Air, Space & Cyber. From Sept. 14-16, this year’s annual Air, Space & Cyber conference sponsored by the Air and Space Forces Association will feature addresses by Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, and the new chief of space operations, Gen. Douglas Schiess. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces panel, will take up the topic of Golden Dome on a Monday panel with Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, the director of Golden Dome, and Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, the head of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command.
$4 Billion for Poland. The U.S. has agreed to provide Poland another $4 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) loans to help the NATO ally purchase new American-made defense items, the State Department said on Sept. 9. “The loan agreement underscores the United States’ unwavering commitment to its strategic partnership with Poland—a relationship built on shared values of freedom, prosperity, and mutual respect,” the department said. FMF funds are loans provided to help partners and allies purchase U.S.-made defense equipment and training, with the U.S. having now provided nearly $20 billion in such loans to Poland over the last few years. “Poland has significantly expanded its defense capabilities in recent years, including the acquisition of Apache helicopters, Patriot missile systems, HIMARS, advanced radar technologies, and F-35 aircraft. These investments bolster Poland’s national defense and strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base,” the State Department said.
REWSI Awards. The Army on Sept. 10 announced its first two production contracts under the new Rapid Electromagnetic Warfare and Signals Intelligence (REWSI) Call for Solutions, awarding a pair of deals totaling nearly $196 million “to deliver advanced electromagnetic spectrum situational awareness, direction finding, geolocation, signal identification and other advanced capabilities directly to soldiers.” Heaviside Industries received a $99 million deal for the procurement of its Heaviside MOTH spectrum analyzer, described as a “small form factor distributed electromagnetic sensor that detects and reports sources within the electromagnetic spectrum at the tactical edge.” Research Innovations Inc. was awarded a $96.9 million deal to procure capabilities, including its “AI-driven RII Dragonfly sensors integrated aboard the Menet Aero Intrepid 1200 unmanned aircraft system.”
Argentina FMS. The State Department on Sept. 10 said it’s approved a possible $140 million foreign military sale with Argentina for the sale of four UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters. Along with the Sikorsky-built aircraft, the deal includes two GE Aerospace T700 engines, APX-100 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) transponders, APX-123 IFF transponders, receivers, radios, rescue equipment and logistics and program support. “The proposed sale will improve Argentina’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing the additional capacity to conduct border security, counter-transnational crime and humanitarian assistance/disaster response,” the State Department said in a statement.
Bradley Upgrades. BAE Systems has received a $40 million order from the Army to upgrade additional Bradley fighting vehicles to the latest M2A4E1 configuration. The company noted that M2A4E1 enhancements include integrating “an Active Protection System (APS) to counter and neutralize threats, an improved gunner sight and display, and an advanced control unit that prevents heat stress from environmental impacts.” The APS for the upgrade effort is the Iron Fist Light Decoupled, a company spokesperson confirmed to Defense Daily, and noted the work on the latest order is expected to be completed by early 2030.
Australian LRASM. The Royal Australian Air Force said that the Lockheed Martin AGM-158C and the AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile – Extended Range have achieved initial operational capability for the service after operational testing from F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets by Boeing. Air Marshal Stephen Chappell, the chief of the Royal Australian Air Force, said in a statement that “by acquiring a suite of long-range maritime and land strike missiles, the Royal Australian Air Force will increase the lethality of our air combat aircraft and avoid increasingly sophisticated air defenses.”
Italian MQ-9A Order. The Italian Air Force has ordered two new MQ-9A Block 5 Reaper drones and their ground control stations for delivery by the end of next year, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) said. The Block 5 drones can fly up to 26 hours at an altitude of 45,000 feet with 4,600 pounds of payload and full-motion video, synthetic aperture radar, moving target indicator/maritime radar, and auto takeoff and landing, according to GA-ASI.
GPS Alternative. TERN announced on Sept. 11 it has received an $11.3 million contract from the Army to utilize its Independently Derived Positioning System (IDPS), a GPS alternative technology, as well as its Vehicle Health & Maintenance System (VHMS). “IDPS continuously derives and maintains vehicle position without reliance on GPS or other RF signals, delivering assured positioning and navigation to both the vehicle operator and command-and-control systems. VHMS continuously monitors vehicle health and readiness, integrating that information with vehicle location to provide commanders with a unified operational view of fleet status across existing command environments,” TERN said in a statement. The award follows TERN’s participation in the Army’s xTechOverWatch challenge effort, which resulted in receiving Direct-to-Phase II SBIR funding followed by a Phase III SBIR award via the service’s FUZE office and the Technology Maturation Initiative.
More Mach Money. Startup precision strike weapons developer Mach Industries last week announced a $600 million continuation of its Series C financing, bringing the company’s total raise in round to $900 million. The additional raise brings Mach’s valuation to $3.7 billion. Mach said the continuation maintains its partnerships with Ribbit Capital, Infinite Capital, Bedrock Capital, Sequoia and others. Earlier this summer, Mach raised $300 million in a Series C round led by Ribbit and Infinite (Defense Daily, June 1). Mach said the new funding “will support continued development of platforms across long-range strike, counter-UAS, and other mission areas, while expanding the manufacturing infrastructure required to produce them at scale.”
Feed the DAWG. If the Pentagon’s Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG) doesn’t get some of the $53.6 billion it is seeking in a fiscal year 2027 reconciliation bill, “my greatest concern is…then the momentum that we have created since DAWG has been stood up over a year ago will be waning,” Army Lt. Gen. Steven Marks, the director of organization, warned last week. Highlighting lessons learned in Ukraine and Operation Epic Fury against Iran, Marks said that since the rest of the world “can’t keep up with our exquisite capability,” adversaries have turned to low-cost weapons. “They can take a $100,000 drone and conduct an attack against a $2 billion vessel or a ship,” he said at an NDIA event. “We are on the losing end of that cost imposition curve.” The DAWG replaced the Biden administration’s Replicator initiative and is focused on collaborative autonomous capabilities for unmanned systems. The DAWG is seeking $1 billion—about a four-fold increase over FY ’26—in the FY ’27 base budget. Details of all DAWG’s programs are classified, Marks said.
Havoc in Taiwan. Havoc, which originally focused its autonomy efforts on unmanned surface vessels before expanding to the air and land domains, has partnered with Taiwan’s largest shipbuilder, CSBC Corporation, to pursue licensed co-production of autonomous surface vessels for the island country’s maritime security. “Congress wrote co-production with Taiwan into law in the FY2026 defense authorization, and it named uncrewed systems specifically,” Paul Lwin, Havoc’s CEO, said in a statement. “Taiwan’s Self-Reliant Defense policy calls for platforms that are mass-produced, maintained, and upgraded at home. That’s what this partnership delivers. American autonomy software, Taiwan-built platforms, Taiwan workforce, and a model we intend to bring to other partners.”
Portable Power. New Use Energy last week said it received a contract from the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit to develop its commercial portable, stealthy power technology for use by the Army in remote and contested areas. The DIU program “favors” affordable power nodes that can be built at scale and are potentially attritable, the Arizona-based company said. NUE’s systems have been used in Ukraine since 2022, beginning with powering drone teams. “Our troops need to stay hidden, both visually and thermally, operate more dispersed, and power hundreds more devices in austere locations,” Paul Shmotolokha, NUE’s CEO, said in a statement. The award value was not disclosed.
U.S. Shipbuilding News. Davie Shipbuilding has named Bill Rebarik as president of U.S. operations, responsible for day-to-day leadership of Davie Defense and Gulf Copper. He will report to Philip Burns-O’Brien, CEO of Davie Defense, who reports to James Davies, co-owner and CEO of Davie Shipbuilding, which is based in Canada and is part of Britain’s marine industrial group, Inocea. Rebarik most recently was with BAE Systems Maritime Solutions and previously worked at Austal USA and Lockheed Martin.
Bullfrog Space. ACS, formerly known as Allen Control Systems, has announced a new 191,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, to scale production of its autonomous, turreted Bullfrog weapon station that includes sensors and different gun systems for detecting, tracking and defeating drone threats. ACS says Bullfrog is deployed with the Army and Navy, was recently selected by the Marine Corps for its Ground Based Air Defense program, and is listed on the Joint Interagency Task Force C-UAS Marketplace.
