GDLS/Canada. General Dynamics Land Systems and its partner Marshall Canada have received a nearly $2 billion dollar award to provide the Canadian Armed Forces with light and heavy logistics vehicles, the companies said on June 6. Under the deal, GDLS and Marshall Canada will deliver more than 1,000 light trucks and about 500 heavy trucks along with armored protection kits, containers and trailers. The Logistics Vehicle Modernization (LVM) award for the Canadian Armed Forces includes a $1.1 billion deal covering vehicle acquisition and $790 million covering support services over 25 years. “We are known for our innovative engineering, extensive manufacturing and integration capability, and unparalleled customer support. We look forward to delivering the LVM capability to the Canadian Army,” Dave Paddock, president of GDLS, said in a statement.
Mace Beats Challenger.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, survived a primary challenge and won the Republican primary nomination on June 11 to continue representing South Carolina’s 1st district. Mace, who has represented the district since 2021, beat Catherine Templeton, director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, and Bill Young, a nonprofit executive. Templeton, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for South Carolina governor in 2018, had secured the support of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and garnered an endorsement from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), a senior HASC member. Mace had received an endorsement from former President Trump.
Black Hawk Modernization. The House on June 13 adopted an amendment from Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) to its version of the fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act directing the Army to submit a report to Congress detailing its plan for continued UH-60 Black Hawk modernization. The report is to be provided to Congress within 30 days of the FY ‘26 budget submission. The amendment calls for the report to include planned funding levels between from FY ‘26 to FY ‘30 for Black Hawk modernization initiatives and details of the Army’s requirements for ensuring the helicopters are systematically modernized to address obsolescence, improve performance and provide capabilities that ensure relevance in the joint all domain operational environment.” The Army must also provide its acquisition strategy for Black Hawk modernization. As part of the Army’s new aviation rebalancing, the service has committed to awarding Sikorsky another multi-year contract for UH-60M Black Hawks with freed-up resources and plans to increase research and development for future modernization priorities with the helicopter.
U.S.-Ukraine Bilat. President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a U.S.-Ukraine bilateral security agreement on June 13 while the two leaders were in Puglia, Italy to attend the G7 Summit. The State Department described the agreement as a “historic show of support for Ukraine’s long-term security” that builds on commitments from the G7 Joint Declaration of Support to Ukraine signed in July 2023 and foreign aid supplemental with further assistance for Ukraine signed this spring. “Under this ten-year agreement, the United States and Ukraine commit to strengthening security and economic cooperation, furthering Ukraine’s institutional capacity building and reform progress, seeking accountability for Russia’s actions, and establishing the conditions for a just and lasting peace,” the State Department wrote in a statement. Under the agreement, the State Department said the U.S. “intends to provide assistance, advice, and training to build Ukraine’s defense and security capabilities, advance the reforms necessary to light Ukraine’s path toward EU accession and NATO membership, and bolster Ukraine’s defense industrial base through co-production and joint ventures with U.S. industry.”
Inland AUV. The report released with the House Appropriations Committee’s FY ‘25 defense spending bill directs the Navy Secretary to evaluate inland bodies of water as a new viable and secure location for an autonomous underwater vehicles and maritime sensor testing range. The search would include bodies of water 400 meters deep, with significant oceangoing maritime traffic and climate conditions to approximate a diverse set of environments. The Secretary would submit a report to the two defense appropriations subcommittees within 180 days of the bill’s enactment. The report said the secretary should also “consider how the range would be utilized by the Department, industrial partners, academia, and allied nations.” Notably, Lake Superior has a maximum depth of 406 meters, deeper than the other Great Lakes, and is more connected to maritime traffic than other U.S. lakes with similar depth ranges.
…F-18 Trainers. Another provision in the FY ‘25 House defense appropriations bill report “encourages” the Navy Secretary to transition deployable F/A-18E/F aircraft being considered for divestment to instead be used as near-peer aggressor training aircraft. The bill report said while the committee is supportive of efforts to increase capabilities of aircraft assigned to aggressor squadrons, it is “concerned about the overuse of some legacy aircraft to carry out this mission in the long-term.”
Third Site. The Biden Administration “strongly opposes” a section of the House defense authorization bill that would mandate the establishment of a fully operational third ballistic missile defense interceptor site on the East Coast by 2030, in addition to the sites at Fort Greely, Alaska and Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. “There is no operational need for such a site to protect the Homeland against potential ballistic missiles originating from Iran or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” the White House said in a June 11 statement of administration policy about the bill. The administration noted it is focusing on improving the probability of intercepting missile threats by finishing development of the Next Generation Interceptor, with deployment expected to start in 2028. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), chair of the House Republican Conference, has strongly pushed to move Fort Drum, N.Y., from DoD’s chosen potential third site to an active third site. The location is in her district in upstate New York.
Aussie Sub Students. The first cadre of nine enlisted sailors and second cadre of three officers from the Royal Australian Navy started training at the U.S. Naval Submarine School in Groton, Conn., earlier this month, the Navy said June 13. This is a step in Pillar 1 of the AUKUS agreement to help Australia acquire, operate and maintain nuclear-powered submarines. Upon graduating from the pipeline schools, the Australian service members will be assigned to U.S. attack submarines for their first sea tour for more knowledge and training. The U.S. Navy said the amount of Royal Australian Navy personnel training in the U.S. will increase to over 100 in the next 12 months.
Unions For Subs. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the largest defense union in the country, sent a letter to House Appropriations Committee leaders pushing them to fund two Virginia-class submarines per year in the FY ’25 budget and beyond, like the defense authorization bill does. The authorization bill does not include those subs, given delays in submarine production and an agreement with the administration to focus on industrial base investment. “Consistent funding for two VA-class submarines per year is necessary to promote the long-term health of the domestic shipbuilding industrial base and the workforce on which it relies. This industry cannot thrive as a feast-or-famine endeavor. A clear market signal of consistent two-per-year funding is absolutely vital to maintain and grow the necessary highly skilled workforce and promote the industry partnerships needed to ensure success in efficient submarine production,” IAM president Brian Bryant said in a statement.
Anduril SRM News. Anduril Industries, who along with several other contractors received Navy contracts recently to potentially become a second source solid rocket motor (SRM) suppler for the 21-inch second stage of the Standard Missile-6, last week said it has tripled its rocket motor systems workforce over the past year. Moreover, the company said it “is on track for continued growth to support a massive increase in propellant mixing and solid rocket motor production.” In addition to the SM-6 work, Anduril said it is currently supplying sub-20-inch diameter rocket motors to several other Defense Department programs and customers. Anduril’s SRM production facility in Mississippi can produce motors up to 42 inches in diameter.
Training Startup. Enterprise training software startup Learn to Win last week said it closed a $30 million Series A funding rase that will help the company scale up its training platform for the defense and commercial sectors. The funding was led by the Westly Group, with participation from Norwest Venture Partners and Pear VC. Learn to Win’s platform helps organizations improve performance.
EDS Awards Coming. The Transportation Security Administration last week it plans to award contracts to Leidos and Smiths Detection for in-line and standalone explosive detection systems (EDS) used to scan checked bags at U.S. airports. The agency said the forthcoming contracts will be indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity. The two companies’ machines account for most TSA’s EDS systems.
People News. The National Guard Bureau has selected Maj. Gen. Stephen Butow, commander of the California Air National Guard, to fill a dual-status tour as military deputy for the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). Doug Beck, head of DIU, said that Butow has experience helping the Defense Department with commercial space technology and integrating and fielding new commercial technology. Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) is departing as chair of BAE Systems, Inc.’s board as she prepares to run for governor of New Hampshire. She will be succeeded by current board member and retired Navy Adm. Jonathan Greenert. Booz Allen Hamilton has appointed Bill Vass as its chief technology officer “to accelerate innovation at scale.” Vass most recently was vice president of engineering at Amazon Web Services. Airbus last week appointed Victoria Coleman as CEO of Acubed and the Head of Research and Technology in North America. Acubed is the innovation center of Airbus and is based in Silicon Valley. She is a former chief scientist of the U.S. Air Force. Finally, the drone technology company PDW has appointed retired Army. Gen. Raymond “Tony” Thomas as chairman of its board. Thomas completed his military career as the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.
National Military Command Center. Leidos says that the U.S. Air Force has awarded the company an up to $738 million information technology and cybersecurity for service components in the Washington, D.C., area, including the National Military Command Center. “The single-award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract has a one-year base period of performance, with four one-year options and one six-month option,” the company said. “Leidos has continuously supported enterprise IT and telecommunications for the Air Force in the national capital region since 2003.”
Block 20 F-22 Survival. The Senate Armed Services Committee’s (SASC) version of the fiscal 2025 defense authorization bill has approved the U.S. Air Force request to retire 56 A-10s, 65 F-15C/Ds and 11 F-16C/Ds, but SASC gives another reprieve to the Block 20 F-22, as SASC staff believe that the oldest F-22s can still be of use in future contingencies. SASC rejected the Air Force request to retire 26 F-15Es and the 32 Block 20 F-22s.
Space Oversight. Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration Frank Calvelli has lamented the state of some programs, such as the Raytheon GPS OCX ground system effort, and has wanted to put teeth behind a Contractor Responsibility Watch List (CRWL), a 2018 congressionally-mandated initiative for the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, now the Space and Missile Systems Center. Calvelli, a former principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), said that NRO pioneered such a list. For military space programs, SASC’s fiscal 2025 bill “authorizes DoD to identify poor-performing contractors and require approval for additional contracts,” according to a summary of the SASC bill.
…MTI. The bill also authorizes a program executive office for space-based air and ground moving target indication (AMTI/GMTI) and directs a review of DoD attempts to procure new MTI technologies and related programs. The U.S. Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office are looking into low-Earth orbit space based radar satellites to complement aircraft for GMTI and replace the retired Northrop Grumman Joint STARS.