Breaking Defense's Monday Morning Briefing

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead _________________________________________________________________________

A News Roundup for the Week Ahead American Rheinmetall Vehicles' Lynx OMFV: Overmatch Today. Overmatch Tomorrow. Presented by Rheinmetall American Rheinmetall Vehicles, Raytheon Technologies, L3 Harris Technologies, Textron Systems, and Allison Transmission are designing America's next-generation infantry fighting vehicle. Learn more. A mothership finally recovers DARPA's 'Gremlins' drone, but it's not all good news By Valerie Insinna During tests last month, one Gremlins drone was destroyed after a power system failure forced the team to terminate flight, said Tim Keeter, Dynetics' program manager.   US Air Force three-star to Chinese air force: Let's talk By Valerie Insinna Opportunities for the US and Chinese air forces to interface have "dried up" in recent years. That "should cause us a little bit of concern," the Air Force's director of staff said Friday.   Pentagon's JADC2 office could phase out in coming years By Andrew Eversden Amid questions of authority, top general overseeing JADC2 defended the Pentagon's current approach to the governance of the concept.   Pentagon rolls out v2.0 of controversial CMMC program By Brad D. Williams DoD said it will be "increas[ing] oversight of professional and ethical standards of third-party assessors."   Bahrain's new AH-1Z attack helos matter as much for politics as firepower By Chyrine Mezher While it's comforting to imagine that US hardware will only be directed at terrorists and Iranian threats, "Bahrain's history of suppressing internal dissent with external weaponry suggests that these choppers may end up serving a police function during times of crisis, as well."   Exclusive: Amid national security concerns, US slaps overhead time limits on satellites By Theresa Hitchens "These restrictions would severely hurt commercial companies' ability to operate high resolution constellations and is counter to the efforts of the past two years to make NOAA regs streamlined and enable US companies to compete internationally," one industry rep said.   VP Harris to chair first National Space Council meeting Dec. 1 By Theresa Hitchens Harris will visit NASA Goddard to promote the criticality of space capabilities to climate change mediation.   'One of the largest shifts in global geostrategic power:' Milley on China's rise By Colin Clark New Pentagon report highlights China's growing nuclear arsenal, but stresses a broader danger: miscalculation by Beijing or Washington.   Navy prepares to issue major unmanned research, development contract By Justin Katz The contract will focus on a wide range of research and development areas across the Navy's unmanned portfolio.   Army reactivates theater artillery command amid Russian build-up near Ukraine By Andrew Eversden The European Theater Fires Command was deactivated in 1991 after the signing of the INF. Now the Army views is as critical to long-range fires in multi-domain operations.   Nakasone: Cold War-style deterrence 'does not comport to cyberspace' By Brad D. Williams "Strategic competition is alive and well in cyberspace, and we're doing it every day with persistent engagement," the CYBERCOM and NSA leader said.   Biden administration pushes back vaccine deadline for federal contractors By Valerie Insinna Defense contractors will have another month to meet the mandate, but CEOs have cautioned that some losses in the workforce are inevitable.   Israel launches new inflatable missile tracking system By Arie Egozi Large aerostats have a bad rap in military circles, but one Israeli source described the new radar capability hosted on the HAAS as "phenomenal."   JADC2 will fail without central DoD authority: Study By Theresa Hitchens The similarities of the failed DoD push in the early 2000s to implement "network-centric warfare" to the evolution of today's JADC2 effort are striking and ominous, the CSIS study shows.   Christopher Grady, nominee for military's No. 2 officer, is no 'creature of the Pentagon' By Valerie Insinna As the Biden administration cuts it close with critical post, one analyst said Grady is a former fleet operator versed in "the challenges of dealing with day-to-day activities to counter adversaries and deter aggression."   Planned NRO imagery contracts to ease sharing, with one big exception By Theresa Hitchens NRO use of shutter control on commercial electro-optical imagery would be "very rare," and "limited in both area and time," said Peter Muend, head of the spy agency's commercial office.   How Will SATCOM Evolve From GWOT To Great Power? By Barry Rosenberg DoD Satcom Chief Mike Dean discusses how new, disruptive capabilities for SATCOM in LEO, MEO, and GEO are creating novel mission sets for all-domain operations and new ways of paying for it. He also provides a status report on developing enterprise SATCOM command and control.   Thales Unveils New Radar, Shares Overall Strategy For The Near Future By Chyrine Mezher Thales' new Ground Observer 20 Multi-Mission radar mixes expeditionary design with AI in what the company hopes will open up a new market for its capabilities.   Israel, US step up direct actions against Iranian drone production By Arie Egozi "This is not a new front, but now the actions will be more frequent and more aggressive," an Israeli defense source told Breaking Defense.   Moving Beyond Assured Access to Space By Joshua Huminski By diversifying our approach to launch, we will achieve an increase in launch and payload options.   SOCOM Head On Global Terrorism: 'I Think It's Spread' By Andrew Eversden "I don't see a direct threat to the homeland today, but I think it's something that we have to be aware of," Gen. Richard Clarke said.   Aussies to pick 'mature' nuke sub design; Is UK's Astute class frontrunner? By Colin Clark Analyst Tim Walton thinks it'd be wise for Australia to field other, complementary undersea warfare capabilities such as "the Transformational Reliable Acoustic Path System and mobile sensors such as Wave Gliders with towed arrays to inexpensively monitor straits and ocean areas."   UN Committee Votes 'Yes' On UK-US-Backed Space Rules Group By Theresa Hitchens The delicate compromise between the US, Russia and China "may actually accomplish something," said Victoria Samson, head of Secure World Foundation's Washington office.   MQ-9B Is Centerpiece Of Advanced Operations In Indo-Pacific By General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. [Sponsored] The new era of military and security operations in the Indo-Asia Pacific region depends more than anything else on one key asset: insight.   Trick or Treat: Japan accepts its first KC-46 tanker By Valerie Insinna Boeing became the first international operator of the KC-46 on Oct. 31.   Navy projects $300M annual savings in new aviation plan By Justin Katz Navy aviation's future "vision" sees China as dominant threat to be countered.   Why 'Buy American' Isn't The Answer To Safeguard NatSec Supply Chains By John Ferrari To harden supply chains against Chinese influence, what the US needs is not protectionism but a defense and economic security alliance among friendly nations.   Sandia's Atomic 'Avocado' Could Allow GPS-Free PNT By Theresa Hitchens The first-of-its-kind device, a vacuum chamber for containing clouds of atomic particles that drive quantum sensors, is about the size of an avocado.   Breaking Defense 611 Broadway • New York, New York • 10012 unsubscribe