Funding Deadline. Without passage of a Continuing Resolution (CR) on or before midnight on Dec. 20, the federal government, including DoD, will shut down. The original CR was on the brink of passage on Dec. 18, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) pulled the bill from the floor after opposition from President-elect Trump and top advisor Elon Musk who injected a request to increase the debt ceiling. A compromise package responding to that request with a two-year debt ceiling suspension then failed on a vote of 174 to 235. The original CR contained nearly $5.7 billion in fiscal 2025 emergency funding for Virginia-class attack submarines and “workforce wage and non-executive salary improvements for other nuclear-powered vessel programs” lasting through September 2029.
Multi-Year Munitions. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), incoming chair of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, has said he’s in favor of continuing to support the Pentagon’s use of multi-year contracts for certain critical munitions. In a recently published Foreign Affairs piece, McConnell adds that multi-year deals “limit the uncertainty sometimes caused by the annual appropriations process.” “This approach and the money to back it up should both be extended to other long-range munitions and missile defense interceptors for which long-term demand is nearly certain,” McConnell wrote.
DoD Transition. The Pentagon confirmed on Dec. 17 that officials have met with President-elect Trump’s team handling transition efforts at the department. “In accordance with standard practice, [Trump’s Agency Review Team (ART)] members signed non-disclosure agreements and discussed security procedures, including information security and next steps for transition efforts,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters. “DoD officials also showed the ART members dedicated office spaces here in the Pentagon that have been reserved for their use.” Michael Duffey, a former deputy chief of staff to the secretary of defense, is leading transition efforts at the Pentagon for the incoming Trump administration, according to media reports this week.
…First Meeting. U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall says that he had his first meeting with President-elect Trump’s DoD transition team on Wednesday and that one of the topics of conversation was space. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) has called for an increase in the U.S. Space Force’s $29.4 billion budget and its 14,000 personnel, including 28 generals. Rogers said that the U.S. Air Force “should transfer some of their billets to the Space Force, and the Secretary of Defense should transfer additional billets from his pool.” Kendall, whom Trump is likely to replace with his own nominee in the next month, says that Space Force does warrant a funding increase but that such an increase would have to come from DoD writ large, not the Air Force, and that “it doesn’t make sense to throw a ton of manpower into the Space Force just to make it bigger.”
Hegseth Opposition. A group of Senate Armed Services Committee Democrats have sent a letter to Susan Wiles, President-elect Trump’s incoming chief of staff, outlining concerns with Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be defense secretary, citing his opposition to women serving in combat roles and the sexual assault and misconduct allegations he’s faced. “As Secretary, Mr. Hegseth will set the tone for how women are treated throughout the military and whether women have enough confidence in him to join or remain in the military. The early signs are concerning,” the lawmakers wrote, adding that his comments and the allegations both “disqualify” the Fox News host and Army veteran for the role leading the Pentagon. “The allegation that Mr. Hegseth sexually assaulted a woman and personally contributed to creating a hostile work environment for female employees raises severe concerns about his ability to address the Department of Defense’s problems with sexual assault.” The letter was signed by Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) and Tim Kaine (Va.), who also seek a list of additional information on the Trump team’s vetting of Hegseth’s views and assault allegations.
Replicator Software. Viasat on Dec. 18 detailed the command and control networking capability it will provide to support the Pentagon’s Replicator initiative to field thousands of attritable autonomous systems by August 2025. As one of the software contract awardees DIU announced in November, Viasat said it will provide its Multi-Domain Uncrewed Secure Integrated Communications (MUSIC) architecture designed to “enable the seamless and resilient connectivity of autonomous systems using multi-transport pathways.” “Specifically, MUSIC is an optimized configuration of Viasat’s NetAgility software-defined networking capability that is designed to respond to uncrewed swarm communications operational needs by enabling secure, seamless transport and network orchestration to optimize connectivity for the mission,” Viasat said in a statement. Viasat added it has worked to mature the MUSIC architecture over the last 18 months as part of a Technology Readiness and Experimentation effort led by the Office of Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
Frigate Design by May. The top Navy acquisition official recently said they plan to have a “sufficient design package” for the much delayed Constellation-class frigate by May 2025. Speaking before an American Society of Naval Engineers symposium on Dec. 11, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition Nickolas Guertin said until the 45-day shipbuilding review, service leadership did not know how far behind the process was. He reiterated the Navy is helping shipbuilder Fincantieri Marinette Marine complete ship design at their site so they can reach the point to put out a second source selection to build them faster with a second shipbuilder. Guertin implied that by May the design package completion will allow the Navy to start moving to the second shipbuilder competition.
…LSM Solicit Canceled. Guertin also revealed the Navy had to pull back its Request for Proposals solicitation for the Medium Landing Ship (LSM) because industry responses gave a significantly higher price tag than expected. “We had a bulletproof, or what we thought, cost estimate, pretty well rung out of design in terms of requirements, independent cost estimate. We put it out for bid, and it came back with a much higher price tag, and we simply weren’t able to pull it off. So, we had to pull that solicitation back and drop back and punt.” He noted Congress is giving the Navy authorities to buy, lease or build something short of LSM the Marine Corps can use to explore how to perform that kind of missions, “so watch this space, some creativity to be inserted.” The Navy and Marine Corps intended to procure at least 18 LSMs, with a Marine Corps requirement to get 35 LSM-type ships.
York Touts Milestones. York Space Systems this week said that in recent weeks it has successfully completed key milestones for satellites it is designing for the Space Development Agency. The company passed Systems Requirements Review for 10 satellites for the Tranche 2 Transport Layer Gamma variant of the agency’s demonstration architecture and completed Critical Design Review for 62 satellites in development under the Tranche 2 Transport Layer Alpha contract. SDA next March or April expects to being launching the first Tranche 1 satellites of its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, about six months behind schedule.
Vantage Extension. The Army has awarded Palantir Technologies [PLTR] a potential $618.9 million contract extension to continue delivering a data-driven operations and decision-making platform called Army Vantage. Currently, Vantage has supported more than 100,000 users. The company said the initial focus of Vantage was to understand personnel and combat readiness. Now, the program will expand to “operationalize data across the entire Department of the Army,” it said. “Our continuous addition of new AI capabilities enables the Army’s own ability to develop applications and incorporate the benefits of effective data analysis across nearly every high-priority mission in the Army,” Akash Jain, president of Palantir US Government, said in a statement.
Marder IFVs. Rheinmetall said on Dec. 17 it has received an order in the “mid-range double-digit million euro amount” from the German government to provide Ukraine another 20 Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles, with deliveries scheduled for the first half of 2025. Rheinmetall noted it has already supplied Ukraine with hundreds of Marders, and noted the 1A3 version of the vehicle is “equipped with an additional laser rangefinder for efficient and precise target engagement.”
M270A2 MLRS. The Army V Corps’ 41st Field Artillery Brigade at Grafenwoehr, Germany is the first unit to be fully outfitted with the upgraded M270A2 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), the service said on Dec. 16. The Army noted the modernized A2 version of the Lockheed Martin M270 MLRS launchers features new 600-horsepower engines, updated fire control systems and software, and an improved and enlarged armored cab. The launchers are also designed to fire the new Lockheed Martin Precision Strike Missile. “The major difference we have seen with the M270A2 is that they are a little bit faster and more mobile,” Capt. Kendal Peter, commander of Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Field Artillery Brigade, said in a statement. “They have an improved cab that protects the soldiers which the M270A1 did not have, as well as a myriad of system upgrades that allow us to shoot faster and process missions more efficiently.”
Human Control. Section 1638 of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act says that “particular care must be taken to ensure that the incorporation of artificial intelligence [AI] and machine learning tools does not increase the risk that our nation’s most critical strategic assets can be compromised.” The section’s statement of policy says that the use of AI “should not compromise…the principle of requiring positive human actions in execution of decisions by the President with respect to the employment of nuclear weapons.”
…Firm Line. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) released a statement praising that language. “We are encouraged that key provisions of the Block Nuclear Launch by Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Act will become policy and will, therefore, allow us to safeguard human control over nuclear weapons,” the legislators said. “As we increasingly adopt AI technology into military planning and decisions, we must draw a firm line that prevents any chance of accidental nuclear war caused by AI. There is no question: humans must be in the loop of any nuclear launch.”
Norway FMS. The State Department said on Dec. 17 it has approved a potential $130 million foreign military sale with Norway for just over 8,000 M1156A1 Precision Guidance Kits (PGK) fuzes. The deal builds an earlier $2.8 million FMS case that included PGK components, spare parts and program support, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The Northrop Grumman M1156 PGK is used to upgrade 155mm artillery shells with precision-guided capability. “The proposed sale will improve Norway’s capability to meet current and future threats and enhance its interoperability with U.S. and other allied forces. This proposed sale will enhance Norway’s artillery and mid-range fire capability,” the DSCA said in a statement.
FLRAA Facility. Bell said on Dec. 17 it has selected a site in the Denton County region of Fort Worth, Texas that will host a new 447,000 sq. ft. facility to support component manufacturing for the Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA). “Bell is committed to establishing future manufacturing locations to deliver the first fielded aircraft by the early 2030s and do our part to revolutionize U.S. Army aviation,” Bell CEO Lisa Atherton said in a statement. “This facility also represents a strong economic partnership with the State of Texas, the City of Fort Worth, Northwest ISD, and Denton County. Their support has made it possible for Bell to significantly expand our footprint in North Texas and provide revolutionary capability to our nation’s warfighters.” The Army in December 2022 selected Bell’s V-280 tiltrotor aircraft as the winner of its FLRAA competition to find an eventual UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter replacement.
Leidos Support to NGA. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency awarded Leidos a potential $107 million contract to continue providing geospatial intelligence products to the Office of Geography and Source Strategies Office. Leidos was the incumbent for the work. The award has a one-year base period, four one-year options, and a six-month option. Leidos said it will provide human geographic, topographic, and open-source data products to support NGA’s cartographers, human geographers, toponymists, catalogers, and collectors. The company will also provide products for the agency’s Geographic Names Server.
FFG-69. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said the 8th future Constellation-class guided missile frigate, FFG-69, will be named USS Joy Bright Hancock. The ship is named after a woman who became Chief Yeoman at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Cape May, N.J., during World War I. Between 1934 and 1942 Hancock was the civilian head of Editorial and Research Section of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics and the Special Assistant to the Bureau’s. By early World War II, she was commissioned Lieutenant, Women’s Reserve, U.S. Naval Reserve, also known as WAVES, and by 1946 was the director of WAVES and ultimately became a Captain in the Naval Reserve. Del Toro noted she was instrumental in the passage of the Women’s Armed Service Integration Act of 1948, was one of eight women to be sworn into the regular Navy and subsequently appointed Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel for Women.
U.S.-Japan Tech Challenge. The Defense Innovation Unit and Japan’s Defense Innovation Science and Technology Institute have launched a combined global innovation challenge seeking technologies related to biological threats and disinformation. For the $300,000 prize pool, the two agencies seek systems to detect and diagnose biological threats, and generative artificial intelligence innovations that accurately assess information for disinformation countermeasures, fact-checking algorithms, and market analysis to enhance information integrity.
Secure Thy Cloud! The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency this week ordered federal civilian agencies to secure their cloud computing environments. Binding Operational Directive 25-01 requires departments and agencies “Malicious threat actors are increasingly targeting cloud environments and evolving their tactics to gain initial cloud access,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement. “The actions required by agencies in this directive are an important step in reducing risk to the federal civilian enterprise.” The directive requires agencies to identify specific cloud tenants, implement assessment tools, and align cloud environment’s to CISA’s Secure Cloud Business Applications secure configuration baselines.
