CCA Operational Experimentation Unit. The U.S. Air Force plans to use Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat as part of an operational experimentation unit for the service’s planned Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). Boeing developed the Ghost Bat—a version of Boeing’s Airpower Teaming System—for the Royal Australian Air Force under the Loyal Wingman project. “We are working very closely with Air Combat Command, the major command, as we formulate our acquisition strategy for the CCA,” says U.S. Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter. “Critical to that is looking at what aircraft it [CCA] will interoperate with and how do we achieve that interoperability…We have this operational experimentation unit where we will work closely with the Australians who have a flyable platform that they are using today. It would not necessarily meet our requirements, but it is a very good proxy that we can use to develop concepts for that.” The Air Force requested $522 million for CCA in the service’s fiscal 2024 budget, $392 million of which comes under the Air Force’s $2.3 billion fiscal 2024 request for Next Generation Air Dominance.
“More than Sufficient.”
The U.S. Air Force plans to put 20 Lockheed Martin HH-60W Jolly Green II combat search and rescue (CSAR) helicopters on contract soon to round out the buy at 85 such helicopters—down from the service’s original plan to buy 113 to replace the HH-60G Pave Hawk. “We believe that [85 HH-60Ws] is more than sufficient to do combat search and rescue,” says Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard Moore, the service’s deputy chief of staff for plans and programs. “There’s a big distinction in this portfolio between combat search and rescue and personnel recovery. There are 1,000s of platforms in the Department of Defense that can do personnel recovery. This [HH-60W] fleet is for something very specific. It was purchased for Iraq and Afghanistan. It is not particularly helpful in the Chinese AOR [area of responsibility].”
…Contested Environment. The Air Force is examining the best future approaches to CSAR. “If you’re not in a platform that’s survivable in a threat environment, you end up losing more people trying to recover somebody than the person you lost to begin with,” says Air Force Lt. Gen. James Slife, the service’s deputy chief of staff for operations and the former commander of Air Force Special Operations Command. “The challenge we’re facing is how we will do personnel recovery in a contested environment.” Slife says that the Air Force is looking at non-traditional CSAR approaches, including the use of unmanned aircraft.
Cyber Partners. U.S. Cyber Command and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are partnering successfully to thwart malicious actors and defense critical infrastructure, officials from both organizations said last week at the annual RSA Conference. Prior to the 2020 U.S. elections, CYBERCOM’s Cyber National Mission Force discovered that a public-facing election reporting website had been compromised by an Iranian actor and notified CISA, which prevented any compromise to the site and any impact on reported election results. In “several” other cases, CISA has identified potential intrusions into federal agencies and the education sector, alerting CYBERCOM’s forces, which in turn mitigated the threats.
Dividend Hike. Raytheon Technologies last week increased its quarterly dividend by 7 percent to 59 cents per share, payable on June 15. “Demand across both our commercial and defense businesses remains strong and our earnings continue to grow,” Greg Hayes, the company’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “We maintain a disciplined approach to capital allocation and are on tract to return at least $20 billion of capital to shareholders in the four years following the merger.”
CBP RFI for CUAS. Customs and Border Protection last week issued a Request for Information on industry solutions for countering unmanned aircraft systems (CUAS). The agency plans a second part to the RFI to outline the use cases for the CUAS. The RFI is on behalf of the agency’s Border Patrol and Office of Air and Marine Operations. The capabilities of interest include detect, identify, classify, track, and/or mitigate drone threats. Responses are due by May 8.
Supply Chain Transparency. The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate has awarded Other Transaction Agreements worth about $200,000 each to seven companies to work together on two software modules, a multi-format software bill of materials translator and a software component identifier translator. “DHS is tapping into the startup community to develop technology that will shine a light on risks within supply chains and bolster the overall cybersecurity of organizations,” says Melissa Oh, managing director of S&T’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program. The seven awardees are AppCensus, Inc., Chainguard, Inc., Deepbits Technology, Manifest Cyber, Inc., Israel’s Scribe Security, TestifySec, LLC, and Veramine, Inc.
THAAD Award. The Missile Defense Agency awarded Lockheed Martin a $180 million modification to produce an undisclosed amount of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Interceptors and associated one-shot devices specifically due to the U.S. government, an April 27 DoD contract announcement said. The interceptors and one-shot devices will be procured under fixed-price incentive contract line items. The work is expected to be finished by March 2028.
Baltic Security. Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) have introduced a bill authorizing the Baltic Security Initiative for three years, with the aim of bolstering the defense capabilities of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. “The Baltic Security Initiative is an insurance policy for NATO and the trans-Atlantic alliance that will deter future Russian aggression with hard power,” Bacon said in a statement. “The Baltic states today are model allies and have proven themselves to be fearless defenders of freedom and the values we cherish most. It is in every American’s interest to ensure they have the tools to defend freedom’s frontier.” The bill would authorize up to $350 million annually over the three years to support Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania’s ongoing efforts to upgrade capabilities, including integrated air and missile defense, precision long-range fires, maritime situational awareness, large caliber ammunition, C4ISR systems and anti-tank capabilities, Bacon and Gallego said.
Switchblade 300s. AeroVironment recently received $64.6 million from the Army for additional procurement of Switchblade 300 drone munitions. The company noted the deal, officially awarded on March 24, includes systems to be delivered by July 2024 and raises the total amount its Switchblade contract with the Army to $231.3 million. AeroVironment said the new contract also covers Switchblade 300s for France and another unnamed allied nation, noting the drones have previously been provided to Ukraine and are “providing real-time ISR and precision strike support.” “Switchblade 300 continues to be a critical weapon in the armed forces of Ukraine’s unmanned systems arsenal,” Brett Hush, the company’s vice president and product line general manager for tactical missile systems, said in a statement. “This new contract further demonstrates the global demand for production-ready, combat-proven Switchblade 300 missile systems. We’re honored that Switchblade 300 continues to support the U.S. military and our allies.”
SSN-798. HII Newport News Shipbuilding planned tp christen the newest Virginia-class attack submarine, the future USS Massachusetts (SSN-798) on May 6. This is the 25th Virginia-class submarine and a Block IV vessel, which improves over earlier versions by reducing major maintenance periods and increasing total deployments.
Torpedo Anniversary. The U.S. and Australian navies marked the 20th anniversary of the Heavyweight Torpedo (HWT) Armaments Cooperation Project (ACP) Memorandum of Understanding on April 13. The ACP MOU is managed by a Joint Program Office integrated into the Undersea Weapons Program Office (PMS 404J). The JPO consists of representatives from both countries and has worked to specifically develop, acquire and support the MK 48 Advanced Capability (ADCAP) heavyweight torpedo. The Navy said PMS 404J has gradually added significant improvements to the MK 48 ADCAP through three major hardware and software upgrades. The success of the original partnership led to further collaboration like an ACP for the AN/BYG-1 Combat Control System and a project arrangement in PMS 404 to co-develop the MK 54 MOD 2 Advanced Lightweight Torpedo, the Navy said. The service also said the ACP MOU “processes and structures also served as the template for AUKUS,” which has the United Kingdom and U.S. helping Australia develop and produce nuclear-powered attack submarines in the coming decades.
Navy Assignments. The Navy announced several new flag officer assignments on April 27. Rear Adm. Thomas Moreau will be assigned as vice director, J-4, Joint Staff. He currently serves as director of the Supply, Ordnance and Logistics Operations Division, N4L within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). Rear Adm. Christopher Sweeney is being assigned as director of Warfare Development, N72, within the Office of the CNO. Sweeney is currently commander of Carrier Strike Group 11. Also, Rear Adm. (lower half) Kurt Rothenhaus will also be assigned as chief of naval research. He currently is program executive officer of Command, Control, Computers, Communications and Intelligence at Naval Information Warfare Systems Command.
Space Experiments Review Board. The Pentagon’s Space Experiments Review Board (SERB) is poised to begin its annual review to prioritize on-orbit experiments that may be of use to military forces. After the SERB ranks such experiments, the DoD Space Test Program (STP) “will shepherd the experiments through integration with a launch vehicle provider and facilitate on-orbit experimentation,” U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) said. STP “has been providing space launch opportunities for science & technology experiments for over 57 years,” SSC said.
Border Security Award. Silvus Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of high-bandwidth mesh networked radio technology, has received a $9.9 million contract from Customs and Border Protection to supply its radios to demonstrate that agents in the field equipped with Android Team Awareness Kits can receive video from agency surveillance aircraft and surveillance towers. The radios also enable existing communications systems to connect with each other, enhancing agent awareness and safety, says Greg Dunbar, the company’s director of sales for public safety and commercial.