Anduril/Rheinmetall. Anduril Industries announced on June 19 it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany’s Rheinmetall to work together on developing new air defense systems to counter small drone threats. The firms signed the agreement during the Eurosatory defense industry exhibition in Paris, with Anduril noting the work will initially focus on offerings for the European market. Anduril said the C-sUAS systems will look to combine Rheinmetall’s Skymaster command and control system and high-power gun offerings with its own Lattice artificial intelligence-powered software and “hardware components including Anduril’s Sentry Tower, Wisp sensors and Anvil, its autonomous interceptor.” “Anduril’s partnership with Rheinmetall will bring an innovative, software-defined and hardware enabled C-sUAS system to our customers to ensure they stay one step ahead of the drone threat,” Greg Kausner, Anduril’s senior vice president of global defense, said in a statement.
C2. Lockheed Martin said on June 20 it successfully integrated its digital command and control capabilities with the Pentagon’s Joint Fires Network (JFN) during U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s recent Valiant Shield exercise. The exercise was the first test with the JFN prototype, Lockheed Martin noted, with the demonstration looking to integrate third-party capabilities into the enterprise architecture. “The exercise showcased the seamless integration of Lockheed Martin’s advanced command and control functions, employing operational planning to coordinate real-time decision-making across the theater of operations, with all the services and operational domains,” Lockheed Martin said in a statement. “This approach enhanced the agility and responsiveness of joint operations, using live real-time data, and producing joint tasking orders in an operationally relevant environment.” Northrop Grumman said that some of its systems that participated in the exercise included the B-2 stealth bomber, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft, the AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar, the Integrated Battle Command System, and Maritime Targeting Cell.
NATO Secretary General. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is set to be the next secretary general of NATO, after Romanian President Klaus Iohannis dropped his bid for the position. Rutte will succeed Jens Stoltenberg, who has held NATO’s top post since 2014. “With more than a decade of leadership as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, including his work to ensure the Netherlands surpassed the two percent defense spending threshold agreed to by the Alliance, Mr. Rutte is well prepared to lead NATO. With 23 Allies now at or above the two percent threshold, the Alliance is stronger and more united than ever before,” Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Mr. Rutte and with all our NATO Allies to continue support for Ukraine, expand our relationship with Indo-Pacific partners and increase investments in NATO to address Russian aggression and other emerging challenges. We also congratulate and thank Secretary General Stoltenberg for his 10 years of steadfast, dedicated service to NATO.”
SecNav On Hanwha. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro lauded South Korean firm Hanwha’s acquisition of the Philly Shipyard months after visiting shipyards in South Korea, lobbying investment in U.S. yards as part of his maritime statecraft initiative. He called this a “game-changing milestone” and that “knowing how they will change the competitive U.S. shipbuilding landscape, I could not be more excited to welcome Hanwha as the first Korean shipbuilder to come to American shores—and I am certain they will not be the last.”
Carriers. GAO’s annual weapons systems assessment report released on June 17 said the Navy’s third Ford-class aircraft carrier, CVN-80, was 36 percent complete by the report cutoff and it is not projected to meet its planned March 2028 delivery date. The Navy is conducting a schedule assessment with carrier shipbuilder HII. Officials told the GAO the shipbuilder is struggling with a smaller inexperienced workforce less efficient at completing work after many skilled workers retired during the COVID-19 pandemic. GAO said contractor efforts to mitigate issues are unlikely to improve performance of CVN-80 construction, even if they help future hulls. The report said Navy officials do not expect these industrial base issues to affect CVN-81, with a keel laying planned for 2026 and delivery in 2032. GAO also confirmed the Navy is considering awarding CVN-82 and -83 in a two-ship buy like CVNs-80 and -81.
Amphib Readiness. Earlier this month Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to commit to and align on amphibious ship readiness guidelines. The June 17 MoU follows a letter earlier this year from both to their three-star officers who oversee plans and operations to conduct a “deep dive” on ship readiness and requirements for the training and certification of Amphibious Ready Groups. “This MoU ensures consistency and uniformity in how each service talks about amphibious force readiness so we can better plan and execute naval operations,” Smith said in a statement. The Navy said new terms of reference in the document serve as extra guidance for existing readiness reporting criteria.
…To Outlast. During the May Modern Day Marine conference, Smith said this memo’s importance is related to its ability to “outlast” him and Franchetti. “Lisa Franchetti’s signature is worth something. My signature is worth something and [Secretary of the Navy Carlos] Del Toro supports it. So, it’s something. And when you see that visible signature, it’s a reminder to all hands that it’s all hands on deck to get amphibs ready,” Smith said.
T-ATS 14. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro on June 18 announced a future Navajo-class Towing, Salvage, and Rescue (T-ATS) ship will be named USNS Narragansett (T-ATS 14). The ship will be named after the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island. Del Toro made the announcement on the 90th anniversary of the Indian Reorganization Act, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt to decrease federal control of Native American affairs. This ship class plans to provide tug, salvage and rescue capabilities to replace two current aging classes: the Powhatan-class T-ATF Fleet Tugs and Safeguard-class T-ARS Rescue and Salvage vessels.
ASV Testing. L3Harris Technologies and Seasats last week said they successfully tested an autonomous surface vessel (ASV) on a long-distance journey from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The 10-week, 2,500-mile journey demonstrated “reliable, resilient, and effective operations off the coast of Hawaii” and “proved the ASV’s seaworthiness while continuously operating in challenging conditions,” L3Harris said. L3Harris is in investor in Seasats, a maritime startup that has developed Lightfish, a 10-foot long ASV with a low composite hull and solar deck for electric propulsion that can remain at sea for six months and carry different payloads.
Launch Milestone. Rocket Lab USA last Friday successfully launched its 50th Electron mission, deploying five satellites for Kineis, a French internet-of-things company. Rocket Lab said the Electron launch vehicle reached 50 launches faster than any commercially developed rocket in history. The first Electron launch occurred May 25, 2017. Last week’s launch lifted off at 6:13 am New Zealand Standard Time from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand.
Cybersecurity Fines. The Justice Department last week said Guidehouse Inc. and Nan McKay and Associates paid $7.6 million and $3.7 million, respectively, penalties to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by failing to meet cybersecurity requirements in federally funded contracts. The companies were required to maintain a secure environment for low-income New Yorkers to apply online for federal rental assistance during the COVID pandemic.
Tech Help. L3Harris Technologies last week said Accenture is helping to accelerate its “technology reinvention” as part of the company’s multi-year LHX NeXt enterprise transformation. L3Harris said it will leverage Accenture’s expertise in cloud, infrastructure, and application services to help it in “building a strong digital core and establishing new ways of working that will help optimize operations and enable future growth.” The strategic collaboration includes some L3Harris information technology professionals joining Accenture to benefit from “industry-specific training, new technology, and operational skills development.” Ultimately, L3Harris expects to achieve an improved cost structure, enhanced customer service and delivery, and an improved experience for its IT professionals.
Cancel or Delay? Department of the Air Force budget officials have combed through small, medium, and big ticket programs to find funding to plug the hole in the Northrop Grumman LGM-35A Sentinel future ICBM program, which revealed a 37 percent Nunn-McCurdy breach in January. Among the undesired options are cancelling or delaying the manned Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) sixth generation fighter and delaying the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft. Air Force officials have also examined the feasibility of putting Sentinel in a DoD-wide nuclear modernization account to free up funds for the department’s highest priorities in the upcoming fiscal 2026 budget. In Congress, some lawmakers want to retain the 32 Block 20 F-22 fighters and modernize them as a hedge against a significant change to the manned NGAD program.
Norway Launch. Northrop Grumman said on June 21 that it has delivered its two Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) satellites to the launch site in Norway. The satellites are to provide broadband commercial and military communications over the North Pole. Each satellite has the Northrop Grumman Enhanced Polar System-Recapitalization (EPS-R) payload for the U.S. Space Force, a Ka-band payload for Viasat, and an X-band payload for the Norwegian Ministry of Defense. The ASBM satellites “are scheduled for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as early as mid-July,” Northrop Grumman said.
FFG-67. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro on June 21 announced the sixth future Constellation-class guided missile frigate, FFG-67, will be named the USS Galvez. Del Toro announced the naming while visiting Madrid and meeting with the U.S. Ambassador to Spain and Chief of Staff of the Spanish Navy, Admiral Antonio Pineiro, for the U.S. Embassy’s Fourth of July celebration. FFG-67 will honor Conde Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, who supported the U.S. during the American Revolutionary War. He was governor of Spain’s territory in Louisiana at the time and provided supplies, intelligence and military support for America, including recruiting an army to fight British forces in the Gulf of Mexico area. In 2014 the Congress granted Gálvez honorary citizenship, one of eight to ever receive the honor.