Page 101 – Defense Daily

Defense Watch: Marine C-UAS, DOGE Alignment, Wicker/Trump Meeting, DEI Savings

Marine C-UAS. A Marine Corps official boasted they are using newly-granted acquisition authorities via a cross-functional team and fusion cell to field a new ground-based counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) defense capability. Speaking before a Jan. 29 WEST 2025 panel, Lt. Gen. Eric Austin, commander of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command and deputy commandant for combat development and integration, said the service plans to deploy this new system this year. “We see a very real need to address counter-UAS for dismounted Marines. And it’s not infantry Marines, it dismounts everywhere.” He also told reporters this unnamed system has several subsets focused on a whole suite of C-UAS capabilities and can leverage other detection mechanisms, “used with joint detect mechanisms and it’s got both [electronic warfare] and kinetic defeat mechanisms. And most importantly it’s man-portable so we’re looking to get that fielded fast.”

Agile Spartan.

U.S. Air Forces Central (AFCENT) said that it has begun a weeks long exercise for AFCENT’s five Air Expeditionary Wings to test the service’s Agile Combat Employment concept of widely spread units/decentralized communications in areas without support infrastructure. “The forward deployments of F-15E Strike Eagles, A-10 Thunderbolt II, and F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft from major hubs to dispersed locations – while still supporting Operations Inherent Resolve and Prosperity Guardian – models the ability for U.S. airmen to make decisions and generate combat power at the lowest level,” AFCENT said. “Support aircraft, including the KC-135 Stratotanker, E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, and C-130J Super Hercules will also be executing dispersed operations to evaluate the command’s ability to generate rapid air mobility and contested communications from anywhere in the region.”

Electromagnetic Spectrum. One congressional item to watch may be debate over creating a domain for the electromagnetic spectrum–a military funding line consolidation that could put more emphasis behind efforts to rejuvenate electronic warfare, which fell in importance during the two decades of U.S. counterterrorism after 9/11. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown undertook such efforts as Air Force Chief of Staff when he spurred creation of the service’s 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing which has its headquarters at Eglin AFB, Fla. In 2021, with the support of Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), the co-chair of the Congressional Electromagnetic Warfare Working Group and a House Armed Services Committee member, DoD created the Joint Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Center–an office to oversee electromagnetic spectrum operations–at U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt AFB, Neb.

Embracing DOGE. The heads of General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman last week expressed their support for, and willingness to work with, the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency office, better known as DOGE. Asked on Northrop Grumman’s fourth quarter earnings call about the DOGE and the new administration’s interest in using more fixed-price contracting, Kathy Warden said, “Net, net, I see more opportunity.” Her company has “embraced the opportunity to share some of our observations and ideas” with the DOGE, and is “starting to do that,” she said. GD Chairwoman and CEO Phebe Novakovic told investors that improving “efficiency and cost structure of organizations is a good thing and we would embrace that.” She also said that most of GD’s programs are “very well positioned for the modern fight,” which has the company in a “pretty good position.”

…Aligned with DOGE. Novakovic and Warden’s embrace of DOGE echoes that of Lockheed Martin Chief Jim Taiclet, who also told investors last week the Trump initiative can reduce regulatory burdens, and streamline and speed acquisition processes. Preceding these defense industry captains in their support of DOGE was Chris Kubasik, who before the presidential inauguration sent a letter to DOGE leader Elon Musk, offering recommendations for efficiencies. Kubasik, who leads L3Harris Technologies, last week said his company’s ongoing LHX NeXT cost savings and operational efficiency effort “embodies the same principles as DOGE, tailored to drive greater speed and efficiency to allow data-driven decision-making.”

…New Aerojet Chief. Keeping with L3Harris, the company in January said that Ken Bedingfield, 52, chief financial officer, will also assume the role of president of the Aerojet Rocketdyne segment beginning Feb. 3. Ross Niebergall, who has led the segment since L3Harris acquired Aerojet Rocketdyne in July 2023, is retiring and will help with the transition. Sam Mehta, 52, who heads the company’s Communication Systems segment, will also lead enterprise Strategic Collaboration Agreements. And Heidi Wood, 59, who leads LHX NeXT, has been elevated to report to Kubasik.

…Northrop Again. Northrop Grumman has realigned its Strike and Surveillance Aircraft Services business unit under the Aeronautics Systems segment, Ken Crews, chief financial officer, told investors during the earnings call. The unit, which previously was part of the Defense Systems segment, provides sustainment activities mainly on programs in the Aeronautics portfolio, he said. “It is now it is now aligned with full product life cycles of Northrop Grumman aircraft, allowing for more seamless development and sustainment of next generation aircraft.” For Defense Systems, realignment, coupled with the completion of an international training programs, gives it a portfolio “centered around strategic deterrence, advanced weapons and missile defense,” he said.

Remote Sensing Award. BlackSky Technology last week said it won a new, seven-year, $100 million contract from an international defense customer to provide high-resolution electro-optical imagery using its current Gen-2 and upcoming Gen-3 imagery satellites. The award also calls for BlackSky to provide artificial intelligence-enabled analytic services. “This commitment now gives the customer priority, long-term access to capacity with the flexibility to accommodate novel Gen-3 features as end user requirements evolve,” Brian O’Toole, BlackSky’s CEO, said in a statement.

Subsea Alliance. Nauticas Robotics and Leidos have formed a strategic alliance around subsea autonomy solutions that builds on prior collaboration between the two companies. Houston-based Nauticas has developed the electric power-based Aquanaut autonomous underwater vessel and an unmanned vehicle software platform to conduct a range of missions, including pipeline repair and seabed scanning. Nauticas said the alliance combines the companies’ respective expertise to develop next-generation autonomous underwater systems to conduct “increasingly complex missions.”

People News. HII has promoted Derek Murphy to vice president of new construction aircraft carriers at the Newport News Shipbuilding division. A Navy veteran, Murphy has also worked at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division and joined Newport News in 2020 as program director on the John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) carrier construction. Momentus Space, which is offering satellite busses and other in-space transportation services, said that Paul Ney, chief legal officer, has joined the Trump administration as deputy counsel to the president for National Security Affairs and the National Security Council’s legal adviser. Macquarie Capital has hired David Farkas as managing director to enhance the investment firm’s aerospace, defense, and government services advisory practice. Farkas has held roles at Alix Partners, Renaissance Strategic Partners, GE Aerospace, and Honeywell Aerospace advising on mergers and acquisitions.

Wicker Meets Trump. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chair of the Armed Services Committee, met with President Trump on Jan. 30 and said during the discussion he offered his “commitment” to the administration’s “Iron Dome For America” project, efforts to build out a next-generation naval fleet and restoring munitions stockpiles. Wicker said they also discussed “supercharging the ‘peace through strength’ agenda through defense investment in upcoming budget reconciliation legislation.” “This is the moment for the president and Congress to enact the ‘peace through strength’ policies that the America needs,” Wicker said in a statement following his meeting with Trump.

Don’t Make Them Choose. During the WEST 2025 naval conference in San Diego on Jan. 29, a U.K. Royal Navy official urged U.S. and allied countries to not make Indo-Pacific countries pick only China or them. “One of the challenges I think we’re going to face is that we should be very careful to not force Indo-Pacific nations to choose China or someone else. Because the way in which global trade is interconnected at the moment means that China has a trump card of maritime trade that no other nation on the planet has got,” Rear Adm. James Parkin, a U.K. Royal Navy official responsible for overseeing development of technologies, said.

…Chinese Commerce Leads. Parkin said China built 158 merchant ships over a certain size compared to the five-eyes total of three. “Last year they overtook Greece to become the largest operator of merchant ships on the planet,” Parkin added. He also noted a 2016 Chinese law allows the government to turn merchant ships into state-owned in a conflict zone, so 19,000 more state-owned vessels can enter a conflict beyond standard Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy and Coast Guard ships. Parkin said the answer is to convince everyone, including China, that maintaining the “rules-based order” is best and most successful for everyone, so trade relationships bind too hard to make conflict easy. Parkin said, in contrast, if the U.S. and allies force, especially Pacific island countries, to choose between them and China, “I worry that given the merchant network, the web of Chinese state-owned enterprises around the planet, that levers of power than China can apply to island nations in particular are so powerful – we’ve got to avoid ever asking them that question.”

SecArmy Nom/DOGE. Dan Driscoll, Trump’s nominee to be Army secretary, said during his confirmation hearing on Jan. 30 he would work with Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who leads the Senate’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus, to assess where there is waste and inefficiencies within the service. “The dollars are limited, as they should be. We are beholden to this committee and this Congress for how to use those dollars. But once the dollars come to us, it’s our responsibility to use them as effectively as we possibly can. And it would be an honor to work with you on that, if confirmed,” Driscoll said.

Drones. Driscoll, during his confirmation hearing, also told lawmakers that drones and swarming capabilities have “changed how warfare is fought.” Driscoll, an Army veteran, added that the Abrams tanks have “soft spots” that are vulnerable to drone attacks. “We can no longer shoot $4 million missiles to take down a $400 drone. That simple math just doesn’t add up. We’re going to have to find solutions, whether it’s directed energy or whatever it is, that can have a cost-effective way to provide security,” Driscoll said.

Moog Pac-3 MSE. Moog Inc. on Jan. 29 said Lockheed Martin selected it to provide “custom actuator” for the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE). The company noted this is one of the largest contracts in company history, valued at over $100 million. The company said its electromechanical actuators “ensure precision steering enabling PAC-3 MSE missiles to engage intended targets.” Production will occur at Moog’s Salt Lake, Utah facility.

LPD-32 Starts. HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division on Jan. 29 marked the official start of fabrication on the future USS Philadelphia (LPD-32), the third Flight II San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship. HII is the only provider of LPDs to the Navy and has delivered 17 ships so far, through LPD-29. The two preceding ships are already under construction: the future USS Harrisburg (LPD-30), Pittsburgh (LPD-31). In September 2024 the Navy awarded HII a contract to produce LPD-33, -34 and -35. The Flight II LPDs are meant to replace the aging Whidbey Island (LSD-41) and Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) class ships that support the Marine Corps Air-Ground Task Force.

HII VR Welding. HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding marked the opening of a new virtual reality (VR) welding lab at its facility in Pascagoula, Miss., on Jan. 30. The new facility seeks to integrate VR technology into the current welder certification curriculum, to provide new and current company shipbuilders a more “immersive, hands-on experience to develop critical shipbuilding skills.” The company argued the new VR system will make it easier and safer for welders to hone skills and improve HII’s ability to grow its proficiency in these skills.

DEI Savings. President Trump’s Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency last Friday touted its success in finding savings in its quest to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts within the federal government. So far, the DOGE has terminated 104 DEI-related contracts, the office posted on X, which is owned by Musk. Of the contracts and savings, the post says one Defense Department contract that was canceled saved nearly $2.1 million out of a $3.6 million ceiling value. For the Department of Homeland Security, seven contracts were canceled resulting in a $14.9 million savings. The ceiling value on those awards was $43.3 million. The largest savings on the list, amounting to $495 million, came from three contracts with the Office of Personnel Management. Those contracts had a $516.8 million ceiling value.

Japan In Line For $900 Million Standard Missile-6 Deal

The State Department last Friday okayed a potential $900 million foreign military sale (FMS) to Japan of up to 150 Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) Block I missiles and related equipment supplied by RTX [RTX].

In addition to the missiles, the pending deal includes MK 21 Mod 3 Vertical Launch System canisters.

The missiles and canisters are for the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force and their current and future surface combatants equipped with Lockheed Martin’s [LMT] Aegis Weapon System.

The State Department said the FMS deal “will further enhance Japan’s ability to protect Japan and local allied land forces and will significantly improve Japan’s contribution to integrated air missile defense in the Indo-Pacific region.”

Earlier in January, the State Department approved a potential $3.6 billion FMS to Japan of AIM-120D-3 and AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, and a $39 million deal for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles with Extended Range.

Army Seeks Industry’s Info On Payloads For Launched Effects

As the Army moves out on its pursuit of new Launched Effects capabilities, the service is seeking information from industry on potential payloads it could integrate on the future autonomous air vehicles.

A new Request for Information notice released this week details an interest in Launched Effects payloads that would offer a range of capabilities, such as the ability to disrupt adversarial electronic attack or countering unmanned ground vehicles.

An Area-I Air-Launched, Tube-Integrated, Unmanned System, or ALTIUS, sails through the skies at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., March 4, 2020, where the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center led a demonstration that highlighted the forward air launch of the ALTIUS. (Photo by Jose Mejia-Betancourth/CCDC AvMC Technology Development Directorate)

“The intent of this RFI is to gather information on state-of-the art payloads that are capable of [detect, identify, locate and report] (DILR), delivering non-lethal effects, conducting battle damage assessment and providing protection of friendly formations,” the Army writes.

Launched Effects is the Army’s program to field new autonomous air vehicles that can be launched from aircraft or ground platforms with a variety of payloads and mission system applications to provide a range of effects for reconnaissance, extended communications links and eventually lethal capabilities.

Army officials last March detailed plans to pursue rapid prototyping and production for short, medium and long-range Launched Effects capabilities (Defense Daily, March 27 2024).

The Army states the RFI is intended to inform industry’s available payload offerings that could be integrated on Launched Effects, seeking details on payload maturity from a “technology, manufacturing and integration standpoint.”

“Vendor responses to this RFI will provide a granular view of readily available solutions and include those that may not be part of a fully integrated system at this time. These responses will be analyzed to understand the current market landscape and help determine the prioritization of efforts and current technology gaps requiring further industry investment in the near term,” the Army writes.

The RFI lists out the Army’s interested areas for payloads to include DILR capability; electro-optic/infrared, radio frequency, passive, synthetic aperture radar and audio, non-lethal capability; decoy aircraft, decoy command post and electronic attack (EA) disrupt, protection capability; offboard survivability, counter-swarm EA and counter-unmanned ground vehicle and air-droppable payloads capability; and small UAS and unattended ground sensors.

The Army notes it’s interested in currently available and future payload solutions that are at a Technology Readiness Level 3 or above with a plan to reach a minimum TRL 7 level by fiscal year 2030.

All solutions proposed in response to the RFI “must be designed in alignment with Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) principles” to enable future integration between different Launched Effects air vehicles,” the Army notes.

Earlier this month, the Army released a separate RFI detailing an interest in Launched Effects capabilities that could be deployed from medium and high-altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft (Defense Daily, Jan. 10).

Smiths Group Plans To Shed Security & Detection Business

Britain’s Smiths Group last Friday said it plans to sell or spin-out its security and detection division as part of strategic actions to unlock value for shareholders.

Smiths Detection, which generated $1.1 billion in sales in 2024, supplies equipment to a global customer base to scan cargo, vehicles, and baggage for contraband and threats. The division’s technologies are used in U.S. airports, and to help protect the nation’s borders at ports of entry. The division also makes chemical sensing systems used by the U.S. military and other customers.

The company is one of several vendors in the U.S. supplying computed tomography (CT) machines that provide operators with three-dimensional views of the contents of travelers’ carry-on bags at airport checkpoints. It also supplies airports with CT-based systems that automatically scan checked bags for explosives.

Smiths Detection’s competitors in the U.S. include Analogic, Leidos [LDOS], OSI Systems’ [OSIS] Rapiscan Systems division, and Teledyne Technologies’ [TDY] Flir business.

Smiths Group said it will either demerger—spin-out—Smiths Detection in the United Kingdom or sell the business.

Before Smiths Detection is divested, Smiths Group said it would first divest Smiths Interconnect, which supplies electronic components, subsystems, and optical and radio frequency products for secure, high-speed data transfer. The goal is to announce a transaction for Smiths Interconnect by the end of 2025.

The time is ripe to divest the two businesses, Smiths Group said.

“Smiths Interconnect and Smiths Detection are both attractive businesses with strong market positions, leading technologies and close customer relationships,” the company said in a statement. “Both businesses have delivered significant recent performance improvements, with Smiths Interconnect’s markets returning to growth and Smiths Detection benefiting from the continued airport investment upgrade cycle.”

Smiths Detections’ 2024 sales were up 7 percent in 2024, which includes negative foreign exchange impacts. Organic revenue was up 11 percent, driven by sales of checkpoint CT machines in the aviation market.

Operating profit for the year rose 14 percent to $126.5 million on higher sales and a 70-basis point increase in margin to 11.9 percent.

USAF Awards BAE Systems Nearly $1.2 Billion Extension for ICBM Support

The day before BAE Systems‘ nearly dozen year, $1.9 billion Integrated Support Contract for the ICBM fields was to expire, the U.S. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center’s ICBM directorate at Hill AFB, Utah awarded the company nearly $1.2 billion to extend the work through July 2027.

The award comes as the Air Force considers how to move forward on the service’s ICBM support plans.

On Aug. 12 last year, the U.S. Air Force informed the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that the service was canceling the up to $12 billion ISC 2.0 for the Minuteman III and the future LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM by Northrop Grumman [NOC] (Defense Daily, Aug. 23, 2024).

The Air Force is examining a restructuring of Sentinel after a critical Nunn-McCurdy breach on the program. The missile now looks as if it will not field until the early 2030s versus the earlier projected date of 2029.

ISC 2.0 had a turbulent history since BAE Systems won the contract more than two years ago (Defense Daily, June 24, 2022).

BAE was the incumbent and won the approximately $534 million ISC 1.0 contract in July 2013.

At the time of the ISC 2.0 award, the Air Force said that under the cost-plus-award-fee contract, BAE would serve as the lead systems integrator and would complement government personnel in providing ICBM systems engineering, integration, and professional services through 2040.

In winning ISC 2.0, BAE beat out four other offers, which included one from McLean, Va.-based Guidehouse LLP, one from Tullahoma, Tenn.’s Jacobs Technology, Inc.–a unit of Jacobs Solutions [J], and another from Integrated ICBM Support Services, LLC—a joint venture among Amentum, Apex Systems and Leidos [LDOS].

After the June 2022 ISC 2.0 award, Guidehouse and Jacobs submitted bid protests to GAO.

In October 2022 GAO sustained the two protests and recommended that the Air Force reevaluate proposals and make a new best offer downselect. Edda Emmanuelli Perez, GAO general counsel, wrote that the Air Force’s “evaluation of professional employee compensation and cost realism” in the ISC 2.0 offers was “unreasonable in certain regards.”

BAE’s offer came in at $3.3 billion, Jacobs’ at nearly $3.8 billion, and Guidehouse’s at $4.1 billion, GAO said.

After the October 2022 GAO decision, the Air Force awarded BAE Systems a stopgap ISC 2.0 $652 million contract on Jan. 31, 2023 “to ensure the integration of current and future hardware, software, testing and modifications” to Minuteman III and Sentinel through Jan. 31, 2025.

On Feb. 28 last year, the Air Force, after reevaluating proposals, awarded Guidehouse the ISC 2.0 contract for work through Aug. 27, 2042.

That award prompted a BAE Systems’ protest, which GAO upheld in June. In examining proposals before the February award to Guidehouse, the Air Force’s “professional employee compensation and cost realism evaluations were unreasonable,” said GAO, and the latter found “the source selection based on those evaluations to be itself unreasonable.”

Following Tragic Aircraft Collision With Black Hawk, SecArmy Nom Plans Focus On Aviation Safety

Following Wednesday evening’s tragic accident involving a civilian aircraft colliding with a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, Army Secretary nominee Dan Driscoll told lawmakers he plans to focus on aviation safety and the level of risk associated with certain training flights.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved in last night’s tragedy, which occurred a few miles away from this hearing room. If confirmed, I commit to working with this committee to ensure that this never happens again,” Driscoll said during his opening remarks.

The Coast Guard, local, state and federal agencies respond to an aircraft collision in Washington D.C., January 30, 2025. Coast Guard Sector Maryland – National Capital Region command center watchstanders received a report of a helicopter and a commercial passenger aircraft collision Wednesday evening in vicinity of the Ronald Reagan Airport. (U.S Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles)

An American Airlines [AAL] flight inbound to Washington, D.C., from Wichita, Kansas collided with an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter upon its descent into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The Black Hawk was performing a training mission with three soldiers from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion out of Davison Army Airfield at Fort Belvoir, Va. There are no presumed survivors among the 64 passengers on the commercial flight and the soldiers onboard the helicopter, with officials having shifted from a rescue to a recovery operation.

“The [Federal Aviation Administration], [National Transportation Safety Board] and the United States Army will investigate. The NTSB will lead the investigation. We are working with local officials and will provide any additional information once it becomes available,” Ron McLendon II, deputy director of public affairs for Joint Task Force-National Capital Region and The U.S. Army Military District of Washington said in a statement.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday the Black Hawk crew was going through an “annual proficiency training flight,” that the 12th Aviation Battalion has granted a 48-hour operational pause while the incident is being reviewed and that a senior-level aviation investigation team from DoD is also working on the incident.

“It was a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation. They did have night vision goggles,” Hegseth said in a video statement. “We anticipate the investigation will quickly be able to determine whether the aircraft was in the corridor and at the right altitude at the time of the incident.”

“It’s a tragedy, a horrible loss of life for those 64 souls on that civilian airliner and, of course, the three soldiers in that Black Hawk,” Hegseth added.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said during Driscoll’s confirmation hearing he will have “an important role” in investigating the collision, if confirmed.

“On what occurred last night, I think we’re all going to have to collectively figure out what occurred there. The early indicators from what I’ve seen on television, and I don’t have other access to the information, is that it might have been a training exercise gone wrong that had catastrophic outcomes. So we’re going to have to work together to make sure that never occurs again or at least mitigate the cause that it could ever occur again,” Driscoll told the panel.

Driscoll added that last night’s accident “seem[ed] to be preventable,” and told SASC he would work with civilian authorities on solving contested airspace issues and addressing where appropriate risk can be taken with training flights.

“There are appropriate times to take risk and there are inappropriate times to take risk. I don’t know the details around this [incident] but…if confirmed and working with this committee to figure out the facts, I think we might need to look at where is an appropriate time to take training risk; and it may not be near an airport like Reagan,” Driscoll said.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) stated that the Army’s fiscal year 2024 aviation mishap assessment released this month found the service had its most Class A flight mishap rates per 100,000 hours since 2007.

The Army in April 2024 announced an “Aviation Safety Stand-Up,” ordering additional aviation training across the force in the wake of 12 aviation mishaps this fiscal year that have resulted in 10 deaths (Defense Daily, April 12 2024).

Driscoll, 38, is an Army veteran and businessman and received a largely bipartisan reception from SASC during his confirmation hearing.

Army Secretary Nominee Driscoll: Service Needs To Improve ‘As A Customer’

Army secretary nominee Dan Driscoll on Thursday shed light on his planned approach for bolstering munitions production capacity and defense innovation efforts, telling lawmakers the service needs to improve “as a customer.”

Driscoll at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee offered his view on the Army’s modernization push and signature efforts such as the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft and Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), and in pre-written responses stated the service’s “technological edge is shrinking” and called for buying non-developmental and [commercial off-the-shelf] solutions to meet requirements “wherever possible.”

Dan Driscoll, Trump’s nominee for Army secretary. Photo: Dan Driscoll For Congress

“The current model the Army uses to acquire things rewards entities that are enormous. The big five primes are the case study in who can currently survive such a hard relationship with the customer,” Driscoll told the panel.

President Trump named businessman and Army veteran Driscoll, 38, as his pick for Army secretary in early December, and he would likely be one of the youngest officials to ever serve in the role (Defense Daily, Dec. 4 2024).

Driscoll, who was most recently a senior adviser to his former Yale Law School classmate Vice President JD Vance, is a former Army armor officer, who then went onto have a career in investment banking and has spent time as a chief operating officer at a venture capital firm and chief strategy officer at a health care business.

“I believe Mr. Driscoll’s record, his Army service, his legal background and financial experience have prepared him to handle the myriad responsibilities of Army secretary,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the SASC chair, said during the hearing.

In a sign of the likely bipartisan support for his nomination, Driscoll was introduced by Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), both members of SASC, with the latter noting that Driscoll was a Yale Law School classmate with his son and Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser.

“They assured me that he’s a person that’s willing to listen, to learn and to work in a bipartisan way to put our soldiers first,” Blumenthal said.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the SASC ranking member, asked Driscoll for how he would focus on breaking down barriers for companies that want to work with the Army.

“I think that a hard focus on improving the Army’s ability to project what it needs and empowering the defense base to expand from, call it, five to seven to 25 to 50 [prime contractors] would be powerful first steps,” Driscoll responded.

Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) said Driscoll brings “a unique background in business and private equity,” and asked how he would leverage that experience to support the Army’s innovation efforts.

Driscoll said lessons from the venture capital world over the last 10-20 years seeking out innovative technology can be applied to Army, and cited the IVAS program as a “shining beacon of effective development.”

“If you look at the private sector and the innovation loop, we do have some case studies on being able to create things with soldiers, having coders with them in the field and actually updating products and getting it back to the manufacturing floor with a much tighter innovation loop. I think we can do that working together and it would make an incredible difference,” Driscoll said during the hearing

The Army has used direct feedback from soldiers to inform Microsoft’s [MSFT] iterative design work on the IVAS mixed-reality headset, while the service recently released a Request for Information as it explores a possible recompete of the potential $22 billion program (Defense Daily, Jan. 22).

Driscoll told SASC he would “absolutely” commit to reviewing the Army’s munitions stockpile requirements to ensure they’re postured for future conflicts and as the service continues restocking its supply of weapons provided to support Ukraine.

“I think what we have learned with Ukraine and some of the other conflicts is it’s no longer sufficient to build up a munition supply, put it on the shelf [for] over 20 years and hope that we guessed the right amount that we or our allies and our friends would need. We have got to have an industrial base that is able to scale with us,” Driscoll said. “In getting our munitions and our magazine back up to where they need to be, I think we need to use this moment to figure out how do we create sustainable, scalable solutions so that if, in the future, we need to tap back into those stockpiles, how do we get them to scale even faster.”

In his prepared answers to the committee, Driscoll cited an anticipated “significant challenge” in continuing “the substantial task of modernizing the force to maintain overmatch against near-peer adversaries.”

“To continue the modernization of the Army while maintaining a high level of readiness, I would communicate frequently and transparently with all stakeholders, including the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Assistant Secretary of the Army Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, and Army Futures Command, ensuring that operational demands do not overwhelm the Army’s ability to prepare for the future fight. I will also prioritize ensuring that Army modernization programs remain on time and on budget,” Driscoll wrote.

Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff, said Wednesday the service will face “tough choices” with its budget in the year ahead as it moves out on the “Transformation in Contact” (TiC) initiative to field new technology faster (Defense Daily, Jan. 29).

“Really, nothing is off the table. We’re looking at everything. I just had all the leaders together talking about that. We’re going to have to look at [if] the stuff that we’re buying is going to win the next war. We just can’t continue to do those kinds of things. We’re going to have to be ruthless about that,” George said during an Association of the United States Army discussion.

On the Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, which Bell [TXT] is building in an effort to field an eventual Black Hawk helicopter replacement, Driscoll cited it as a capability that can help the service fly “farther and faster with a lower signature than we do today” while noting its current high cost.

“It is early in its development and its incredibly expensive, and we are likely going to have to work with the Black Hawks and the Chinooks and the assets that we have today,” Driscoll said.

While most of Driscoll’s hearing pointed to largely bipartisan support for his nomination, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said he “performed very poorly” during a recent meeting in her office, adding he misstated how many Army personnel are in a division and couldn’t name a country in Africa where the U.S. has troops.

“You have performed very well today and it looks like you actually did some homework,” Duckworth said.

L3Harris Posts Strong Profit Gains On Modest Sales Increase

L3Harris Technologies [LHX] on Thursday reported a substantial increase in net income in the fourth quarter driven in large part by a charge a year ago in a business that it is divesting and improved operating performance at most of the businesses.

The sale of the Commercial Aviation Solutions (CAS) business was expected to conclude last year but deal complexities have led to the company to include the business in its 2025 outlook. L3Harris expects the divesture this year.

Net income increased to $456 million, $2.37 earnings per share (EPS), from $126 million (83 cents EPS) a year ago.

Excluding the asset impairment charge a year ago related to CAS, and other non-recurring, restructuring, and merger expenses, adjusted per share earnings of $3.47 were 12 cents higher than a year ago and a nickel above consensus estimates. Adjusted segment operating margin was up 20 basis points to 15.3 percent.

L3Harris said its ongoing cost savings effort has beaten the target so far by $800 million, leading the company to increase the overall goal to $1.2 billion this year, $200 million above plan.

Sales in the quarter were up 3 percent to $5.5 billion from $5.3 billion a year ago. Excluding the divestiture of the company’s antenna business, organic revenue was up 4 percent.

Growth was driven by aircraft missionization, the CAS unit, communications equipment—including software defined tactical radios to NATO countries and other international markets—and rocket motors for missile programs.

Backlog rose to a record $34.2 billion, up $200 million from the third quarter.

For the year, sales increased 10 percent to $21.3 billion from $19.4 billion in 2023. Net income rose 26 percent to $1.5 billion ($7.87 EPS) versus $1.2 billion ($6.44 EPS) a year ago. Adjusted earnings were $13.10 EPS in 2024, and adjust segment margin increased 60 basis points to 15.4 percent.

In 2025, sales are expected to grow to between $21.8 billion and $22.2 billion, led by the Integrated Mission Systems Segment, and followed by Aerojet Rocketdyne, Communications Systems, and Space and Airborne Systems.

Ken Bedingfield, L3Harris chief financial officer, said the flurry of executive orders announced by President Trump since his inauguration last Monday could soon impact bookings and revenue in the first quarter of 2025, particularly in the Communications Systems segment. This will depend on assessments by government contracting officers of the executive orders, he said.

Adjusted earnings in 2025 are expected to be between $10.55 and $10.85 EPS, up from $9.70 EPS in 2024. The outlook, including the comparison to 2024, includes revisions that exclude adjustments for amortization of acquisition related intangible assets that were not factored into the 2024 results. Company margins are forecast to be in the mid- to high-15 percent range.

Bedingfield also updated the company’s “framework” for 2026, with segment operating margins now in the low 16 percent range, higher than the earlier forecast due to benefits from the LHX NeXT cost savings effort, and $2.8 billion of cash. Sales are still expected to be $23 billion.

Arms Sales May Require Going Past Navy, Can Be Binding Tool, Executives Say

SAN DIEGO– Former Navy officials who are now executives as defense contractors said while the arms sales export process can be painful, sometimes it requires going over the heads of Navy officials and is strategically useful to bind other countries to the U.S.

The chief of

ThayerMahan said they recently completed an “extremely painful” process of exporting to India.

“We had to learn a lot. When the Navy said no, we had to go to [the Office of Secretary of Defense-Policy] and have a high-level discussion about the fact that – no country is a perfect neighbor or partner, but it’s nice to have partners,” Vice Adm. Michael Connor, (Ret.), chairman and CEO of ThayerMahan, said here Tuesday during a WEST 2025 conference panel, sponsored by AFCEA and the U.S. Naval Institute.

Connor previously served as commander of Submarine Forces in 2012.

He said in this scenario higher levels of government can help overcome “what is a very natural institutional thing in your warfare community – I don’t want anyone else in the world to be as good as us. But you do want them to be better than they are and a good partner. And there are actually levels of government where they will listen to you do that.”

He noted during the conference he met with Australians who were skeptical he could get through their export control process too.

“I’m like, you are going to be so, so much easier because of the level of trust that we have you know within the five eyes community and so forth. So it’s doable.”

Connor also noted that sometimes U.S. officials and companies talk a lot about exporting U.S. technologies with some “cultural arrogance,” despite the situations when sometimes the best technology is in the other country.

In those cases when the best technology “is held by our partners – we should be more open to taking the best from our allies, using it here, and balancing that relationship that we have with them. Because that way we all go forward faster.”

However, Vice Adm. Bob Harward (Ret.), executive vice president for international business development at Shield AI, argued American arms supply and building a dependence on the U.S. can be “one of our greatest political tools.”

Bob Harward, Executive Vice President for International Business and Strategy at Shield AI. He is a retired vice admiral and former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command. (Photo: Shield AI)

He underscored the experience of his father who served in the Navy in Iran then worked at defense contractors selling weapons like Spruance-class destroyers and F-14 Tomcat fighter jets to Iran before the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

“The day we left, that was useless to them. They could maintain it, but they really didn’t have operational capability. So the lesson I learned – our leverage in providing arms brings countries closer to us than ever before. They become inter-function with us, they depend on us and if we leave them, it’s really not utilitarian,” Harward said.

Harvard is a former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command.

He added that obstacles to these kinds of arms sales have come at “significant cost” of increasing these kinds of dependency dynamics, so some U.S. partners are shifting to arms sales with China and India.

“I think we should be much more accommodating and providing because then it ties them, they become dependent on us as opposed to not. And in the Middle East right now, everyone’s turning to China, India because they can’t come to us. That’s a huge failed opportunity to bring them closer to the fold.”

Hardware said the changeover to the Trump Administration could open “real opportunities” to look at the policies in a different way.

Limited Laser Testing Time Slowing Development, Lockheed Martin Executive Says

SAN DIEGO – A Lockheed Martin [LMT] executive who formerly served as a commander of Naval Surface Forces said one of the speed bumps in Navy laser weapons development has been limitations on underway test times.

“Lockheed has one called HELIOS that’s integrated with the Aegis Combat System, it’s been installed in the ship for about 25 months. The problem is the prioritization of everything else that’s going on in the world and the maintenance and operations and stuff has limited the amount of underway test times, test days that we’ve had with the system,” Vice Adm. Thomas Copeman III (Ret.), said here during the WEST 2025 conference, sponsored by AFCEA and the U.S. Naval Institute.

Artist rendering of Lockheed Martin's HELIOS laser weapons system used on an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. (Image: Lockheed Martin) — Artist rendering of Lockheed Martin’s HELIOS laser weapons system used on an *Arleigh* *Burke*-class destroyer. (Image: Lockheed Martin)

Copeman served as commander of Naval Surface Forces from 2012 to 2014 before serving in executive positions at Raytheon [RTX] and now Lockheed Martin. He currently serves as vice president of strategy and naval systems at Lockheed Martin’s missiles and fire control division.

“So we’ve got this brand new capability, brand new system and its just the way the world is, no malice on anybody’s fault. We’ve had some trouble getting test time,” he continued.

The HELIOS stands for the 60+kilowatt (kW) high-energy laser with integrated optical-dazzler and surveillance, with a single unit deployed on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Preble (DDG-88) in August 2022.

HELIOS is geared toward disabling unmanned aircraft and small boats in its high-power setting while a low power setting works as a counter-UAS dazzler to confuse enemy systems, whale feeding data into the ship’s combat systems.

Copeman acknowledged that Commander of Naval Surface Force (SWOBOSS) Vice Adm. Brendan McLane, Commander of Naval Surface Force Atlantic Rear Adm. Joseph Cahill and others are pushing for more directed energy weapons to be put on ships and industry is trying to work through these issues.

An AN/SEQ-4 Optical Dazzler Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) laser dazzler weapon installed on the USS Spruance (DDG-111) while the ship was docked at Naval Base San Diego in January 2025. The ODIN is in the place where a destroyer usually has a Raytheon Phalanx Close In Weapon System (CIWS). (Photo: Richard Abott/Defense Daily) — An AN/SEQ-4 Optical Dazzler Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) laser dazzler weapon installed on the USS Spruance (DDG-111) while the ship was docked at Naval Base San Diego in January 2025. The ODIN is in the place where a destroyer usually has a Raytheon Phalanx Close In Weapon System (CIWS). (Photo: Richard Abott/*Defense* *Daily*)

“We do and all the big and small defense contractors, we hear them and we’re working on getting that done because they’re not the cure-all but they certainly can reduce the cost of engagement and we have to give that option out to the warfighters.”

Last year, McLane said he wants to see the Navy accelerate deployment of directed energy systems like HELIOS to defend against the kinds of systems the Houthi forces have been using in the Red Sea (Defense Daily, Jan. 9, 2024).

In 2021, a Lockheed Martin official told Defense Daily HELIOS can probably reach a maximum output of 100-120kW (Defense Daily, Jan. 21, 2021).

Relatedly, during the same panel discussion Vice Adm. Bob Harward, Executive Vice President for International Business Development at Shield AI and former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, noted the government also needs to iron out the legal, moral and ethical use of lasers as they become more common.

“Because I’ve shot a guy or two I didn’t intend to shoot because I didn’t know where that bullet was going. I still don’t know if we’ve come to the legal, moral and ethical use of lasers. When you shoot a laser, where’s it going? What’s it going to hit? Is there something beyond that? What’s the power it takes to generate that? Is that a legal way to kill a guy?” Harward said.

An AN/SEQ-4 Optical Dazzler Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) laser dazzler weapon in the open/on position aboard the USS Stockdale (DDG-106) in July 2021. (Photo: U.S. Navy by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Elisha Smith) — An AN/SEQ-4 Optical Dazzler Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) laser dazzler weapon in the open/on position aboard the USS *Stockdale* (DDG-106) in July 2021. (Photo: U.S. Navy by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Elisha Smith)

He compared the potential issues of lasers to how weapons like cluster bombs have been outlawed because they are too violent with too many downsides.

“I think the technology’s still evolving, we’ve got to get ahead of the political, moral and ethical use of lasers. Maybe for an aircraft, you ain’t going to shoot it at a person, I don’t believe. So there’s still a lot to that realm that has not been covered, I think that we’re still going to have to address as we advance the technology.”

Back in 2023, an Office of Naval Research official said one reason the service has moved so cautiously on laser weapons is because the first program of record could cost up to $1 billion (Defense Daily, Feb. 15, 2023).