Breaking Defense's Monday Morning Briefing

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead _________________________________________________________________________

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead We're Evolving The Space Frontier For The Warfighter. Presented by Parsons By empowering our U.S. government partners to safeguard global stability, we're not just working to deliver a better world—we're striving toward a safer universe.  Learn more. Army Fields First Anti-Aircraft Strykers In Just 3 Years By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.; Friday, April 23, 2021 2:36 PM The threat of Russian drones, helicopters, and attack jets drove the first fielding to a unit in Germany, but the 8×8 Stryker variant may well find its way to the Pacific as well.   JADC2: SDA To Upgrade Satellite Laser Links By Theresa Hitchens; Friday, April 23, 2021 11:41 AM The Transport Layer will form a 'mesh network' of communications/data relay satellites, linking all DoD command and control networks, to enable JADC2.   Artificial Intelligence, Lawyers And Laws Of War By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.; Friday, April 23, 2021 11:01 AM In Afghanistan and Iraq, a military lawyer was always at the table for strike decisions, said the chief of Army Futures Command. In future wars, there may not be time to go around the table.   Why Biden White House Lifted Arms Sales Freeze To UAE, KSA By Chyrine Mezher; Friday, April 23, 2021 6:01 AM "The U.S. continues to systematically state its commitment to the defense of Saudi Arabia so I don't think arms transfers in general will completely stop," Yasmine Farouk, Middle East expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says.   HASC Dems Put DoD On Notice: No Free Pass For F-35 By Theresa Hitchens; Thursday, April 22, 2021 5:08 PM "If this program continues to fail … we may need to invest in other more affordable programs, and backfill an operational shortfall of potentially over 800 tactical fighters," said Rep. Donald Norcross, chair of the HASC tactical air and land forces subcommittee.   B-21 A Good News Story; DoD Acquisition 'Getting Better:' HASC Chair By Paul McLeary; Thursday, April 22, 2021 12:56 PM Rep. Adam Smith, who's excoriated the F-35, said the B-21 bomber is "on time, on budget, and they're making it work in a very intelligent way."    Electric Battlefield: Army Awards $600K For R&D By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.; Thursday, April 22, 2021 12:32 PM Six small companies got $100,000 awards to do an eight-week sprint on ways to move the Army to electric power. Meanwhile, an academic study denounced the Army's plan for mobile nuclear reactors.   Who's Who in Defense: Jim Langevin, Chairman, House Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems (CITI) By Catherine Macaulay; Thursday, April 22, 2021 12:13 PM Langevin chairs the newly-formed CITI Subcommittee that emerged onto the legislative scene following the dissolution of the Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee.   JLTV: Upstart GM Defense Takes On Incumbent Oshkosh By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.; Thursday, April 22, 2021 10:16 AM Oshkosh designed and builds the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, but next year the Army will reopen the competition to all comers. The most vocal challenger: upstart GM Defense.   Afghanistan: The Long, Painful Retreat By James Kitfield; Thursday, April 22, 2021 6:01 AM "I think the countries to the north of Afghanistan such as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are also going to be worried about the flows of refugees and perhaps fighters to the north. All of them will see what happens after we leave, how the United States postures itself, and then they'll decide what to do," Gen. McKenzie said this week.   Huge Navy Exercise Helps Admirals Decide How to Remake Fleet By Paul McLeary; Wednesday, April 21, 2021 4:47 PM "We are going to do a live-fire offensive exercise," Rear Adm. Jim Aiken, Carrier Strike Group 3 commander told reporters Tuesday. "We are going to use the unmanned surface, unmanned air, and manned air and surface to provide a targeting solution."   JLTV: GM Defense's Uphill Battle Vs. Oshkosh By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.; Wednesday, April 21, 2021 3:00 PM Oshkosh, the incumbent, makes military trucks by the thousand. GM Defense, the upstart, has little recent military experience — but is backed by one of the world's biggest auto companies.   JADC2 Strategy Hits SecDef's Desk 'In Days;' Tech Demos Already Planned By Theresa Hitchens; Wednesday, April 21, 2021 1:05 PM The first real-world effort "to stress test our ideas" for implementing JADC2 is coming up within the next two to three months, J6 Director Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall says.   Space Force Eyes Buying Commercial Satellite ISR By Theresa Hitchens; Wednesday, April 21, 2021 10:55 AM "Comms, data relay, remote sensing, and even ISR and some other things — [these] capabilities are increasingly available in the commercial market," Space Force deputy Lt. Gen. DT Thompson said today.   US Agencies, Defense Companies Hacked Via VPNs By Brad D. Williams; Tuesday, April 20, 2021 9:00 PM Threat actors are targeting one newly discovered and three previously known vulnerabilities in Pulse Connect Secure enterprise VPNs, according to a CISA emergency directive and alert, as well as blog posts by FireEye and Ivanti. "There is no indication the identified backdoors were introduced through a supply chain compromise of the company's network or software deployment process," FireEye noted.   Breaking Defense 611 Broadway • New York, New York • 10012 unsubscribe