Wedgetail Deployment. The deployment term of a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) E-7A Wedgetail to Poland last July to aid Ukraine has ended. The plane has provided “critical surveillance, communications and early warning capabilities to protect supply lines delivering international aid to Ukraine,” the RAAF said. “With its long-range reconnaissance capability, the Australian detachment maintained vigilant oversight of Eastern Europe, delivering valuable intelligence to help NATO keep the assistance corridor open. The deployment, conducted under Operation Kudu, demonstrated Australia’s ability to integrate with NATO operations and European partners, using one of the world’s most advanced airborne command and control platforms. The Wedgetail’s unique capabilities also served as a deterrent, reducing the risk of strikes on logistics hubs outside Ukraine as part of a multi-layered protection strategy.” Boeing builds the E-7A Wedgetail.
Navy CCA. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) officially announced it is one of the contractors selected by the Navy to develop conceptual designs for its carrier-based Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), set to be paired with the F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter as well as legacy aircraft. It follows Anduril Industries’ confirmation of its participation in September. The other selectees are Boeing and Northrop Grumman. While the company deferred to the Navy for design questions, GA-ASI said the Navy CCA designs emphasize a “modular approach to platform selection, capable of being rapidly reconfigured and upgraded to meet changing mission requirements, including operations on and from aircraft carriers.” It added their approach supports an acquisition strategy for smaller, frequent purchases allowing rapid technology insertion while noting GA-ASI announced a ship-based CCA concept at the Farnborough Air Show in 2024, called Gambit 5, part of the company-developed family of drones. GA-ASI previously was selected as one of the two finalists to produce a YFQ-42A Gambit CCA prototype for the Air Force.
Energetics. American Rheinmetall Munitions said on Oct. 13 it is partnering with Texas-based chemical manufacturer Solugen to work on “scalable, domestic production of critical materials for defense and industrial applications, to expand the availability of new and affordable, U.S.-made energetics to support faster adoption of advanced energetics across the defense sector.” “The collaboration brings together Solugen’s ability to lower the cost and improve the availability of critical energetics inputs with American Rheinmetall Munitions proven capacity to integrate those materials into advanced munitions and deliver them to the Warfighter at scale. Together, the companies will reinforce the resilience of the U.S. defense industrial base to ensure that affordability and availability remain central to America’s overmatch advantage,” American Rheinmetall Munitions said in a statement.
GMP/Hanwha Energetics. Global Military Products (GMP) said on Oct. 14 it has signed a strategic teaming agreement with Hanwha Aerospace to pursue opportunities in the ammunition and energetics production space. GMP said the partnership will specifically focus on developing “next-generation energetics, propellants and ammunition components to support Army modernization efforts.” “This partnership represents a significant step toward strengthening the domestic defense industrial base,” Jeff Brunozzi, president of Global Ordnance Holdings, said in a statement. “By aligning GMP’s U.S. program management and manufacturing expertise with Hanwha’s advanced energetics and munitions technologies, we are positioned to bring cutting-edge capabilities to the U.S. Army and allied forces.”
Korean ALMDS Pod. Northrop Grumman delivered the first Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) sensor pod to South Korea, the company announced Oct. 15. Exactly two years previously the contract was awarded via South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Industries, Ltd. to provide the ALMDS solutions as part of the Engineering, Manufacturing and Design (EMD) phase of the Republic of Korea’s Korean Mine Countermeasures Helicopter (KMCH) program. The EMD phase is expected to be finished in 2027. In February, Northrop Grumman signed a memorandum of Understanding with Hanwha wherein the latter would support manufacturing of ALMDS hardware components. The ALMDS pod provides quick detection and classification of mines in coastal waters from helicopters. It is currently operated by the U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ships and Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force.
FANG FPV. Red Cat on Oct. 8 announced FANG, its new line of first person view (FPV) drones. The company said the product family was initially developed “through a U.S. military lab program” and is designed to be the “lowest-cost family of NDAA-compliant FPV drones on the market.” “With FANG, we set out to deliver something the market hasn’t seen before. Working with key partners, we now have an NDAA-compliant FPV drone that’s both high-performing and low-cost. By focusing on retrievability, American manufacturing, and real-world mission needs, we’re giving defense and security teams a smarter, scalable option optimized for both budget and effectiveness,” Red Cat CEO Jeff Thompson said in a statement. Red Cat specifically highlighted the FANG F7 which it said features a “7-inch carbon fiber frame engineered for durability and stability, paired with a retrievable design that makes it reusable and cost-efficient.”
…Black Widow/Stalker. Red Cat has also partnered with Redwire subsidiary Edge Autonomy to integrate its Black Widow small UAS with the latter’s Stalker platform, a Group 2 fixed-wing UAS. “With flexible payload capacity, the Stalker can easily integrate compact drones to support the U.S. Army across multiple echelons including platoon, company, battalion and brigade. The Black Widow can be mounted under the center wing of the Stalker as a deployable payload, extending mission range with the Stalker acting as a carrier, launch platform, and communications relay,” Redwire said in a statement. Red Cat is currently delivering the Black Widow sUAS to the Army under the Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) Tranche 2 program.
…Skydio/SRR. Skydio said on Oct. 14 that, in partnership with Science Applications International Corp., it has received a $7.9 million award from the Army to deliver its X10D small UAS for the SRR Tranche 2 program program. The company noted the new award continues its role on the SRR program, while transitioning the system it provides from the X2D/RQ28-A to the upgraded X10D. Skydio has said previously that the X10D features “new, cutting-edge data capture cameras, unparalleled autonomy and versatile hardware.”
New VTOL UAS. Israel Aerospace Industries and AEVEX Aerospace last week debuted OmniRaider, a Group 3 vertical takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that is the U.S. version of the ThunderB-Next Generation VTOL UAS. ThunderB is made by Israel’s Blue Bird Aerospace, which is 50 percent owned by IAI. The fixed-wing OmniRaider has a maximum takeoff weight of 110 pounds and can carry more than 20 pounds in a multi-payload configuration, has an endurance of about 13 hours and a range of 100 miles. AEVEX, based in Tampa, Fla., will manufacture OmniRaider.
Anduril/GDLS. Anduril on Oct. 13 19 announced a partnership with General Dynamics Land Systems to integrate its Spark radar on armored vehicles, with plans to expand to command posts, missile launchers and fires elements. “As one of the world’s most experienced and forward-leaning companies in the design, development and production of tracked and wheeled military equipment, General Dynamics Land Systems brings deep understanding of how modern vehicles operate — and how they need to evolve,” Anduril said in a statement. “Pairing this expertise with Anduril’s software-driven sensors and battle management technologies is a critical step toward enabling distributed, formation-level protection future conflicts demand. Our goal is to enable the entire formation — not just individual platforms — to detect, track, and respond in real time.” Anduril said its Spark radar detects both air and ground threats “with class-leading range, speed and fidelity, while using Lattice to pass threats on to other radars.”
AI Data Centers. The Air Force is seeking industry proposals to lease unused service land at Edwards AFB, Calif., Robins AFB, Ga., Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., Arnold AFB, Tenn., and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., to build commercial artificial intelligence data centers, each of which may include a “pro shop, club house with restaurant/bar, storage and maintenance buildings,” according to an Air Force business notice. The solicitation follows this year’s issuance of Executive Order 14179: Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence and Executive Order 14318: Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure. “Projects must, at a minimum, be ‘qualifying projects’ as defined in Executive Order 14318, including, but not limited to, a facility that requires greater than 100 megawatts of new load and a project of at least $500 million in capital expenditures,” the Air Force said. Due to the vast amount of non-sustainable energy generated electricity needed to power and cool the servers at AI data centers, the latter are significant sources of air pollution, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
AM General M-MET Team. AM General last week said it is formally collaborating with Carnegie Robotics and Textron Systems to design an unmanned ground vehicle for the Army’s Medium Modular Equipment Transport Trailer (M-MET), which the service wants to autonomously provide logistics between Brigade support areas and forward unit. “This collaboration combines the industrial strength of AM General, the autonomy expertise of Carnegie Robotics, and Textron Systems’ proven experience in vehicle control and payload integration to deliver a disruptive capability to the U.S. Army,” John Chadbourne, AM General’s head of business development, said in a statement.
Metal Shark Enlists Havoc. Metal Shark, a builder of small boats and patrol craft, has formed a strategic partnership with HavocAI to integrated startup’s maritime collaborative autonomy platform across its current High-Speed Maneuverable Unmanned Surface Vessels (HSMUSV). The company’s said Havoc autonomy technology will allow a single operator to conduct complex operations with multiple Metal Shark HSMUSVs simultaneously. “We’re not just announcing a partnership, we’re once again demonstrating that real autonomy is available right now for existing warfighting platforms,” Paul Lwin, Havoc’s CEO, said in a statement.
…Another Maritime Partnership. Autonomous underwater vehicle developer Vatn System last week launched INStinct, its inertial navigation system for precise and resilient maritime navigation in GPS-denied environments. Vatn said its “low-cost” system is enabled by ANELLO Photonics’ Silicon Photonics Optical Gyroscope X3-based inertial measurement unit. Vatn said INStinct will be valuable for surface and subsurface operations.
New Delta. U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command last week activated System Delta 88 (SYD 88), which “synchronizes acquisition efforts for critical satellite communication space capabilities and integration with Space Operations Command Mission Delta 9 to improve mission readiness.” SYD 88 is part of SSC’s Military Communications and Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Program Executive Office, and has three program directors for Strategic SATCOM systems, Tactical SATCOM systems, and Narrowband SATCOM systems.
Sev1Tech. Sev1Tech on Oct. 15 announced it won a $49 million contract under SeaPort NxG from the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic to provide full system lifecycle support that includes cyber engineering, network operations and security support services. This support is focused on providing services for NIWC Atlantic’s Expeditionary Enterprise Systems and Services Division. The company underscored this means it will provide C4ISR, cyber and information technology systems and engineering services to meet the Marine Corps’ information warfare needs. SeaPort NxG is the Navy’s indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity multiple award vehicle to procure professional support services.
