SLCM-N Draft Request for Solutions Released By Government

The U.S. Navy this week released a draft Request for Solutions to design a prototype for a “survivable sea-based capability” for the nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile flight system.

Capability requirement responses are due by May 5 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.

A planned nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) would be deployed on the Virginia-class submarines and would include a variant of the W80-4 air-launched cruise missile warhead. The W80-4 is something that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is already working on.

The fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Navy and the NNSA to develop and deploy SLCM-N by 2034. The W80-4 warhead, while facing some delays in 2022, is currently “on schedule,” a senior official at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory told the Exchange Monitor in December. Even so, this past summer then-NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby said the agency was also looking at other possible warhead fits if delays persist.

Phelan Pitches Dual-Use Shipbuilding And Investment in U.S. Shipbuilding During Japan Visit

In his first visit abroad as Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan pitched to the Japanese government that the two countries work to cooperate on dual-use shipbuilding and also continue promoting  efforts for industry to invest in domestic U.S. shipbuilding capabilities.

Phelan on Monday said he met with top Japanese officials during his first international trip as secretary. 

“During our discussions I reinforced our close naval partnership, and a shared commitment to a stronger allied maritime industrial base,” he said in a Twitter/X

post.

The Navy’s official readout said he sought to reinforce the department’s commitments to the alliance with Japan and discussed opportunities to improve security cooperation, enhance modernization, and increase investments to challenge China’s provocations.

While there, Phelan toured Japan’s second largest shipbuilder, Japan Marine United (JMU), “to understand industry best practices and encourage investment in American shipyards, reinforcing President Trump’s America First agenda,” the readout said.

In an exclusive interview with Nikkei Asia ahead of meeting with Japanese government officials, Phelan said the countries should look at all options for using dual-use shipbuilding to build commercial ships with military applications.

He argued this is needed in response to how the Chinese shipbuilding industry and government design their commercial ships with a military application in mind that seems to be a quick conversion capability. This means commercial ships must be built to standards that likely allow it to transport military systems like tanks, with the government funding modifications to the original design.

“I don’t think we’re doing a similar sort of thing and I think it’s very important,” Phelan said.

Given the U.S. Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force operate jointly, he argued they should “try to build that into both our commercial and our military shipbuilding.”

Phelan is also set to visit multiple shipyards in South Korea during his foreign trip and is spending time lobbying for more investment in American shipyards.

He told Nikkei Asia that after visiting East Coast shipyards he saw “there wasn’t a lot of room to add capacity” to those shipyards and that “given what we need to build and where we’re at … I would suspect the West Coast would probably be an area we will definitely consider.”

This effort to get more foreign investment continues a trend started by former Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro with his own visits to the region and with allied country shipbuilders.

Del Toro’s visit was ultimately followed by South Korea’s Hanwha purchasing Philly Shipyard for $100 million last year, claiming they want to boost it back to a 1940s-level of national prominence (Defense Daily, Oct. 24, 2024).

More recently, this month HII [HII] and South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore opportunities to work together on accelerating defense and commercial ship production projects (Defense Daily, April 7).

Concurrently, Fairbanks More Defense also signed an MoU with HD Hyundai to explore opportunities to collaborate on international Navy initiatives (Defense Daily, April 18).

This trip occurred just as the Republican leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees published their recommendations for the current reconciliation bill, with $33.7 billion devoted to naval shipbuilding and industrial base funding through 2029.

Beyond major shipbuilding programs and unmanned systems, the bill recommendations include billions in manufacturing improvements over 15 workforce and industry initiatives, with relatively specific commitments related to advanced manufacturing, similar to what is done in Japanese and South Korean shipbuilding (Defense Daily, April 28).

This includes $750 million for additional supplier development across the naval shipbuilding industrial base, $500 million for additional dry-dock capability, $500 million for adoption of advanced manufacturing techniques in the maritime industrial base, $492 million in next-generation shipbuilding techniques, $450 million for additive manufacturing for wire production and machine capacity for shipbuilding industrial base, another $450 million in additional maritime industrial workforce development programs, $450 million for application of autonomy and artificial intelligence to naval shipbuilding and $400 million to expand collaborative campus for the shipbuilding industrial base.

Beyond these relatively large ticket items, the lawmakers recommend other specific investments including $250 million each for additional advanced manufacturing processes across the naval shipbuilding industrial base, expansion of accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing program and domestic production of turbine generators for the shipbuilding industrial base.

The bill has smaller initiatives geared toward $110 million for a rolled steel and fabrication facility for the shipbuilding industrial base, $85 million for U.S.-made steel plates for shipbuilding, $50 million for machining capacity for naval propellers for shipbuilding and $50 million for expansion of cold-spray repair technologies.

The steel sections are notable because last month the Navy’s acting top acquisition official and currently performing the duties of Under Secretary of the Navy Brett Seidle admitted Trump administration steel and aluminum tariffs could increase shipbuilding costs (Defense Daily, March 27). 

Seidle said in 2023 about half of the aluminum and one-third of the steel used in naval shipbuilding came from Canada. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) at the time argued it would be hard to quickly switch metal providers to avoid the impacts of the tariffs. In March, Trump imposed an effective 25 percent tariff increase in Canadian aluminum, steel and steel derivative products.

House T&I Committee Proposes $15 Billion For Coast Guard Shipbuilding

The House committee that oversees policies for the Coast Guard is recommending $15 billion be added to the service’s account for acquiring ships and vessels, including more than $8 billion for icebreaking ships.

The Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee’s budget reconciliation proposal would provide nearly $23 billion to the Coast Guard overall between fiscal years 2025 and 2029, a significant boost to the service, which gets between $12 billion to $13 billion in annual appropriations but has been making the case that it needs $20 billion to acquire, operate, and maintain its assets, repair its facilities, and house its personnel.

The proposal, which will be marked up by the committee on Wednesday, includes $5 billion for the Coast Guard’s nascent medium polar icebreaker effort, the Arctic Security Cutter (ASC). The Coast Guard recently put out a request for information for the ASC seeking potential domestic and foreign shipyards that could build and deliver the first vessel within three years of contract award.

Media in Finland has reported that the Coast Guard is in talks with a shipyard in that country to purchase medium icebreakers.

Language in the proposed bill goes beyond the ASC, saying the funding would be for “Arctic Security Cutters and domestic icebreakers and spare parts and program management for such Cutters and icebreakers.” It’s unclear what domestic icebreakers the committee is referring too.

Another $4.3 billion would be for the Polar Security Cutter (PSC), a heavy icebreaker that is already under contract to Bollinger Shipyards with the first vessel slated for delivery in 2030. In addition to the first PSC, the Coast Guard has awarded contracts for long-lead material purchases for the second and third vessels.

The Coast Guard has said it needs a mix of eight or nine medium and heavy polar icebreakers.

The committee is also proposing $4.3 billion for the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) program. The Coast Guard’s program of record is for 25 OPCs, with the first four medium-endurance cutters being built by Eastern Shipbuilding Group and the next 11 by Austal USA. The Coast Guard plans to host a competition for the remaining OPCs.

The Fast Response Cutter, which typically operates in the littorals, would receive $1 billion. Bollinger also builds the FRCs, having delivered 59 of the currently contracted 67 154-foot vessels. The $1 billion being recommended for the program would likely bring the buy to 70 or 71 FRCs.

The proposed bill would also provide $3.3 billion for shoreside infrastructure, $1.4 billion for aviation and cutter maintenance, $180 million for maritime domain awareness equipment and services—to include $75 million to acquire services or autonomous maritime systems—and $162 million for the Waterways Commerce Cutter program.

For the air domain, the committee recommends $2.3 billion to purchase helicopters and related spares and simulators, and $571.5 million for the purchase of fixed-wing aircraft and related equipment.

The Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee must still weigh in on the reconciliation proposal and final passage requires approvals by the House and Senate.

DoD Industrial Base Nominee Would Prioritize Munitions Production

Munitions production is at the top of his priority list, the nominee to lead the Defense Department’s industrial base efforts told a Senate panel on Tuesday.

One key to bolstering munitions production is “predictable and stable defense budget and program spend,” Michael Cadenazzi told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing to be assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy. Cadenazzi enjoyed bipartisan support during the hearing.

“The more we can stabilize that, the more industry will be able to align around it,” he said. Industry also needs to know what DoD expects of it.

“A better understanding of industry of what the expectations for surge capacity are will make it clear what the potential opportunities are for them and the level of capital required to increase facilities and workforce,” Cadenazzi said. “That’s a major opportunity for the department to articulate what would be a big, hairy, audacious goal in business school terms, and to go ahead and say, ‘We need a lot more capability from you.’ And we need to agree then on the investment required to meet that point.”

Cadenazzi is a retired Navy intelligence officer who describes himself on LinkedIn as a “serial entrepreneur.” He is currently a managing director at the consulting firm EY, and before that worked at the software firm Govini, and McKinsey and Company.

Cadenazzi also said he is keen on continuing to improve the DoD acquisition process by leveraging existing authorities such as Middle Tier Acquisition and Other Transaction Authority to speed purchases. “Education of the workforce” on these authorities is critical, he said.

Reducing regulations to make DoD more accessible by new vendors is also important, he said.

Cadenazzi said he is a proponent of SASC Chairman Roger Wicker’s (R-Miss.) FORGED Act, which is aimed at speeding acquisition, and increasing competition and innovation. Wicker said during the hearing that he is working with Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member on the panel, to insert most of the FORGED Act in the upcoming fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.

On the subject of tariffs, Cadenazzi said he assumes that the Industrial Base Policy Office is analyzing the potential impacts of the trade impacts on the defense industrial base but he is not aware of any study. If confirmed, he said he would work with the committee to mitigate negative impacts of tariffs on the defense industry.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said a ball bearing company in her state that supplies the aerospace and defense industry that uncertainty about steel tariffs has lengthened the lead time for steel from 20 weeks to 30 months.

Cadenazzi replied that there are likely positives and negatives from the tariffs, and that he will get back to the committee with an analysis, if confirmed.

Slingshot Aerospace Offering Sovereign Space Domain Awareness Capabilities To Nations

Space Domain Awareness provider Slingshot Aerospace on Tuesday debuted what it says is the “world’s first” package to provide sovereign nations with their own space tracking capabilities, decreasing their reliance on outside help in gaining insights into the space above their skies.

Slingshot’s offering gives potential customers options to choose their sensors, which include the company’s Horus and Argus starting arrays that peer into low-Earth orbit (LEO) and geosynchronous orbit (GEO), respectively, and Varda, a gimbaled electro-optical sensor that can see objects in LEO and GEO in daytime.

Countries that have assets in space currently rely on a “powerhouse,” typically the U.S., to provide them with space domain awareness so they can keep their spacecraft safe, and to know who is flying over their space, Erik Ekwurzel, chief data and intelligence officer of Slingshot, told Defense Daily last week.

Some of Slingshot’s customers want a “sovereign capability” to begin to “have more control over their own destiny” around space domain awareness, he said. This control prevents them from potentially being cut off from the data that the U.S. or others typically provide them, he said.

Customers that acquire their own sensors will also be able to tap into Slingshot’s global network, which consists of more than 220 sensors at 22 sites, and at the same time expand the “federated sensor network so that everybody who is in the federation will have much more global access to data,” Ekwurzel said.

Additionally, Slingshot’s customers will be able to license the company’s cloud-based sensor orchestration and data processing suite, which can provide capabilities such as anomaly alerts, space object catalog maintenance, tasking orchestration, and more.

With space becoming increasingly congested, “it’s just becoming harder for people to make sure that their satellites don’t bump into something,” Ekwurzel said.

Radian Aerospace Introduces Reusable Space Platform For Hypersonic Testing, Orbital Use

Radian Aerospace has introduced a reusable space capsule it is developing as a testbed for technologies it is developing and for customers developing hypersonic and spaceflight systems, giving the Seattle-based startup a means to generate near-term sales while it continues development of a reusable spaceplane.

Radian is targeting the 2026 timeframe for the first launch or the Radian Reusable Reentry Vehicle (R3V), which can be launched atop a small or medium launch vehicle, the company said on Tuesday. For recovery, the R3V will deploy a parachute to slow its descent before capture by a helicopter.

The R3V will enable Radian to flight-test its patent pending Dur-E-Therm thermal protection system the company has developed to withstand the heat and structural demands its Radian One single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane will encounter when it begins operations. The R3V will also provide data on aerodynamic performance, guidance and control, and propulsion integration, for Radian One.

As a revenue generator, potential customers are interested in R3V for hypersonic technology development and tactically responsive space, the company said. The vehicle can be used to rest reentry systems, flight controls, materials, and sensor payloads as speeds above Mach 5, it said.

“It provides a really good stepping stone for Radian One, and can throw off some revenue in the in the meantime, and provide a platform for anybody seeking hypersonic technology test, or even orbital capabilities,” Livingston Holder, Radian’s chief technology officer, told Defense Daily

.

The reusability of the platform lowers the costs for testing and increases operational cadence. Holder said that the helicopter recovery method lessens the need for any major refurbishment that would be required following landing on land or water, speeding relaunch.

“As fast as you can get a launch vehicle under it, we should be ready to fly,” he said last week.

The capsule weighs about 1,100 pounds, including payload. The payload capacity is at least 100 pounds, more if less propellant is required, Holder said.

The R3V can be stationed in orbit, and then deliver cargo anywhere on Earth as needed, he said. It can also loiter in space and dispense small satellites as needed, he added.

Radian recently revealed its first prototype Radian One flight vehicle (PFV01), which has undergone a round of taxi tests. In the coming year the company plans to conduct wind tunnel testing on the 1/12 scale model, which along with other development efforts will lead a second flight vehicle that Radian plans to begin flight-testing in the 2026 timeframe, Holder said.

The PFV02 will also be about a 1/12 scale model, and will undergo sled testing, he said. Radian One is intended to be launched from a two-mile-long rail sled system.

$2 Billion for Space-Based AMTI Proposed in DoD Reconciliation Bill

While the Department of the Air Force is pursuing a fleet of Boeing [BA] E-7 Wedgetails to replace the service’s E-3 AWACS for air moving target indication (AMTI), the department also has discussed AMTI from space since September, 2021.

Now, such space-based AMTI is to receive a boost with $2 billion in the DoD reconciliation bill.

In addition, the U.S. Air Force may start engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) in fiscal 2027 for upgrades to the Wedgetail, including a replacement of the Northrop Grumman [NOC] Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar.

In 2023, the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) studied future AMTI and ground moving target indication (GMTI) against high technology adversaries, such as China and Russia–a study panel chaired by David Whelan, the former chief technologist of Boeing’s defense unit (Defense Daily, March 16, 2023).

The new DoD reconciliation bill has $100 million for GMTI satellites–an effort under the U.S. Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

The aging AWACS and the GMTI Joint STARS aircraft by Northrop Grumman “are increasingly considered unable to survive in the Highly Contested Environments (HCEs) that could be created by high-end adversaries,” according to the SAB terms of reference (ToR) on the completed 2023 study, which does not have a link on the SAB website. “Hence there is a growing interest in both new air (e.g., E-7) and space-based systems as an alternative means of supporting operations in these environments.”

“Space-based radar and electro-optical sensors can generate imagery of stationary targets,” SAB said. “However, tracking moving targets from Low Earth Orbit requires near-continuous target coverage and hence highly proliferated constellations (hundreds of satellites). In addition, a Space-Based Radar (SBR) able to detect slowly moving targets must have a long antenna which tends to make satellite cost high. For these reasons, past efforts to develop MTI SBRs have not resulted in the deployment of an operational system. However, current commercial efforts are driving down the cost of proliferated LEO satellite constellations with constellations comprised of thousands of satellites proposed and hundreds already launched. In addition, alternative sensing approaches and innovative concepts, at the individual satellite level and at the overall systems level, may help to drive down the cost of satellites.”

“Given these developments and the pressing need, the Department of the Air Force would benefit from an independent assessment of the feasibility of developing and deploying a system incorporating aircraft and satellites to provide surveillance and targeting of moving targets in HCEs,” according to the ToR.

“Space-based radar and electro-optical sensors can generate imagery of stationary targets,” per an Air Force release on the study on the SAB website. “However, tracking moving targets from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) requires near-continuous target coverage and hence highly proliferated constellations (hundreds of satellites). In addition, a Space-Based Radar (SBR) able to detect slowly moving targets must have a long antenna which tends to make satellite cost high.”

“For these reasons, past efforts to develop MTI SBRs have not resulted in the deployment of an operational system,” the Air Force said. “However, current commercial efforts are driving down the cost of proliferated LEO satellite constellations with constellations comprised of thousands of satellites proposed and hundreds already launched. In addition, alternative sensing approaches and innovative concepts, at the individual satellite level and at the overall systems level, may help to drive down the cost of satellites.”

The AMTI language in the DoD reconciliation bill is in the latter’s section on integrated air and missile defense–a section which also contains $7.2 billion to develop/buy/integrate space sensors, $5.6 billion to develop space-based and boost-phase interceptors, $2.4 billion to develop non-kinetic missile defense, and $500 million for national security space launch infrastructure.

The bill’s defense grab bag also includes more than $4 billion for classified military space superiority programs–$300 million of which are under the Air Force rapid capabilities office.

In addition, the DoD reconciliation bill has $528 million for two space situational awareness programs–the Space Force’s Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) radar by Northrop Grumman and the NRO’s SILENTBARKER satellites.

The first DARC site is to turn on in Exmouth in the Western Australian Outback next year as part of a rapid prototyping Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) effort, while Sites 2 and 3 are to be in the United Kingdom and Texas.

SILENTBARKER satellites, which the NROL-107 mission carried to orbit in September 2023, are to be an exponential leap in geosynchronous orbit indications and warning for the U.S. Space Surveillance Network.

 

 

 

 

Anduril Adds To Pulsar EW Family With Lightweight System That Counters Drone Swarms

Anduril Industries is building out its family of Pulsar electronic warfare (EW) systems, adding a lightweight unit to the mix that can be rapidly deployed to the tactical edge for a variety of missions, including knocking out swarms of small drones.

Pulsar-Lite fits in checked luggage, weighs under 25 pounds, and can be mounted on ground vehicles, aircraft, drones, and maritime platforms in expeditionary deployments to provide detect, identify, track, and defeat capabilities in minutes after removing it from its case, the company said on Tuesday.

Pulsar-L features Anduril’s trademark approach to development, a modular design that leverages commercially-available components, high-performance computing, and software-defined radios for easy upgrades as technology evolves, and artificial intelligence and machine learning that enable autonomous operations, with or without a man-on-the-loop at a push of a button.

Legacy EW systems that can be manually intensive and are designed for specific threats take months or longer to be upgraded to adapt to unknown signatures on the battlefield whereas Pulsar-L can “redevelop capability at the level of software and countermeasures in the speed of seconds and minutes and hours and days,” Chris Brose, co-president and chief strategy officer of Anduril, told reporters on Monday evening.

Anduril already has use cases where the system has observed a new threat signature and then the company developed and delivered updates to Pulsar-L within 24 hours to be able to detect, locate, and engage the threat, Sam El-Akkad, vice president and general manager of EW for Anduril, said on the media call.

“This is something that is typically unheard of in the EW world,” El-Akkad said.

Pulsar-L can detect and defeat drone swarms beyond five kilometers but ranges can differ depending on the variables, he said.

Like other variants of the Pulsar family, “Pulsar-Lite is deployed,” Brose said. “It is participating in real world operations in the most stressing EW environments, and it is succeeding.”

He declined to discuss customers and specific deployments. The system was fielded in 2024, entered low-rate initial production earlier in 2025 with plans to build more than 100 this year, eventually scaling to thousands per year, El-Akkad said.

Anduril in 2024 unveiled its initial Pulsar systems, including fixed-site, vehicle-based, and aircraft-mounted versions (Defense Daily

, May 6, 2024). The fixed-site version, mounted on a tri-pod, weighs over 50 pounds and runs on shore power. Pulsar-L offers the option of running on a battery pack that “lasts many, many hours,” El-Akkad said.

The company plans future variants of Pulsar as threats evolve.

Building on the core elements of the Pulsar family, Pulsar-L went from concept to fielding in eight months, Brose said.

In addition to operating with Anduril’s Lattice common operating platform, Pulsar-L can work with other command and control devices such as the Tactical Assault Kit, and other sensors and effectors, he said.

Satellite Manufacturer Apex Raises $200 Million To Pursue Vertically Integration, Build Inventory

Flush with demand for its standardized spacecraft buses and seeking to speed production, Apex on Tuesday said it has raised $200 million in a Series C round that will be put toward designing and developing more subsystems and components in-house, and holding on to more inventory of components and finished products, the startup said on Tuesday.

Bringing more parts manufacturing in-house helps solve supply chain delays, speed overall production, reduce costs, and improve quality and reliability, Ian Cinnamon, founder and CEO of Apex, told Defense Daily on Monday before the announcement.

Laying the foundation to be more vertically integrated is expensive and so the new funding round helps with the necessary investment in related research and development, Cinnamon said. He declined to disclose specific parts Apex will make on its own, saying these are in areas where the supply chain is “limited.”

“It lets us kind of control our own destiny, to some degree, a lot more,” Cinnamon said.

Building up inventory of parts will also help accelerate production and having completed spacecraft available will let Apex deliver product faster, Cinnamon said. Current production is lagging demand, which has outpaced expectations, he said.

Having more assets on hand will help the Defense Department meet its need for tactical responsive space capabilities, in particular for the emerging Golden Dome program if it accelerates demand for more assets in space, Cinnamon said.

Apex is currently producing for customers its smallest spacecraft, Aries, which comes in two variants, one for low-Earth orbit and the other for geosynchronous orbit. Apex last March launched its own demonstrator Aries spacecraft that includes payloads provided by Anduril Industries, Booz Allen Hamilton [BAH], and others, and built three for customers in the fourth quarter of 2024, and is delivering even more for customers now, Cinnamon said.

The company is also building its first Nova spacecraft bus, which can carry up to 500 kilograms of payload, more than three times Aries. The first Nova flight, which will also be a test platform for Apex that includes mission partners, is expected in 2026. Nova already has customers.

“Multiple dozens of major defense primes picked Nova as their platform for different government missions that they are actively bidding on today,” Cinnamon said.

Apex plans to ramp up production of Nova in 2026.

Ongoing product sales are generating revenue, allowing Apex to sustain operations without the Series C raise, Cinnamon said. The new funding round opens the door to the move to become more vertically integrated and build inventory, he said.

Apex is also developing Comet, a satellite bus with a payload capacity greater than 500 kilograms. Production of Comet is two years away, he said.

Apex is producing its satellites at its 50,000-square-foot Factory One complex in Los Angeles. Factory One will support production of about a dozen satellite buses per month.

Apex has about 150 employees and expects to have 250 by the end of 2025, Cinnamon said. The company has raised more than $300 million through different seed rounds.

The Series C round was led by Point72 Ventures, and co-led by 8VC, alongside existing investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, and new investors Washington Harbour Partners and StepStone Group.

Lawmakers Recommend $33.7 Billion For Shipbuilding, Naval Industrial Base Boost In Reconciliation Bill

The Republican heads of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees recommended the reconciliation bill include $33.7 billion in naval shipbuilding and industrial base funding through 2029.

The committees’ joint overview said this reconciliation recommendation “invests in autonomous surface and subsurface technology [and builds] capacity and improves infrastructure in the maritime industrial base.”

Shipbuilding highlights include $4.6 billion to fund a second FY 2027

Virginia-class attack submarine, $5.4 billion for two more Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and $2.7 billion to procure new John Lewis-class T-AO oilers fleet replenishment oilers.

Amphibious shipbuilding lines also include $2.1 billion for a San Antonio-class Amphibious Transport Dock (LPD) ship, $3.7 billion for an America-class Amphibious Assault Ship (LHA), $695 million to implement a multi-ship amphibious warship contract, $1.8 billion to procure the Landing Ship Medium (LSM) and $160 million in advance procurement for LSM, and $300 million for the Ship-to Shore Connectors (LCAC-100 class). 

A line of $159 million to lease ships for Marine Corps operations likely refers to the LSM bridging solutions wherein the service is leasing modified Stern Landing Vessels to test concepts for the LSM.

The bill has a large set of investments focused on unmanned systems, at times being surprisingly specific.

This includes $1.5 billion for expansion of small unmanned surface vessel production; $1.8 billion for expansion of medium USV production; $1.3 billion for “expansion” of Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) production; and $250 million for development, production and integration of wave-powered unmanned underwater vehicles.

This potential increase comes as medium USVs are getting a great deal of focus. Saildrone’s USVs are being used in a contractor owned, contractor operated model by the U.S. Navy to monitor maritime behavior in both the Middle East with Task Force 59 and U.S. 4th Fleet in the Caribbean Sea.

Separately, the Navy has tested several Medium-sized USVs in the Pacific Ocean.  Leidos [LDOS] produced the Sea Hunter and Seahawk medium-displacement autonomous USVs as well as the the Mariner and Ranger Ghost Fleet Overlord USVs.

Last week, unmanned surface vessel developer Saronic unveiled the design for two new 40- and 60-foot small USVs (Defense Daily, April 23).

Earlier this month Saronic announced the acquisition of the small Gulf Craft shipbuilder to help produce its Marauder Medium USV offering (Defense Daily, April 16).

The bill does not include more funds for LUSV following a January confirmation from the Navy’s director of Surface Warfare that he was pushing a change from developing separate large and medium USVs focused on the magazine or ISR payloads, respectively, into one larger MUSV that can feature weapon or sensor payloads individually (Defense Daily, Jan. 14). 

Industry has recently showed it is getting the message that DoD wants more unmanned maritime systems, especially in the wake of former Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks’s Replicator initiative to quickly deploy large numbers of unmanned systems to help counter increasing Chinese military capabilities.

Recently at the annual  Sea-Air-Space expo,  vendors were pitching several new UUVs for the Navy, like Anduril’s Copperhead UUV (Defense Daily, April 7) and Leidos’ Sea Dart USV (Defense Daily, April 17).

At the time, Leidos official Jason Weed admitted this is partially an outgrowth of the Defense Department’s recent Replicator initiative. 

Separately, while a legislative push for wave-powered UUVs is new, Boeing’s [BA] Liquid Robotics-developed Wave Glider USV is powered by both solar and wave motion via a two part design with an underwater towed element that harnesses vertical wave energy for forward thrust.

In 2023 the Navy launched a Wave Glider from a Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ship for the UNITAS international Central and South America maritime exercise. That system has also been part of the 4th Fleet unmanned integration campaign in the Caribbean Sea region (Defense Daily, July 12, 2023).

The bill also would add $188 million for development and testing of maritime robotic autonomous systems and enabling technologies and $174 million to develop a Test Resource Management Center robotic autonomous systems proving ground.

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