SASC NDAA Schedule. The Senate Armed Services Committee will consider the fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act in mid-June, the panel’s leadership has announced. SASC’s work on the next defense policy bill will begin with subcommittee markups for individual portions of the legislation on June 11 and June 12. The full committee will then consider the FY ‘25 NDAA on June 12, 13 and potentially the 14th, if additional time is required. SASC has traditionally held the full committee markup of the NDAA behind closed doors. The House Armed Services Committee has not yet detailed its FY ‘25 NDAA markup schedule.
Safety Stand-Up.
The Army on April 10 announced an “Aviation Safety Stand-Up,” ordering additional aviation training across the force in the wake of 12 aviation mishaps this fiscal year that have resulted in 10 deaths. Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen, director of Army Aviation, noted the measure differs from a “stand down,” and that there would be no pause in aviation operations. “A stand up is far more empowering. We have ongoing operations that are critical that we complete. And again, we want to empower the force at the lowest level to solve these problems. And that’s how we’ve been pretty deliberate on not kind of having a quick trigger stand down that isn’t necessarily going to have the topics that are focused and the training that is focused to make sure that we reverse the trend,” Rugen said, according to a transcript of remarks to reporters. In recent months, there have been several crashes involving Black Hawk and Apache helicopters, with Rugen noting that spatial disorientation and power management have been trends with the aviation mishaps. Active duty units will have 30 days to complete the training and National Guard and Reserve units will have 60 days.
…Aviation Mishaps. Brig. Gen. Jon Byrom, leader of the Army Combat Readiness Center, said the 12 aviation mishaps to date over the first half of FY ‘24 compares to nine total incidents in FY ‘23. Aviation mishaps are classified as events that involve a fatality or “loss of equipment value in excess of $2.5 million,” according to Byrom. The Army’s current mishap rate in FY ‘24 so far is 3.22 incidents per 100,000 flight hours, Byrom noted, compared to 1.08 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours in FY ‘23.
LPD-29. The Navy accepted delivery of the future San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD-29) from HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. on April 11. This is the 13th San Antonio-class ship produced by Ingalls and also the last transition ship before HII starts producing the LPD Flight II ships. The company has two Flight II ships under construction, Harrisburg (LPD-30) and Pittsburgh (LPD-31). The Navy awarded the company a modification for detail design and construction of the future USS Philadelphia (LPD-32), which will be the third Flight II and 16th overall in the San Antonio-class. LPD-32 is planned to start construction this year.
CVN-74 RCOH. Shipbuilder HII undocked the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) aircraft carrier from the drydock on April 8 as it moved to the next phase of the ship’s mid-life multi-year Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) at the company’s facility in Norfolk, Va. CVN-74 entered into the RCOH in May 2021 under a $3 billion contract. The Navy said the RCOH work is now 65 percent complete and expects the ship to be delivered in October 2026. In a statement, Rear Adm. Casey Moton, program executive office Aircraft Carriers, acknowledged the delivery is delayed versus original plans due to mandatory growth work following ship assessments and lingering industrial base challenges related to COVID.
…Work Details. HII noted in the first phase of the work the company not only defueled and refueled the nuclear power plant, but also preserved tanks and replaced thousands of valves, pumps and piping components; performed structural updates to the island, mast and antenna tower; upgraded all aircraft launch and recovery equipment; painted the ship’s hull; restored the propeller shafts; and installed refurbished propellers and rudders. The company said in the next work phase, shipbuilders will finish the overhaul and installation of major components and test ship electronics, combat and propulsion systems. Other work will improve ship living areas.
Seized Arms For Ukraine. The U.S. has transferred over 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7s, and more than 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition to Ukraine that it previously seized from Iran, the Department of Justice said. The arms were interdicted by U.S. Central Command and partner forces during four incidents in 2021 and 2023, with the weapons traveling on vessels from Iran to Yemen and intended for delivery to Iranian-backed Houthi forces, according to the DoJ. “With this weapons transfer, the United States government is both disrupting Iran’s destabilizing efforts and supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s brutal, unprovoked invasion,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. The weapons and ammunition were transferred to Ukraine on April 4, and the additional support arrives as further U.S. assistance for Kyiv remains stalled with Congress having yet to pass the pending foreign aid supplemental.
New ASV Coming. Saronic in the coming months “will be splashing” the prototype of its third, and largest, autonomous surface vessel (ASV), the Corsair, Rob Lehman, co-founder and chief commercial officer for the company, said this month. The company’s six-foot long Spyglass ASV is in production and its 14-foot Catalyst is in the prototype phase. Specifications for Corsair have not been released but Lehman told Defense Daily that at a “high-level think larger, further, faster, carries more stuff.” Saronic provided five Spyglasses and one Catalyst for the Navy’s recent Integrated Battle Problem experiment off the coast of Southern California (Defense Daily, April 8).
New HAC-HS Chair. Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) will serve as the new chair of the House Appropriations Homeland Security Committee. Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who officially became the House’s top appropriator last week, announced Amodei’s selection on April 12. Amodei, who has represented Nevada’s 2nd district since 2011, takes over the HAC-HS chairmanship fromr Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), who’s moved over to lead the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee. Cole noted Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) remains chair of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee.
Howitzer Repair. The U.K. Ministry of Defence has awarded BAE Systems a new contract for maintenance and repair of its L119 Light Guns that have been donated to Ukraine, the company announced on April 10. BAE Systems said the new deal will allow for the 105mm towed howitzers to be “serviced in-country and returned to the frontline more quickly.” The company also said, “The L119 Light Gun has proved to be a trusted system that Ukrainian forces have favored because of its accurate firepower, light weight, low logistical requirements and mobility. Terms of the new maintenance deal were disclosed.
New CIC Invitees. U.S. Space Command has invited eight additional companies to join the Commercial Integration Cell (CIC), which brings together government personnel and representatives of commercial satellite owners and operators to collaborate on space domain issues. The invitees have not been disclosed. The CIC, which resides within the Combined Space Operations Center, currently includes nine companies and “facilitates the integration of the commercial mission partner representatives in order to support current operations, planning, exercise, and training requirements,” says a Space Systems Command fact sheet. The new invitations were announced at the Space Symposium last week by Space Command Chief Gen. Stephen Whiting, who said the potential expansion of the CIC will provide more “insights into how each other’s constellations are operating…to make space more safe and secure.”
…New Space ISAC Member. Separately at the Space Symposium, the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) announced that Capella Space has joined the cyber threat information entity as a founding member. Capella owns and operates a constellation of synthetic aperture radar satellites that provide data for government, international, and commercial customers. “Capella Space joining the founding board brings the global space industry access to capabilities from a leading SAR technology company this is doing monitoring and reporting of cyber and space infrastructure threats—that’s not something most people usually think SAR offers,” Erin Miller, executive director of the Space ISAC, said in a statement. Whiting said that Space Command has “embedded cyber experts on the operations watch floor” of the ISAC.
Rocket Reuse. Rocket Lab last week said a previously used carbon composite first stage tank recovered at sea following a launch in January of its Electron launch vehicle has reentered the production line in preparation to fly again on an Electron. The first stage floated back to Earth using a parachute and has passed more acceptance tests and any previously recovered stages, the company said. Next up is final fit out and qualification and acceptance testing to ensure it meets the same standard as a new Electron tank.
On-Orbit Service Platform. Firefly Aerospace has agreed to host an artificial intelligence application provided by Klepsydra Technologies on its Elytra spacecraft, which will serve as an edge computing platform in space for autonomous applications such as space domain awareness. Elytra, which will be launched by Firefly’s Alpha launch vehicle, will run software applications as a service and process data on orbit to be downlinked to customers. The first Elytra mission will support a responsive space demonstration for the National Reconnaissance Office, to include an on-orbit maneuver and deploying additional government payloads on demand.
NPS And DIU. The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) last week announced a new Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) to expand complementary efforts and future opportunities in education, research and innovation via student fellowships at DIU, personnel exchanges, collaborative experimentation, and projects at the NPS Naval Innovation Center.
Facility Expansion. ARKA Group has completed an $85 million expansion of its 550,000 square-foot facility in Danbury, Conn., to boost production of small satellite systems, payloads, and optical coating capabilities. The 14,000 square-foot expansion includes modern cleanrooms for rapid alignment, integration, and test of sub-meter aperture electro-optical/infrared telescopes and payloads. The additional space also includes a custom-designed facility for space-qualified thin film coatings on optics for all missions. “The enhancements further strengthen and balance our capabilities in both smallsat payloads and large optics for ground and space-based scientific and national security missions,” Charlie Schaub, senior vice president of ARKA’s Space & Defense business, said in a statement.