Breaking Defense's Monday Morning Briefing

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead _________________________________________________________________________

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead CNO lays out future fleet he wants: 500 ships, 12 carriers, 150 unmanned vessels By Justin Katz "I've concluded, consistent with the analysis, that we need a naval force of over 500 ships," the Navy's top admiral told attendees at the West 2022 conference in San Diego.   Biden: Putin has decided to invade Ukraine By Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON: The US government has "reason to believe" a Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent, and that a Russian attack targeting Kyiv will occur in the coming days, President Joe Biden said today. "At this moment, I'm convinced he's [Russian President Vladimir Putin] made the decision. We have reason to believe that," Biden said at…   Why are details of Navy's Project Overmatch so scarce? Adversary eyes, for one By Justin Katz Navy officials insist that Project Overmatch is critical for JADC2 and the future fight, but the effort's chief said — beyond an analogy to Yelp — the secrecy is intentional.   Biden admin clears potential $6 billion Abrams tank sale for Poland amid Ukraine situation By Andrew Eversden Members of Congress in late January began pushing to expedite the deal.   In Singapore, Boeing touts P-8 Poseidon multi-sensor pod, for more 'multi-mission' uses By Colin Clark The new pod takes the P-8 "and further expands it to be truly multi-int and multi-spectral," a Boeing rep said.   US, Russia should establish deconfliction line for air operations over the Black Sea – now By Aaron Mehta With President Joe Biden warning that war between Russia and Ukraine is potentially "days" away, the situation in Europe appears to be growing only more dangerous. Into that mix the US and other NATO allies are pushing air power to the front lines. In a new op-ed, Aaron Stein of the Foreign Policy Research Institute…   Navy leaders excited by Pentagon's new AI and data efforts By Jaspreet Gill "I think that's a common understanding from those that have been in the Pentagon – We don't in all cases have the data we need or if we do, it's not the quality that we need or timeliness or some other facets," Randal Cole, deputy chief data officer, said. "And so I think that is an ongoing challenge."   Army modernization programs need to put 'points on the board': Acquisition chief By Andrew Eversden "I am very comfortable with almost every program right now in terms of its general direction of travel, the requirements seem reasonable, and that our cost estimates are pretty good," said Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, in his first media roundtable since being confirmed by the Senate last week.   Navy air boss has new aircraft readiness targets to hit By Justin Katz While not offering numbers, Vice Adm. Kenneth Whitesell says he's following new "north stars" to ensure Navy's aircraft ready for a fight.   New US, UK agreement on helicopters gives Brits unique FVL access By Aaron Mehta "I think we want to see interoperability as we digitize our forces, especially in our aviation formations. That's the focus," Brig. Gen. Robert Barrie, head of the US Army's Program Executive Office-Aviation, told Breaking Defense.   From 7 classified 'spirals' to coming robotic ships: Gilday on Navy's Unmanned Task Force By Justin Katz The Navy's top admiral wants to see unmanned platforms operating in the fleet by the 2030s, but has also taken clues from Congress about the service's approach.   $770-$780 billion likely for Pentagon budget topline: Source By Aaron Mehta Given the increased rate of inflation, the situation in Ukraine and the fact Congress has acted decisively to increase defense spending in the last year, it's no surprise that the DoD budget has increased over the FY22 request of $715 billion.   Biden warns of Ukraine invasion in 'days,' Austin watching for false flag effort By Valerie Insinna "You don't do these sorts of things for no reason. And you certainly don't do them if you're getting ready to pack up and go home," Austin said of Russia's moves near Ukraine.   Israelis, Singapore build, sell surface-to-surface missile in one year By Colin Clark The Blue Spear is a subsonic air breathing, sea-skimming missile able to be fired either from land or from a ship, with a range of 180 miles   Previewing Biden's FY23 defense budget request: 5 things to expect By Mackenzie Eaglen With the long saga of the fiscal year 2022 budget looking like it will be finalized in March, eyes now turn to the FY23 defense budget and what it might look like. Between Russian aggression, inflation and a Congress that appears supportive of increasing defense spending, it's unclear how high the Pentagon's budget will go.…   After mix-up, Army says 12 programs may be hit by year-long CR By Andrew Eversden After Breaking Defense noted a discrepancy in lists provided by the Army, the service revised the number of programs that would be impacted by a year-long continuing resolution.   All Domain fever comes to Singapore Air Show By Colin Clark The F-35 "demonstrated its ability to pass data over various networks from aircraft that took off from Fort Worth, Texas, to other aircraft and bounced information through Hawaii to Australia to provide data to the exercise in Australia," Lockheed's Gary North noted.   Lockheed announces first production for Israeli CH-53K helicopters By Arie Egozi The first choppers are expected by 2025, but the addition of Israeli high-tech systems could delay delivery, sources said.   Lockheed developing prototype 5G testbed for Marines By Jaspreet Gill The company is developing the Open Systems Interoperable and Reconfigurable Infrastructure Solution for the office of the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering through September 2024.   Russian hackers raided defense contractors for two years, stole sensitive info: US By Lee Ferran "Given the sensitivity of information widely available on unclassified [cleared contractor] networks, the FBI, NSA, and CISA anticipate that Russian state-sponsored cyber actors will continue to target CDCs for U.S. defense information in the near future."   Pentagon CIO hopes CMMC 2.0 will 'raise' cybersecurity 'waterline' By Jaspreet Gill "There's a cost to your IP, there's a cost to the US government and there's a benefit to our adversaries if we don't do something like this," DoD Chief Information Officer John Sherman said of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program.   In the era of COVID, the NASSCO shipyard's big challenge is people By Justin Katz "That's our biggest challenge, straight up, is people right now," Peter Radzicki, manager for new construction strategic planning, told Breaking Defense.   EXCLUSIVE: New DSCA director eschews big changes; 'continuous reform' instead By Colin Clark "The fact is that most of our processes, particularly in the Foreign Military Sales cases, I think work extremely well," said new DSCA head Jim Hursch in his first interview since taking office.   North Korea's hypersonic missile claims are credible, exclusive analysis shows By Ralph Savelsberg and Tomohiko Kawaguchi A new analysis shows that a Jan. 11 North Korean missile test could well be a hypersonic weapon – and one that holds American bases in Japan in a new level of danger.   Inside the alleged 'boardroom coup' at Aerojet Rocketdyne By Valerie Insinna Legal documents viewed by Breaking Defense reveal the company's board is split into warring factions, each seeking to oust the other's leader in the wake of Aerojet's failed merger with Lockheed Martin.   New Pentagon report sends warning shot for defense consolidation, especially in hypersonics By Aaron Mehta The report comes just days after a major deal between Lockheed Martin and Aerojet Rocketdyne was scuttled thanks to government pressure.   Russia could target American space firms to blind Ukraine By Theresa Hitchens "I don't think we would respond," a government source said bluntly about what would happen if Russia used a non-kinetic attack on an American commercial satellite.   China presence ebbs at Singapore Air Show; public barred from entry By Colin Clark It was impossible not to notice the absence at the Singapore Air Show of the general public, which was barred from the show in light of the threat from COVID-19.   Russia vs Ukraine could provide invaluable lessons on what truly works in modern warfare By Mark Cancian Mark Cancian of CSIS lays out five major lessons that could be learned from a Russia-Ukraine conflict.   Beyond command posts: Army completes pilot for armored on-the-move networking By Andrew Eversden In the Georgia woods, Army tests combinations of line-of-sight and satellite links to keep in constant contact, but it's not perfect, or cheap.   Breaking Defense 611 Broadway • New York, New York • 10012 unsubscribe