Marines Places First Production Orders For BAE’s Turreted ACV, ‘No Plans’ For New Variants

The Marine Corps has placed the first production orders with BAE Systems for the turreted version of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV-30), while a lead program official said Tuesday there are no plans for additional ACV variants beyond the current family of vehicles. 

“As of right now, there are no plans for additional mission role variants. I have not had any conversations from our requirements sponsors at [Combat Development and Integration] that would indicate that they are looking at anything additional in the way of mission role variants,” Col. Timothy Hough, program manager for advanced amphibious assault, said in remarks at the Modern Day Marine conference in Washington, D.C.

BAE Systems’ ACV Logistics concept demonstrator at the Modern Day Marine ’25 conference. Photo: Matthew Beinart

BAE Systems announced Tuesday it recently received a $188.5 million full-rate production award for 30 ACV-30 vehicles, and Rebecca McGrane, the company’s vice president of amphibious programs, confirmed to Defense Daily a second $172 million order is set to be awarded later this week for 30 more ACV-30s.

“We’re really excited about that. Those will be delivered [starting] next year,” McGrane said in an interview at Modern Day Marine. 

The Marine Corps is pursuing a family of vehicles approach for ACV, which includes the base personnel platform (ACV-P) and a command and control platform (ACV-C) currently in full-rate production, a recovery variant (ACV-R) going through development and the ACV-30.

The first production representative test ACV-30s were delivered to the Marine Corps in early 2024, with the testing having informed the full-rate production decision for the turreted variant (Defense Daily, Feb. 1 2024).

Norway’s Kongsberg was awarded a contract this past November worth up to $329 million to provide its 30mm Protector Remote Turret 20 (RT-20) weapon systems for the ACV-30 (Defense Daily, Nov. 5 2024). 

“The ACV-30 enables transport of troops, mission essential equipment and other payloads while providing the lethality and protection Marines need. The lightweight turret system also ensures platform mobility is preserved,” BAE Systems said in a statement.

McGrane said the Marine Corps’ planned acquisition objective for the ACV-30 is 150 vehicles. 

BAE Systems to date has delivered almost 300 of the base ACV-Ps and has just started delivering the first ACV-Cs to the Marine Corps, McGrane noted, adding delivery of the three  production representative ACV-Rs for testing will occur over the next couple months.

During Modern Day Marine, BAE Systems is also showcasing an ACV-Logistics concept demonstrator platform for the first time that is reconfigured to have 500 cubic feet of volume for equipment, has capacity for 11,000 pounds of payload, is integrated with a heavy lift drone and has a crane attached that can lift up to 4,000 pounds.

“It’s a concept demonstration vehicle for a logistics variant that we’re demoing for the Marine Corps that could meet a capability gap for expeditionary logistics in a contested environment,” McGrane told Defense Daily. “You don’t have to rely on connectors or airlift capability. That provides a really novel capability to deliver supplies as needed to the front.”

While the Marine Corps is not currently looking to add additional variants, Hough said his focus is on potential capability upgrades and cited counter-drone capability as a top priority. 

“Right now, we’re focused on how can we add to existing capability within the funding that the Marine Corps has right now,” Hough said. [I’m also interested in] anything we can do in that driver station space to kind of offload some of the tasks they have to do and where can we automate some of those. I think that would be a big win.”

BAE Systems has been working with Kongsberg to bring its Integrated Combat Solution (ICS) battlefield situational awareness tool to the U.S. defense market, to include exploring application on the ACV fleet, having noted the tool provides capability to link and share video streams, metadata, target information and slew-to-cue commands, “reducing the typical threat response speed from minutes to seconds.”

At Modern Day Marine, BAE Systems officials highlighted ICS’ ability to bolster C-UAS capabilities and a new upgrade that allows connectivity with Marines’ Android Team Awareness Kits.

McGrane noted BAE Systems has previously shown ACV concepts for potential precision fires variant and a C4/UAS-configured platform, with the ACV-Logistics demonstrator as the latest example to highlight the platform’s modularity for the Marine Corps.

“What we’re really trying to say is ACV is really able to meet a wide variety of mission needs without having to invest in another development platform,” McGrane said. “[The Marine Corps] has a mature base platform that’s reconfigurable to meet a lot of different needs.”

“We are trying to listen to [the Marine Corps’] feedback, anticipate their needs and then show them relatively quick solutions that we can help them with if they should desire that,” McGrane added.

Firefly Mission Loses Lockheed Martin LM 400 Satellite in Anomaly

A Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket suffered an anomaly during a Tuesday launch, losing the payload for customer Lockheed Martin [LMT].

The Alpha FLTA006 mission launched at 6:37 am PDT from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. It was carrying Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 tech demonstration satellite, which fell into the Pacific Ocean.

Firefly Aerospace issued a post-launch update, reporting the vehicle had a nominal liftoff and first stage flight. But the rocket experienced a mishap between stage separation and second stage ignition. Firefly said this “led to the loss of the Lightning engine nozzle extension, substantially reducing the engine’s thrust.”

Firefly reported the upper stage did not reach orbital velocity, and the stage and payload fell into the Pacific Ocean.

“Firefly recognizes the hard work that went into payload development and would like to thank our mission partners at Lockheed Martin for their continued support. The team is working closely with our customers and the FAA to conduct an investigation and determine root cause of the anomaly. We will provide more information on our mission page after the investigation is completed,” the launcher said in a statement.

The LM 400 satellite on the mission has been in the works for years, designed as a mid-class bus with more payload power than smallsats, but more agile than traditional large satellites. It was self-funded by Lockheed Martin as a technology demonstrator. Lockheed Martin designed LM 400 with common components to adapt it to a variety of orbits and missions, including missile tracking, remote sensing, and communications.

This is a setback for Firefly Aerospace’s launch program as it was the first Alpha launch of 2025. The Alpha rocket has had a mixed success record, completing the successful VICTUS NOX Tactically Responsive Space mission for the U.S. Space Force in 2023 and a NASA Venture Class Launch Services mission in July of last year.

But Alpha’s first flight in 2021 failed, and then missions in October 2022 and December 2023 were partial failures where in both cases, the satellites did not reach target orbit.

In March, Firefly Aerospace marked the first successful soft-landing on the Moon by a commercial company with its Blue Ghost lunar lander, launched by SpaceX.

This story was first published by Via Satellite

Ability To Detect And Track Drones At Domestic Bases Varied And Insufficient, DoD Official Says

More than a year after a series of drone incursions at a sensitive military base in Virginia, the abilities of domestic bases to observe potential threats from small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) varies and is insufficient, a Joint Staff official said on Tuesday.

Depending on the base, they have “very little to somewhat more comprehensive” capabilities to detect and track drones, Rear Adm. Paul Spedero, vice director for operations on the Joint Staff, told a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee panel.

More resources will help close UAS detection and tracking gaps as will the need for command and control to fuse layers of sensors to create a common operating picture, Spedero said. Investments are also needed to respond once drones have been detected and identified, he said.

U.S. Northern Command, which has authority in the U.S. for synchronizing counter-UAS operations in its area of responsibility, has “fly-away kits” and expertise to provide bases that lack sufficient domain awareness capability to detect drone incursions on their own, Spedero said.

For 17 days in December 2023, there were reports of unauthorized drone incursions over Joint Base Langley-Eustis (JBLE) in Virginia. Spedero and Mark Ditlevson, acting assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, said in their joint written testimony that “DoD had little ability to detect, track, characterize, or disrupt and defeat the sUAS at JBLE.”

Most of the JBLE incursions were visually observed and reported by “not specially trained personnel” and have not been attributed to specific actors, they wrote.

The Air Force’s top air superiority fighter, the F-22, operates from JBLE.

In February, the commander of U.S. Northern Command told a Senate panel that in 2024 there were more than 350 drone incursions reported at over 100 domestic military installations (Defense Daily, Feb. 13). Spedero said that since then, there have been more sitings but declined to giver numbers outside a classified setting.

Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.), who chairs the House Oversight Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs, said at the outset of the hearing on drone incursions over military installations that one issue afflicting local bases is “unclear standard operating procedures to guide based commanders to responses and decision making.”

Spedero said that within the last month U.S. Northern Command has published, and provided to base commanders, the standard operating procedures on how to respond to drone incursions.

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.), the ranking member on the subcommittee, pointed out that current laws allowing certain U.S. departments to detect and respond to UAS activities only cover about half of military installations. This is an area where new authorities should be considered, he suggested.

Spedero said that bases not covered by the current law—which is Title 10 of U.S. Code, Sec. 130i—may request coverage but only if they meet the authorized criteria. He pointed out that Luke AFB, Ariz., where most F-35 fighter training is done, “is not a covered facility because training facilities are not covered” by the law.

Ditlevson and Spedero wrote that while challenges revealed by the JBLE incident still exist, DoD has made progress and there have been “improvements in subsequent responses.” Still, they said, despite “some successes, we still have areas where continued work is necessary to advance policies, develop capabilities, and build capacity to address the threat posed by both malign and careless actors in our National Airspace.”

State Approves $280 Million Patriot Deal To Romania

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Monday notified Congress of a proposed sale to Romania of one RTX [RTX] Patriot system and associated equipment for $280 million.

The proposed deal includes one (1) AN/MPQ-65 Configuration 3+ Increment 3 radar set; one (1) AN/MSQ-132 Engagement Control Station; two (2) M903 launching stations; and one (1) Electrical Power Plant (EPP) III. The following non-MDE items will also be included: launching station modification kits; PATRIOT Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement launcher conversion kit; generators; generator spare parts; prime movers; spare parts for prime movers; KG-250X encryptor; AN/TPX-57v1 identification friend or foe (IFF); KIV-77 encryptor; personnel communication equipment training; Defense Advanced Global Positioning Systems Receivers (DAGRs); U.S. Government and contractor representative technical assistance; engineering and logistics support services; publications and technical documentation; classified software; classified books and publications; and other related elements of logistics and program support.

Gray Eagle Became MGUE Aviation Lead Platform Due to Development Challenges with B-2

The Department of the Air Force expects to sign off on Ready to Transition to Operations (RCO) for RTX‘s [RTX] Next-Generation Operational Control System (OCX) this summer, as the department also looks to certify by July the aviation card for Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE), Increment 1 on the Army’s General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle–a drone that became the lead aviation platform for MGUE, Increment 1 last fall because of MGUE development challenges on the former lead aviation platform, the Northrop Grumman [NOC] B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.

“We needed to verify the ability to get through the anti-jam environment, calculate the position, verify the accuracy, and we had to do that in an airborne environment,” Cordell DeLaPena, the department’s program executive officer for military communications and positioning, navigation and timing, told a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies’ virtual forum on Tuesday.

“The Gray Eagle does that for us,” he said. “One of the interesting things about the B-2 integration is that it also incorporated a weapons release capability. That’s something that will pick up in testing in later phases of the integration. But the B-2 is a small fleet, and, due to the development challenges on both sides, we missed our integration window so, rather than hold up that verification on the MGUE program, we partnered with the Army since they had a platform available to us.”

The Gray Eagle’s MGUE, Increment 1 aviation card is scheduled to test in a jamming environment next week, he said.

DeLaPena said that he has already certified the Army Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and Stryker as the lead testing platforms for the MGUE, Increment 1 ground variant and the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) destroyer for the maritime variant.

Last month, Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, the commander of U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command, said that the switch from the B-2 to Gray Eagle as the lead MGUE, Increment 1 aviation platform came last fall (Defense Daily, March 3).

The Space Force had planned to begin a year-long combined developmental and operational testing on the B-2 for MGUE, Increment 1 in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024.

L3Harris Technologies [LHX], RTX and BAE Systems have received MGUE contracts.

Since the late 1990s, the Pentagon has been developing the GPS M-code to have a stronger signal and more advanced encryption to counter jamming and spoofing, and the first GPS M-code capable satellite went aloft in 2005. But GPS M-code initial operational capability has seen delays due to required upgrades of ground and user equipment for hundreds of vehicles, ships, and aircraft.

For some time starting by the end of this year, both the current GPS operational control system–MUP–and OCX will be in simultaneous use, as Space Force aims to field OCX by the end of the year.

Congress has criticized OCX for being nearly a decade late. Space Force had expected the OCX RTO in April 2023.

GPS OCX Blocks 1 and 2 are to control older GPS II and newer GPS III satellites, launched starting in 2018, and both older and modernized signals. The concurrent delivery of Block 2 is to add the international L1C and Military Code signals. The final three of the 10 GPS III satellites are to launch in the next year and a half, DeLaPena said.

Cost estimates for GPS OCX have significantly increased from the $3.9 billion estimated in November 2012.

RTX has said that GPS OCX “will provide improved accuracy of the current system and will be able to fly more than twice as many satellites”–an increase that the company said “will increase coverage in hard-to-reach areas such as urban canyons and mountainous terrain.”

DeLaPena, a retired U.S. Air Force officer who also served at the National Reconnaissance Office, according to his bio, said on Tuesday that GPS OCX “is the hardest [program] I’ve ever worked.”

“Being the PEO on that program and watching it for five years, we’re bringing it to a close,” he said. “Raytheon is scheduled to submit their DD [Form] 250 in the next 30 days which will allow government/operational testing, and I will certify that we’re Ready to Transition to Operations by mid-calendar year. That’s a huge milestone, and the first major element of risk reduction is to get that DD250 submitted and get through the SCA/PCA [security control assessment/physical configuration] audits.”

The DD250 confirms that a contractor-delivered system meets requirements.

 

State Approves $1.3 Billion AMRAAM Deal To Poland

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Tuesday notified Congress of a proposed $1.33 billion sale of RTX [RTX] Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missiles to Poland.

The proposed sale includes 400 AMRAAMs; sixteen (16) AIM-120D3 AMRAAM guidance sections, including either Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Modules or M-Code; and one (1) AIM-120 AMRAAM Instrumented Test Vehicle.  The following non-MDE items will also be included: AMRAAM control sections, missile containers, and support equipment; Common Munitions Built-in-Test Reprogramming Equipment (CMBRE); ADU-891 adapter group test sets; KGV-135A encryption devices; Computer Program Identification Numbers (CPINs); spares and repair parts, consumables and accessories, and repair and return support; weapons system support and software; classified software delivery and support; classified publications and technical documentation; transportation support; studies and surveys; U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistics and program support.

Poland operates the F-16 and is buying the Joint Strike Fighter, both of which can launch AMRAAM.

 

 

Amazon Project Kuiper Deployment Begins With First ULA Launch

United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched the first full-scale mission for Amazon’s [AMZN] Project Kuiper constellation on Monday evening, starting the deployment phase of Amazon’s competitor to Starlink and OneWeb.

ULA, which is a joint venture between

Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Boeing [BA], launched 27 satellites in the Kuiper-1 mission on an Atlas V 551 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 7:01 p.m. EDT. The launch took place on Monday after a scrub earlier this month due to weather.

Amazon previously expected to begin Kuiper launches in 2024, and the company faces an FCC deadline to have half of the 3,232-satellite constellation launched by July 2026.

Project Kuiper is a satellite broadband constellation in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) designed to provide internet to areas with little to no broadband access. With the first 27 satellites, Amazon looks to validate its end-to-end network connectivity including satellites sending data through the internet, ground infrastructure, and user terminals.

In a video about the launch, Amazon said it has already deployed a number of its ground gateway sites around the world, including in Australia and Germany, with more brought online each month. Each site connects to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

ULA previously launched two prototype Kuiper satellites, which demonstrated two-way video calls and data transfers via the onboard optical inter-satellite links. The prototype satellites were deorbited last year.

Amazon said it has rolled out improvements over the prototype satellites, including phased array antennas, processors, solar arrays, propulsion systems, and optical inter-satellite links. Amazon is building its own satellites, and has invested in manufacturing in Washington state and satellite processing facilities in Florida.

“We’ve done extensive testing on the ground to prepare for this first mission, but there are some things you can only learn in flight, and this will be the first time we’ve flown our final satellite design and the first time we’ve deployed so many satellites at once,” commented Rajeev Badyal, vice president of Project Kuiper. “No matter how the mission unfolds, this is just the start of our journey, and we have all the pieces in place to learn and adapt as we prepare to launch again and again over the coming years.”

ULA is set to deploy a majority of the Kuiper constellation and has launch contracts in place for seven more Atlas V launches and 38 Vulcan rockets. Amazon also has launch contracts in place with Arianespace, Blue Origin, and SpaceX.

This story was first published by Via Satellite

Epirus Delivers Prototype Counter-Swarm Energy Weapon To Navy

Epirus, a defense startup, on Tuesday said it delivered its prototype high-power microwave (HPM)  Expeditionary Directed Energy Counter-Swarm (ExDECS) weapon to the Navy for testing earlier this year.

The ExDECS is derived from the company’s Leonidas Expeditionary counter-drone HPM system and is meant to support a Marine Corps’ experimentation objective to evaluate the benefits of HPM to its Altitude Air Defense (LAAD) mission and enhance Ground Based Air Defense (GBAD) capabilities.

The company said it shipped the prototype ExDECS to Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division for government acceptance testing earlier this year, but did not specify when. This occurred after it signed the Department of Defense Form DD250, documenting Factory Acceptance Testing.

Epirus' suite of high-power microwave counter-drone systems. (Photo: Epirus)
Epirus’ suite of high-power microwave counter-drone systems. (Photo: Epirus)

This announcement follows the company unveiling the Leonidas H2O prototype high-energy high-power microwave system earlier this month after it finished a round of the Navy’s Advanced Naval Technology Exercise Coastal Trident (ANTX-CT) program test. The Leonidas H2O is specifically designed to disable unmanned vehicle engines (Defense Daily, April 14).

ExDECS was developed under an Office of Naval Research (ONR) contract. In September 2024, ONR awarded Epirus a $5.5 million follow-on contract that supports more testing and evaluation of the system as part of the Preliminary Evaluation of Ground-based Anti-Swarm UAS System (PEGASUS) program.

At the time, Epirus said ExDECS was set to lead to initial integration with the Marine Corps’ Command and Control System (CAC2S) alongside field experimentation and multi-platform testing in expeditionary scenarios to enhance Marine Corps GBAD capabilities.

The ExDECS is specifically a solid-state long-pulse HPM system that the company boasted is designed to be compact and maneuvered easily for expeditionary missions.

The company first unveiled its baseline Leonidas Expeditionary in 2024, the latest platform of the company’s scalable HPM systems designed for counter-electronics. 

Epirus said these systems are designed to integrate with light tactical vehicles, companion trailers or other platforms to improve expeditionary short range air defense.

“Drone warfare is changing the fight — fast. Systems like ExDECS give Marines a decisive advantage by neutralizing multiple electronic threats at once with a single system — what we call a one-to-many capability,” Andy Lowery, CEO of Epirus, said in a statement.

“This delivery is a critical step toward fielding non-kinetic counter-swarm solutions that enhance the mobility, survivability, and lethality of our Marine forces,” he continued.

The Leonidas system emits non-ionizing radiation that is generally safe for ordnance, fuel and personnel. 

Last month, Epirus told Defense Daily it currently has a production rate of four Leonidas systems per year, and with available capacity could increase that to 20 per year. It is creating a plan to build upward of 100 per year based on expected demand over the next few years (Defense Daily, March 5).

Previously, in late 2023 and early 2024, Epirus delivered four first generation Integrated Fires Protection Capability High Power Microwave (IFPC-HPM) short-range systems to the Army for successful engineering and development testing. The company is currently building four second generation IFPC-HPM systems for delivery to the Army this summer.

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.

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