Defense Daily

Navy Tests Solid Fuel Ramjet From Drone

The Navy recently launched a Solid Fuel Integral Rocket Ramjet (SFIRR) from an unmanned aircraft target drone for the first time in what it says is a step that advances air-launched missile technology.

The May 8 announcement by Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) said they launched the SFIRR from a Northrop Grumman [NOC] BQM-34 target drone over Point Mugu Sea Range in California.

NAWCWD argued SFIRR “simplifies missile propulsion by eliminating the complexity found in liquid fuel ramjet propulsion,” reducing weight and allowing missiles to carry more payloads and travel greater distances with more maneuverability.

The service said the test also integrated use of a fire control system on the BQM-34 for live firing, which it argued demonstrated advancements in high speed and long range weapon capabilities.

As the Lead Prototype Integrator, NAWCWD, boasted it only took 12 months to combine advanced propulsion, avionics and fire control technologies into the technology demonstrator, allowing quick turnover for potential operational use. Ultimately, the division argued that launching this kind of solid fuel ramjet weapons from an unmanned vehicle “can allow warfighters to safely engage targets from greater distances.”

Abbey Horning, product director of NAWCWD’s Advanced Concepts, Prototyping and Experimentation office, admitted that while solid fuel ramjet technology is not new, the test is proving its utility to modern missions. “We’re not just revisiting an old idea; we’re refining and modernizing it to fit today’s mission,” she said.

“This successful integration validates key aspects of our design and moves us closer to delivering an advanced propulsion system that will provide warfighters with greater range and speed,” Horning continued.

She said that beyond simplifying the propulsion and reducing weight by using solid-fueled technology, SFIRR also “offers a balance of affordability, reliability and performance tailored to the Navy’s operational needs.”

Ephraim Washburn, deputy director for energetics at NAWCWD, compared this ramjet advancement to automotive improvements while the base technology has been available for many decades.

Solid fuel ramjet technology previously had a major push in the 1970s and 1980s, but Washburn said now they hope to make it a ‘modern propulsion solution for the fleet today.”

Ramjet have historically usually used liquid fuel that mixes with atmospheric air to result in thrust at high speeds, but the military has remained interested in a more storable solid fuel.

Washburn said NAWCWD is now working to refine the SFIRR’s range endurance and targeting capabilities, but did specify next steps or timelines.

Back in 2010, GenCorp’s Aerojet announced a successful test of an advanced solid ramjet fuel in an engine ground test. Back then, Aerojet was part of GenCorp before the parent company bought rocket engine maker Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne from United Technologies Corp., renaming them as Aerojet Rocketdyne. Subsequently, Aerojet Rocketdyne was acquired by L3Harris Technologies in 2023 (Defense Daily, Aug. 15, 2010).

In 2022, Boeing [BA] said it and the Navy were co-developing a ramjet flight demonstrator missile, the Supersonic Propulsion Enabled Advanced Ramjet (SPEAR) flight demonstrator, with the Navy’s Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD). The company said the aim was to help develop a future carrier-based weapon (Defense Daily, Oct. 21, 2020).

DoD Weapons Portfolio Manager Ingraham Tapped To Be Army Acquisition Chief

President Trump has nominated Brent Ingraham, a Pentagon official who has held several roles overseeing weapons portfolios, to serve as the Army’s next acquisition chief.

If confirmed, Ingraham, who is currently the acting deputy under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, would take helm of the Army’s acquisition office as the service moves out on its new transformation initiative with cuts to legacy programs and bolstered investments in autonomous and unmanned technologies.

Brent Ingraham, nominee to be the Army’s next acquisition chief. Photo: DoD.

Ingraham was nominated for the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology (ASA (ALT)) role on April 29, according to a congressional notice, and would succeed Doug Bush, who held the position for the last four years.

During the second half of the Biden administration, Ingraham was the deputy assistant secretary of defense for platform and weapon portfolio management.

“In this position, he is responsible for managing and analyzing major platforms and weapons capability portfolios across the department – to include air, surface, cyber, and electronic warfare systems,” his DoD bio states.

Before that role, Ingraham served as executive director of the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell from July 2020 to July 2023, where he was responsible for “monitoring the progress and completion of actions to satisfy Urgent Operational Needs identified by the combatant commands.”

Ingraham, a member of the senior executive service, has also spent time in the Pentagon’s acquisition office as the director of surface warfare and as technical director for unmanned systems “where he was responsible for the acquisition, policy, governance and developing technology roadmaps for unmanned, robotic and autonomous systems portfolio,” according to his bio.

As ASA (ALT), Ingraham would have a key role in carrying out the new Army Transformation Initiative (ATI), which has already resulted in cutting the M10 Booker combat vehicle, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, Humvees, the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter and Gray Eagle drone programs and ending development of Improved Turbine Engine Program, the Future Tactical UAS and the Robotic Combat Vehicle (Defense Daily, May 8).

A recent memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which informed the ATI, also directed the Army to pursue a series of acquisition reforms, to include continuing its push for flexible funding authorities, expanding the use of Other Transaction Authority agreements “to enable faster prototyping and fielding of critical technologies,” including software, implementing performance-based contracting “to reduce waste” and expanding multi-year procurement agreements “when cost effective” (Defense Daily, May 1).

Defense Watch: FORGE, Cloud Contract, Another Super Hornet Lost, AFC/TRADOC Merger Name, TOC-L Protest

FORGEing Solutions. The Defense Innovation Unit last week issued the “FORGE: Foundry for Operational Readiness and Global Effects

” solicitation, which is getting after advanced manufacturing solutions to “boost production capacity and remove production bottlenecks for cast metal parts used in high-performance aeronautical systems.” DIU is open to novel manufacturing methods that support high rate production and achieve the government goals for survivability, reliability, and affordability. Responses are due by May 26.

Upcoming Cloud Contract. Acting Defense Department Chief Information Officer Katie Arrington says the next evolution of the department’s cloud computing service contract will broaden opportunities and take advantage of the “entire buying power of the Department of Defense.” There will be more small business opportunities, “that’s thing one,” she told a House Armed Services subcommittee last Thursday. “Looking forward to this contract and having the multitudes of capabilities out there, from large providers all the way to the micro providers,” she said. The “full force” of DoD’s buying power will include software-as-a-service, Arrington said, adding that a “core tenant” will be a zero trust approach to cybersecurity.

Hypersonic Navigation. Included in two recent successful flight tests of a hypersonic vehicle that reached sustained speeds above Mach 5 included Northrop Grumman’s Advanced Technology Hypersonic Technology Inertial Measurement Unit aboard the Stratolaunch Talon-A2 aircraft. The successful flights “move engineers one step closer to precisely navigating hypersonic vehicles in GPS-denied environments, further protecting the trajectory of the hypersonic vehicle from adversary threats,” Northrop Grumman said last week. “No inertial measurement system built today has been up to the task of navigation at hypersonic speed, until now,” Josei Chang, senior director of advanced technologies at Northrop Grumman’s Research and Development business unit, said in a statement.

Cislunar Awareness. A satellite designed to provide space situational awareness between Earth and the moon successfully completed hot fire testing in March, a critical milestone in Oracle-M’s readiness, Space Systems Command (SSC) said last week. The pathfinder satellite is “designed to provide persistent situational awareness in cislunar space, demonstrating new tracking and navigation capabilities essential for future space operations,” SSC said. “The mission will showcase tracking and tracking and trajectory estimation for monitoring cislunar objects, cloud-based ground operations with integrated government and contractor collaboration, and navigation and communications using affordable commercial ground systems.” SSC and the Air Force Research Laboratory are managing Oracle-M, which AFRL developed.

OSC Data Support. The Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital is interested in rapidly prototyping solutions that can leverage data to help it fulfil its mission of attracting and scaling private capital for critical supply chain technologies with commercial and national security applications. The four focus areas in the “Increasing Access to Data and Effective Knowledge Management” Area of Interest include credit-based financial tools to attract and scale investment in enabling and frontier technologies, teaming with private capital investors to co-develop critical technologies, identifying critical technologies developed by emerging international companies, and exemplary risk management. Solution briefs are due by May 19.

Drone Swarming Collab. Artificial intelligence and machine learning company Hardy Dynamics is leveraging BigBear.ai’s AI, data, and sensor orchestration platform, ConductorOS, to help drones operating in swarms work autonomously with each other. Hardy is working under a Direct-to-Phase II Small Business Innovation Research contract in support of an Army initiative under the Defense Department’s Project Linchpin that seeks to deliver trusted AI/ML capabilities to the Army’s Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare & Sensors.

Mesh Networking. Off-grid connectivity hardware and software supplier goTenna last week introduced its first mesh networking solution for integration on military and law enforcement platforms. The Pro X2m devices expands on goTenna’s Pro X2 radio used by tactical operators by integrating the “secure communications technology into autonomous and machine-based systems to bolster interoperability, situational awareness, and operator safety,” the company said. The New Jersey-based company says the X2m offers line-of-sight ranges from 15 to 55 miles and is difficult to detect.

Lionfish Cyber. Program Executive Officer for Unmanned and Small Combatants Rear Adm. Kevin Smith recently boasted that the Navy and industry partner HII’s Mission Technologies business segment have made “great strides” on the Lionfish small UUV. They are “quickly accumulating a number of firsts,” like making it the Navy’s first cybersecure UUV in the last weeks, he said May 7 during the International Mine Warfare Technology Symposium. Smith said other UUVs without the same level of cybersecurity protection will require “significant updates” to comply with a security classification guide set down by the Undersea Warfare Division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, N97.

…Acceleration. Notably, Smith said the kinds of accelerated acquisition the Navy used in Lionfish has saved over two years in time and money compared to typical acquisition. He argued Lionfish is a good example of how partnerships with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and other Other Transaction Authority (OTA) arrangements are “becoming more common than your typical program of record acquisition framework” on new unmanned systems. Smith also said Lionfish has more modularity than previous UUVs so they can more easily swap out sections like freshly charged batteries and new sensors, so it needs less maintenance or repairs. Smith said the Navy hopes “more companies will study that process, that success of Lionfish, and offer to pursue similar pathways of development, acquisition and broader use of innovation maintenance and strategies.”

Restoring T-10. The Navy is currently performing “significant revitalization” at Naval Air Systems Command’s T-10 Test Cell Facility at Patuxent River, Md., to allow engine testing in a noise-suppressed environment. T-10 has been closed for over a decade, but now the Navy said this restoration work is “essential for supporting the Engine Test Instrumentation Replacement System (ETIRS), a next-generation capability designed to improve engine performance evaluations across multiple aircraft platforms.” Once T-10 is operational again, it will provide a controlled, weather-independent testing environment that reduces reliance on more costly off-site evaluations and mitigates schedule risks. The Navy noted ETIRS will provide faster and more accurate diagnostics for Fleet Readiness Centers (Level II), Carrier Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Departments, and Marine Aviation Logistics Squadrons.

Formidable Shield 2025. The 2025 edition of the NATO At Sea Demonstration/Formidable Shield (ASD/FS) maritime exercise began on May 3, led by U.S. 6th Fleet. Executed by Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO), the biennial exercise in the North and Norwegian Seas and North Atlantic Ocean is the largest at-sea live-fire exercise in the European region. It aims to enhance alliance interoperability with a joint, Integrated Air and Missile Defense environment using NATO command and control reporting structures. This increment will include live-fire events against unmanned air and surface systems; subsonic, supersonic and ballistic targets; include multiple allied ships; multi-nation and service ground-based air defenses; and aviation forces working across multiple battlespaces. Participants include Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, U.K. and U.S. The Navy noted Australia is participating but only providing a radar sensor for data collection. Tis includes more than 16 ships, 27 aircraft, eight ground units, 6,900 personnel, and both the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

Another Lost Super Hornet. Another F/A-18E/F assigned to the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) was lost overboard on May 6, CNN first reported. The two-seater F/A-18F reportedly went overboard after an unsuccessful attempt to slow down when landing on the carrier. While both aviators safely ejected, the aircraft was lost in the Red Sea. This came a week after an F/A-18E was lost overboard with its tow tractor. Previously, in December one of the Super Hornets assigned to the carrier was shot down in a friendly fire incident by the USS Gettysburg (CG-64). No servicemembers have been lost in these incidents. CVN-75 started operating in the Red Sea in February, following emergency repairs in Greece after a collision with a merchant vessel in Egypt.

PEO SSN. Rear Adm. Jonathan Rucker, program Executive officer for Attack Submarines (SSN), visited Austal USA’s facility in Mobile, Ala., on May 8, touring their advanced ship manufacturing facility. He specifically saw progress made on the company’s construction of its new 369,600 square foot modular manufacturing facility, Module Manufacturing Facility-3 (MMF-3), designed to produce submarine modules. MMF 3 is one of the submarine industrial base outsourcing sites as the Navy works with prime submarine builders General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding to move more work outside their facilities to quicken boat construction. MMF-3 is expected to achieve initial operating capability by summer 2026. During his visit, Rucker saw seven submarine modules under construction.

TOC-L Protest. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has rejected a protest by Lockheed Martin of a U.S. Air Force $293 million award to Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) last year in the second round of the service’s competition to find an integrator for the Tactical Operations Center-Light (TOC-L) program under the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) effort. Lockheed Martin is the integrator for the first stage of the program–a three year effort which began in January 2023 and includes procurement of 16 TOC-L experimental systems and integration with sensors. Lockheed Martin contended that SAIC’s position as the cloud-based command and control (CBC2) contractor for the Air Force and SAIC’s membership in the digital infrastructure consortium create an organizational conflict of interest, but GAO agreed with the Air Force that the service’s systems engineering and design review processes had “mitigated” any OCI.

AFC/TRADOC Merger. With the Army planning to merge its modernization-focused Futures Command with Training and Doctrine Command, Gen. Randy George, the service’s chief of staff, told lawmakers this week the combined organization will be called Army Transformation and Training Command. The primary headquarters for the consolidated command will be in Austin, Texas, where Futures Command is currently located. The Army is combining the two organizations as part of its new transformation initiative.

Obadal Perspective. Michael Obadal, nominee to be Army under secretary, said during his confirmation hearing this week that Army leadership must give this merged AFC and TRADOC command “very specific outcomes and milestones to meet and define how they are going to streamline the requirements in the interests of the soldiers and defense industrial base.” “We know that we need to, according to the statements of the secretary, streamline our commands and our organizations. When I look at a merged TRADOC and AFC, I am confident that the Army can utilize the lessons learned over the last several years and apply them,” Obadal said.

Menace. Anduril Industries said on May 7 that its Menace family of expeditionary command and control capabilities is now the “preferred hardware platform” for Palantir’s Edge software. “Modern battlefield software relies on hardware that can survive and scale in the real world. With Palantir’s stack running natively on Menace systems, government operators get a software-defined solution that’s built to deploy fast, operate anywhere, and integrate with the systems they already use,” Anduril said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia/AMRAAMs. The State Department said on May 2 it approved a potential $3.5 billion deal with Saudi Arabia for 1,000 AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles and 50 AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM guidance sections. Along with the RTX-built AMRAAMs, the new foreign military sale (FMS) also includes missile containers, support equipment, spare parts and engineering, technical, and logistics support services. “This proposed sale will support the foreign policy goals and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that contributes to political stability and economic progress in the Gulf Region,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement.

Ukraine F-16 Support. The State Department on May 2 also approved a potential $310.5 million FMS case with Ukraine for equipment and service in support of the F-16 fighter jets that have been provided to Kyiv by international partners to assist in its fight against Russia. The deal includes aircraft modifications and upgrades, personnel training related to operation, maintenance and sustainment support, spare parts and engineering, technical and logistics support services. “The proposed sale will improve Ukraine’s capability to meet current and future threats by ensuring its pilots are effectively trained and by increasing its interoperability with the United States through comprehensive training with the U.S. Air Force. This proposed sale aligns with international coalition contributions for the establishment of Ukraine’s F-16 program and the overall modernization of Ukraine’s air force,” the DSCA said in a statement.

Czech and Norway FMS. The State Department on May 5 then approved two more possible FMS cases to include a $181 million deal with the Czech Republic for communications equipment and a $370.9 million sale of AIM-9X Block II Tactical Missiles to Norway. The deal with the Czech Republic includes AN/PYQ-10A(C) simple key loaders, AN/PRC-160, AN/PRC-163 and AN/PRC-167 radios, RF-300M-DL(C) small secure data links and support equipment, with L3Harris as prime contractor. The FMS case with Norway covers 300 RTX-built AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder tactical missiles, two AIM 9X Block II special air training missiles, 24 AIM 9X Block II captive air training missiles (CATM), 20 AIM 9X Block II Tactical guidance units and 20 AIM 9X Block II CATM guidance units.

Prospecting. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is seeking information from contractors who can get access to data and analysis on rare earth minerals and battery industrial sectors to improve the agency’s global view of trade. “This will allow NGA to monitor key developments in precious mineral markets, and the precious mineral global supply chains,” it says in a May 9 Request for Information titled, Prospector. Responses are due by June 9.

Oracle-M. The United States Space Force Space Systems Command and the Air Force Research Laboratory say that they conducted a hot fire test for the Oracle-M (Oracle-Mobility) pathfinder satellite at Edwards AFB, Calif. on March 16-21 to improve cislunar space situational awareness. The test’s propulsion featured Hall Effect thrusters fueled by Xenon gas with propellant management and power processing units. “This test marks a major step toward ensuring Oracle-M’s readiness for its upcoming mission to monitor and track objects as they traverse cislunar space, the vast region between Earth and the Moon,” the organizations said. “The mission will showcase tracking and trajectory estimation for monitoring cislunar objects, cloud-based ground operations with integrated government and contractor collaboration, and navigation and communications using affordable commercial ground systems. It will also support data collection and distribution to those charged with maintaining cislunar situational awareness.”

HIMARS Award. The Army on May 9 awarded Lockheed Martin a $742.2 million firm fixed price contract for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launchers. Work on the new HIMARS production deal is expected to be completed by the end of May 2027.

Embraer Shows KC-390 to Military, Congressional Staff at Joint Base Andrews

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md.—Embraer brought its KC-390 jet tanker/transport to show to companies and Pentagon officials at the recent Aerial Refueling Systems Advisory Group (ARSAG) International meeting in Las Vegas and Special Operations Week in Tampa, Fla.

Visits to the plane included one by Air Force Gen. John Lamontagne, the head of Air Mobility Command.

On Thursday, the Brazilian Air Force KC-390 was again on display here, as Embraer showed the plane to U.S. military and congressional officials.

The company is seeking to make significant inroads in the U.S. market with the KC-390–an opportune time, as Pentagon officials say deterrence of China is their top priority and as the U.S. Air Force implements Agile Combat Employment (ACE) for far flung locations in the Indo-Pacific and elsewhere.

Embraer says the KC-390 can land on short, austere runways, air drop from 36,000 feet, and has an open architecture self-protection suite, including Elbit Systems

‘ directed infrared countermeasures, digital radar warning receiver, infrared missile warning system, laser warning system, electronic warfare pods, and chaff and flares.

Embraer also believes the Millenium could find a special operations niche.

“The KC-390 is raising a lot of eyebrows for special ops-type of missions with all its connectivity and capabilities, ” said Frederico Lemos, the chief commercial officer of Embraer Defense & Security.

Emerging needs for the U.S. Air Force look to be more air refueling booms and autonomous drones, including possibly thousands under the service’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.

“We see the KC-390 as a strong contender for what we also see–the need for tanking–more tanking, more booms, more baskets in the air,” Lemos said. “The 390 is here in production, ready to contribute to that effort for the U.S. and partner nations and increasing its capacity for tanking, for airlift, special missions, ISR, and palletized effects.”

The Air Force’s Analysis of Alternatives for the Next Generation Air Refueling System–a possibly stealthy tanker–has been examining required runway size, fuel carriage for long-range missions, and the need for tanker stealth.

The KC-390’s Eaton Corp. [ETN] wing refueling pod supports probe-and-drogue “basket” tanking, used by U.S. Navy fighters.

Among the KC-390 buys so far are 19 for Brazil, 5 for Portugal, 5 for the Netherlands, four for Austria, three for South Korea, two for Hungary, and two for the Czech Republic.

Embraer had been developing a boom with L3Harris Technologies [LHX] for the KC-390, but the uncertain future for the U.S. Air Force tanking fleet contributed to L3Harris pulling out last October, and Embraer has been looking for new partners on the boom project.

Embraer and L3Harris had started their boom development in 2022 as part of a range of refueling options, including a remote system, for the KC-390 to allow the plane to offload 75,000 pounds of fuel, about 30 percent the advertised capacity of a Boeing [BA] KC-46A Pegasus (Defense Daily, Sept. 19, 2022).

While the Air Force’s fleet thus far of 89 KC-46As fit under the “strategic” tanker category of the mainstay KC-135s, Embraer says the KC-390 could be an important tanking asset due to the plane’s ability to be refueled and its defensive system and short, austere runway features.

Embraer said that it is looking for a site in the U.S. to build the KC-390, if the latter meets U.S. military requirements. U.S. KC-390 suppliers include Collins Aerospace [RTX] for plane avionics and Pratt & Whitney [RTX] for the combustor/two-stage air-cooled high pressure turbine for the aircraft’s IAE V2500 engine.

“What is very important for us is to understand the critical [boom] design requirements for the Air Force–whether it’s going to be more manual or more remote,” Lemos said. “We need to listen to the Air Force, whether it’s important to have the capability very fast, working very well in a proven platform, or to have something different.”

Congress has set the minimum tanker number at 466. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Allvin said that the service foresees fixing all Category 1 deficiencies with the KC-46A’s Remote Vision System (RVS) 2.0 in the next 18 months–a timeline which would mean about a seven-year timeline since Boeing and the Air Force agreed on a re-design of the original RVS (Defense Daily, May 7).

First Orca XLUUV Minelayer To Deliver This Summer, Navy Developing More Playloads

The Navy plans to receive the first Boeing [BA]-built Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) this summer, a Navy program office leader said this week.

The first vessel, dubbed XLE-1, has been built and is being tested in the water at Boeing’s Huntington Beach, Calif., facility and is “about to deliver this summer,” Rear Adm. Kevin Smith, Program Executive Officer for Unmanned and Small Combatants, said on May 7 during the International Mine Warfare Technology Symposium.

Boeing delivers first Orca XLUUV test asset to the Navy in December 2023. (Photo: Boeing)

Smith confirmed four more Orcas are on the way over 1-1.5 years and that while there are many potential payload opportunities for the vessel, “the sole purpose right now…is clandestine mines.”

“We’re just beginning to explore what else the Orca can do and the capabilities that can be offered. So we’re looking forward to getting XLE-1 delivered and then the additional four in the next year, year and a half and then getting those out and continue to learn from the XLUUV.”

Speaking during the same event, Capt. Matt Lewis, manager of the Unmanned Maritime Systems office (PMS-406), said they are trying to focus on delivering a “holistic capability,” beyond just the baseline Orca vehicle itself.

Lewis repeated Smith’s note on seeking more payloads and while he did not describe what they could be, they are developing them and “looking at in the future what additional capability can we bring to these vehicles.”

XLE-1 was preceded by the initial engineering and development model for risk reduction testing, XLE-0. Boeing delivered this first model in late 2023 (Defense Daily, Dec. 20, 2023).

Lewis said XLE-0 has logged 1,274 hours of powered testing in seawater as well as 183 hours with 505 nautical miles of autonomous sailing.

“So big advancement, big accomplishments for a first of its kind vehicle,” he said.

Last November, Boeing announced XLE-1 finished a 48-hour endurance sailing run, operating autonomously below the surface and surfaced multiple times to recharge its battery (Defense Daily, Nov. 6, 2024).

Then, during a December visit to Boeing’s California facility by former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy said XLE-1 was set to be delivered in early 2025 (Defense Daily, Dec. 10).

At the time, the Navy said XLE-1 was undergoing a period of contractor pierside and at-sea testing, followed by Navy Developmental and Operational Testing (DT/OT). The service said the DT/OT was expected to last through the third quarter of fiscal year 2025. The third quarter for the federal government runs through June, which may be in line with Smith’s statements.

The five Orcas ordered by the Navy were originally funded in FY 2029, but the service later had to push back the schedule in the FY 2025 budget request due to several delays (Defense Daily, March 19, 2024).

A 2022 Government Accountability Office report warned Orca was behind schedule and more expensive than planned due to poor business planning. This was primarily focused on how the Navy did not require Boeing to demonstrate how ready it was to adapt the base civilian Echo Voyager model to the Navy configuration needs. The Navy changes to the UUV’s battery forced Boeing to get a new subcontractor, among other issues (Defense Daily, Sept. 29, 2022).

Relatedly, Lewis also said the Navy also planned to ultimately look into additional payloads for the smaller submarine-launched UUV focused on minelaying, the Medusa.

In September 2024, the Navy awarded General Dynamics [GD] a $58 million contract to develop and build Medusa to replace similar older systems (Defense Daily, Oct. 23, 2024).

He said they are getting going, working on initial design and risk reduction testing for Medusa.

That system is constrained by the size of the torpedo tube, but they are hoping the program will deploy a system with longer range and autonomous delivery of mines.

“Then potentially in the future, delivering additional capability and additional payloads with those.”

The Navy does not plan to recover Medusa from the torpedo tubes because it will be expendable once all clandestine mine payloads are deployed.

Navy Seeks Industry Help For Foreign Partner Long Range UAV

The Navy is seeking industry input on potential solutions for a long-range unmanned aircraft to be used by an unspecified partner country.

The Request For Information (RFI), published Wednesday, specifically seeks possible solutions for a Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to be used by an international partner to remain on station for up to 48 hours to assist in maritime domain awareness (MDA) and search and rescue operations.

Specifications include that the drone should be able to operate in static rain environments of up to one inch per hour, conduct wide area surveillance, and have cued response with localized search, vessel classification, identification and tracking.

The Navy wants the system to provide real-time full motion video via electro-optical and infrared sensors (EO/IR), with the ability to detect and monitor large and small objects in the water as well as distinguish between different types of vessels.

Moreover, the Navy said the UAS should be ready to use with minimal logistics, training or other support capable of autonomous or safe manual ground lance and recovery without runways as well as use a man-portable Ground Control Station that has all the equipment needed to monitor the system’s position and status while controlling its movement.

The Navy identified several other desired specifications, including weighing under 55 pounds with payload, no more than four-person set up needs, have a minimum line of sight range of 60 kilometers, have modular and open architecture, and be at Technology Readiness Level eight or higher.

The notice never elaborated on what partner country this UAS would be for. Responses are due by May 20.

The RFI was issued by Naval Air Systems Command for Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons’ (PEO (U&W)) Navy and Marine Corps Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program Office (PMA-263) at Patuxent River, Md.

Lawmakers Press Army Under Secretary Nom Obadal On Retaining His Equity In Anduril

Lawmakers on Thursday pressed Army under secretary nominee Michael Obadal on avoiding conflicts of interest with his recent employer Anduril Industries, as he plans to retain his vested equity in the firm.

“We understand you’re from Anduril and no one quibbles with that. It’s a company that does a lot of good work with the Defense Department. But if I’m hearing correctly, you are not going to divest from all of your stock. And I know you’ve got a deal. But the average soldier, as you know, would have to be open about what stock they have, what conflicts of interest they may have if they were a contracting officer,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said during Obadal’s confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Anduril executive and Army veteran Michael Obadal, nominee to be Army under secretary

Obadal, an Army veteran who joined Anduril as a senior director after retiring from military service, is planning to forgo his unvested equity in the firm if confirmed for the Army under secretary role but will retain his vested restricted stock units, according to his financial disclosure form with the Office of Government Ethics.

“Because I will continue to hold equity in Anduril Industries, I will not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter that to my knowledge has a direct and predictable effect on the financial interests of Anduril Industries, unless I first obtain a written waiver…or qualify for a regulatory exemption,” Obadal writes in the form.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), in a letter to Obadal ahead of his hearing, asked the nominee to commit to divesting his equity in Anduril, recusing himself from matters involving the company, divesting his equity stock in other major defense contractors as well as committing not work with any company that does business with the Army or lobby DoD for four years after leaving government service

“This financial connection, and your holdings in other defense contractors, will compromise your ability to serve with integrity, raising a cloud of suspicion over your contracting and operational decisions. If confirmed, you must resolve these conflicts and divest your financial interests in Anduril,” Warren writes in her letter.

Obadal holds between $250,000 and $500,000 in vested equity with Anduril, according to Warren’s letter, and also owns stocks in firms such as General Dynamics [GD] and Cummins, Inc. [CMI].

If confirmed, Obadal would be the service’s no. 2 civilian and have a lead role in setting the Army’s budget priorities and overseeing modernization efforts (Defense Daily, March 12).

“The concern is [that] just this past week the Army announced its transformation initiative and a huge amount of that is geared toward drones and other things Anduril, your current company, is neck deep in. Again, I don’t have a problem with the transformation. I have a problem with the perception to our troops that their leaders can do things that they themselves cannot,” Slotkin said.

Anduril is currently involved in several major modernization efforts, to include recently assuming the role of prime contractor on the Integrated Visual Augmentation System program and currently delivering prototypes for the service’s new intelligence ground station.

“I believe in two things that I think I share with the members of this committee and that’s transparency and very strong ethical guidelines. And as with every potential senior government official, I’ve gone through an exhaustive process with the Office of Government Ethics and they have done a thorough review and presented me with the guidelines. I will abide by all of those guidelines and, as I always have, I will abide by the law,” Obadal said during his hearing.

Rocket Lab To Conduct Return-To-Earth Cargo Mission For Air Force With Neutron Rocket

Rocket Lab USA [RKLB] will conduct a return-to-Earth cargo mission as early as next year using its Neutron launch vehicle, the company said on Thursday.

The medium-lift rocket will be used as part of an experimentation effort by the Air Force Research Laboratory to create a rocket-based point-to-point logistics capability to rapidly transport items globally using commercial launch providers.

Rocket Lab last November announced its first launch deal for Neutron to deploy satellites for a commercial customer (Defense Daily

, Nov. 13, 2024). The first launch of Neutron is planned for the second half of 2025.

“Neutron is a powerful new launch option that will set a new standard for performance, affordability, and reliability for government and commercial space users in medium launch,” Peter Peck, the company’s founder and CEO, said in a statement. “This opportunity for the U.S. Air Force not only helps to advance space logistics, it also demonstrates a high degree of confidence by the DoD in Neutron’s capabilities.”

CACI, General Atomics, Viasat Move On In Space Laser Communication Effort

The Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) has awarded contracts to CACI International [CACI], General Atomics, and Viasat [VSAT] to move into the second phase prototype effort for space laser communication terminals that would provide on-orbit data crosslinks between future Defense Department space systems.

The value of the Phase 2 awards under the $100 million Enterprise Space Terminal program were not disclosed. Last summer, the three Phase 2 awardees plus Blue Origin received Phase 1 EST contracts (Defense Daily, June 17, 2024).

The goal of the EST effort is to expand the industrial base, promote innovation, and maintain competition for the long-range optical communication links, which have been a supply chain challenge for the Space Development Agency’s first tranche of missile tracking and related communication satellites as part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

The program is also aimed at lowering the size, weight, power, and cost of the laser links.

The first phase concluded with a preliminary design review from each company, who were selected “based on cost, schedule, and performance factors and were determined to be the best value for the government,” SSC said on May 8.

In Phase 2 the companies will continue design efforts and conduct lab demonstrations of their communication links in a government testbed, leading to critical design reviews.

If successful, the program will transition to Phase 3 which will assembling, testing, and delivering prototype links that will also be demonstrated in a government testbed, General Atomics said.

The EST program is leveraging prior DoD and commercial investments to operationalize a new waveform to communicate in beyond low Earth orbit (bLEO) regimes, SSC said. The crosslinks are expected to enable communications between 10,000 to 80,000 kilometers in bLEO and still operate in LEO, General Atomics said.

“I’m pleased with the progress on the EST program so far,” Space Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Fry, MILNET program manager for SSC’s Space Domain Awareness and Combat Power Program Executive Office, said in a statement. “The EST prototypes are foundational elements to the future space data transport network that we are building. The ESTs will implement a common waveform so all satellites carrying these terminals can talk to each other. This is important as the network of satellites carrying EST compatible terminals will provide diverse communication paths for data that is critical to our national security and our way of life.”

Amentum Reports Increased Earnings, Cites Nuclear Biz

Earnings rose at Amentum [AMTM] in its second quarter, which the government contractor partly attributed Wednesday to demand for nuclear work and divestiture of a non-core asset.

Net earnings for the second quarter ended March 28 were $4 million, or $0.02 a share, up from a loss of $41 million or $0.46 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue was $3.5 billion, up year-over-year from $2.1 billion.

That’s according to the financial results press release issued early Wednesday morning by Amentum.

Quarterly segment operating income for the Global Engineering Solutions segment, where Amentum oversees much of its Department of Energy and Department of Defense-related work, was $161 million up from $160 million a year ago. Segment revenue was $2.15 billion, down from $2.17 billion in the year-ago period.

“Our performance, combined with our recently announced divestiture of Rapid Solutions, highlights the strength of our business as a premier pure-play advanced engineering and technology solutions company and enhances our financial flexibility,” Amentum CEO John Heller said in the earnings release.

Amentum announced last month it is selling Rapid Solutions, a maker of national defense products to Lockheed Martin [LMT] for $360 million in cash.

The Virginia-based Amentum also made a splash in the international power market in March when it was selected as program and project management delivery partner for Sizewell C, a new nuclear power station.

During its earnings call, Amentum officials also touted the company being partners in joint ventures in two key DoE Office of Environmental Management contracts. One is for management of liquid waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The other is for continued nuclear cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state.

Amentum, which had been privately-held, in September 2024 completed its merger with the government contracting and cyber intelligence arms of Dallas-based Jacobs [J].

A link to playback of the earnings call, and the company’s financial presentation can be found on Amentum’s investor relations website.