Breaking Defense's Monday Morning Briefing

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead _________________________________________________________________________

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead SNC TRAX® Software: Connecting Operators Across The Battlespace Presented by Sierra Nevada Corporation SNC TRAX delivers the interoperability required for full battlespace awareness between disparate communications systems & networks - across domains - creating a full-spectrum operational picture. Learn more. NATO's Big Concern from Russia's Zapad Exercise: Putin's Forces Lingering in Belarus By Reuben Johnson The Russian-Belarusian exercise may be over, but its biggest question – what Russian forces stay behind in Belarus – will now be answered.   House Intel Committee OKs Space Force Intel Center By Theresa Hitchens HPSCI cites the "increasingly complex" space environment as the rationale for the new National Space Intelligence Center.   Afghanistan, China, And The Gray Zone: House Committee Passes Intel Bill By Brad D. Williams The bill also requires the IC to share information with the Defense Department's Unexplained Aerial Phenomena Task Force.   Lockheed Martin's Precision Strike Missile Enters Next Phase with Army By Andrew Eversden Lockheed Martin received $62 million for the engineering phase of PrSM following a successful milestone B evaluation.   The US Navy Just Made A Port Call In Lebanon. Why Now? By Chyrine Mezher The visit of the Choctaw County is meant to signal support for Lebanon's government – and especially its Navy, analysts say.   Curbing Dangerous US Arms Sales: House NDAA Is A Win For Oversight, Accountability By Lee Ferran The House version of the NDAA represents the largest package of legislation that restrict weapons transfers since the 1990s — a good first step.   Army Researchers Tap Super Shrimp Tech, Envision Super Jumpers By Colin Clark "The idea of a loaded spring released by a latch is a staple in mechanical design, but the research team cleverly observed that engineers have yet to achieve the same performance out of a Latch-Mediated Spring Actuator that we find in nature," Dean Culver, program manager at the lab, writes. "By more closely mimicking the geometry of a mantis shrimp's physiology, the team was able to exceed accelerations produced by limbs in other robotic devices by more than tenfold."   Congress Passes Continuing Resolution, Averting Shutdown By Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON: The US Congress today voted to avert a government shutdown, passing a Continuing Resolution funding measure that will run through Dec. 3. The vote was 65-35 in the Senate and 254-175 in the House. While the assumption in Washington was that a deal would get done, once again, Congress seemed inclined to wait until…   The Navy Electrifies In A Transition As Monumental As Sail To Steam By Barry Rosenberg [Sponsored] Power and energy are becoming mission enablers to support the increasing electric-load demands of modern combatant ships, especially in the areas of advanced radar and other electronic systems, as well as directed energy weapons.   Likely Base For Second Polish F-35 Squadron Identified By Aaron Mehta WARSAW: During a Sept. 8 speech at the 29th MSPO defense show held at Kielce, Poland, a top Lockheed Martin executive appeared to unintentionally unveil a probable location for the second Polish Air Force F-35A squadron. Officially, a second location for the F-35A unit has yet to be chosen by the government here. But while…   Defense Lags Behind Commerce In UK 'Galactic' Space Power Goals By Theresa Hitchens The new UK space strategy "seems to be in Boris' own words "spacetastic": a positive big picture, but very thin on detail. The U.K. does not have the kind of money needed to fulfill all its aspirations," said Alex Walmsley, associate fellow at RUSI.   What AUKUS Means For Australia: More Than Nuclear Subs By Brendan Sargeant When the United States, United Kingdom and Australia announced their new AUKUS agreement, the major focus was on the path for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines for the first time. But that headline aside, there is much more to the agreement, which could represent a major shift  in Indo-Pacific strategic and military relations for the…   Researchers Warn Of 'Dangerous' Artificial Intelligence-Generated Disinformation At Scale By Brad D. Williams "We just needed a much smaller dataset, half hour of training time, and all of a sudden, GPT was now a New York Times writer," said Andrew Lohn, senior research fellow at CSET.   Navy Establishes New Flag Officer Job To Oversee Shipyard Revamp Plans By Justin Katz Rear Adm. Troy McClelland has been tapped to lead the shipyard revitalization program.   New Army Pilot Program To Test Armored Brigade Mobile Communications By Andrew Eversden The pilot is an important step toward designing the on the move networking capabilities Armored Brigades will need as the prepare for future, more mobile battlefields.   Report Sheds Light On Changes To Navy's Constellation Class By Justin Katz The report provides specific details about the design changes Fincantieri made to the parent design they proposed for the FFG(X) competition.   Hondo Geurts Joining Silicon Valley Defense Group By Justin Katz Former Navy acquisition executive Hondo Geurts left government in August after Carlos Del Toro was confirmed as Navy secretary.   What Is NMESIS, The Marine Corps' New Ship Killer? By Justin Katz The Marine Corps says the new missile is a top modernization priority. Analysts say China is a big reason why.   Accelerating Innovative Digital Engineering Capabilities To The Warfighter By BAE Systems Intelligence & Security [Sponsored] BAE Systems delivers efficient decision-making capability through effective product lifecycle management and digital engineering approaches.   Congress Shouldn't Rubber-Stamp Hypersonic Weapons By Kingston Reif It is time — in fact, past time — for Congress to demand answers about the Pentagon's pursuit of hypersonic weapons capabilities.   'Global Strike From Space;' Did Kendall Reveal Chinese Threat? By Colin Clark WASHINGTON: When Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall used his Sept. 20 keynote speech at the annual Air Force Association conference to claim that China is developing the ability to launch "global strikes from space" against US targets, it raised more than a few eyebrows and sent military analysts scrambling. After all, the decision to bring up…   Lessons Learned From Afghanistan: Gen. Mark Milley By Colin Clark The anguish of dealing with the aftermath of the end of the Afghan war came through clearly in some of Defense Secretary Austin's testimony. "Did we have the right strategy? Did we have too many strategies? Did we put too much faith in our ability to build effective Afghan institutions, an army, an air force, the police force, and government ministries? We built a state, Mr. Chairman, but we could not forge a nation."   ABMS: Top Air Force Manager Pleads For Industry Aid By Theresa Hitchens "The challenge is taking the data that you want to share — you got to understand it, and how you want to share it — and then write the applications that give you that data quality at the highest level, and compress timelines for those decision makers," said Randy Walden, head of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.   The Evolution of Terror Groups Since 9/11: From Tech to Politics By Riad Kahwaji Terrorist groups have evolved in the past two decades, some growing powerful enough that they are now seeking to transform into political actors.   SASC Frets DoD Missile Warning Satellite Efforts May Be Flailing By Theresa Hitchens The first Next-Gen OPIR satellites, designed to replace the current SBIRS missile warning constellation beginning in 2025, are likely to be delayed, says GAO in a new report.   SASC Adds Six F-35s To FY22 NDAA; Splits With House By Theresa Hitchens SASC would transfer authority for F-35 acquisition from the DoD Joint Program Office to the Air Force and Navy no later than Oct. 1, 2027.   Senate Bill Continues Push For Navy To Block Buy Amphibs By Justin Katz The Senate's draft defense policy bill calls for the Navy secretary to produce a business case analysis for buying amphibious ships using block buy authorities.   Anduril Seeks Covert Sensing Capability With New Acquisition By Andrew Eversden Defense Technology company Anduril Industries purchased Copious Imaging in a move to bolster its force protection portfolio.   DARPA Hypersonic Cruise Missile Prototype Flies At Last By Theresa Hitchens The goals of the test were "vehicle integration and release sequence, safe separation from the launch aircraft, booster ignition and boost, booster separation and engine ignition, and cruise," DARPA said today, adding that the "primary test objectives were met."   Navy Reorganizing Submarine Acquisition Offices To Prepare For Columbia By Justin Katz A memo obtained by Breaking Defense outlines the three new program executive offices that will now make up the Navy's submarine acquisition directorate.   Breaking Defense 611 Broadway • New York, New York • 10012 unsubscribe