Breaking Defense's Monday Morning Briefing

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead _________________________________________________________________________

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead Life On Earth Is Dependent On Space. Protect It Accordingly. Binary Armor® Cybersecurity Presented by Sierra Nevada Corporation Space-based tools support our diplomacy, access to information, military operations & the global economy. SNC's Binary Armor provides end-to-end security for space vehicles & respective ground systems. Learn more. Last Zumwalt Destroyer Completes Builder's Trials By Justin Katz; Friday, September 3, 2021 2:02 PM The Navy has been eyeing the Zumwalt-class ships as a platform for hypersonic weapons.   Joint US-Australian Hypersonic Cruise Missile Moves Ahead By Theresa Hitchens; Friday, September 3, 2021 12:04 PM SCIFiRE is aimed at maturing an air-breathing hypersonic conventional cruise missile launched from either a fighter or a bomber.   STRATCOM Commander Warns Of China-Russia Coordination; Report Details AI Collaboration By Brad D. Williams; Friday, September 3, 2021 10:40 AM "Our findings expose gaps between Chinese and Russian aspirations and the reality on the ground, bringing greater accuracy and nuance to current assessments of Sino-Russian cooperation," on AI, notes a new report by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology.   HASC NDAA Markup Adds Slew Of Cyber, IT, Spectrum Initiatives By Brad D. Williams; Thursday, September 2, 2021 3:36 PM "If there's one overarching theme of our approach this year, it's to transform where we're heading and focus on technology and innovation and how to start using that better," HASC Chair Smith said in opening remarks.   House Lawmakers Want Answers On How Marine Corps Will Enable EABO By Justin Katz; Thursday, September 2, 2021 2:58 PM An amendment to the annual defense policy bill directs the defense secretary to provide a detailed accounting of the Marine Corps' efforts within 180 days.   HASC Defense Policy Bill Doubles Down On F-35 Oversight By Theresa Hitchens; Thursday, September 2, 2021 1:19 PM HASC chides that "the majority" of GAO recommendations on how DoD could better manage the F-35's nearly $1.3 billion sustainment costs "remain open," in some cases for more than seven years.   Over-Classification in Space Programs Presents Too Great a Risk By Aaron Mehta; Thursday, September 2, 2021 7:01 AM In mid-August, Breaking Defense revealed a push inside the Pentagon to take a black anti-satellite system, declassify it and make a public demonstration of its capabilities. Surrounding that issue is a long-running debate about how much of its space capabilities the US should keep secret. In this op-ed, Christopher Stone of the Mitchell Institute argues…   HASC Votes To Increase Defense Budget By $23.9 Billion By Aaron Mehta; Wednesday, September 1, 2021 4:17 PM WASHINGTON: Members of the House Armed Services Committee have voted for a $23.9 billion increase in the defense budget request, in a move likely to receive pushback from progressive members of President Joe Biden's party. The vote, which saw 14 Democrats join with the committee's Republican block, was a victory for Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala.,…   China's New Data Security Law Will Provide It Early Notice Of Exploitable Zero Days By Brad D. Williams; Wednesday, September 1, 2021 2:52 PM The law's vulnerability disclosure provisions will give the Chinese government a head start on remediating — and potentially exploiting — zero-day vulnerabilities, possibly to include those discovered in tech used by the Defense Department, Intelligence Community, and across the US public and private sectors more broadly.   US Should Pursue 'Deterrence By Detection,' Says Marine Corps Commandant By Justin Katz; Wednesday, September 1, 2021 2:44 PM The Marine Corps Commandant suggested the US could deter adversarial aggression by spotlighting their actions on the world stage.   HASC Makes Plan To Force DoD Use Of Commercial Space By Theresa Hitchens; Wednesday, September 1, 2021 2:04 PM The HASC policy bill covers everything from commercial space situational awareness to on-orbit servicing to responsive launch.   Is It Time For OTAs To Go Mainstream? By Aaron Mehta; Wednesday, September 1, 2021 10:57 AM Stan Soloway and Jason Knudson dig into whether Other Transaction Authorities actually work, and whether they should become a more common tool for the DoD.   Russia, KSA Strengthen Military Ties In Signal To Washington; UAVs, Helos Potentially On Table By Chyrine Mezher; Wednesday, September 1, 2021 6:30 AM If Saudi Arabia want to send a signal to Washington without really endangering the American-Saudi security relationship, they'll limit their arms deals with Russia to smaller – or even token – orders of relatively benign equipment.   Combatant Commands Worry About Service JADC2 Stovepipes By Theresa Hitchens; Tuesday, August 31, 2021 4:39 PM "One of the challenges that I see with JADC2 is: is it really joint? Or is it SADC2 — in other words, is it really just a service all domain command and control?" quipped George Ka'iliwai, director of requirements and resources (J8), at Indo-Pacific Command headquarters.   Spire Pivots Weather CubeSats To SIGINT Missions By Theresa Hitchens; Tuesday, August 31, 2021 2:31 PM Detecting interference with Global Positioning System sat signals in conflict zones actually is "low hanging fruit," says Spire's Conor Brown. "We're picking them up accidentally with our weather satellites."   Smith Says Afghanistan Withdrawal Won't Change Russia, China's Calculus By Justin Katz; Tuesday, August 31, 2021 1:40 PM A top House lawmaker says Russia and China are not likely to be more aggressive to neighboring countries as a result of the US withdrawing from Afghanistan.   Israel, US Look To Tighten Intel Sharing Post-Afghanistan By Arie Egozi; Tuesday, August 31, 2021 11:27 AM Intel sharing was a major discussion during PM Bennett's visit to Washington last week, as was increasing funding for F-15s and Iron Dome interceptors.   After Two Decades, US Ends Combat Mission In Afghanistan By Aaron Mehta; Monday, August 30, 2021 5:23 PM WASHINGTON: After two decades, thousands of dead and millions of lives impacted, the US has ended its formal combat mission in Afghanistan. The last C-17 exited Hamid Karzai International Airport at 3:29 PM eastern time – just before the calendar flipped to Aug 31 Kabul time, the deadline for America's withdrawal. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the…   DARPA Hopes A Plane-Boat Hybrid Can Solve The Pentagon's Sealift Challenge By Justin Katz; Monday, August 30, 2021 1:29 PM A new DARPA solicitation is seeking information about a vehicle class capable of filling the sealift and airlift gaps within the Pentagon's requirements.   Army Issues Big RFP For IT To Bolster Network Modernization By Brad D. Williams; Monday, August 30, 2021 1:20 PM The RFP comes as the Army is undertaking a major, multi-year network modernization initiative.   In Afghanistan, Contractors Were Unsung Heroes Of US Efforts By Mark Cancian; Monday, August 30, 2021 10:15 AM As the US spends its final hours in Afghanistan, Mark Cancian of CSIS notes that more contractors have died (8,000) than US service members (7,000) in post 9/11 operations.   Iraq Closes In On Drones, Helicopters And EW From Turkey By Aaron Mehta; Monday, August 30, 2021 8:03 AM Iraq wants 12 T-129 ATAK helicopters, six Koral electronic warfare systems, and an unspecified number of TB2 Bayraktar armed drones as part of the deal, which would tie the two countries closer.   Breaking Defense 611 Broadway • New York, New York • 10012 unsubscribe