Greece/UH-60s. Greece on April 5 officially signed a letter of acceptance (LOA) to move ahead on its plan to buy 35 UH-60M Black Hawks. The LOA follows the U.S. government’s approval of the likely $1.95 billion foreign military sale for the Sikorsky-built helicopters in December. “The latest generation UH-60M Black Hawk will support the Hellenic Ministry of Defense’s ongoing modernization and will serve as a dependable helicopter for vital national and allied security missions,” Paul Lemmo, president of Sikorsky, said in a statement. “Trusted and operated by more than 35 nations, including a growing number of NATO allies, the multi-role Black Hawk helicopter provides unmatched global interoperability, significantly increasing Greece’s deterrent capability and that of all NATO member countries.”
ACV-R. The Marine Corps on April 4 awarded BAE Systems a $79.2 million contract modification for procurement of three production representative test vehicles of the recovery variant Amphibious Combat Vehicle, or ACV-R. The Marine Corps is pursuing a family of vehicles approach for ACV, which includes the base personnel platform and a command and control platform (ACV-C) currently in full-rate production, testing currently underway of the turreted ACV-30 variant and testing to take place with the ACV-R platforms. BAE Systems in March 2022 received a $34.9 million deal for design and development of the ACV-R, and has previously said it would likely deliver the first vehicles for testing in 2025.
DARPA Propulsion Award. Propulsion company Phase 4 last week said it has received a $14.9 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to deliver an electric propulsion solution to extend satellite operations in very low Earth orbit, at altitudes as low as 90 to 450 kilometers. DARPA’s Otter program is aimed at developing and demonstrating the on-orbit data collection for “air-breathing” electric propulsion systems by taking advantage of ambient low-density air as propellant to extend operations. The program culminates in a long duration “orbiting wind tunnel” space flight demonstration, Phase 4 said. The company said it will leverage its radio frequency thruster technology for the program.
HawkEye News. Space-based radio frequency data and analytics provider HawkEye 360 last week said its satellite clusters 8 and 9 will launch aboard SpaceX’s Bandwagon-1 Rideshare mission from Florida as early as this month. The launch will mark the first time that HawkEye puts two of its satellite clusters into orbit. The clusters consist of six spacecraft in total and will be “positioned at mid-inclination for increased coverage over the busiest maritime traffic corridors of the world” and will help monitor illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing across the Indo-Pacific region, the company said. Separately, HawkEye said it has secured $40 million in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank. The financing will help the company build out its satellite constellation and bolster its “technological infrastructure,” it said.
3D Printing for Subs. Fairbanks Morse Defense will 3D print a 70-pount copper-nickel valve assembly for use on Navy submarines, marking what the company said will be the first 3D printed assembly on a U.S. sub. FMD said the assembly will meet or exceed the quality of traditional sand-casting in about two-thirds less time. Currently, additive manufacturing is only used for small parts for submarines. FMD’s Hunt Valve business will produce the assembly under contract to the Maritime Sustainment Technology and Innovation Consortium. The assembly is being developed by Hunt Valve in collaboration with Lincoln Electric.
AI Copilot. Beacon AI has completed a phase two prototype with U.S. Special Operations Command for the development of its artificial intelligence copilot technology that helps aircrews fly safer and more efficiently, particularly for longer missions, the company said last week. Beacon AI said it has developed additional capabilities for its AI copilot to include monitoring cockpit air quality, pilot biometrics, and attention tracking. Beacon said the recent work with SOCOM will enable future enhancements and developments in human-machine teaming.
Homeland OTA Bill. Two U.S. senators last week introduced a bipartisan bill reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security to continue using Other Transaction Authority (OTA) procurement tools to be able to quickly contract with innovative businesses, including those that are new to government contracting. The Better Enabling Secure and Trustworthy Technology for Homeland Security Act (S. 4024) was introduced by Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and would extend existing DHS OTA for seven year though fiscal year 2031. The current authority expires Sept. 30.
People News. Peraton has appointed Tom Terjesen as senior vice president and chief information officer, returning to the company after serving the same role most recently at ASRC Federal, and leadership positions at Perspecta, Vencore, BAE Systems, Inc., and AIG. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has appointed retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Bobbi Doorenbos to its board. Her leadership experience includes service as special assistant to then Vice President Joe Biden for defense policy and intelligence programs, military deputy for Air Force Training and Readiness, and wing commander of the 188th Wing overseeing the transition from the manned A-10 to the unmanned MQ-9. Doorenbos was also an F-16 pilot. Finally, True Anomaly has appointed Christina Cook as its first-ever chief revenue officer, responsible for the company’s business development, sales, and partnerships. Cook previously was with Palantir for 14 years and helped grow the company from three customers to its current large public sector and commercial customer base.
LRASM Test Flight. The Navy and Lockheed Martin conducted a “historic” Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) flight test that simultaneously tested four missiles in one flight event. This event, the 12th Integrated Test Event (ITE-12), had the Navy demonstrate the weapon’s lethality from mission planning through kill chain integration and effects on a target, the company said in its April 3 announcement. Lockheed Martin underscored all mission objectives were met. “We have continued to invest in the design and development of LRASM’s anti-surface warfare capabilities to ensure that warfighters have the 21st century security solutions they need to complete their missions and come home safely,” Lisbeth Vogelpohl, LRASM program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said in a statement. ITE-12 was listed as the next major step in LRASM development and acted as a “graduation exercise” for the latest missile configuration.
PACFLEET. Adm. Stephen Koehler assumed command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet (PACFLT) from Adm. Samuel Paparo during a change of command ceremony on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on April 4. Paparo had led the fleet since May 2021 and is set to become the next commander of Indo-Pacific Command. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti visited Hawaii to preside over the ceremony. Koehler is now the 38th commander of the Pacific Fleet since it was established in 1941.
PEO UWS. The Secretary of the Navy and Chief of Naval Operations on April 4 announced Capt. Douglas Adams was chosen for promotion to rear admiral (lower half) and will be assigned the next program executive officers for Undersea Warfare Systems (PEO UWS), within Team Submarine. PEO UWS focuses on delivery of enhanced combat capability, improved cybersecurity and resiliency for submarines. It includes the undersea integration office for Project Overmatch.
NGJ CADRE. The Office of Naval Research awarded RTX a $41 million contract on April 3 for the Controlled, Advanced, Distributed Radio Frequency Effects (CADRE) effort, developing capabilities that could be integrated into the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) program. The announcement said the objective of this effort is to “increase the technology readiness of the CADRE capability from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) Three to TRL Six, making it suitable for integration into the NGJ program.” Work is divided into three phases: System Design and Risk Reduction; Detailed Design, Integration and Verification; and Ground Test and Flight Demonstration, which seek to reach measurable progress milestones toward the long-term Future Naval Capabilities (FNC) objective. FNC itself seeks multi-aircraft flight demonstration of these systems. Work will occur in McKinney, Texas, and the base work is expected to be wrapped up by November 2025. The $41 million total value covers an 18-month base period, a 19-month Option One, and a 22-month Option Two. The Navy said this was competitively procured, but since proposals are received throughout the year under a long range Broad Agency Announcement, it cannot cite the number of proposals it received.
Japanese Aegis. Lockheed Martin on April 4 announced the successful demonstration of a first live track of the AN/SPY-7(V)1 radar for the Aegis System Equipped Vessel (ASEV), all being developed for Japan. This occurred at the company’s production test center in Moorestown, NJ. The company said that during the event, the SPY-7 radar hardware and software tracked objects in space, verifying the maturity of the radar systems. It said this marks the start of comprehensive performance testing. Japan plans to field two ASECs with the SPY-7. The SPY-7 uses technology from the Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) program.