Trump Proof. The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office’s push to accelerate adoption of AI tools across the Defense Department is unlikely to change under the incoming Trump administration, Radha Plumb, the outgoing head of the office, said last week. Asked during a press briefing whether Trump supporters from the technology industry want to shake up the DoD bureaucracy to gain efficiencies, Plumb responded that broadly the Biden and incoming Trump administrations support digital solutions and AI, as does Silicon Valley, and she has not heard any concerns from Republicans or Democrats. “So, ultimately I think we all know AI and digital solutions are going to be part of the pathway,” she said.
DIU Support. The non-profit mission assurance and contract research and development company Riverside Research last week said it won a competitive contract potentially worth $160 million over five years to provide subject matter expertise and engineering services to the Defense Innovation Unit. The company said it will support DIU and its mission partners to prototype, transition, and scale commercial technologies across the Defense Department.
Energetics Production. Deterrence, a startup focused on automated the production of energetics, last week said it raised $10.1 million in a seed round led by Riot Ventures. The company is applying robotic technologies with computer vision that replicate the dexterity of humans in the production process, the company says. “Our approach helps us control every aspect of the production process, from raw materials to finished products, to guarantee higher quality standards,” it says. The company’s team includes engineers that used to work at Tesla, Palantir, Amazon, Rivian, Latch, and others. Deterrence also says it has “a large backlog of customers.” Other investors include Banter, Definition, Valhalla Ventures, and Impatient.
Corporate and People News. Northrop Grumman last week said its board has authorized an additional $3 billion for repurchases of the company’s common stock, bringing the outstanding authorized amount to $4.2 billion. Lockheed Martin’s board last week elected retired Navy Adm. John Aquilino as a director, effective Dec. 11. Aquilino most recently commanded U.S. Indo-Pacific Command until his retirement in July. The private equity firm AE Industrial Partners last week announced the appointment of Jennifer Lowe as its Global Head of Government Relations, in charge of public policy initiatives across the firm’s investment portfolio. She previously was managing partner of bipartisan public policy firm The Link Consulting Group.
New Radar Site. Space tracking firm LeoLabs last week announced its seventh operational radar site, located in Arizona, the first installation of its next-generation ultra-high frequency radar technology. The California-based company said is planar direct radiating array radar will enhance object detect, tracking, and analytics capabilities in low Earth orbit and very low Earth orbit by integrating with its existing global radar network. The new site is already tracking over 9,500 objects in LEO and streaming orbital data on space-based threats to customers, LeoLabs said. The Space Force supported development of the radar through a direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research award in 2023.
$2.1 Billion? During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Dec. 10, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said that a mass deportation of one million persons would cost $2.1 billion. “We emphasize that our estimate is likely conservative, as we were unable to estimate several costs for aspects of this process which we know would be required, including the hiring costs of tens of thousands of agents, the costs of capital investments necessary to increase the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Air Operations charter aircraft capacity, legal costs, and a myriad of other ancillary costs necessary to ramp up federal immigration enforcement operations to the scale necessary to actually deport the entire undocumented population,” according to his prepared testimony. Mass deportations from the United States would require billions of dollars in federal funding for law enforcement and, possibly, the military, to find and detain the millions of undocumented and fly them, not only on commercial and charter flights, but also on military aircraft, such as Air Force C-17s by Boeing and C-130s by Lockheed Martin. President-elect Trump has suggested that he would use the military for such mass deportations–a use which poses questions of its legality.
French E-2D. Northrop Grumman on Dec. 10 said it began production on the first E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft bound for the French Navy at its St. Augustine, Fla., facility. The company is contracted to build and deliver three E-2Ds for France, with this initial one set for delivery in 2027. France is using the E-2Ds to replace their aging E-2C Hawkeye 2000 fleet. The company noted France is the only country other than the U.S. to base E-2Cs from an aircraft carrier.
U.S.-Japan Electronic Attack. U.S. and Japanese officials signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to increase bilateral operations between the forces’ electronic attack squadrons Dec. 6, 2024. The Navy said the MoU signed by Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) Vice Adm. Koji Kaneshima, Commander, Fleet Air Force (CFAF), and U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Greg Newkirk, Commander, Task Force (CTF) 70, represented a pledge between the two commanders to increase bilateral operations and training between the JMSDF Air Reconnaissance Squadron (VQ) 81 and CTF 70 electronic attack assets, which include Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5’s Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 141. VQ-81 flies UP-3D electronic attack aircraft while the Navy unit flies the EA-18G Growler.
RTX Minehunting. The Navy awarded RTX a $22 million contract for production of the Mine Hunt Payload Delivery System production and engineering support, DoD said on Nov. 26. The award includes options that, if exercised, would raise the total value to over $28 million. The contract was not competitively procured.
…After Textron. The announcement came after Textron noted it received a similar $18 million order for production of the Mine Sweep Payload Delivery System production and engineering support on Oct. 15. That award includes options that, if exercised, would raise the total value to over $106 million. The work is expected to run through October 2025, but if all options are exercised that will extend to October 2029. Textron underscored in a statement that this contract supports the Mine Countermeasure Mission Package (MCMMP) PDS production, spares, and engineering services. MCMMP in turn supports mine sweeping and mine hunting mission sets, allowing the Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle (CUSV) to conduct mine sweeping missions semi-autonomously. Textron initially provided the first CUSV test vehicle for the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) performing these missions.
T-AO 208. General Dynamics NASSCO delivered the newest John Lewis-class fleet replenishment oiler, the USNS Robert F. Kennedy (T-AO 208), to the Navy on Dec. 10. Delivery came after the ship finished integrated sea trials to test its readiness and capabilities as well as validate delivery requirements. These vessels are operated by Military Sealift Command to deliver oil and dry cargo to naval vessels at sea as well as provide aviation capability. NASSCO is also in production on the future ships Lucy Stone (T-AO 209), Sojourner Truth (T-AO 210), Thurgood Marshall (T-AO 211), and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (T-AO 212). The future USNS Harriet Tubman (T-AO 213) and Dolores Huerta (T-AO 214) are under contract while the Navy issues a block buy contract in September 2024 for the detail design and construction of T-AO 214-221.
LCAC-111. Textron Systems delivered the newest Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC), LCAC-111, to the Navy on Nov. 27, the Navy said on Dec. 9. The vessel was delivered after it finished acceptance trials from the Navy’s Board in Inspection and Survey. The new version of LCACs are built with similar configurations, dimensions and clearances as legacy vessels but with improvements to operations, less crewing needed, and increased capabilities. The SSCs can carry a 60-75 ton payload to transport weapons, equipment, equipment or cargo from amphibious ships to the shore and back.
Space Advanced Fire Control. Kratos has picked ASRC Federal to help develop and operate an Advanced Fire Control Ground Infrastructure (AFCGI) for the U.S. Space Force Space Development Agency’s advanced fire control missions under a 5-year, $116.7 million AFCGI contract to Kratos. ASRC Federal said on Dec. 12 that it “will work with Kratos and provide operational staffing and sustainment capabilities for the Demonstration Operations Center to support advanced fire control demonstrations” against threats from hypersonic and other missiles. ASRC Federal said that it will perform the work in Huntsville, Ala.
Bradleys. The Army on Dec. 11 awarded BAE Systems a $656.2 million production contract for Bradley fighting vehicles. The new contract covers deliveries of M2A4 Bradleys and M7A4 fire support vehicles. Work on the deal is expected to be completed by the end of November 2027.
Army Network. The Army will release its updated Unified Network (UN) Plan 2.0 next year, according to Maj. Gen. Jeth Rey, the service’s incoming deputy chief of staff, G-6. The Army released its original UN plan in October 2022, detailing a goal to transform the network from a “perceived invisible asset to a weapons system” by 2028. The forthcoming UN Plan 2.0 will include a roadmap of the Army’s network plans through 2027 and detail “critical enablers” to ensure the UN can support multi-domain operations by 2030, according to Rey. “It’s going to talk about us getting more data-centric. It’s going to push us to that limit,” Rey said in remarks at the Army’s Technical Exchange Meeting 13 in Savannah, Ga., to detail network priorities to industry. “The architecture vision of [UN 2.0 is] the Army must continue to evolve the way it communicates, linking the enterprise to the tactical network.”
Ukraine Aid. The U.S. on Dec. 12 approved a new $500 million weapons aid package for Ukraine. The new security assistance is the 72nd set of equipment to be pulled from existing Pentagon inventories to assist in Kyiv’s ongoing fight against Russia. The new package includes Counter-UAS munitions, unspecified drones, more ammunition for HIMARS, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, TOW and HARM missiles, MRAPs, Humvees, light tactical vehicles, Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems, small arms ammunition and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) protective equipment, according to the Pentagon.
Ukraine/F-16s. The State Department on Dec. 10 said it has approved a potential $266.4 million foreign military sale with Ukraine covering sustainment services for F-16 fighter aircraft. Under the deal, Ukraine would receive the Joint Mission Planning System as well as equipment to cover minor modifications and maintenance to support the aircraft, previously supplied by the Netherlands and Denmark to assist in Kyiv’s fight against Russia. The FMS case also includes spare and repair parts and weapons software support equipment. “This proposed sale will improve Ukraine’s capability to meet current and future threats by further equipping it to conduct self-defense and regional security missions with a more robust air defense capability,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement.
Kuwait FMS. The State Department on Dec. 10 said it has also approved a possible $300 million FMS case with Kuwait for equipment and services to maintain combat platforms. “The proposed sale will improve Kuwait’s capability to meet current and future threats by allowing the Kuwait Land Forces to maintain operational readiness. This capability will be used to repair its M1A2 and M1A2K Abrams Main Battle Tanks; M88A1 and M88A2 Hercules Recovery Vehicles; M113A1, M113A2, and M113A3 Armored Personnel Carriers; and M577A2 and M577A3 Command Post Carriers,” the DSCA said in a statement. The FMS case includes items and services for refurbishing maintenance facilities.
