Navy Could Lease MUSVs. Christopher Miller, Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager (DRPM) for Robotic and Autonomous Systems, told reporters on Sept. 29 that given many of the companies competing for the Navy’s Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) family of systems are also working on similar commercial vessels, the Navy is open to potentially leasing some commercial vessels in certain circumstances. “There’s a range of options, and that’s one of the things we want to explore as we get further into the program. Obviously, if I have to surge, just like we do on some of our sea lift and support assets, we may look to things like leasing.” While in warfighting missions the Navy wants to own USVs, “but I think this is another area as we think about unmanned and robotic systems where we are going to have an opportunity to do things differently, and I think we need to embrace that, and I think we need to go learn. And I think that will be something as we think about the model that I could treat this like the leased car or a leased vessel, or I could have some that I have kind of a hybrid.”
CBO Peeks At Golden Dome. David Mosher, director of national security analysis at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) told the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) subcommittee on strategic forces on Sept. 29 that they finally got a briefing from the office of the Direct Reporting Program Manager of Golden Dome for America on Sept. 25, thanks to committee staff “kind of making sure that that happened.” While he was unable to reveal any details of the architecture that office head Gen. Michael Guetlein is creating, he reiterated a May CBO report estimating the system costing $1.2 trillion was based only on the kind of system outlined in President Trump’s original January 2025 Iron Dome for America executive order, later leading to the Golden Dome program. He also confirmed that if the system is built in a phased way or without all the elements the CBO outlined, it would cost less and “we built our estimate that way, so that you could play parlor games about how much it would cost to do less.” Mosher said the executive order’s scope has more in common with President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative than recent policy largely focused on small numbers of missiles coming from a small country like North Korea with limited countermeasures. During the hearing, SASC ranking member Sen. Jack Reed said he thinks Guetlein has not taken Trump’s order literally and “rescoped it so it’s less expensive.”
AUKUS Tech For MUSVs. Australian maritime autonomy company Greenroom Robotics was part of several teams in the Navy’s evaluation of at-sea testing of the medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV), especially HII. The company said its modular open software was integrated onto the HII Romulus MUSV, one of the three winners for 10 MUSVs. “This is AUKUS Pillar II in practice. We’re proud to see Australian-developed software integrated on American vessels and tested at sea by the U.S. Navy, and it’s a great example of what allied industry can deliver together at pace,” Alex Bertram, general manager USA at Greenroom Robotics, said in a statement. “Our dual-use, modular, open software integrated rapidly with our partners’ vessels and systems, and rigorous U.S. Navy-monitored testing validated its performance in the real world,” he added.
Second Navy GCS. Lockheed Martin recently said the Navy stood up its second MD-5C Ground Control Station (GCS) set to operate the MQ-25A Stingray carrier-based unmanned tanker aircraft within five months of the first GCS. Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works division engineers the MDCX hardware and software autonomy platform used in the GCS, which is installed in the Unmanned Air Warfare Center (UAWC) on a carrier. The UAWC is an onboard command center for unmanned carrier-based aviation systems, including the upcoming Boeing MQ-25A. The USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) received the first operational MD-5C in March 2026 and Lockheed Martin said the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) received the second in August. The MD-5C includes the government’s command, control, communications, computers and intelligence network and additional government-produced ancillary equipment. The company noted within GCS, MDCX is specifically the mission planning and execution software that enables Navy operators to command and control the MQ-25A Stingray.
Navy MQ-9B. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) said the Navy recently evaluated the MQ-9B SeaGuardian unmanned aircraft system (UAS) at the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF) Commander’s Operational Group (COG) at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI), Oak Harbor, Wash. SeaGuardian is the maritime variant of the MQ-9B, operated by the Navy in a Company-Owned, Company-Operated (COCO) contract with GA-ASI to support an “ongoing capability assessment for the 7th Fleet,” the company said. The COG combines MPRF senior leaders, taticians and industry partners to discuss the latest aviation capabilities and review Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) operational Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures employed throughout the Fleet. GA-ASI said it provided the SeaGuardian at the request of the commander of the patrol and reconnaissance group to give attendees a closer look at a “maritime-optimized” Group 5 remotely piloted aircraft employed by the Navy and international partners. SeaGuardian is also part of the 2025 Whidbey Island Open House. The company said Whidbey Island is a base for the SeaGuardian’s mission capabilities as part of exercises like Northern Edge and Integrated Battle problem as well as supporting carrier pre-deployment workups.
SecNav Counselor. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao announced C. Scott “Sonny” Duncan was appointed as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of the Navy, effective Oct. 1. In this role, the Navy said Duncan will use his experience to “drive meaningful progress across the Department, centered on the Acting Secretary’s priorities: Take Care of Our Sailors and Marines, Advance Shipbuilding Initiatives, and Defend Our Homeland.” This appointment follows Duncan serving as Performing the Duties of Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs (PTDO ASN M&RA) and as senior adviser to the Secretary of Defense. Also, in this role, Duncan will provide Cao with insights at tactical and strategic levels. Earlier in his career, Duncan was a Marine Corps aviator, TOPGUN graduate and instructor and led the Tactics and Integration Department at Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One (VMX-1) in Yuma, Ariz. The Navy notice said during his recent civilian leadership period Duncan “conducted active oversight and field visits to naval units, including touring ships such as USNS Patuxent with Military Sealift Command leadership to engage with crew members and review workforce initiatives.”
Gilliland Out. General Dynamics last Friday said that Amy Gilliland, a 21-year veteran of the company who has led its Information Technology business for nine years, “is no longer with the company.” In her place, Paul Nedzbala, who has been with GDIT since 2018 when it acquired CRSA and has been serving as senior vice president and chief business officer, is acting president. “We thank Amy for her contributions to our company and wish her all the best in her future endeavors,” Phebe Novakovic, chairwoman and CEO of GD, said in a statement. Nedzbala was with CRSA for 19 years and is a “proven leader who brings decades of experience in federal IT services,” she said.
Lyntris In LTAMDS. Defense technology company Lyntris Inc. on Sept. 29 announced it received production orders from RTX’s Raytheon to manufacture parts to enable the U.S. Army’s Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) program’s Option Years Two and Three. LTAMDS is the Army’s replacement for the current Patriot radar. This falls within a long-term purchase agreement Lyntris established with Raytheon in 2023 and covers production sought through 2028. Under this order, the company said it will manufacture precisions thermal management assemblies that allow LTAMDS’ active electronically scanned array performance. It said the assemblies “combine liquid cooling circuits with tight-tolerance machined features that hold thermal stability across high-power radar electronics, where temperature variation shortens component life.” Production will occur at the company’s facilities in Newark, Calif., and Carson City, Nev.
Shoot Off Opportunity. The upcoming high-energy laser shoot off at Dugway Proving Ground will be an opportunity for new entrants in the directed energy space to potentially nab a production contract, Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, director of the Pentagon’s counter-drone task force, said last week. The shoot off in December could result in upward of $200 million in contracts (Defense Daily, Sept. 25). “Our goal is to structure that shoot off in such a way that if somebody meets the requirements, it results in an immediate contract, so we can start opening up the production lines to build that breadth and depth in our base,” Ross told reporters.
Canadian Startup. Montreal-based OSCPS Motion Sensing Inc., which is developing photonic inertial measurement units (IMUs) and gyroscopes to allow platforms to operate in GPS-denied and jammed environments, has raised $6 million in a Series A investment round led by New Science Ventures. The company said last week that the funds will be used to scale production of its IMUs that are not subject to export controls under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. OSCP said that losing Global Navigation Satellite System connectivity is no longer just a battlefield issue.
Extended-Range C-UAS. The Army has awarded Northrop Grumman an $18.8 million contract to develop solid fuel ramjet propulsion that will be used to power extended-range prototypes of counter-unmanned aircraft system (XRC) interceptors. The company has static fired its solid fuel ramjet and plans a “comprehensive ground and flight test campaign to validate the design and production processes” to quickly meet defense requirements, it said last week. The XRC program is aimed at improving the Maneuver Short Range Air Defense System for use against advanced drone threats and fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, Northrop said. The Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center made the award.
X-BAT Sites. Shield AI last week said it has selected sites in Newton, Kan., and Des Moines, Wash., for flight testing, sustaining and producing its X-BAT unmanned artificial intelligence-piloted jet aircraft. X-Forge 2, the site at the Newton airport near Wichita, is for production acceptance and development flight-testing and sustainment and the X-Force 3 location south of Seattle is for production. Shield is planning to begin production of the autonomous fighter aircraft in 2029 and enter full-rate production in the early 2030s. “Both these regions were building planes before Shield AI existed, and we went to them for that reason,” said Armor Harris, Shield’s senior vice president of aircraft. X-Forge 1, in Frisco, Texas, is the company’s prototyping site and home of its V-Bat unmanned aircraft system.
Draganfly Raise. Drone manufacturer Draganfly last week said it received a $10 million strategic investment, equally split, from Unusual Machines and an unnamed U.S. investment fund to speed development, expand production and strengthen supplier relationships. The investment will give Unusual Machines and the investment fund an equity stake in Draganfly, which is publicly traded. Draganfly said the investment will also help it meet demand in U.S. and international markets.
Sovereign AI Infrastructure. Palantir Technologies and mobile data infrastructure developer Armada last week said they have partnered to provide enterprises and governments with sovereign artificial intelligence data centers. Palantir is integrating its Sovereign AI Operating system on Armada’s Galleon ruggedized, containerized, modular edge computing centers that will give customers control over their data infrastructure and software. “Our ontology gives institutions control over their data, their models, and the inputs they use to fine-tune models,” Palantir CEO Alex Karp said in a statement. “Armada gives them control over the infrastructure those models operate from, manufactured in the United States and delivered in months.”
So Long DSP. During last month’s Apollo Maneuvers Exercise by U.S. Space Command, the 2nd Space Warning Squadron “demonstrated dynamic on-orbit maneuvers with two Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites ahead of a planned system decommissioning into super-synchronous orbit,” according to Space Force’s Combat Forces Command. Built by TRW, now part of Northrop Grumman, the geosynchronous orbit DSP satellites date back to the early 1970s and have provided missile warning in concert with the Lockheed Martin Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) constellation. Space Force’s Mission Delta 4 is to integrate Lockheed Martin’s Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellites as replacements for DSP and SBIRS.
B-52 SATCOM Link. The U.S. Air Force awarded $17 million in Other Transaction Agreements in July to Northrop Grumman, Sierra Nevada Corp., and Magee Technologies, LLC, to develop an integration strategy to upgrade the Extremely High Frequency satellite communications (SATCOM) link for the B-52 bomber, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) said on Sept. 23. The upgrade “will enhance the B-52 bomber’s capabilities, ensuring highly secure, survivable, and resilient communication lines for the aircraft’s strategic missions,” according to AFLCMC’s bombers directorate.
EW Awards. The Army said on Sept. 30 it has awarded deals to five companies to work on prototype EW systems for counter-surveillance and reconnaissance supporting space operations. The Other Transaction Authority agreements include $18.8 million to Ideas, Commitment, Results, $22.4 million to Kellogg Brown & Root, $6.9 million to Northrop Grumman’s Xetron, $7.6 million to RTX and $10.9 million to Systems & Technology Research. “The Army space vision requires the service to operate in space to ensure ground maneuver commanders maintain a decisive operational advantage. By securing the high ground of the space domain, the Army delivers critical multi-domain effects that safeguard friendly forces and neutralize space-based threats to land operations,” Kent Shea, the Army’s product manager for tactical space superiority, said in a statement. The selected companies will work for 18-20 months on their rapid development efforts, which will culminate in field experimentation and exercises, the Army added.
U.K. Competition. Team Lionstrike, which consists of NP Aerospace, GM Defense and BAE Systems, said on Oct. 1 they’ve been selected to advance to the next stage of the U.K. Ministry of Defense’s Light Mobility Vehicle (LMV) competition. “The team’s proposal is designed around operationally proven platforms, configured to meet U.K. requirements while minimizing unnecessary modification and integration risk. The approach also provides a clear pathway to increased U.K. industrial participation, supporting sovereign capability, skilled jobs and opportunities across the U.K. supply chain,” the companies said in a joint statement. The U.K.’s LMV program is intended to find a replacement for its military’s utility vehicle fleet.
Project Meridian. The Pentagon said on Oct. 2 it has tapped The Mitre Corp. to lead its new Project Meridian panel tasked with assessing the future of warfare. “MITRE’s National Security Engineering Center FFRDC will manage and direct the completion of the project, convening leading business, policy, and technology experts to assess the capabilities, emerging technologies, and operational concepts needed to sustain U.S. military advantage across next-generation warfighting domains,” the department announced in a social media post. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth detailed Project Meridian in his “State of the Force” address on Sept. 30, noting Pentagon Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael will oversee the initiative and that it will be co-led by Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. “MITRE will author and deliver an independent, unclassified final report, not to exceed 30 pages, with classified annex(es) at the conclusion of the 120-day project period,” the Pentagon said.
Aided Target Recognition. Sightline Intelligence said on Sept. 29 it has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Aviation & Missile Center (DEVCOM AvMC) to develop mission-specific AI target recognition capabilities for Army applications using its Aided Target Recognition (AiTR) platform integration with Army operational datasets. “One of the biggest challenges in defense AI is that the most important operational data isn’t available commercially,” Stephen Bornstein, the company’s chief product officer, said in a statement. “While Sightline has developed powerful target recognition capabilities through AiTR, mission-specific performance ultimately depends on access to mission-specific data. This collaboration allows DEVCOM AvMC to leverage its operational expertise and Army-relevant datasets to create capabilities tailored to real-world Army requirements, while providing a path for those capabilities to be developed, deployed and sustained at scale.”
