Bell [TXT] said on Wednesday it will keep production of the fuselage for the Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) in Wichita, Kansas, after taking on the assembly work in-house.
Wichita-based Spirit AeroSystems
[SPR] was the original manufacturer of the FLRAA fuselage, before Bell decided to take on the production following Boeing’s [BA] pending $8.3 billion acquisition of Spirit that is expected to close in mid-2025.
The V-280 Valor. Bell photo.
“As Bell prepares for the next stage of FLRAA’s Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase, we are committed to investing in advanced manufacturing to ensure we deliver exceptional performance at an affordable cost to our customer,” Lisa Atherton, president and CEO of Bell, said in a statement on Wednesday. “Textron has a rich history with the state of Kansas as well as the city of Wichita, and we are proud to deepen that relationship as we establish this new facility.”
Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft was named the winner of the FLRAA competition in December 2022, beating out a Sikorsky [LMT] and Boeing team’s Defiant X coaxial rigid rotor helicopter offering for the program to find an eventual UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter replacement (Defense Daily, Dec. 5 2022).
The Army’s initial FLRAA deal to Bell is worth up to $1.3 billion but could total $7 billion if all options are picked up.
The Army in early August approved the Milestone B decision to move FLRAA into the EMD phase, to include picking up the next contract option that will cover the build of six prototype aircraft (Defense Daily, Aug. 2).
Brig. Gen. David Phillips, program executive officer for aviation, told reporters last month the Army is not expecting any delays to the FLRAA program with Bell taking on the fuselage assembly, noting the company already has a “lot of experience” with composite fuselages.
Frank Lazzara, Bell’s director of sales and strategy for advanced vertical lift systems, told Defense Daily last month that the company was also not anticipating any schedule adjustments as it takes on the fuselage work for FLRAA.
“We’re excited to have that in-house. The more we can control, the better,” Lazzara said during an interview at last month’s Association of the United States Army conference in Washington, D.C. “We feel like we’re in a good place to execute on that. We had been preparing for that possibility, so it’s not something that caught us off guard.”
Bell said FLRAA fuselage assembly will take place at a new facility on a site in Wichita owned by parent company Textron, with work expected to begin there in the next several months.
Work at Bell’s Advanced Composite Center in Fort Worth, Texas will also support fuselage manufacturing, the company said, noting that final assembly of the aircraft will still occur in Amarillo, Texas.
Lawmakers including Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kan.) lauded Bell’s decision to keep the FLRAA fuselage work in Wichita.
“Bell Textron’s decision to continue production of the Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft in Kansas marks an historic day for the Air Capital of the World. This announcement is a testament to the Kansas workforce and the unique combination of academia and industry that Wichita has to offer. I look forward to our state supporting this generational aircraft that will impact our national security and workforce for years to come,” Moran said in a statement.
Lazzara last month said the “most important mark on the wall” coming up for FLRAA is the program’s Critical Design Review (CDR) next summer, which will result in having a “better than 90 percent” final design for the aircraft, and then working toward the Milestone C decision.
“Everything we’re doing right now is hyper-focused on execution and driving towards a successful CDR,” Lazzara said. “The Army’s timeline hasn’t changed for delivery of the first aircraft, it’s still in the [FY] ‘26 timeframe. And they’re still looking at a First Unit Equipped [milestone] starting in [FY] ‘30 and [Initial Operational Capability] sometime shortly thereafter.”
In the wake of Donald Trump securing his second term as president, the GOP on election day also regained majority in the Senate with new leaders set to take over the upper chamber’s defense authorization and spending panels in the next Congress.
While much remains to be finalized with key committee posts in the coming months, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) is in position to take over as the likely next leader of the Senate Armed Services Committee and potentially pursue a previously detailed agenda to boost defense spending to five percent of the gross domestic product.
U.S. Senator Roger Wicker speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee posture hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., March 16, 2023. (DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. John Wright)
Republicans on Tuesday won back the Senate by flipping seats in Montana, Ohio and West Virginia, with a few remaining races still to be called.
Senate race results of note included SASC member and nuclear modernization proponent Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) defeating a competitive challenge from Independent Dan Osborn, House Armed Services Committee (HASC) member Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) beating former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers for the open Michigan Senate seat and Senate appropriator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) winning her reelection bid against Republican Eric Hovde.
HASC member Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is currently leading in his race against Republican Kari Lake and SASC member Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) is in a tight competition with Republican Sam Brown, with both races yet called as of Defense Daily’s deadline.
The change in power in the Senate sets up Wicker to move from his ranking member post on SASC to the chairmanship, while Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) would likely assume the spot as the panel’s top Democrat.
Wicker in late May unveiled his plan for a “generational investment” in defense, which included a push to boost the FY ‘25 defense topline by an additional $55 billion, increase annual defense spending to five percent of GDP and get after recommendations to max out munitions production capacity, grow the size of the Navy fleet and move into production of modernization efforts across the services (Defense Daily, May 29).
“Unfortunately, America’s military has a lack of modern equipment, a paucity of training and maintenance funding, and a massive infrastructure backlog. America’s existing National Defense Strategy and budget were not built to deal with the current threat landscape. The U.S. military needs this generational investment immediately to combat these rapidly growing and metastasizing threats,” Wicker wrote in his defense investment plan.
The Mississippi senator and likely next SASC chair also calls in his plan for reversing the Pentagon’s decision to cancel the SM-3 Block IB interceptor, pushing for shipyard and industrial base capacity to build three attack submarines per year and reversing Air Force retirement plans for F-15Es and F-22s.
Meanwhile, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who has been the Senate’s top defense appropriator since 2021, lost his race to Republican and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, opening up the coveted chairmanship spot on the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee.
It remains to be seen which Republicans will vie for the SAC-D chair, with the panel’s senior Republicans including current SAC Vice Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), as the panel has seen bipartisan support for efforts to increase defense spending (Defense Daily, Aug. 1).
McConnell, who is stepping down as leader of the Senate GOP conference, told reporters on Wednesday he has not made a decision on whether he would pursue the SAC chair while noting he plans to “concentrate on defense and foreign policy” in the next Congress.
“I think this is the most dangerous time since right before World War II. Our adversaries – the North Koreans, the Chinese, Russians, Iran and Iran’s proxies – are all talking to each other. They have one thing in common, they hate us. And they want to diminish our role in the world,” McConnell said. “We need to ramp up defense spending in order to prevent a direct conflict with our adversaries. It’s a lot cheaper to prevent war than it is to have one. So that’s the focus I’m going to have for the next couple years.”
Control of the House in the next Congress remains undecided as of Defense Daily’s deadline, while several national security-focused lawmakers were involved in key races set to determine the next majority (Defense Daily, Nov. 4).
Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), both members of HASC, won their competitive reelection campaigns, which were seen as key seats to help Republicans retain their majority in the lower chamber.
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), the House’s top defense appropriator is narrowly leading Democrat and former federal prosecutor Will Rollins while the race is still too close to call, with HASC member Reps Jared Golden (D-Maine) and appropriator Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) also ahead in their respective races that have also not been called yet.
With Trump set to return to presidency with a GOP-led Senate and a potential Republican majority House, analysts on Wednesday offered their outlook on defense spending and priorities ahead.
“The potential clean sweep means fewer roadblocks to push through legislation which for defense could mean a biased stance against supplementals, the buildout of a national mission defense system, protectionism and ensuring allies pay for their shared defense,” financial services firm Jefferies wrote in a note, citing its defense sentiment for a Trump administration as “likely negative.”
The GOP platform for 2024 included building an “Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield” over the entire country among a list of 20 “promises” for the potential Trump administration (Defense Daily, July 12).
Roman Schweizer, a defense analyst with TD Cowen, wrote on Wednesday DoD spending is not likely to be cut under Trump and a GOP Senate, or with a split Congress, and that the situation could represent a “major reset” for priorities.
“We see a Trump DoD as being positive for space, shipbuilding, missile defense, and [private equity]-backed defense startups,” Schweizer wrote. “[The] first 100 days of the new Trump administration could represent a major reset in foreign policy and defense spending. Control of the House and final spread in the Senate will be important factors in tax and spending policy boundaries. Trump and key advisers will have a largely unfettered ability to shape foreign policy.”
Byron Callan of Capital Alpha Partners wrote on Wednesday that his firm sees “uneven risks” for defense next year with Trump’s win, a GOP-controlled Senate and a potential “razor-thin” Republican majority in the House.
“We expect that the B-21 bomber, Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, and stockpile modernization will be just fine. We are slightly more guarded on Sentinel [future ICBM] for now. Defense technology (AI, autonomy, etc) should be fine too. However, there could be more questions about force size and architecture, particularly if Europe is downplayed and/or Asian countries are prompted to spend more,” Callan wrote.
With Congress now heading into a lame duck period and still needing to complete work on the next National Defense Authorization Act and final appropriations bills, Callan said he sees around a 60 percent chance that another stopgap funding measure will emerge to keep the government open through March 2025 and to allow the new administration and Congress to have its imprint on spending plans.
“We are not that confident that Congress will add significantly to DoD’s FY25 request. The Senate Appropriations markup may be the ceiling, but something the request might be likely to,” Callan wrote. “Our base case now is that the DoD top line won’t change much from the Biden Administration’s plan.”
The Trump White House’s release of the FY ‘26 budget request is also likely to be delayed as the new administration gets into place, as was the case with Biden’s first budget submission which was pushed back to late May.
The Navy on Wednesday announced it and Northrop Grumman [NOC] completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) on the newest set of improvements to the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, the Delta System Software Configuration (DSSC)-6.
The Navy said DSSC-6 will improve the Hawkeye by reducing pilot workload, improving situational awareness, provide readiness and reliability upgrades and architecture and cybersecurity improvements.
An E-2D Advanced Hawkeye assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 20 lands aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), marking the first time an E-2D had landed aboard the Ford. CVN-78 is conducting aircraft compatibility testing to evaluate the EMALS and AAG launch and recovery systems. (Photo: U.S. Navy)
It added the new configuration will supply avionics infrastructure improvements to the flight and missions systems that are expected to increase crew effectiveness, address parts obsolescence, improve computing and electronic storage, improve connectivity for command and control and create a module open systems environment to more easily allow future technology insertions.
This program is managed by the Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR) E-2/C-2 Airborne Command & Control Systems Program Office (PMA-231).
The ongoing DDSC process has been upgrading the E-2Ds through several iterations to sustain them into the 2040s.
In 2021 the Navy finalized the fielding of an earlier iteration, DSSC-3, and at the time the service said DDSC-6 was scheduled to be introduced in FY ‘27 with some of the most significant changes of any upgrade since the aircraft was produced (Defense Daily, Aug. 6, 2021).
In 2023, the Navy awarded Northrop Grumman a $845.5 million contract for modernized cockpit upgrades in DDSC-6. At the time, the service said DDSC-6 is replacing the E-2Ds integrated navigation and controls, tactical mission computer and display systems with a modern technology refresh and theater combat identification that also allows quicker integration of new capabilities (Defense Daily, Oct. 4, 2023).
At the time, a Navy official characterized DSSC-6 as akin to an E-2D Block II.
This month the Navy explained the latest PDR assessed the allocated baseline and authorized the program to transition to detailed design for E-2D DSSC-6 once the review was closed.
Specifically, the PDR was briefed to a 10-member Technical Review Board that was co-chaired by Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Director of Systems Engineering Gary Evans and NAWCAD Director of Software Engineering Hin Chan.
“Successful completion of the E-2D DSSC-6 PDR is an affirmation of the ground-breaking work undertaken by the combined PMA-231 and NGC teams,” Lt. Cmdr. Neil Whitesell, PMA-231 Level 2 Program Manager for DSSC-6, said in a statement.
“It represents a major programmatic milestone in the acquisition of technology key to maintaining carrier-based airborne command and control dominance well into the next decade,” he continued.
NAVAIR said the first test flight of an E-2D in the new DSSC-6 configuration is planned for FY 2027 to be followed by initial operational capability in FY 2030.
Last month Boeing [BA] said its Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) finished a 48-hour endurance sailing run.
During this exercise, the vehicle operated fully autonomously below the sea surface, and surfaced “multiple times” to recharge its battery, the company said.
Boeing delivers first Orca XLUUV to the Navy in December 2023. (Photo: Boeing)
Boeing said this exercise demonstrated Orca’s capabilities and potential for a range of U.S. Navy applications.
The XLUUVs are planned to be launched from a pier at a forward operating port equipped with a range of payloads.
“This achievement showcases the capabilities of our XLUUV, such as its ability to deploy to remote locations,” Ann Stevens, vice president and program manager for Boeing’s Maritime and Intelligence System, said in a statement to Defense Daily. “With enhanced endurance and autonomy, we’re redefining the future of undersea exploration and defense.”
The Navy plans to make the initial XLUUV payload be mines.
This could include Hammerhead mines that the Navy and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) has been pushing to procure, seabed tethered mines that use an anti-submarine torpedo.
INDOPACOM’s unfunded priorities list for the FY ‘25 budget request described the mine as “designed to be delivered by unmanned underwater vehicles and surface vessels” (Defense Daily, March 19).
While the first five Orcas were funded in FY ‘19 via the research and development account, the Navy’s FY ‘25 budget request assigned additional Orcas in the Other Procurement account at a rate of one annually in FY ‘26 – ‘29, with estimated costs ranging from $113 million to $120 million.
Procurement of vessels six and beyond were delayed to 2026 due to Boeing’s schedule delays with the initial units.
In March, Navy officials and the FY ‘25 budget request confirmed the Orca’s schedule was re-phased and pushed back deliveries to two vehicles in the fourth quarter of FY ‘24 and one in the first quarter of FY ‘25, and the final two in the second quarter of FY ‘26.
Boeing initial delivered the first engineering and development model, called XLEO in late 2023 (Defense Daily, Dec. 20, 2023)
A 2022 Government Accountability Office report said the XLUUV is running behind schedule due to poor business planning, like how the Navy had no requirements for Boeing to demonstrate its readiness to build the vehicles to the Navy’s actual configuration. The Orca is based on the company’s Echo Voyager but requires significant alterations to meet Navy requirements. (DefenseDaily, Sept. 29, 2022).
Teledyne Technologies [TDY] on Wednesday said it has agreed to acquire two business units from Excelitas Technologies Corp.
for $710 million in cash, one based in the United Kingdom that provides optics for defense, space, and avionics applications, and the other offering customized energetics and electronic switches for defense and space uses.
The transaction is expected to close in early 2025. The pending deal follows another announced by Teledyne this week, the purchase of microcircuits developer and manufacturer Micropac Industries for $57 million. Micropac serves the defense, space, and medical end markets.
Excelitas’ Qioptiq unit in Northern Wales, U.K., develops and produces advanced optics for head-up and helmet-mounted displays, dismounted tactical night vision systems, and proprietary glass used in space and satellite applications. Qioptiq was established in 2005 after Thales spun-off its High-Tech Optics unit. Qioptiq acquired LINOS in 2009, and in 2013 was acquired by Pittsburgh-based Excelitas.
The Advanced Electronics Systems (AES) business unit that Teledyne is also acquiring designs and manufactures power systems, energetic safety systems, frequency standards, and high-energy switching. AES is based in the U.S.
The acquisition of the two business units “will bring us new technology in markets well understood by Teledyne,” Robert Mehrabian, executive chairman of Teledyne, said in a statement. “Our respective products are highly complementary and not competitive, and we generally serve customers in complementary geographies.”
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. Teledyne expects the deal to be accretive to earnings per share, excluding transaction costs.
Excelitas’ financial advisers on the deal are Evercore and Harris Williams.
The U.S. Space Force said on Wednesday that it has added five companies to the U.S. Space Command Combined Space Operations Center’s (CSpOC) Commercial Integration Cell (CIC) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., and is in the process of adding another two early next year, but the service declined to identify the companies.
“We’re working with those companies on their timeline to announce that they’ve become a part of that, and that should be coming out shortly,” Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess, the commander of U.S. Space Forces-Space (S4S), the service component of U.S. Space Command, told a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies’ virtual forum.
“I don’t see an upper [CIC] limit from the ability to interact with companies,” he said. “What it really comes down to is our ability to manage all of those connections–do we have the number of personnel, how many people does it take to do that? I don’t see an upper limit on the ability to bring on companies. It’s just how do we manage that connection. We are going to continue–17 is not the end number, and we’re gonna continue to bring on companies, as we can.”
The 10 CIC member companies are SpaceX, Maxar Technologies, Eutelsat Communications S.A.‘s Eutelsat America Corp., EchoStar Corp.‘s [SATS] Hughes Network Systems, Viasat Inc. [VSAT] and Viasat-owned Inmarsat, Intelsat Ltd.’s Intelsat General Communications, Iridium Communications Inc. [IRDM], SES Space & Defense, and XTAR LLC.
Under Space Force cooperative agreements with the above companies, designated personnel at the latter receive top secret/sensitive compartmented information clearances to view Space Force operations at Vandenberg and to exchange information with Space Force personnel on threats, including company detections of electromagnetic interference (Defense Daily, June 14, 2023).
“We have the connections so that we can provide them with threat information back and forth at the Top Secret/SCI level “here’s what’s going on,” and they can also provide us information, and so we have folks on the CSpOC floor–not 24/7 right now, but they have the ability to call into the CSpOC floor and they can say, ‘Here’s what I’m experiencing,'” Schiess said.
“They’ve all decided to work together so they’ve all signed non-disclosure agreements that they’re not gonna use any information that we give them about one of the other CIC members for their ability to make a profit,” he said. “At the beginning of the Ukraine invasion, Russia did a cyber attack on a commercial company that was a member of the CIC so then they were providing that information to us at the CSpOC so we could then make sure the other companies knew that something was going on so if there was things that that company had found out they could also harden their ability to do that. We can provide information to them [CIC companies] on, maybe, different satellites that are close to them that might be listening satellites so we can provide that information to them on a fast basis.”
Russia has launched cyber attacks on Starlink terminals in Ukraine and, an hour before the country’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, on Viasat modems and routers.
Space Force said on Wednesday that the newly cleared mission areas for the five companies to receive information on in the CIC are Space Domain Awareness and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance.
“Through the implementation of the CIC, S4S has seen improved space object screening; increased space situational awareness through highly accurate and timely data exchange; improved detection, characterization, and resolution of electromagnetic interference; timely indications and warning regarding real-world events (e.g., dazzling/lasing, direct ascent launches, etc.); and improved coordination of critical asset lists,” Space Force said on Wednesday.
Sweden’s Saab pitched a new autonomous control system to be used for naval vessels during the Euronaval expo in Paris this month.
The company said this new system, Autonomous Ocean Core (AOC), is agnostic to specific vessels and designed to provide baseline autonomy both on and below the ocean surface no matter if the vessel was originally designed to be unmanned.
Saab’s Enforcer III, the company’s platform for developing autonomous functions, using a converted Combat Boat 90. The platform was tested in 2022 in a joint trial with the Swedish Navy. (Photo: Saab)
Saab described the system as having different modes for maneuvering on a mission, with each supporting “precise control and operational flexibility based on the mission’s need.” It can also operate in “three different manners” tailored to operational needs and safety requirements.
The company said AOC would help facilitate uncrewed versions of missions including mine detection and clearance, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and electronic warfare.
“The development of naval unmanned and autonomous units is progressing, enhancing capabilities for maritime security operations. Autonomous Ocean Core can boost key operational strengths for the dull, dirty, dangerous and dear. This control system gives our customers a tactical edge, increasing availability and efficiency and becoming less dependent on active manpower,” Mats Wicksell, Senior Vice President and Head of Saab’s Kockums business area, said in a statement.
The U.S. government recently released four rulemakings on space export control designed to strengthen private sector space activity and improve international collaboration. The Department of Commerce and Department of State released four space export control rulemakings on Oct. 17. The Departments are seeking comments on three of the four rules and comments are due on Nov. 22.
These are the first significant changes in space export controls in more than a decade, Chirag Parikh, deputy assistant to the president and executive secretary of the National Space Council, said in a Nov. 6 meeting hosted by the Department of Commerce to discuss the rulemakings.
Parikh said reforming export controls for the space industry has been sought after by both industry and government, and these reforms come from joint effort from the National Space Council, Departments of Commerce and State, and industry input.
The goal was to come up with “reasonable, rationally-based export controls that are based upon facts, reflect the state of the world, and support our connection to allies and partners,” Parikh said.
Speaking the day after former President Trump won the U.S. election, Parikh said he believes these changes are sought out regardless of political party.
“We got it out in a period of time where we hope we’ll be able to put out these rules before the end of the [Biden] administration. That’s what has driven the urgency to be able to move these things forward,” he said. “Sometimes as we change administrations everybody wants to have a reset along the way. I think in this case — party-independent, I think everybody wants to be able to move forward on these efforts.”
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from the State Department would amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) with three new exemptions. This rule proposes ITAR exemptions to for a number of official NASA programs — the Lunar Gateway, Mars Sample Return, Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, and Orion spacecraft.
It also proposes an exemption for electrical connectors between spacecraft and launch vehicles, and another exemption for crewed aircraft for suborbital space tourism or research.
The State Department’s proposed rule also looks to remove items from the U.S. Munitions List — including spacecraft that conduct collision avoidance, collaborative docking and grappling, and spacecraft for autonomous detection and tracking of ground vehicles and aircraft.
“Together, these three changes should make it easier to export certain satellites and promote these commercial space activities between our allies and partners and strengthen our relationships around the world,” said Chris Weil, Technology and Jurisdiction Analysis Division Chief, DDTC, for the State Department. Weil leads the team responsible for maintaining and updating the U.S. Munitions List within ITAR.
The Department of Commerce has three rulemakings — one of which is a final rule and already in effect. The final rule removes export controls to Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom for spacecraft related to remote sensing or space-based logistics, assembly, or servicing.
The second is an interim final rule that is in effect, but DOC is still seeking comments. This interim rule reduces licensing requirements on less sensitive items to reflect close relations with certain countries — countries in the European Union, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and South Africa. This rule is expected to reduce the need for about 400 license applications per year.
In the final proposed rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) proposes changes to controls for spacecraft that would conform to proposed changes to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) related to the U.S. Munitions List. It is intended to allow for more flexible export control policies for commercial important items that do not provide critical military intelligence advantages.
HII [HII] on Wednesday named Kari Wilkinson, currently president of the company’s Ingalls Shipbuilding segments, as the incoming president of its nuclear shipbuilding operations in Virginia effective Jan. 1, 2025.
Wilkinson will be succeeded by Brian Blanchette, who is the chief technology officer, and vice president of quality and engineering, at Mississippi-based Ingalls.
She will succeed Jennifer Boykin as president of Newport News Shipbuilding. Boykin is retiring and the leadership transition is part of HII’s long-term succession process, a company spokesman said.
Wilkinson has led Ingalls since 2021 and began her career with the division in 1996 as an associate naval architect. Before taking the helm at Ingalls, she was vice president of program management, responsible for bottom-line “elements of program execution” and was the liaison with the Navy and Coast Guard for division’s programs with these customers.
As of January 2024, Wilkinson was 49, according to HII’s annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Boykin was named president of Newport News in 2017. She will remain with the company until March 2025 as an adviser to help with the transition. Boykin’s age as of January 2024 was 59, according to the SEC filing.
The Newport News segment is HII’s largest, generating $6.1 billion in sales in 2023. Newport News has more than 26,000 shipbuilders. The business builds and maintains the Navy’s aircraft carriers, and is the main partner to General Dynamics [GD] for the service’s
Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines and the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program.
Wilkinson will inherit a business awaiting a hoped for multi-boat contract for Virginia and Columbia-class submarines that bakes in higher pay for shipbuilders and infrastructure investments the company says are necessary to maintain and train its workforce and increase throughput capacity (Defense Daily, Oct. 31).
Blanchette will oversee a $2.8 billion business and 11,000 shipbuilders who build amphibious ships and destroyers for the Navy, and the Coast Guard’s national security cutters. In September, Ingalls won a $9.6 billion multi-ship construction contract for three San Antonio-class amphibious assault ships, and a contract modification for the next America-class large deck amphibious ship.
Before his current role, Blanchette was director of technical design and engineering at Ingalls, leading design efforts on the DDG Flight III destroyer programs, America-class LHA-8 ship, and San Antonio-class ships LPD-28, -29, and -30. He began his career with Ingalls in 1996.
The Marine Corps has awarded Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace a contract worth up to $329 million to build medium caliber remotely-operated weapon systems for the turreted variant of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV-30).
The contract, which is planned to be definitized by mid-February, is expected to cover 175 of Kongsberg’s 30mm Protector Remote Turret 20 (RT-20) weapon systems, according to the Pentagon.
ACV-30 production representative test vehicle. Photo: BAE Systems.
BAE Systems, which builds the ACV, selected Kongsberg in May 2020 to provide its unmanned RT-20 medium caliber turret for the ACV-30 (Defense Daily, May 13, 2020).
The first production representative test ACV-30s were delivered to the Marine Corps in early 2024, with the testing intended to inform a full-rate production decision for the turreted variant (Defense Daily, Feb. 1).
“We are proud to be working with BAE Systems and partners on a vehicle and weapon system that will increase the [Marine Corps’] firepower and the capacity to the Marines. The Protector RT-20 is a modern remotely operated turret with highly accurate firepower for wheeled, tracked, and robotic combat vehicles. The modularity and digitalization of the system has growth potential to incorporate new technologies to deter and defeat future threats,” Jørgen Bull, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace’s vice president of land systems, said in an April 30 statement.
Kongsberg has said previously that the remotely-operated RT-20 “eliminates the space requirement of legacy turreted cannon systems and provides more room to transport troops and associated mission essential equipment and reduces weight for better mobility.”
In September, Kongsberg announced a $10 million investment to expand and improve its remote weapon station production facility in Johnstown, Pa., with the company noting the additional space will support production on the gun systems for the Marine Corps’ ACV-30s (Defense Daily, Sept. 17).
Work on the new contract to provide the ACV-30 turrets is expected to be completed by early June 2028, and will also include program management support, tooling development, training material development and support for integration and fielding, according to the Pentagon.
The Pentagon also noted that a total of $51 million in Marine Corps procurement funds were obligated at the time of award.
Ahead of the award, the Marine Corps in May released a notice surveying potential vendors that could provide a remote weapon system for the ACV-30 that also cited the service’s plan to build 175 of the turreted variant vehicles (Defense Daily, May 31).
The Marine Corps is pursuing a family of vehicles approach for ACV, which includes the base personnel platform and a command and control platform (ACV-C) currently in full-rate production, a recovery variant (ACV-R) going through design and development and the ACV-30 undergoing testing.
In March, the Marine Corps also awarded a pair of contracts to General Dynamics Land Systems [GD] and Textron Systems [TXT] to build 30mm turreted versions of their Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV-30) prototypes, which will utilize the same Kongsberg unmanned RT-20 medium caliber turret that’s on the ACV-30 (Defense Daily, March 8).
