Autonomy Prime. The U.S. Air Force’s innovation arm, AFWERX, said that it plans to release an Innovative Capabilities Offering and Autonomy Prime’s first fly-off solicitation in the near future for “robust, low-cost autonomous solutions” for the Department of the Air Force. Announced by the Air Force in 2022, Autonomy Prime, like the commercial electric vertical takeoff and landing-focused Agility Prime effort, is to focus on industry risk reduction to accelerate the transition of promising technologies into Department of the Air Force programs of record after testing at the Autonomy, Data and AI Experimentation Proving Ground at Eglin AFB, Fla. The upcoming AFWERX request for information is to solicit technologies to improve the proving ground’s capacity, including testbed aircraft, and digital engineering/modeling-simulation, as well as “key” autonomy technologies in the areas of sensors, communications, and software algorithms.
NDIS/Cyber.
The Pentagon’s new National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS) includes an aim to help mitigate small businesses’ cyber security costs, which it cites as one of the “high barriers to entry” to working with the department. “The department is committed to reducing barriers to entry for small and medium-sized businesses, including impediments associated with implementing and maintaining cybersecurity. The DoD, in collaboration with the [Defense Industrial Base], will seek to identify opportunities so that commercial cybersecurity services and solutions can better address the needs of small businesses,” the department writes in the NDIS, released on Jan. 11. DoD also includes a goal in the NDIS to better inform small businesses of the department’s cyber security regulations, policies, and requirements “as well as available DoD and industry cyber security services and support.”
Starlink Plug. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan last week said that having Starlink satellite communications capabilities onboard its icebreakers is a big deal for the crews, allowing them to keep in touch with their families when they would otherwise be off the grid for months at a time. Fagan said at the annual Surface Navy Association conference that when she served on the Polar Star as part the heavy icebreaker’s annual mission to Antarctica, she called her parents after pulling into Australia and again four months later to say, “I’m still alive.” Starlink is the kind of investment that “is critical to…onboard lifestyle capacity” for the Coast Guard’s new-generation of personnel, she said. During the medium polar icebreaker Healy’s mission to the Arctic last year, she said the ship’s commanding officer would send take a photo of a polar bear or walrus and send it to her immediately.
Red Flag Core Wing. The Air Force’s 388th Fighter Wing, based at Hill AFB, Utah, is to be the “core wing” at Red Flag 24-1, conducted this month at Nellis AFB, Nev. The wing’s Lockheed Martin F-35As and 200 airmen are to train with international units and other military services and platforms, including the Northrop Grumman B-2 stealth bomber. Unlike 2022, when the wing last served as the Red Flag core, the exercise “now incorporates Agile Combat Employment elements and a follow-on exercise where units disperse and operate from various locations,” the 388th Fighter Wing said. Air Force Lt. Col. Nathan Heguy, the commander of the wing’s 421st Fighter Squadron, said in a statement that “the new additions will allow us to stress our ability to generate, employ, and recover our F-35s in a combat-representative contested environment, against the most advanced training threats available.”
ARCYBER Support. Peraton has won an $889 million contract to provide cyberspace operations support to Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) headquarters, the company announced on Jan. 9. The company said the deal also covers services for ARCYBER subordinate components, service component partners of USCYBERCOM, and other mission partners. “The team will bring its exceptional subject matter expertise to assist ARCYBER in realizing their 2030 Command Vision and implementing their strategy to become the U.S. Army’s premier force to enable data-centric operations in today’s complex environment,” Tom Afferton, president of Peraton’s cyber mission sector, said in a statement. Peraton added the contract’s work includes “performing overall program management, operations and planning, intelligence support, cyber operations support, plans and policy support, information advantage operations support, media relations support, security operations and training exercises.”
DDG-93 and 95 Mod 2.0 The Navy awarded General Dynamics’ NASSCO subsidiary a $438.5 million modification for the maintenance, modernization and repair of the USS Chung-Hoon (DDG-93) and USS James E. Williams (DDG-95) Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in fiscal year 2024 Depot Maintenance Period availabilities. The work will be split between Norfolk, Va., and San Diego (47 percent), and is expected to be completed by April 2024. The contract includes options that could bring the cumulative value to $864 million and extend the work through November 2030. NASSCO will modify the second and third of the initial set of four destroyers in the DDG Mod 2.0 program. The Mod 2.0 program aims to upgrade Flight IIA destroyers to have versions of Flight III destroyer capabilities, notably the SPY-6 radar and Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block III. The Mod 2.0 office is starting the upgrade process by conducting it in two phases with the first four ships before transitioning to a single upgrade event for the following vessels.
Prize Fishing. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Innovation Network are hosting a $1 million prize challenge open to individuals, startups, non-traditional defense contractors, and the academic community for solutions to predict global maritime vessel traffic involved in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The U.S. Coast Guard works with other nations to monitor IUU fishing in their exclusive economic zones. The prize challenge will only use unclassified data and methods, which will make it easier to share information faster with stakeholders. NGA and the NSIN will select three winners under the challenge.
Cloud Observation. Muon Space last week said it has received a three-month, $75,000 phase one Small Business Innovation Research contract to assess the potential of modifying its multispectral electro-optical/infrared satellite-based instrument for supporting the Defense Department’s cloud characterization observation capability. Muon Space said it is developing a commercial solution to DoD’s challenge of replacing the aging Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellites. “The DoD is pivoting to a more resilient distributed weather satellite architecture that counts on a new generation of space companies to develop more innovative sensor and spacecraft constellations,” said Greg Smirin, Muon’s president. The contract was awarded by the Air Force’s AFWERX innovation arm.
PSC Work. Fairbanks Morse Defense says its Hunt Valve business has received a purchase order to provide motor-operated valves for the Coast Guard’s first polar security cutter (PSC), the Polar Sentinel (WMSP-21). Bollinger Shipyards, the prime contractor for the PSC program, is still designing the heavy icebreaker. Currently, the Coast Guard plans to acquire three PSCs.
DDG-124. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced on Jan. 10 that the future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer DDG-142 will be named USS Charles J. French. The ship’s namesake gathered 15 shipmates during World War II after his ship was sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy and helped tow them on a raft to safety. DDG-124 is expected to start fabrication in 2026, have a keel laying in 2027, christening in 2029, and delivery in 2031.
EPF-14. Austal USA formally delivered the future USNS Cody Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ship to the Navy on Jan. 11. The company and Navy previously completed acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico in December. Those trials demonstrated the ship’s major systems and equipment. This is the first EPF Fight II ship Austal is delivering to the Navy, featuring enhanced afloat medical capability. The company has two more EPFs under construction at its Mobile, Ala., facility.
GPS Alternatives. The Coast Guard last week began to survey the market for position, navigation, and timing (PNT) technologies for ships and vessels when GPS is degraded or denied. The service is also interested in technologies that can enhance existing PNT systems. “Examples of potential technologies include but are not limited to, inertial navigation systems, celestial navigation, gravimetric navigation, satellite constellations, signals of opportunity, and alternate PNT signals,” the Coast Guard said in a Jan. 8 notice.
People News. Mara Motherway, who previously was with Epirus as chief growth officer, has joined Lockheed Martin’s Aeronautics segment as vice president for strategy and business development. Motherway led Peraton’s government relations before joining Epirus. HII has promoted Peter Courtney to corporate vice president of legislative affairs, reporting to the company’s top lobbyist, Stewart Holmes. HII also hired Betsy Bina Benedict as its director of legislative affairs. Benedict most recently was clerk for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. Peraton has four new advisory board members, including retired Army Gens. Joe Votel, who led Central Command and Special Operations Command, and Bob Ashley, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Also named to the board are George Barnes, former deputy director of the National Security Agency, and Dr. Lisa Porter, former undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. Navistar Defense has promoted Michael Gray from senior vice president for business development to chief growth officer. Finally, the Chertoff Group has appointed principal Aaron Roth to lead its Federal Strategy & Security practice, promoted Ben Joelson to principal in charge of its Security Risk & Resilience practice, and created the Transportation & Innovation practice to be led by principal Lee Kair.
Funding Rounds. Autonomous maritime solution developer ThayerMahan has closed $20 million in additional Series C financing led by Seoul-based Hanwha Asset Management. The new funding follows a $30 million Series C investment led by MC2 Security Fund last April. ThayerMahan, which is based in Connecticut, said the partnership with Hanwha will help it continue to develop its capabilities and expand operations to Asia. Atomic-6, an Atlanta-based startup, said it has received $5 million in funding from investors and another $4.2 million in Small Business Innovation Research contracts from the Air Force and Space Force to further its work in advanced composite manufacturing for aerospace, ballistic, and hypersonic applications.
Security Detection Awards. OSI Systems last week said it has received $64 million in new contracts, including $59 million from an existing customer in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region for various cargo and vehicle inspection systems, including the Eagle G60 high-energy, gantry-mounted system, the Eagle P60 high-energy, drive-through cargo and vehicle system, the Eagle M60 high-energy mobile cargo and vehicle platform, the CarView top-view passenger vehicle system, and the Guardian VM500 Series radiation portal monitor. OSI will integrate the inspection systems into a national command center using its CertiScan integration security management platform. The company also received a $4 million order from a global air cargo logistics provider for package and parcel screening systems, including the RTT 110 computed tomography-based system, the Orion 927DX, 935DX, and 920CX.
Army Reserve IT. Science Applications International Corp. said on Jan. 11 it has received a $156 million deal to support U.S. Army Reserve Command (USARC) with information technology services. The company said its work on the deal will include “consolidating enterprise IT services at a global scale through standardized, responsive and cost-effective solutions,” noting the USARC program covers 65,000 users across more than 700 locations. “SAIC has a decades-long history of partnering with the U.S. Army Reserve to advance their mission,” Josh Jackson, senior vice president of SAIC’s Army business group, said in a statement.