Breaking Defense's Monday Morning Briefing

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead _________________________________________________________________________

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead Special Ops Airpower: SNC's MC-145B Coyote For Armed Overwatch Presented by Sierra Nevada Corporation We approached Armed Overwatch from a different direction, embracing requirements for endurance, austere operations & weapons payload with a look toward supporting SOCOM's future challenges. Learn more. Breaking Defense Announces Significant Growth With Additions to Editorial Staff By Breaking Defense (pha); Monday, September 20, 2021 4:10 AM With three key staff additions along with developments earlier in the year, the Breaking Defense editorial team has doubled in size since the start of 2021.   SPACECOM Needs More Data, Sensors To Track On-Orbit Threats By Theresa Hitchens; Friday, September 17, 2021 1:59 PM "The government has not decided what we want our format to be" for SSA data provided by commercial firms, explained SPACECOM's Col. Scot Brodeur. "But when we do decide, in short order I need y'all to be all in on getting onto that format."   Lockheed Unveils New Tanker Design: LMXT By Aaron Mehta; Friday, September 17, 2021 12:50 PM Lockheed is offering an upgraded version of the Airbus A330 MRTT tanker used by NATO nations.   DoD Buys Two New Supercomputers That Rank Among Its Most Powerful Ever By Brad D. Williams; Friday, September 17, 2021 12:20 PM The two new supercomputers, according to the company, will provide DoD with a combined total of over 365,000 cores, more than 775 terabytes of memory, and a total of 47 petabytes of high-performance storage.   UK Awards Laser Weapon Experimental Contracts By Aaron Mehta; Friday, September 17, 2021 10:57 AM Three companies will split a $100 million contract to develop test beds for directed energy weapons.   New Australia Nuclear Sub Deal Brings Big Questions, Hard Road Ahead By Justin Katz; Friday, September 17, 2021 8:49 AM Analysts say the trilateral defense pact could set precedents and become a 20-year endeavor for the countries involved.   Want To Solve Supply Chain Security? Do Business Differently By Aaron Mehta; Friday, September 17, 2021 7:27 AM It's time to make real changes to the DFARS requirements, writes Stephanie Halcrow.   USG Warns Of 'Critical' Vulnerability That Poses 'Serious Risk' To Defense Contractors, Others By Brad D. Williams; Thursday, September 16, 2021 6:38 PM "The FBI, CISA, and CGCYBER assess that advanced persistent threat cyber actors are likely among those exploiting the vulnerability," the joint advisory notes.   Nuke Sub Accord 'First Step' For Deeper US-Aussie Cooperation; Aussies Get NRO Ties By Colin Clark; Thursday, September 16, 2021 5:18 PM "This does not mean there are not constructive areas of engagement with China," Australia Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Marise Payne said at the State Department today. She then noted that "US leadership within the Indo-Pacific remains indispensable."   Biden Taps Sherman For Pentagon CIO, Guertin For OT&E By Aaron Mehta; Thursday, September 16, 2021 3:11 PM It is unclear how quickly the two men can go through the nomination process, given current politics on Capitol Hill.   Space Force Calls For 'Trash Trucks' For All The Orbiting Junk By Theresa Hitchens; Thursday, September 16, 2021 12:53 PM Active debris removal is "definitely a need, and I think there is a use case for industry to get after that as a service-based opportunity," said Maj. Gen. DeAnna Burt.   Can The US Army Transform Without A New Approach to Warfare? By Daniel Goure; Thursday, September 16, 2021 9:50 AM When did the Army come to believe that acquiring new stuff fast equals modernization?   In Surprise Move US, UK Agree To Share Nuclear Submarine Tech With Australia By Aaron Mehta; Wednesday, September 15, 2021 5:00 PM A US official called the move the "biggest strategic step Australia has taken in generations."   Tempest Fighter To Wield Flying 'Excalibur' Lab For Digital Dominance By Aaron Mehta; Wednesday, September 15, 2021 3:56 PM "Our focus is to get the sensors and information architecture correct. We might have to change other capabilities out for that if necessary," said Jez Holmes, Head of the RAF's Rapid Capabilities Office.   Distributed Maritime Operations: Dispersing The Fleet For Survivability And Lethality By Barry Rosenberg; Wednesday, September 15, 2021 2:07 PM [Sponsored] The near-term challenge for DMO is figuring out how to take existing platforms and systems and quickly evolve them to provide JADC2-like capabilities to a dispersed fleet.   Revolutionary Tech Could Allow Near-Real Time Space Tracking, MITRE Says By Theresa Hitchens; Wednesday, September 15, 2021 1:34 PM The MITRE-developed software has been transferred to Space Systems Command for operational prototyping.   The US Navy's Nuclear Proliferation Problem By Lee Ferran; Wednesday, September 15, 2021 11:00 AM US Navy reactors currently use about 100 nuclear bombs' worth of HEU each year, more than all of the world's other reactors combined.   Raytheon To Demo Mine Hunting Sonar For Royal Navy By Justin Katz; Wednesday, September 15, 2021 9:03 AM Raytheon executives say they will team up with Atlas Electronics to demonstrate their sonar off the coast of Scotland at an industry exhibition dubbed WISE-X.   Protector Takes Flight By General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.,; Wednesday, September 15, 2021 8:29 AM [Sponsored] The MQ-9B is the latest in a line of highly successful and well-proven remotely piloted aircraft operated by a number of other sophisticated allied air forces, from those of the United States to France to Italy and beyond.   Three Objectives For The UK Military's Future By Aaron Mehta; Wednesday, September 15, 2021 7:15 AM A new concept of operation is the "source code" of the UK military's future, a top officer said this week.   Congress, Industry Chivvy Space Force On Commercial SSA By Theresa Hitchens; Tuesday, September 14, 2021 3:21 PM Both the HASC and SASC have added funds for purchase of commercial space observation capabilities to their draft 2022 defense policy bills.   Al-Qaida Fears In Afghanistan, But China Takes Spotlight For IC Leaders By Brad D. Williams; Tuesday, September 14, 2021 2:13 PM One senior official said he wants his agency to have the urgency about China the way the US had urgency about counterterrorism after 9/11.   Saudi Arabia Considering Israeli-Made Missile Defense Systems By Arie Egozi; Tuesday, September 14, 2021 12:44 PM Saudi "interest in the Israeli systems has reached a very practical phase," per an Israeli source.   Finland, Latvia To Jointly Procure 360 Land Vehicles; Estonia, Sweden Could Join By Aaron Mehta; Tuesday, September 14, 2021 11:06 AM The agreement includes an order from Latvia for the delivery of 200 APC variant vehicles and another 160 for Finland.   UK Signs Up For Anduril AI Base Defense Technology By Aaron Mehta; Tuesday, September 14, 2021 9:28 AM "This is not how the MoD has ever done business, but its trying to adopt some of the best practices of the commercial marketplace," said Paul Hollingshead, head of UK and NATO effort at Anduril.   New F-35 Sustainment Deal Creates Path To Lockheed Multi-Year PBL Contract By Aaron Mehta; Monday, September 13, 2021 9:00 PM The cost per flight hour of the F-35A, the most common of the three F-35 variants, will drop from $33,600 to $30,000 over the contract.   US Momentum Grows For Push To Start Strategic Talks With China By Colin Clark; Monday, September 13, 2021 7:49 PM "It is going to take us 10 to 15 years to modernize 400 silos that already exist. And China is basically building almost that many overnight. So the speed of difference in that threat is what really concerns me most," Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs says.   Afghanistan Has Been 'Gut-Wrenching,' 'Deeply Personal' For IC: DNI By Brad D. Williams; Monday, September 13, 2021 3:42 PM "There's no question that as you pull out… our intelligence collection is diminished," Haines said. "In Afghanistan, we will want to monitor any reconstitution of terrorist groups."   US Successfully Tests New Homeland Missile Defense Capability By Aaron Mehta; Monday, September 13, 2021 3:10 PM The new capability should add flexibility to the Ground Based Interceptor.   After South China Sea Incidents, US Needs 'Sustained' Pacific Presence, Lawmaker Says By Justin Katz; Monday, September 13, 2021 2:29 PM Rep. Elaine Luria and analysts say the US Navy must a play the long game when it comes to confronting China's territorial claims in the South China Sea.   Breaking Defense 611 Broadway • New York, New York • 10012 unsubscribe