Page 5 – Defense Daily

SiAW Test Missile Delivered to USAF, Northrop Grumman Says

Northrop Grumman [NOC] said on Monday that it has delivered to the U.S. Air Force a Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) test missile “to verify that the launch aircraft can safely carry and separate the weapon.”

In September last year, the company said that it had received a $705 million contract

for SiAW development, integration, and rapid prototyping to start fielding the missile by 2026 (Defense Daily, Sept. 25, 2023).

The Air Force has looked upon SiAW as an outgrowth of Northrop Grumman’s AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile Extended Range (AARGM-ER) for the U.S. Navy. Competitors for SiAW included Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin [LMT] and L3Harris Technologies [LHX].

The Air Force is to field 3,000 SiAWs but, due to the development timeline for SiAW, the Air Force has planned to procure AARGM-ERs as a fill-in until the service can field SiAW.

Each SiAW, which the Lockheed Martin F-35A is to carry, may cost more than $1.5 million.

Last week, Lt. Gen. Michael Koscheski, the deputy head of Air Combat Command (ACC), said that the Air Force’s inventory of high-end munitions, such as the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, is sufficient, but that the service needs to field lower-cost, $100,000 models in the coming years to bolster capacity to deter China and Russia (Defense Daily, Nov. 13).

Such munitions may include the “Franklin” low-cost cruise missile–so named as a nod to soul legend Aretha Franklin and her hit song Respect. The homage is also meant to connote “respect” for the low-cost, high-punch missile under development, though the “Franklin” name may change, ACC said.

SiAW is to kill “rapidly relocatable targets as part of an enemy’s anti-access/area denial environment,” and Northrop Grumman “is continuing to develop the weapon, conduct platform integration and complete the flight test program for rapid prototyping and fielding by 2026,” the company said on Monday.

Navy Pushing Through Obstacles To Two Attack Subs Plus Columbia By 2028, Boosting Industrial Base By 140,000 Workers

A Navy submarine official last week reiterated their “North Star” plans to increase submarine production to two Virginia-class attack submarines (SSN) and one Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine annually by 2028, but detailed the obstacles and the need to hire thousands of new workers in the industrial base to achieve the goal.

Speaking during the annual Naval Submarine League symposium on Nov. 13, Rear Adm. Jonathan Rucker, head of Program Executive Office (PEO) Attack Submarines, said the Navy has seen improvements in on-time delivery from suppliers the Navy is investing in as well as the workforce and executing strategic outsourcing, but new production improvements are not coming very quickly.

HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division conducted and completed initial sea trials for Virginia-class attack submarine New Jersey (SSN 796) in February 2024. (Photo: HII)

“So you think, hey, given all that we’re doing pretty well. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. We continue to have challenges to meet our North Star. On the construction side, the Secretary of the Navy Del Toro reported a shipbuilding review earlier this year–our Virginia-class construction schedules are challenged. We continue to hover around a production rate of 1.1 to 1.2 boats per year,” Rucker said.

Del Toro’s 45-day review found Virginia-class Block V submarines are running about 36 months behind schedule (Defense Daily, April 3).

Rucker noted the Navy’s investment in submarine shipbuilding is starting to have an effect as they push through earlier delays related to procurements for COVID-era submarine parts, but they are not moving as quickly as they want.

“Our goal at the end of this calendar year was to get 1.5 [attack submarines], we had a threshold of 1.3. Right now we’re tracking to the threshold value. We will not make the goal value…This is due to continued challenges we have with material delays.”

Rucker listed the “North Star” goals of reaching production rates of one Columbia-class plus two SSNs per year, what the service calls 1+2, supporting 80 percent operationally available SSNs annually, and delivering improved capability like torpedo production and associated systems.

Rucker said one factor in failing to meet the higher production goals is something they call sequence ripple materials, when delays in some parts impact the ability to build the boats in the order they are supposed to be built. The submarines are then built out of sequence, a less efficient process.

He said the industrial base’s workforce attrition, proficiency and efficiency also all have to improve further.

“Across all these areas we’re executing an aggressive enterprise improvement plan to get after and continue to drive the things we need to. The industrial base investments I talked about are targeted to specifically help in these areas. For material, for the suppliers that we’ve invested in – we are already seeing over 10 percent improvement in delivery rates. We are seeing increased capacity in key market spaces. Think castings, forgings, fittings, pumps, valves, electrical, manufacturing, you name it. And there’s more to come,” Rucker said.

However, Rucker admitted to an audience consisting largely of submarine industrial base vendors that the Navy will have a hard time achieving their “North Star” goals.

Brandin Lawrence, Submarine Survey (Inspection/Repairs) Branch Head at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF), talks to Rear Adm. Jonathon Rucker, Program Executive Office, Attack Submarines (PEO SSN), during a tour of USS Illinois (SSN 786) at PHNSY & IMF in Nov. 2024 (Photo: U.S. Navy by Justice Vannatta) — Brandin Lawrence, Submarine Survey (Inspection/Repairs) Branch Head at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF), talks to Rear Adm. Jonathon Rucker, Program Executive Office, Attack Submarines (PEO SSN), during a tour of USS Illinois (SSN 786) at PHNSY & IMF. Rucker is visiting the four public shipyards as part of his Strategic Priorities outreach and feedback gathering to focus on improving submarine maintenance and maintenance availabilities. PHNSY & IMF is the largest, most comprehensive Fleet repair and maintenance facility between the U.S. West Coast and the Far East and provides a capable, ready and “Fit to Fight” Fleet. (U.S. Navy photo by Justice Vannatta)

“I’ll be frank, today there’s some risk to achieving all these goals. We have done great things and we’ve made progress, but more is needed. So this is our North Star. If you are not losing sleep every night and you’re not focusing enough, this is the challenge of our time.

Rucker told reporters that most of the worst COVID-era submarine material delays are behind them.

“So the material challenges we had back as we started to have the problems in the ‘18-’19 time frame, all that material now is starting to have to finish getting delivered for Block V [submarines]. So all the investments we’re making have less of a positive impact on boats that you ordered material before we made the investments.”

Rucker said the 1+2 goal for 2028 dates back to a realistic production ramp up the Navy created when he started at this job in 2022.

However, he noted SSNs actually reached a production rate of 1.85 attack submarines per year before the COVID-19 pandemic, but that has been pushed back to the 1.1 to 1.2 range. Now they are dealing with the post-COVID challenges of a less-skilled workforce, higher labor costs, supplier delays in delivering parts, and increased production rates while also adding in pressure on full production of the Columbia-class submarine.

Rucker confirmed the new 1.3 to 1.5 range building to two SSNs by 2028 still works within plans for AUKUS, the trilateral partnership with Australia, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.

“In any acquisition program we have a goal and a threshold, and the goal is to get there. So the threshold, end of this year was 1.3 with a goal of 1.5. So we’re going to fall kind of in between that. So it still enables us to get to AUKUS in the early 2030s.”

Under AUKUS Pillar I, the U.S. Navy plans to sell Australia three to five Virginia-class submarines in the 2030s before they can start producing their own SSN-AUKUS submarines in the 2040s.

Rucker also told reporters the industrial base needs to hire 140,000 gross new workers by the end of the decade to support the 1+2 production rate and ultimately 2.33 Virginia-class submarines annually in the 2030s to make up for sales to Australia.

This translates into about 14,000 new industry workers per year. He confirmed this number accounts for attrition so the final numbers will be lower, but they are keeping an eye on attrition rates.

Rucker said while those figures assume attrition remains at historical or slightly above historical rates, it is currently “still a little higher than we wanted.” If attrition cannot get lower into the planned range, he said they will have to account for that too.

He argued these numbers are realistic by using the example of new hires in 2023, the first year of this push.

In 2023 the Navy and industry were able to reach over 9,700 new shipbuilding industrial base workers off a goal of 10,000, before that number was later raised to 14,000 to also cover sustainment, Rucker said.

He noted that figure only includes primary suppliers so the figure might be closer to the goal when including sub-prime suppliers.

“So we were pretty close. That was the first year we tried…and that was not even learning from what we’d done. So this year, we are on track to continue. And I don’t know the final numbers yet. We’ll see. It is easier to track the shipbuilders and public shipyards than it is 15,000 suppliers.”

MDA Awards Northrop Grumman $541 Million In Hypersonic Missile Defense Work After Downselect

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) last week awarded Northrop Grumman [NOC] $541 million in five, single year firm-fixed-price contract options as part of it winning the competition to develop and build the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI).

The award, announced Nov. 13, is part of the current research and development Prototype Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement with the company. The contract increases that current agreement from nearly $292 million to about $833 million.

The DoD announcement confirmed this award is in line with MDA’s selection in of Northrop Grumman over over RTX [RTX] for the GPI program (Defense Daily, Sept. 25).

The announcement last week said Northrop Grumman will “continue performance under their existing OTA agreement” and “will further develop and define its Glide Phase Interceptor design concept.”

This work will occur at the company’ Chandler, Ariz., facility and is estimated to be finished by Nov. 2029.

The government obligated $24.6 million in fiscal year 2025 research and development funds at the time of award.

MDA first downselected to Northrop Grumman and RTX and eliminated Lockheed Martin [LMT] in 2022 to continue refining GPI concepts (Defense Daily, June 24, 2022).

In April, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, argued the most recent downselect was conducted earlier than previously planned due to budgeting issues. MDA originally planned to push the downselect after the preliminary design review (Defense Daily, April 16).

Northrop Grumman previously said its design includes a re-ignitible upper stage engine and dual engagement mode to intercept target across various altitudes.

MDA plans for GPI to start delivery in the mid-2030s given technology maturation and system design, but Congress pushed initial operational capability to 2029 and full operational capability to 2032 in the fiscal year 2024 defense authorization act (Defense Daily, Dec. 21, 2023).

Top SASC Dems Urge Probe Of Musk’s Reported Putin Talks, Potential Review Of SpaceX Deals

The top Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) are calling on the Pentagon and Department of Justice to investigate SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s reported contacts with high-level Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, to determine whether the U.S. government should review its contracts with the company.

SASC Chair Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) also reached out to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall stating that Musk’s reported Russian conversations raise concerns with the U.S. Space Force’s “overreliance” on SpaceX for national security space activities, and stated the need to increase competition for such work.

Elon Musk at SATELLITE 2020. Photo: Via Satellite

“These relationships between a well-known U.S. adversary and Mr. Musk, a beneficiary of billions of dollars in U.S. government funding, pose serious questions regarding Mr. Musk’s reliability as a government contractor and a clearance holder. We urgently call upon the U.S. government to open an investigation up to and including a determination by the senior debarment official of the Department of Defense, consistent with section 4654 of title 10 United States Code, to determine whether this behavior should force a review of Mr. Musk’s continued involvement in SpaceX’s varying contracts with the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community,” Reed and Shaheen wrote in their letter to DoD Inspector General Robert Storch and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

An Oct. 25 report from the Wall Street Journal stated that Musk had multiple high-level conversations with Putin as early as 2022 and had “sustained contact” with Russian officials, including Putin’s deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiriyenko.

“Communications between Russian government officials and any individual with a security clearance have the potential to put our security at risk. That is why there exists a strict reporting regime for any such foreign contacts,” Reed and Shaheen wrote in their letter to Storch and Garland.

The two Senators have called on DoD and the DoJ to conduct an “immediate review” to determine whether Musk’s reported Russian conversations warrant a further investigation and determination if SpaceX should be excluded from involvement in current or future U.S. government contracts.

Reed and Shaheen note that “SpaceX is deeply integrated into our defense and intelligence space programming,” with the company currently holding billions of dollars in U.S. government contracts, to include: $700 million in contracts as one of the primes on the National Security Space Launch program, supporting NASA crew transport, developing the Space Forces’ Starshield satellite network, providing Starlink satellite communications services and a $1.8 billion classified contract with the National Reconnaissance Office.

“Mr. Musk’s reported behavior could pose serious risks to national security, and as CEO of a company with billions of dollars in sensitive defense and intelligence contracts, warrant reconsideration of SpaceX’s outsized role in DoD’s commercial space integration,” Reed and Shaheen said.

In their separate letter to Kendall, the two Senators raise the same concerns over Musk’s reported Russian contacts and state they “bring into question the DoD and IC’s use of SpaceX’s satellites for the U.S.’ most sensitive military operations.”

“It also underscores the importance of encouraging competition in the commercial space industry to avoid overreliance on a single provider for national security purposes,” Reed and Shaheen wrote to Kendall.

Reed and Shaheen specifically cite concern over SpaceX’s Starlink as “the only commercial service available to offer global broadband connectivity in low-Earth orbit.”

“Overreliance on one provider to facilitate space communications limits our options should the behavior of the provider run contrary to U.S. national security interests – as may well be the case with Mr. Musk’s reported ties to Russian officials. A robust and competitive space industrial base with multiple providers is the only way the department can ensure there are options to maintain access to this critical capability in the event of a crisis or conflict,” Reed and Shaheen said.

In their letter, Reed and Shaheen request a briefing by December 1 on Kendall’s findings related to potential overreliance on SpaceX services and on efforts to increase competition among commercial space capability providers.

President-elect Donald Trump announced that Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will co-lead a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the next administration, which he said is intended to “pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies” (Defense Daily, Nov. 13).

While the DOGE will serve in a more advisory capacity and Musk won’t hold an official government position, the effort is likely to raise concerns about conflicts of interest and the potential for decisions that would benefit his standing with government contracts (Defense Daily, Nov. 14).

Defense Watch: Duckworth on Hegseth, Gray Eagle Demo, UAS Prohibition

Hegseth Opposition. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has asked her colleagues on the panel to oppose Pete Hegseth’s nomination to serve as President-elect Trump’s defense secretary, calling him “wholly unqualified.” “This pick is dangerous, plain and simple. Being secretary of defense is a very serious job, and putting someone as dangerously unqualified as Pete Hegseth into that role is something that should scare all of us. By choosing to put a TV personality with little experience running much of anything in charge of the Defense Department’s almost 3 million troops and civilian employees, Donald Trump is once again proving he cares more about his MAGA base than keeping our nation safe—and our troops, our military families and our national security will pay the price.” Duckworth is a combat veteran who served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years, and lost both of her legs while serving in combat in Iraq in 2004. Hegseth, a Fox News host and Army veteran, said in a recent interview he doesn’t believe women should serve in combat roles in the military, adding he believes “men in those positions are more capable.”

Appetite Suppressant. While schedule–rapid development and fielding–is king for the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), the “appetite suppressant on adding things into [CCA] Increment 1 is that our original plan, and the funding that was laid in, was for two increments,” says Air Force Col. Timothy Helfrich, the senior materiel leader of Air Force Materiel Command’s advanced aircraft division. “You don’t need to get everything into Increment 1. What we have to do is get it out there with minimum viable capability on time and on budget.”

Gray Eagle/South Korea. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. on November 12 conducted a demonstration of its Gray Eagle Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) drone taking off from a South Korean warship and landing at a ground base, the Pohang Navy Airfield. GA-ASI said the demo, conducted in partnership with Hanwha Aerospace, was the first-ever such mission for the drone. “We applaud the South Korean navy for its foresight in examining the unique capability of GE STOL for its fleet. This demonstration illustrates the ability of the GE STOL to safely operate on many types of aircraft-capable ships, which opens myriad new ways our allies can use this UAS to support multi-domain naval operations,” GA-ASI CEO Linden Blue said in a statement. GA-ASI said South Korea is in the process of evaluating the Gray Eagle STOL to potentially meet emerging requirements, noting that officials from the country’s navy and army supported the recent demo aboard the Dokdo, which is designed for helicopter operations. Gray Eagle STOL’s flight proves that navies can add significant new capability without costly major modifications to their existing warships,” Adm. Yang Yong-Mo, South Korea’s chief of naval operations, said in a statement.

CPS Rounds. Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, director of Strategic Systems Programs, told reporters during the Naval Submarine League’s annual symposium Nov. 14 that the FY ‘25 budget plan to push some Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic weapon rounds to the FY ‘26 budget will not affect the current testing and development process and its related delays. The Navy plans to emplace CPS rounds in Zumwalt-class destroyers before moving on to Virginia Payload Module-equipped submarines, but the timeline for the former has been pushed back due to delays in the overall test program. “It’s really a funding balancing issue…obviously, the Navy’s got a lot of programs that they’ve got to run, and so it’s really a balance of what’s the right time to procure these and keep as much as they can. So that’s what was a big driver in that.” Wolfe said the CPS rounds are merely capacity and Navy decisions on how many to procure, which does not affect installation of missile tubes and getting the capability ready.

SSN-794. HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding redelivered the Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS Montana (SSN-794) on Nov. 12 following completion of a post-shakedown availability (PSA) maintenance period. PSAs typically follow new ship delivery and this one included combat systems and electronics upgrades. SSN-794 is the 21st overall Virginia-class submarine, and the 10th delivered by HII. The Navy previously commissioned the boat on June 25, 2022.

Greece FMS. The State Department on Nov. 14 said it has approved a potential $160 million foreign military sale with Greece covering support services for engines on its F-16 fighter aircraft. The deal for services in support of Greece’s GE Aerospace F110 engines includes engine components, parts and accessories, major and minor modifications, repair and return support, software delivery and support and U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services. “The proposed sale will improve Greece’s capability to maintain its F-16 aircraft fleet, which it operates to promote security in the Eastern Mediterranean,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.

Battery Deal. Supermaterials company Lyten last week acquired battery manufacturing assets from Cuberg to accelerate domestic production of lithium-sulfur batteries to meet growing demand for defense, drone, and energy storage applications. Lyten, based in San Jose, Calif., said it will expand Cuberg’s nearby facility to enable up to 175 megawatt hours of lithium-sulfur batter production in the San Francisco Bay Area at full capacity. Drone manufacturer AEVEX Aerospace, which is partnered with Lyten, said the two companies are “pushing the boundaries of innovation in national security.” In October, Lyten said it plans to build a gigafactory in Nevada that can manufacture up to 10 gigawatt hours of lithium-sulfur batteries annually using a U.S. materials supply chain.

P-LEO Integration. Boeing’s Insitu unit this month said its Integrator unmanned aircraft system can now leverage proliferated-low Earth orbit (P-LEO) satellite communication control, offering customers more options for beyond line-of-sight control. Integrator is already integrated with geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO) satellite communications. GEO is a proven solution for customers with well defined mid- and low-latitude operational areas” while “the developing P-LEO and medium Earth orbit constellations offer global solutions with less specialized infrastructure,” Steven Todorov, Integrator product manager, told Defense Daily. “The low latency associated with MEO and P-LEO constellations mitigate impacts on command and control, and payload operations while unlocking net-enable capabilities.” The 165-pound Integrator can fly up to 2,000 nautical miles with more than 27 hours of endurance.

UAS Prohibition. The Biden administration last week published an interim rule prohibiting the procurement and operation—and the use of federal funds for the procurement and operation—of unmanned aircraft systems from covered foreign entities, which is largely aimed at Chinese-built drones. The Feb. 12 notice in the Federal Register applies to the Defense Department, NASA, and the General Services Administration, which supports the federal government in part through procurement services. The interim rule does allow exemptions in some cases for DoD, the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and Transportation, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Shutting Down. Startup supersonic aircraft and drone developer Exosonic last week said it is winding down operations due to a lack of customer support. “Although the founders and team still believe in the need/desire for quiet supersonic flight and supersonic drones for the U.S. Dept. of Defense, without further customer support for either concept, the company cannon sustain the cash needs to make further advancements,” Exosonic posted on LinkedIn. In April, the Los Angeles-based company flew a subscale supersonic UAS. Exosonic is offering to sell its intellectual property.

Help for Archimedes. Space technology company Rocket Lab last week said it received $8 million from the Air Force Research Lab that will allow the company to explore digital engineering concepts related to its Archimedes oxidizer-rich staged combustion cycle rocket engine that will power the reusable first stage of the Neutron launch vehicle and its second stage. The first Neutron launch is planned for mid-2026. “AFRL has been focusing on digital engineering research, demonstration, and implementation, and this provides an early foray into implementing digital engineering int a launch vehicle vendor’s development,” Frank Friedly, AFRL’s digital engineering lead, said in a statement. In addition to helping AFRL and the Space Force modernize their engineering processes, the funding will also support development of Archimedes.

SRM Help. Solid rocket motor (SRM) developer X-Bow Systems and Texas State University signed a cooperative research and development agreement whereby the school will help the startup build a modern SRM test facility on the Freemen Center research facility in San Marcos, Texas. The test and validation capabilities will complement work at X-Bow’s SRM facilities in Luling, Texas. “We’re excited to leverage Texas State’s significant expertise in fields such as materials science, automation and advanced manufacturing,” Max Vozoff, chief technology officer of X-Bow, said last week. “This agreement enables us to push the boundaries of solid rocket motor technology and contribute to the development of advance propulsion systems for national defense, space exploration, and scientific endeavors.”

CHAOS Raise. Defense technology startup CHAOS Industries has raised $145 million in a Series B round, bringing total funding garnered by the company to $215 million since its inception in 2022. The new funding will be used to accelerate development of the Los Angeles-based company’s advanced detection, monitoring, and communication solutions to the defense and commercial sectors. CHAOS is developing products based on coherent distributed networks, a technology that enables improved performance for sensors and effectors. The company’s first product is a multistatic commercial radar that improves early warning and tracking capabilities against drones, missiles, and aircraft. The funding round was led by Accel, with participation from 8VC, Overmatch Ventures, Lerner Enterprises, and existing insiders.

People News. Boeing’s board has elected Tim Buckley as a director, effective Jan. 1, 2025. Buckley, 55, previously was chairman and CEO of the investment management firm The Vanguard Group. He will sit on Boeing’s Finance, and Governance & Public Policy committees. Lockheed Martin last week said that Jeh Johnson resigned from the company’s board effective Nov. 13 after nearly seven years as director. Lockheed Martin said the resignation did not involve any disagreements with the company’s operations, policies or practices. Johnson served as homeland security secretary in the Obama administration.

New Glenn. Blue Origin says that it has an agreement with AST SpaceMobile to launch the latter’s Block 2 BlueBird communications satellites to low Earth orbit on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla. The first New Glenn rocket is to launch this year. AST SpaceMobile “is building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network designed for both commercial and government applications,” the companies say. “It will operate directly with everyday smartphones and allow seamless switching between terrestrial cell towers and satellite signals depending on location and coverage needs.”

Osprey Maintenance. The Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) last week announced the induction of its first Navy CMV-22B Osprey for maintenance in August. This milestone marked how the depot now services all three variants of the Osprey, alongside the Marine Corps MV-22B and Air Force CV-22. FRCE is now set to take responsibility for maintenance on the Navy’s east coast-based CMV-22B fleet. FRCE V-22 Branch Head Allen Williamson said the depot will provide Planned Maintenance Interval (PMI) 1 service to the CMV-22B aircraft, which he expects will closely mirror the PMI-1 evolutions previously performed on the MV-22B, which the depot has worked on since 2009.

T-54A. Textron Aviation received a $277 million Navy contract modification on Nov. 14 exercising options for production and delivery of another 26 T-54A multi-engine training system aircraft. This is divided into 24 aircraft under Lot 3 and two under a Lot 2 plus up option. The work will largely occur in Corpus Christi, Texas and is expected to be finished by Sept. 2026. The Navy received its first two new T-54As in April and plans to ultimately procure 64 T-54s total to replace the aging T-44C for use in training Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and allied aviators for multi-engine aircraft fleets.

New INDUS-X Challenge. The Defense Innovation Unit in partnership with the U.S. Space Forces-Indo Pacific, the Space Systems Command, and India’s Innovations for Defence Excellence has opened a $150,000 prize challenge seeking solutions to detect and track satellites in contested environment in low Earth orbit. DIU and its partners want solutions that can dynamically track satellites attempting to evade detection over the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility. The India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) aims to integrate the defense innovation bases of both countries. The third INDUS-X challenge is open through Jan. 9, 2025.

A&D Platform. Global electronics company Molex last week agreed to acquire AirBorn, Inc., a manufacturer of electronic connectors and electrical components, creating a platform for Molex’s aerospace and defense business. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in December, were not disclosed. “Combining Molex’s engineering breadth and manufacturing scale with AirBorn’s expertise in ruggedized, mission-critical products will enable us to better serve the evolving needs of our customers in this fast-growing global market,” Molex CEO Joe Nelligan said in a statement. Wells Fargo Securities is Texas-based AirBorn’s financial advisor and Illinois-based Molex is being advised by Evercore.

Michigan M3. The Navy and Macomb Community College launched the Michigan Maritime Manufacturing (M3) Initiative’s Accelerated Training Industry Partnership at the college’s Michigan Technical Education Center on Nov. 8. The Navy said this marks the start of training the next generation of maritime manufacturing workers in the Greater Detroit area. The first 16-week, 600-hour cohort was due to start classes Nov. 12 split between welding and CNC machining programs. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced the initial M3 Initiative in July, which represents over $50 million in investment for the future Michigan manufacturing workforce. The Navy noted this seeks to support Michigan’s manufacturing supply chain that includes over 400 businesses supporting naval nuclear programs, 175 of them in Greater Detroit.

Hector Pelayo – Tyto Athene

In this monthly column, Defense Daily highlights individuals from across the government, industry and academia whose efforts contribute daily to national defense, from the program managers to the human resource leaders, to the engineers and logistics officers.

Hector Pelayo is the group president for Space, Air and Sea at Tyto Athene. A U.S. Army veteran with over 20 years of experience in the aerospace and defense industry, Pelayo currently leads a portfolio of solutions and services that support the Air Force, Space Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and other strategic defense organizations. As AT&T’s Executive Director and Client Executive, Public Sector, Air Force and Space Force, Hector successfully managed the divesture, transition, and integration of AT&T GSI to Tyto Athene in 2021.

How did you get involved in the defense industry or community?

I enlisted in the Army when I was 17 and served in uniform for eight years. While in the Army, I was granted a security clearance – when I transitioned to civilian life, my security clearance helped me gain an interview and career opportunity with AT&T Public Sector. I started supporting what is now Space Systems Command in various roles across the Space Superiority mission area.

This wasn’t a planned career path per se, but the opportunity became available to me because of my previous military experience. I worked my way up at AT&T from an individual contributor to program manager to director and kept climbing the corporate ladder to where I am today as Group President of Space, Air and Sea at Tyto Athene.

What are some challenges you faced working through your career?

I never envisioned having the career I’ve had or being in the position I am today. As a young enlisted (E1) Army Paratrooper, then fast forwarding to a role supporting DOD Space mission, to where I am today, it’s been an interesting journey. As in most careers, obstacles and challenges are part of the business – I try to look at these challenges as opportunities to learn, grow and bring value to the people I lead and work with as well as the team/company I represent and our customers.

Growing up in the 82nd Airborne Division, I was in team/squad, platoon-level leadership positions at a very young age. Later in my career, while at SMU, I was fortunate to be around great leadership. My eight-year Army career prepared me for civilian life, the competitive business environment, and it continues to positively impact my overall life today. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have served and still be around to benefit from my service.

I benefited greatly from the challenges and lessons learned from my military career. I was in positions of Private E1 to Sergeant First Class (E7), so my roles were mostly tactical. I have an appreciation for tactics and execution of a plan. This compliments my formal education and experience, where I continue to be a student of strategy. As Sun Tzu wrote: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

How do you work to be a mentor yourself to younger counterparts?

I’m always aware of my role, position and title, and try to keep that at the forefront when interacting with counterparts of all ages and experience levels to demonstrate being a good role model. My counterparts are able to see how I carry myself, my work ethic, and overall leadership style, and maybe even learn a thing or two from it. That said, I aim to stay true to my core values and always be authentic so that my message is genuine.

In addition to that, I recently started volunteering with the Space Force Association’s, Los Angeles Chapter, Guardian program, as a mentor to those who are in uniform. Modeled after the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Cadet Sponsor program, the Guardians program helps those aged 18-24 adjust to their first permanent change of duty station – focusing on quality of life to help Guardians feel connected. Through this program, we share our experiences, and I help answer important career questions for mentees. I’ve helped some of these folks in their transition to the private sector post-military service, especially within the defense industry.

What does it mean to be successful in your career field?

Success is defined differently from person to person. For me, it’s about having a business strategy that is centered around taking care of our people and our clients. If we can master these two areas, the likelihood of achieving or exceeding the desired business outcomes highly increases.

Businesses can’t deliver for its customers without taking care of their people first. When you invest in your employees and foster a positive work environment, it elevates outcomes across business units. At Tyto Athene, we build loyalty with our employees, customers and clients, which further builds our brand equity too.

What are some of the under-appreciated positions in the defense field, the unsung heroes or essential cogs in the machine that help the job get done with less recognition?

In the defense industry, there are quite a few unsung heroes that are critical. Strategic guidance, pricing analysts, contract specialists and human resources and talent management are the first people that come to mind. We need the right people in every position just like a football team.

These people often fly under the radar because they’re not customer facing, but they have a massive impact on our company’s talent, in turn affecting the future of our work for customers and their experience with Tyto.

How can the industry improve in promoting these individuals and building them up?

While most of these folks aren’t customer-facing, we should elevate their positions to be “industry-facing” by generating awareness of what they do behind the scenes. At industry events, there could be a panel dedicated to their contributions. Industry needs to appreciate all the work that goes into making a great final product. All of these unsung heroes care about the mission and delivering quality solutions and services.

What is your advice for new entrants to the defense/military community?

Be strategic, but make sure you have the right tactics to support your strategy. This means doing your homework. Research the target market you plan on operating in, understand the mission area(s), the challenges theses clients face, and know how your company’s value proposition can help solve such challenges.

When it comes selecting your employer, make sure it aligns with your core values. I encourage everyone to build your network and create a support system that can help you grow and become better at your craft. Although the defense industry is a multi-billion-dollar a year industry, it’s made up of small communities centered around a specific mission area. Therefore, don’t burn bridges – you never know who you might cross paths with again.

Finally, enjoy success but don’t settle. There’s a quote from Roy Vaden, which I truly live by: “Success is never owned. It is only rented – and the rent is due every day.”

We have to be ready to put in that work – the grind, every day.

What do you see as the future of your sector in national defense?

Across Tyto Athene, I’m extremely excited about the journey ahead for us. Part of that excitement comes from the recent acquisition of MindPoint Group which brings exceptional cyber capabilities and talent that strengthen our value proposition.

We’ve also had another recent acquisition of a space-focused software engineering company, Microtel, that adds immense value to our Tyto Athene team and brings with it a great new client with NASA. These recent acquisitions show our growth and strengthen our ability to use those capabilities across adjacent markets as we expand our new business pipeline. I can’t wait to see how we’ll continue to support customers, old and new, across the defense and civilian sectors.

Who are the Force Multipliers in your community? Let us know at [email protected].

Coast Guard Announces Preferred Basing Option For Future Polar Icebreakers In Seattle

The Coast Guard last Friday announced its preferred alternative to modernize and expand its port facilities in Seattle to eventually accommodate up to eight polar icebreakers.

The service after mid-December will make a final decision among four potential alternatives for Base Seattle, the Coast Guard’s largest installation in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle is host to the Coast Guard’s current fleet of polar icebreakers, the heavy cutter Polar Star, and the medium cutter Healy.

The Coast Guard’s preferred alternative calls for acquiring between 27 and 54 acres from the Port of Seattle to give it more than 1,070 linear feet of new berthing space. The purchase would include two existing berths that are “structurally adequate,” a deal the service said would be cost effective because it would not have to build new berths.

The preferred option would also include construction of several new facilities.

The Coast Guard is working with its stakeholders at the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma to “figure out the best way forward” for all, Vice Adm. Thomas Allen, the service’s deputy commandant for mission support, told a House panel last Thursday.

Congress appropriated $100 million in fiscal year 2024 toward future plans for Base Seattle and the Coast Guard is seeking $180 million for the project in FY ’25, Thomas said.

“It’s going to be expensive to bring these new cutters into a very compact area and put them where they need to be with the infrastructure support that they need to make sure that they’re ready to go, as we talked about with eight to nine of them over time and continued presence up in the Arctic and Antarctic,” Thomas said in response to questions from Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), the ranking member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The Coast Guard’s fleet mix analysis calls for eight to nine new polar icebreakers consisting of heavy and medium variants. Bollinger Shipyards is currently under contract for the first two polar security cutters, heavy icebreakers that would replace the Polar Star beginning in 2030 if plans go to schedule.

A second alternative in the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement would acquire up to 30 acres to provide 1,120 linear feet of new wharf space and the construction of two new berths. A third alternative would acquire up to 32 acres and 560 linear feet and include one ready berth and the construction of a new one.

A fourth option is to do nothing but would not fulfill the Coast Guard’s basing requirements in Seattle, the service said.

The Coast Guard said it will not make a final decision until at least Dec. 16.

CCA Challenge: Accommodating Sensor Processing to Meet Size, Weight, Power, Cost Goals

The U.S. Air Force’s future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) may need a significant amount of processing power for sensors and mission autonomy, and the service and industry thus face a challenge of ensuring that the drones meet size, weight, and power constraints at an Air Force targeted unit cost of $30 million or less.

“When you start talking about, on the sensor processing side, [the need for] 20 to 25 teraflops, each teraflop is one trillion calculations in a second, ” Mike Shortsleeve, the vice president of strategy and business development at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, said at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies’ inaugural Future of Airpower forum last Wednesday.

“That’s huge–just on the sensor side, dig through the clutter, find out what it [the object] is…a lot of compute processing power,” he said. “Things have gotten better–smaller, cheaper–to be able to do things, but, for us, the big aspect of this is on the sensing side where the bulk of that processing is gonna take place. What we have done, from a surrogate testing perspective, with this is we’ve looked at putting processing on one aircraft, and it feeds the others [aircraft]. We’ve done this in a live, virtual construct as well.”

“We’re trying to figure out different ways to make that happen,” he said of reducing SWaP-C–size, weight, power and cost–for CCA. “Processing, while the outlook is good, is still challenging.”

In April, the Air Force said that it had chosen General Atomics and another privately-held drone maker, Anduril Industries, for the first round of CCA–the so-called Increment 1 (Defense Daily, Apr. 24). General Atomics offered its Gambit design and Anduril its Fury.

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, including a manned Next Generation Air Dominance aircraft and the F-15EX.

The Air Force is refining its concept for CCA Increment 2 and has announced a buy of more Increment 1 CCAs (Defense Daily, Nov. 13).

“There is a huge opportunity to talk about data links [for CCA],” Mike Benitez, Shield AI‘s senior director of strategic product development and a former Air Force F-35 pilot, said at the Mitchell forum. “The data is so important. If you can make sense of that on something like a Wedgetail, an F-35, or an F-22, you can push that perception of the environment to the cognition core [on CCA], that is the real power of how you break the cost curve of these [CCA] platforms. Otherwise, you’re just going to have an unmanned F-35.”

Over the last four years, the Lockheed Martin [LMT] X-62 Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft (VISTA)–an autonomous F-16–flew more than a dozen dog fights in tests with traditional fighters in DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution experiments, and, though the X-62 had no “perception” sensors of its own, it received situational awareness data about where the “bandits” were over a data pod on the X-62’s wing, Benitez said.

To Support Sentinel in F.E. Warren Missile Fields, USAF May Build 1,600 to 2,000 Miles of Utility Corridors

The U.S. Air Force may need to fund 1,600 to 2,000 miles of utility corridors in 2026 through 2029 to support the Northrop Grumman [NOC] LGM-35A Sentinel in the missile fields attached to F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo.

“The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center anticipates a potential requirement for military construction (MILCON) of a Sentinel Utility Corridor at FEW AFB missile fields located within Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska,” the center said in a Friday business notice.

“This is a mission-critical effort to install/construct an estimated 1,600-2,000 miles of utility corridors,” according to the notice. “This project may include installation of conduits (trenching, boring, direction drilling), communication lines, construction of pull vaults and manholes, and boring under roadways, rivers, railways, etc. and the purchase/installation of the communications media. All facilities and utility systems will be permanent construction in accordance with applicable Department of Defense Unified Facilities Criteria, including but not limited to 1-200-01, General Building requirements and 4-010-01 Antiterrorism/Force Protection requirements. Additionally, the Utility Corridor will be equipped with water intrusion/control measures.”

The Air Force has said that it is evaluating how to restructure the Sentinel program and will develop a new acquisition strategy to allow the missile to pass the Milestone B benchmark by the end of 2026 (Defense Daily, Sept 4).

The fate of that review and Sentinel changes are up to the incoming Trump administration.

The Air Force has said that is going over Sentinel line item requirements to meet presidential and DoD guidance for system safety, security, maturity, and survivability. Such details include launch facility size, amount of concrete required, and fiber optic wiring versus the heavy copper wiring for the Minuteman III ICBM launch sites.

The Air Force Sentinel restructuring is to change the design of the ground segment of the missile to be “simpler” and “more affordable,” as the service replaces the Boeing [BA] Minuteman III with Sentinel, Hunter said.

The Air Force maintains the program will modernize “450 silos and more than 600 facilities across almost 40,000 square miles.”

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has said that he has recused himself from Sentinel decisions because of his previous consulting work for Northrop Grumman before he became secretary.

In July, following a Pentagon Nunn-McCurdy review, DoD said that it had reversed its 2020 decision to begin Sentinel engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) (Defense Daily, July 8). The overall cost of Sentinel has grown to nearly $141 billion, 81 percent greater than the September 2020 estimate.

“What we learned through the Nunn-McCurdy review is we didn’t get it right in Milestone B in 2020,” Hunter said in September. “This time we wanna get it right. It’s better to take a little more time than rush to restore Milestone B.”

The Air Force had targeted May 2029 for initial operational capability for Sentinel, but that date will be several years beyond 2029.

Teledyne FLIR Defense Nabs $168.3 Million Deal To Upgrade Army’s M1135 NBCRV Strykers

The Army has awarded Teledyne FLIR Defense [TDY] a five-year, $168.3 million deal to upgrade the sensor suite on M1135 Strykers, the variant of the vehicle used for nuclear, biological and chemical detection and surveillance.

Teledyne FLIR’s new low-rate initial production deal will begin with an initial $7.5 million order to upgrade 22 Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Reconnaissance (NBCRV) Stryker vehicles with the new sensor suite.

Test participants from the Reconnaissance Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 23rd Brigade Engineer Battalion, launch a Small Unmanned Aerial System to conduct remote detection of biological warfare agents, while conducting stand-off scanning with the Sensor Suite Upgrade on an M1135 variant Stryker (Photo by Tad Browning, Audiovisual Production Specialist, Test Documentation Team, U.S. Army Operational Test Command)

“The advanced sensor capabilities on NBCRV will help protect our troops from weapons of mass destruction and enhance mission success on future battlefields,” JihFen Lei, president of Teledyne FLIR Defense, said in a statement. “We’re honored to continue our work with the Army, leveraging our UAS platforms and remote sensing solutions to deliver the NBCRV Sensor Suite.”

The deal keeps Teledyne FLIR Defense as the incumbent integrator for the NBCRV sensor suite, with the company noting the upgraded package includes solutions such as the FLIR Defense R80D SkyRaider drone integrated with FLIR’s MUVE B330 biological detection payload.

“Also, a FLIR-developed command and control system integrates all devices and platforms with sensor fusion and automation features that lessen the cognitive burden on users and improve decision-making,” Teledyne FLIR Defense said in a statement.

The Army has previously detailed a demonstration with the sensor suite upgrades on M1135 NBCRVS in spring 2023 at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, and the service also conducted operational testing at the Yakima Training Center in Washington last October.

“We are fundamentally increasing the [U.S. Army’s] Chemical Corps’ ability to do this detection capability off-platform, standoff, without having a Soldier enter harm’s way. That is a significant improvement,” Lt. Col. Alan Stephens, joint product manager for reconnaissance and platform integration, said in an earlier statement following the testing at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Following the Aberdeen Proving Ground demo, the Army offered details of how the scenario and how the M1135s with the new sensor suite were deployed to detect and identify the simulated threat.

“The biological mission demonstration began with an aerosolized, simulated biological agent being sprayed as an anomaly cloud far from a compact standoff detection system. The system detects, tracks and maps aerosol clouds and provides waypoint location. After the system demonstrated that it detected and cloud-mapped the biological threat, the surveyor within the NBCRV launched the UAV, which was docked on the back of the NBCRV, and cued it via semiautonomous and waypoint navigation to go to the edge of the anomaly cloud,” the Army wrote at the time. “As the UAV, often referred to as ‘the bird,’ reached the front side of the cloud and descended to detection height, it let the cloud pass over it several times over a period of time to collect the sample, allowing the bio-sensing payload on the UAV to rapidly detect if a biological agent existed within the cloud, and notify a commander who could immediately make an informed decision, save lives and carry out the mission.”