Sentinel Supply Chain Mitigations. U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has told Congress that the service faces a challenge in ensuring that the Northrop Grumman LGM-35A Sentinel meets its initial operational capability target, which DoD has said would be May of 2029. “Sentinel is behind schedule due to staffing shortfalls, delays with clearance processing, and classified information technology infrastructure challenges,” according to the Government Accountability Office’s newly released annual weapons assessment. “Additionally, the program is experiencing supply chain disruptions, leading to further schedule delays. The prime contractor is working on multiple supply chain mitigations to address the issue.” The Air Force and Northrop Grumman are reviewing the program and may revise its schedule, GAO said.
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General Dynamics’s board on June 7 elected retired Army Lt. Gen. Charles “Hoop” Hooper to the board. Hooper, 65, is a senior counselor for the Cohen Group. He retired from the Army in 2020 and some of his assignments included director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, overseeing U.S. policy on foreign defense sales, U.S. Defense Attaché to Egypt and China, and deputy director of Strategic Planning and Policy at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. President Biden nominated Michael Colin Casey to be director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, which leads and supports U.S. government counterintelligence activities. Casey has been staff director for the Senate Intelligence Committee since 2016. Leidos last week appointed Amy Davis as senior vice president and chief security officer. She previously served as deputy chief for the National Security Agency’s Office of Security and Counterintelligence.
Coming After Mayorkas. The House Homeland Security Committee this Wednesday will host a hearing kicking off what committee Republicans say will be a “comprehensive investigation into Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ dereliction of duty.” The DHS chief is the chief source of Republican angst over the Biden administration’s border security policies that they argue has led to a surge in migration, some illegal and some not, toward the border during the past two years. Republicans also damn Mayorkas for a wave of fentanyl deaths in the U.S. “From record amounts of fentanyl poisonings to the drain on border community resources, the American people want answers on this crisis,” said Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.). Witnesses will include Chad Wolf, who was the acting DHS secretary during part of the Trump administration, Rodney Scott, a former chief of U.S. Border Patrol, and Joe Edlow, former acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
New TSA Academy. The Transportation Security Administration last Friday opened a new 26,000 square-foot training academy in Las Vegas, the agency’s second facility that offers classroom, virtual instruction, and a training checkpoint for up to 180 Transportation Security Officers weekly. TSA Academy West will also provide officers with easy access to the agency’s Innovation Checkpoint located at Harry Reid International Airport. TSA Academy East, the agency’s other training facility, is located at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers in Glynco, Ga.
New Cyber Bills. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, last week introduced bipartisan cybersecurity legislation aimed at strengthening allied partnerships and boosting domestic awareness. The DHS International Cyber Partner Act, introduced with Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), would speed DHS’ ability to respond quickly when allies and partners request cybersecurity assistance from the U.S. by authorizing the department to assign personnel to foreign locations and provide expertise to foreign governments and international organizations on cybersecurity and other homeland security efforts. The Cybersecurity Awareness Act, introduced with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), would direct the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to provide regular guidance and resources to the public and private sectors on cybersecurity best practices such as multifactor authentication and increase the agency’s outreach to the most frequent targets of ransomware and underserved communities that often lack access to a cybersecurity education.
Arctic RIMPAC? Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday recently said he thinks there could be a Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC)-type exercise focused on the Arctic as the climate changes and the northern sea ice coverage decreases. “The parallel I would draw is to the Rim of Pacific exercise, or RIMPAC, that we do every other year in the Pacific. That involves about 30 navies and tens of thousands of sailors. It’s been a catastrophically successful venture for navies, and they’re not just from the Asia-Pacific, they’re from all over the globe that join us for the exercise.” Gilday said he thinks the U.S. and its allies can do the same in the Arctic but that “it doesn’t have to be led by the United States, the United States could be part of it.” The CNO also said he thinks while NATO is usually framed in a trans-Atlantic context, now with Finland and likely Sweden joining NATO, eight of the nine Arctic Council countries will be in NATO, “and I think that over time we’ll begin to talk more and more about the trans-polar nature and interests involved there.”
LCS-38. Austal USA is holding a keel laying ceremony for the future USS Pierre (LCS-38) at the company’s shipyard in Mobile, Ala., on June 16. LCS-38 will be the last ship in the Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) that Austal has been building for the Navy.
ONR Roadmaps. Integer Technologies announced on May 22 that the Office of Naval Research (ONR) chose them to create three roadmaps: a Naval Power Systems (NPS) Science and Technology (S&T) Roadmap, an Expeditionary Energy (E2) S&T Roadmap, and a Naval Diversity Equity and Inclusion Workforce Development (NDEI-WD) Roadmap. Integer Chief Operating Officer Josh Knight said this will help assess the needs for technology and workforce development to inform ONR’s strategy in science and technology research and personnel. The company said the NPS S&T Roadmap will identify basic and applied research needs across several power nad energy areas, the E2 S&T Roadmap will outline its own research framework for energy systems to support future expeditionary force operations, while the NDE-WD roadmap seeks to outline ONR-wide strategy for stabilizing and strengthening the STEM workforce across the Naval Research Enterprise.
Sidewinders. The Navy awarded Raytheon Technologies a $264 million modification on June 2, exercising options to produce and deliver hundreds of AIM-9X Sidewinder missile production Lot 23 units. This includes 571 AIM-9X Block II all up round tactical missiles (91 for the Navy, 257 for the Air Force, 223 for Foreign Military Sales customers); 48 Block II captive air training missiles; 185 all-up-round containers and various spares and other associated support parts. Work will be split between North Logan, Utah (28 percent); Tucson, Ariz. (22 percent); Linthicum Heights, Md. (19 percent); and Minneapolis, Minn. (11.46 percent) and is expected to be finished by August 2026.
LPD-31. The keel of the future USS Pittsburgh (LPD 31), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, was ceremonially laid and authenticated at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., on June 2. The keel laying represents the joining of a ship’s major modular components at the land level. LPD-31 will be the second Flight II variant of the class meant to replace the current Whidbey Island/Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ships. HII is also in production on the future USS Richard S. McCool Jr. (LPD-29) and the future USS Harrisburg (LPD-30), the first Flight II LPD.
PEO USC. Capt. Kevin Smith relieved and succeeded Rear Adm. Casey Moton as head of the program executive office for unmanned and small combatants (PEO USC) during a change of office ceremony at the Washington Navy Yard on June 1. Jay Stefany, acting assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, acquisition (ASN RDA) said Moton leaves behind an “impressive legacy” including 13 Littoral Combat Ship commissionings, 15 ship christenings with the first naming for an unmanned surface vehicle and extra-large unmanned undersea vehicle and initial operational capability of the LCS mine countermeasures mission package. Smith previously served as program manager for the Constellation-class frigate program office (PMS 515), which now has four vessels under contract.
F-35 Canopies. Last month, the U.S. Air Force 531st Commodities Maintenance Squadron opened its 24,000 square-foot F-35 canopy maintenance and overhaul shop in building 850 at Hill AFB, Utah to replace the former shop, housed since 2017 in building 271. The Air Force said the shop is in full production and will have refurbished 51 canopies in fiscal 2023 by the end of the summer. The squadron said it is able to expand to 264 canopies per year to meet increasing demand. GKN Aerospace is the builder of the canopies, which had a problem with delamination in 2019-20. In performing canopy maintenance, squadron technicians use a “mapper” to correct for optical distortions caused by the canopy’s thickness, curves and material. The squadron then uses that data to improve the head up display’s aerial and ground view and weapons’ accuracy, the Air Force said.
EOD Robots. FLIR Defense said on June 7 it has delivered the 1,000th Centaur ground robot for the Man Transportable Robot System Increment (MTRS) II program, which is used by Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams across the U.S. military services. “We are honored that this versatile robot has become the most widely produced tactical unmanned ground vehicle used by America’s military since the Gulf Wars,” JihFen Lei, executive vice president and general manager of FLIR Defense, said in a statement. The Army in 2017 selected FLIR Defense, which was then Endeavor Robotics, for the MTRS Inc. II program, with the company having received orders totaling $250 million to deliver more than 1,800 Centaur robots to the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, the company said.
Thurgood To Anduril. Ret. Army Lt. Gen. Neil Thurgood is joining Anduril Industries as a senior vice president, the company said on June 6. Thurgood retired from the Army in 2022, where he most recently served as director of the service’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO). As the head of RCCTO, Thurgood oversaw development of the Army’s work on hypersonic and directed energy weapons. “Few leaders can match his proven track record of managing and delivering disruptive defense capabilities at scale. Dr. Thurgood will be indispensable in helping Anduril succeed on the largest, most important defense programs for the United States and our allies,” Chris Brose, Anduril’s chief strategy officer, said in a statement. In his new role, Anduril said Thurgood will lead business strategy for areas such as counter-unmanned air systems air and missile defense, tactical weapons and mission systems, and command and control capabilities.
Anduril To Huntsville. Anduril also announced on June 6 its expanding its operations into Huntsville, Alabama, with Thurgood to serve as the senior site executive. “I have spent most of my career working in defense innovation and I am honored to be joining Anduril, an organization dedicated to solving key issues facing the warfighter through innovation as quickly as possible,” Thurgood said in a statement. “Anduril’s investment and expansion to Huntsville marks an exciting new chapter and I can’t wait to get started.”
Army Weapon Sights. Leonardo DRS said on June 8 it has received a new five-year deal worth more than $94 million to continue supplying new infrared weapon sights for Army infantry snipers. Under the deal, Leonardo DRS will produce the latest Family of Weapon Sights–Sniper, Improved Night/Day Observation Device Block III, which it said is designed “for sniper or reconnaissance operators that require extended range target detection and identification, observation of environmental indicators, and a capability to track bullet trajectory.” “We are proud to provide this technology to ensure soldiers have the most advanced systems available,” Jerry Hathaway, senior vice president and general manager of Leonardo DRS’ electro-optical infrared systems business, said in a statement. “We have a long history of supplying the Army with advanced electro-optic and infrared technologies, and this award highlights our customer trust in our market-leading Family of Weapon Sights.”