020 4:16 PM The biggest defense manufacturers in the world warned the Pentagon and OMB of "significant job losses in pivotal states" if Congress doesn't come up with stimulus money to cover unforeseen expenses.   DoD Needs New Measures For Valuing Weapons: Mitchell By Theresa Hitchens; Wednesday, July 8, 2020 11:47 AM WASHINGTON: The Pentagon should not judge weapon systems on "overly simplistic metrics" but adopt a more holistic evaluation that weighs a weapon's cost and capabilities against the total costs of achieving the mission, a new paper from the Mitchell Institute argues. "All we ever hear is, that the F-22 and the F-35 are expensive. But…   Congress Pushes Pentagon To Finally Kick Turkey Out Of F-35 Program By Paul McLeary; Wednesday, July 8, 2020 11:21 AM The senators wrote they "remain concerned about the direction Turkey is taking under the leadership of President Erdogan…Turkey is not behaving like a responsible actor or working collaboratively with the West at the level we expect from a NATO ally."   Breaking Defense 611 Broadway • New York, New York • 10012 unsubscribe