General Atomics‘ Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) subsidiary and BAE Systems
said that they are teaming to demonstrate autonomous electronic warfare (EW) systems that the companies believe could one day go on U.S. Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).
Scott Bailie, BAE Systems’ director of advanced electronic warfare solutions at BAE Systems, said in a joint company statement on Thursday that the companies are highlighting “the maturity of autonomous EW mission systems in support of U.S. Air Force objectives” and that the companies are merging “proven EW technology and secure command and control on a rapid timeline in a small form factor well-suited for CCAs.”
The first CCAs are to be air-to-air, but others may be those for intelligence or jamming missions. The Air Force has said that it plans to field 150 CCAs in the next five years to complement F-35s and possibly other manned fighters.
General Atomics and BAE Systems said that they recently demonstrated “unique” EW features through a “secure, jam-resistant Link 16” network provided by BAE Systems, on a General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger jet drone–“used extensively” for autonomous drone/CCA development.
“The demonstration helps accelerate emerging networked electronic attack capabilities for U.S. Air Force Autonomous Collaborative Platforms,” the companies said. “The demonstration took place at GA-ASI’s Desert Horizon flight operations facility in El Mirage, California, and is part of an ongoing series of technology insertion and autonomous flights performed using internal research and development funding to prove important concepts.”
In April, the Air Force said that it had chosen privately-held drone makers, General Atomicsand Anduril, for the first round of CCA (Defense Daily, Apr. 24). General Atomics offered its Gambit design and Anduril its Fury.
The companies beat defense industry heavyweights Boeing [BA], Lockheed Martin [LMT], and Northrop Grumman [NOC], though these companies and others are free to bid on future CCA increments.
The U.S. Air Force wants a short sustainment “tail” for its future fleet of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs), as the service’s Integrated Capabilities Command seeks to help the continuation of modernization programs, such as CCA, through combining Air Force command inputs at the corporate Air Force level to ensure that one command, such as Air Combat Command, does not provide a go-ahead for a modernization effort only to see Air Force headquarters kill it, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said on Thursday.
The roots of CCA are not new. For example, the Air Force’s 2015 Future Operating Concept posits a Multi-Mission Long-Range uninhabited aircraft and has references to it in a hypothetical 2035 scenario in which a future “F-35D” variant plays a role (Defense Daily, Feb. 16).
“We want to incentivize design, rather than sustainment,” Allvin said of CCA in response to a question at an American Enterprise Institute discussion in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. “Now, there are some things–you don’t want to build a [aircraft] carrier that lasts five years. That’s not gonna work, but there are other capabilities that you can leverage technology and more rapidly upgrade, if you change the paradigm and broadcast that to industry.”
Allvin said that Integrated Capabilities Command will be important for modernization, as currently, “if industry has a good idea and goes to one major command, let’s say Langley [AFB, Va.], and says, ‘This is a pretty good fit. What do you think?’ and the rock stars at ACC say, ‘Yeah. That’s a good idea,’ and so then industry puts more IRAD dollars into this, and the corporate Air Force says, ‘No. That doesn’t make the cut.'”
“When you have an Integrated Capabilities Command, you are probably more likely to have ideas from industry turn into programs of record because you don’t have to go through all these myriad different decision makers who decide ‘yes’ or ‘no,'” Allvin said. “I think there’s a more consistent demand signal we can send to industry and maybe have the incentivization a little bit differently to help them become more fluid and rapid to keep up with technology.”
In September, the Air Force established a “provisional” Integrated Capabilities Command under Maj. Gen. Mark Mitchum, and the service said that it plans to choose a base and a three-star general, who requires Senate confirmation, to lead the permanent command.
The provisional command is to work with the Integrated Development Office of Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio’s Air Force Materiel Command “to determine the feasibility of requirements generated by technical and acquisition experts,” the Air Force has said.
Since June, Mitchum, an F-16/F-15/F-22 pilot, has been Allvin’s special assistant for “integrated capabilities.”
CCA “not only brings more affordable mass with respect to some of the air superiority missions in contested environments,” Allvin said on Thursday. “It also helps reshape industry on where we want to go as an Air Force.”
The Air Force has said that the first CCAs will be air-to-air but that other CCAs could tackle other missions, such as jamming and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
Anduril Industries and General Atomics may conduct first flights in the next year of their Fury and Gambit offerings for the first increment of CCA–first flights that could result soon thereafter in the beginning of developmental test (DT) under the Air Force CCA Experimental Operations Unit at Nellis AFB, Nev.’s 53rd Wing (Defense Daily, Sept. 17).
The reason that Anduril and General Atomics “are able to keep the [CCA] cost down is because we didn’t put into the mix the idea of long sustainment at depot,” Allvin said on Thursday. “I don’t want a 30,000-hour engine on that thing [CCA]. You know why? Because maybe I don’t want it for that long. I want to be able to upgrade it to something else without it being cost-prohibitive because we’ve already sunk so much cost in it.”
The U.S. and South Korea this week announced plans to establish a new Defense Science and Technology Executive Committee (DSTEC) to collaborate on emerging capabilities, with officials citing it as an opportunity to explore Seoul’s potential participation in the AUKUS Pillar II technology initiative.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun detailed the effort to bolster the two countries’ science and technology partnership and industrial base collaboration following a series of meetings this week in Washington, D.C.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Republic of Korea (ROK) Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul and Minister of Defense Kim Yong-hyun at the 6th U.S.-ROK Foreign and Defense Ministerial Meeting (2+2) at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Oct. 31, 2024. (DoD photo by Chad J. McNeeley)
“To respond to new challenges, including global supply chain crises and advanced technology competition, we concurred that we need to evolve into a science and technology alliance and agreed to strengthen cooperation in defense industry and defense science and technology,” Kim said during a joint press briefing, via an interpreter, following the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue on Thursday.
Austin and Kim first met on Wednesday for the 56th U.S.-Republic of Korea (ROK) Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), which the Pentagon said focused on initiatives that “deepen our extended deterrence cooperation, modernize our alliance capabilities and strengthen our contributions to regional security.”
The Pentagon specifically noted that the newly announced DSTEC will aim to “guide defense innovation and accelerate the incorporation of cutting edge technologies in areas such as autonomous systems, artificial intelligence and quantum technologies.”
In a communique released after the 56th SCM meeting, the Pentagon noted that Austin “welcomed” a proposal from his counterpart Kim to host a Defense Science and Technology conference in 2025 and that the DSTEC “should leverage this conference to baseline and prioritize alliance defense S&T collaboration.”
The DSTEC will be led at the under secretary and vice minister level, according to the communique, and that areas for S&T collaboration may also include quantum technologies, future-generation wireless communication technologies and directed energy.
The Pentagon added that the discussion on increasing S&T collaboration during Austin and Kim’s meeting included efforts to identify “potential areas of collaboration on AUKUS Pillar II.”
AUKUS is a tripartite security agreement formed by the U.S., U.K. and Australia that primarily aims to help Australia field a fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) in Pillar I while Pillar II covers sharing technology in other areas not directly related to the submarines like quantum computing, artificial intelligence, autonomy, cyber, hypersonic and electronic warfare.
U.S., Australia and U.K. partners recently completed a three-week-long experimentation exercise with AUKUS Pillar II autonomous capabilities, called Autonomous Warrior 24, the U.S. Navy said last week (Defense Daily, Oct. 25).
In April, Austin said in a joint statement with Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Richard Marles and Minister for Defense, Grant Shapps, then U.K. Secretary of State for Defense, that the AUKUS partnership was looking at inviting Japan to participate in some elements of Pillar II work (Defense Daily, April 9).
The ministers also said at the time that since AUKUS began they have intended to work with others on Pillar II projects and that they plan to undertake more consultations this year with prospective partners in areas they believe can contribute to and benefit from such technology projects.
The Pentagon said during Austin and Kim’s meeting on Wednesday the two officials also discussed growing industrial collaboration and supply chain resiliency “by strengthening and connecting our defense industrial bases” through participation in the Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience (PIPIR) and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) activities, “allowing our forces to field the most modern, interoperable weapons systems.”
“The secretary and minister also reviewed efforts to improve the interoperability, interchangeability and resilience of the U.S. and [South Korea] defense industrial base. They underscored the need to improve efficient and effective collaboration in the development, acquisition, fielding, logistics, sustainment, and maintenance of defense capabilities, and to ensure that S&T advancements are swiftly and seamlessly transitioned into acquisition and sustainment efforts,” the Pentagon wrote in the communique released after the meeting.
Following Thursday’s 2+2 ministerial dialogue, which also included U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korea Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul, Austin said the two countries discussed “expanding cooperation between our defense industrial bases.”
“That includes the U.S. Navy’s certification of ROK shipyards to maintain, repair and overhaul U.S. Navy ships. And that will help keep our alliance resilient and it will help ensure that we have the capabilities to help deter potential foes and, if necessary, prevail in conflict,” Austin said.
South Korean shipyard operator Hanwha Ocean announced in late August it had won the first U.S. Navy contract to perform maintenance on a logistics support ship (Defense Daily, Aug. 30).
This followed Hanwha’s agreement announced in June to purchase the Norwegian-owned Philly Shipyard following a visit by and discussions with Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro (Defense Daily, June 20).
CACI International [CACI] on Wednesday said it completed its $1.3 billion acquisition of Azure Summit Technology, adding capabilities in radio frequency technology and engineering.
Azure, which has more than 300 employees, has locations in Northern Virginia, and Melbourne, Fla. The deal was first announced in September (Defense Daily
, Sept. 16)
Azure’s RF focus is on the electromagnetic spectrum. CACI said the deal expands “its software-defined offerings in signals intelligence, electronic warfare, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance across multiple domains, platforms, and customer sets. In particular, this acquisition expands the breadth of CACI’s reach and insight into maritime and airborne platforms.”
CACI expects Azure to add about $440 million in sales and $110 million in operating income over the next year. About 80 percent of Azure’s employees have security clearances.
HII’s [HII] strong momentum in 2024 came to a screeching halt in the third quarter due to several challenges in its shipbuilding operations, notably delays in an award from the Navy for submarine work and continued labor and supply chain issues in those same operations, leading the company reduce its sales, earnings, and cash flow outlook for the year.
Through the first half of the year, the company’s net income and sales were up 26 percent and 6 percent, respectively, led by strong results at the Mission Technologies segment and supported by shipbuilding. In the third quarter, Mission Technologies performed well but both shipbuilding segments struggled.
Net income in the quarter slid 32 percent to $101 million, $2.56 earnings per share (EPS), from $148 million ($3.70 EPS) a year ago, well short of consensus estimates by $1.33 EPS. Segment operating margin tumbled to 3.5 percent versus 6.6 percent a year ago. Sales were down 2 percent to $2.7 billion from $2.8 billion a year ago.
HII President and CEO Chris Kastner outlined two shipbuilding-related issues that crimped results and guidance. The first is a delay in an omnibus shipbuilding contract for 17 boats not yet under contract that include two Block V and 10 Block VI Virginia-class submarines, and five Columbia-class submarines.
That contract had been expected during the second half of 2024 to help address workforce and capacity issues at the company’s Newport News Shipbuilding segment, which builds nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. Company officials are unsure when the contract will come.
The omnibus award, and contract modifications, would “address key shipbuilding structural challenges across the Newport News enterprise, focusing on investments in our workforce, aiding attrition and training, and investments in our infrastructure, buildings, facilities, manufacturing tooling and aids for additional throughput and capacity across the Newport News portfolio,” Tom Stiehle, HII’s chief financial officer, said on the company’s earnings call. “While we remain confident that we will ultimately receive the new contract awards, we are now uncertain of the timing and whether the overall contracting construct of those awards will enable full pursuit of near-term key investments needed to accelerate performance, rate and volume for the Newport News portfolio of contracts.”
HII is still suffering affects from the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a portion of its experienced workers to retire early and hurt its suppliers. A more “green” workforce takes time to train and causes performance issues, Kastner said.
Current submarine work at Newport News is being done against contracts that were awarded pre-COVID, and do not account for increased wage competition with other industries that has led to workforce attrition, inflation, the greener workforce, and infrastructure constraints that are also limiting throughput.
“On the outstanding contract awards in shipbuilding, we expect agreement at a fair cost and schedule that reflects our current operating environment, and we will continue to work with the Navy until we get this complete,” Kastner said during the call.
It will be until 2027 and 2028 when HII’s work on post-COVID contracts outweighs the pre-COVID contract work, Stiehle said.
HII’s revised guidance for 2024 puts sales between nearly $11.6 billion and $11.65 billion versus the prior range of $11.55 billion to $11.9 billion. The outlook for shipbuilding sales is now at the low end of the prior range, about $8.8 billion while top-line guidance for Mission Technologies was bumped up.
Shipbuilding operating margin is expected to be between 5 and 7 percent versus previous guidance of 7.6 to 7.8 percent. Operating margin at Mission Technologies is now forecast to be about 3.75 percent versus 3 to 3.5 percent previously.
HII previously had a five-year free cash flow target of $3.6 billion but withdrew that given the lack of clarity on the omnibus submarine contract and supplier issues. For 2024, the company is targeting between zero and $100 million of free cash flow versus the prior guide of between $600 million and $700 million.
At the operating level in the quarter, sales were down in both shipbuilding segments on amphibious assault ships, the national security cutter, naval nuclear support, and unfavorable cumulative adjustments on
Virginia-class submarines and aircraft carriers. Sales were higher at Mission Technologies on cyber, electronic warfare, and space work.
Operating income plummeted at Newport News on decreased performance on the Virginia-class vessels, in particular an unfavorable adjustment on Block IV boats, and aircraft carriers, and at Ingalls Shipbuilding due to performance on assault ships and destroyers. At Mission Technologies, operating earnings were strong on higher sales and income from joint ventures.
Despite the rough quarter on the top and bottom-lines, HII generated $3.6 billion in orders, representing a book-to-bill ratio above 1.3 times sales, and backlog stood at $49.4 billion, up 3 percent from $48.1 billion at the end of 2023.
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) said on Wednesday that its Office of Space Launch (OSL) has awarded Broad Agency Announcements for Agile Launch Innovation and Strategic Technology Advancement (BALISTA) contracts to Houston’s Cognitive Space, Redondo Beach, Calif.’s Impulse Space, and Seattle’s Starfish Space.
“In March 2024, OSL released the BALISTA BAA which included areas of interest of in-space mobility and maneuver, on-orbit logistics and sustainability, mission acceleration, artificial intelligence for ground operations, and spacecraft propellant particle count,” NRO said.
BALISTA represents the first BAA contracts awarded by OSL–contracts that “are smaller in scope and will assess emerging providers and capabilities,” the agency said. “They are intended to demonstrate new mission capabilities that directly solve critical intelligence problems or address technology needs of interest.”
OSL Director Col. Eric Zarvbnisky said in the NRO statement that BALISTA will aid NRO’s advancement in “emerging technologies across launch, on-orbit support, and command & control.”
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) on Wednesday said dMetrics received a $99.5 million contract to provide its Minsky artificial intelligence platform for help Defense Department analysts search through vast amounts of open source, unstructured data to quickly identify adversarial activity online.
The award to dMetrics follows successful prototype projects of its Minsky AI platform with the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC), the Army Geospatial Center, and multiple intelligence agencies, the small New York City-based company said. DIU said that the intelligence agencies used the platform to “combine large-scale, unstructured text data sets to enable geopolitical knowledge graphing, as well as to extract domain-specific insights from technical literature.”
The five-year Production Other Transaction award was made by DoD’s Washington Headquarters Service and led by DTIC. The contract was awarded in September.
DIU with the Army and DTIC in 2019 initiated the AI project for a customized machine learning platform to rapidly search open, web-based data and generate reports on strategic threat activity. The unit said 65 proposals were submitted and dMetrics was selected in March 2020 to customize its platform and begin a prototype project.
The Minsky platform can also be applied to classified information.
The five-year award to dMetrics will also be used by DTIC to sift through DoD’s store of science and technology research to glean further insights, “allowing our users to visualize connections among researchers, organizations, and topics previously unrecognized,” DTIC Administrator Christopher Thomas said in a statement.
DIU said that Minsky is user friendly, allowing analysts rather than engineers to “create personalized machine learning agents” that keep scanning datasets for actionable information, saving time. The platform had reduced by 90 percent the time it takes DoD analysts to comb through open source data, the unit said.
In addition to the Army, DTIC, and the intelligence community, DIU said other agencies will be able to use Minsky.
Australia has released its plan to spend up to $14 billion over the next decade to boost domestic production of munitions, which will include building a new facility by 2029 capable of producing thousands of Lockheed Martin’s [LMT] Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) annually.
Pat Conroy, Australia’s minister for defense industry and capability delivery, announced on Wednesday the new Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Plan also includes working with Thales Australia to build 155mm M795 artillery ammunition and increasing procurement of long-range strike capabilities.
Pat Conroy, Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry, Minister for International Development and the Pacific, tours the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Mississippi (SSN 782) on Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Oct. 25, 2023. Mississippi performs a full spectrum of operations, including anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Scott Barnes)
“Australia has not been manufacturing these weapons – that means we are dependent on imports for these critical national security capabilities. So, as well as acquiring more missiles, more rapidly from our partners, we need to build a new Australian guided weapons manufacturing industry,” Conroy said in a speech. “The Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Enterprise – known as GWEO – is our answer to protecting Australia in the missile age. It’s a combination of action to grow our national munitions and missile stockpile, while building the industrial base to manufacture guided weapons and explosive ordnance in this country.”
Conroy noted the GWEO plan falls within Australia’s planned $48.7 billion “Defense Integrated Investment Program” to invest in targeting, long-range strike, missile defense capabilities and munitions production efforts over the next decade, and as the country plans to increase its overall defense spending $32.89 billion over that same time span.
Australia first detailed the GWEO initiative following the 33rd Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) in July 2023, which also included announcing plans to work toward a co-production arrangement with the U.S. to begin building GMLRS rockets by 2025 (Defense Daily, Aug. 1 2023).
In a statement on Wednesday, Australia noted it previously announced plans to spend nearly $25 million in partnership with Lockheed Martin Australia to enable building an initial batch of GMLRS starting next year in government facilities to help “reduce risk and be a demonstration of Australian manufacturing capabilities.”
“This is a hugely important initiative. Producing GMLRS missiles in Australia is the stepping stone toward local production of more advanced, longer-range strike weapons in the future – local production that is essential to our sovereignty and our security,” Conroy said.
Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, has previously discussed the department’s intent to pursue more co-development, production and sustainment arrangements with international partners in its effort to improve industrial base capacity (Defense Daily, Aug. 19 2023).
Paula Hartley, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of tactical missiles, told reporters earlier this month that a formal agreement between the U.S. and Australia on GMLRS co-production is likely to be completed by the end of 2024 (Defense Daily, Oct. 15).
A key component of the GMLRS co-production effort will be establishing a new Australian Weapons Manufacturing Complex (AWMC) by 2029 that will be capable of eventually producing 4,000 GMLRS a year, Conroy said.
“This equates to more than a quarter of current global GMLRS production and more than 10 times current Australian Defense Force demand,” Conroy said.
Conroy added Australia is working in partnership with Lockheed Martin on the AWMC effort and will invest $208 million for the new complex, with the aim to pick a site in 2025.
The AWMC will be the first facility outside of the U.S. capable of manufacturing GMLRS and could potentially serve as a “stepping stone” to building Lockheed Martin’s new, longer-range Precision Strike Missile, the GWEO plan notes.
“The AWMC will be able to manufacture a range of weapons and contribute production capacity to our trusted partners. It will be flexible and scalable, expand global manufacturing capacity and reduce Australia’s dependence on international supply chains and foreign infrastructure. It is a strong signal to industry of Australia’s long-term commitment to a domestic GWEO manufacturing capability,” Australia writes in the GWEO plan. “This will enable Australia to be a major player in the global GMLRS supply chain, opening up opportunities for Australian industry to manufacture components, sub-systems and all-up-rounds for domestic and global supply chains. It will also promote co-development, co-production and co-sustainment opportunities through increased Australian industrial capability.”
In August, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their Australian counterparts, Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles, announced plans to establish a joint program office in early 2025 to work toward also building PrSM in Australia (Defense Daily, Aug. 7).
Conroy also said the plan to partner with Thales Australia to build 155mm M795 artillery ammunition at the government-owned Benalla munitions facility will “represent the first dedicated facility outside the U.S. to manufacture this artillery round.”
The facility will produce 15,000 155mm M795 rounds annually by 2028, with Conroy adding it will have capacity to scale up to 100,000 rounds a year.
“This will allow Australia to make ammunition for export markets – delivering more work for Australian businesses as global demand for this round from trusted partners has outstripped current supply,” Conroy said.
Australia also announced plans in August to invest nearly $570 million into Norway’s Kongsberg to build a new domestic factory capable of manufacturing Naval Strike Missiles and Joint Strike Missiles (Defense Daily, Aug. 22).
“Under our current schedule, this will be the first facility outside Norway and only the second facility in the world capable of manufacturing both Naval Strike Missiles and Joint Strike Missiles,” Conroy said on Wednesday.
The GWEO effort also includes plans to spend $93.4 million to accelerate acquisition of Kongsberg’s Joint Strike Missile, $39.5 million over five years on development of hypersonic and long-range strike capabilities and $14.5 million over three years to work on establishing a domestic manufacturing complex for rocket motors production.
Australia last week also announced a $4.7 billion deal to procure RTX [RTX] Standard Missile-2 Block IIIC (SM-2 IIIC) and SM-6 for its surface naval ships, which it cited in the GWEO plan (Defense Daily, Oct. 22).
A new draft Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the planned additions to Guam’s air and missile defense systems revealed yet more DoD details and timelines, like how site numbers were cut down in the process.
The EIS was prepared “to evaluate the potential environmental impacts from the proposed construction, deployment, operations, and maintenance of the Enhanced Integrated Air and Missile Defense (EIAMD) system for Guam,” the document said. It was published for public review on Oct. 25.
Cover page of the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Enhanced Air and Missile Defense System on Guam. (Image: MDA)
The report noted while DoD’s final siting evaluation led to proposing adding the components of integrated air and missile defense on 21 sites on existing DoD property and one outside current DoD property, that was later narrowed down to just 16 proposed sites all on existing DoD land. MDA said the public comment process and further environmental and access issue reviews led to the change.
The 16 proposed sites are divided into eight on Naval Base Guam, six on Andersen Air Force Base and two at Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz.
MDA said in the EIS it analyzed the construction, deployment and operations and maintenance of a persistent 360-degree EIAMD. The document reiterated the planned EIAMD resources aim to “defend the entirety of Guam against the rapidly evolving threats of advanced cruise, ballistic, and hypersonic missile attacks from regional adversaries.”
If DoD is allowed to proceed with these proposals, the draft EIS said site preparation could start as soon as early 2025.
It also revealed MDA anticipates 10 years of construction to complete the EIAMD capabilities, starting in late 2025, with about three to five sites built per year.
“Site preparation and earth work would take up to 12 months per site, with peak construction occurring between 2028 and 2030,” the draft EIS said.
MDA expects that operational staffing of EIAMD systems would increase from 2025 to 2031 as construction finishes and systems become operational.
The systems will need about 1,000 personnel to operate these systems from 2032 thorough the project’s life cycle, with another 1,300 dependent estimates to accompany them starting in 2031.
In 2022 MDA revealed its planned architecture that became EIAMD: the Lockheed Martin [LMT] Aegis combat system, RTX [RTX] Standard Missile (SM)-3 and SM-6 missiles, and the Northrop Grumman [NOC] Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS). MDA also plans for the current Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery deployed to Guam to remain there (Defense Daily, March 29, 2022).
Interceptors are expected to ultimately be launched from a new mobile version of the army MK41 Vertical Launch System and another new Army midrange missile launcher.
However, for now a recent photo shows initial launchers in a more stationary ground-based basing method. An Oct. 17 photo posted to the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) website showed a MK-41 launcher in Guam in a non-mobile above-ground setup. It was published showing Acting Under Secretary of the Navy Tom Mancinelli receiving a briefing during a visit to Guam.
Acting Under Secretary of the Navy Tom Mancinelli receives a briefing during his tour of the Vertical Launch System (VLS) site on Oct. 17, 2024. The visit provided insights into the site’s role in protecting Guam and the Indo-Pacific region from ballistic missile threats, underscoring the importance of the MK-41 system in regional defense operations. (Photo: U.S. Navy by William J. Busby III)
“The visit provided insights into the site’s role in protecting Guam and the Indo-Pacific region from ballistic missile threats, underscoring the importance of the MK-41 system in regional defense operations,” the photo caption said.
Last year, Hill said the first set of interceptors, launchers, radars and command and control systems for EIAMD would arrive this year, including four new AN/TPY-6 radars using the same technology in the Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) at Clear Space Force Base, Alaska (Defense Daily, March 20, 2023).
Other parts of EIAMD that DoD plans to ultimately field on Guam include M903 Army launchers and Protection Capability (IFPC) Multi-Mission Launchers, Army’s Raytheon Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS), Army Sentinel A4, and the Army Long-Range Persistent Surveillance (ALPS) system.
A 2023 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said the command and control systems will eventually include an Aegis Guam system provided by the MDA and Navy; MDA’s Command and Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) system; the Army’s IBCS; Army’s Integrated Fires Communication Network (IFCN) Relays and the Army’s Lockheed Martin Remote Interceptor Guidance (RIG)-360 (Defense Daily, May 30, 2023).
GAO also said MDA’s timeline plans to have the system start initial capability deployment from late 2024 to early 2025, with the EIS fully completed by early next year. In 2027 DoD plans to finished an integrated command center and in 2029 activate an integrated battle management capability.
U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) on Wednesday released a new solicitation for Phase 3, Lane 1 of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program, and SSC said that it expects contract award to come next spring.
“For this on-ramp opportunity, prospective launch providers must have a credible plan for a first launch by December 2025,” SSC said on Wednesday. The solicitation specifies Dec. 15 next year.
Blue Origin entered the NSSL field over the summer after an umbrella award worth up to $5.6 billion through June 2029 to the company and existing Space Force launch providers–SpaceX, and Colorado’s United Launch Services, LLC, a subsidiary of United Launch Alliance (ULA) (Defense Daily, June 13).
ULA is a Boeing [BA]-Lockheed Martin [LMT] partnership.
SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, and ULA have been the NSSL providers through Phase 2, while Blue Origin, owned by Amazon [AMZN] founder Jeff Bezos, has been pitching its New Glenn rocket for NSSL missions.
Phase 3, Lane 1 is to include emerging providers for “commercially addressable orbits,” while Phase 3, Lane 2 envisions awards–possibly soon–to three providers “who meet all NSSL orbits and unique mission requirements,” SSC has said (Defense Daily, Oct. 31, 2023).
Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration Frank Calvelli has called for stiffening practices to hold space contractors and subcontractors accountable, and the new NSSL solicitation prohibits any awards to companies on the Space Contractor Responsibility Watch List (CRWL)–a list whose members, if any, the Department of the Air Force has not revealed.
Section 1612 of the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, P.L. 115-91, mandated creation of the CRWL. The latter is to contain an SSC watch list of contractors “with a history of poor performance on space procurement contracts or research, development, test, and evaluation space program contracts,” such as award fee scores below 50 percent. The CRWL is also to include companies with significant “financial concerns,” “felony convictions or civil judgements,” and “security or foreign ownership and control issues.”
