Page 59 – Defense Daily

Australia To Buy $125 Million In MK-48 Torpedoes

The Australian defense ministry on Friday announced it agreed to buy $125 million worth of MK-48 heavyweight torpedoes for current and future submarines.

The government said procuring more of these torpedoes, designed to target both submarines and surface vessels, will “deliver a critical boost” to the capabilities of the current Collins-class diesel electric submarines and will be used on its future nuclear-powered submarines, set to be procured starting in the 2030s.

Under the AUKUS agreement, Australia plans to buy three to five Virginia-class submarines in the 2030s before starting to domestically produce the SSN-AUKUS boat in the 2040s.

MK-48 is the result of a joint program between the U.S. and Australian governments, with hardware and software developed in both countries. It is built by Lockheed Martin [LMT] and SAIC [SAIC].

“This boost to our stocks of MK-48 Heavy Weight Torpedoes also demonstrates the Government’s commitment to deliver on priorities in the 2024 National Defence Strategy that contribute to the strategy of denial,” Minister for Defense Industry and Capability Delivery Pat Conroy said in a March 21 statement.

“The continuous joint development of the MK-48 Heavy Weight Torpedo provides the Australian Navy with the latest technology to counter current and future threats. This acquisition is a testament to Australia’s strong, long-standing alliance with the United States,” he continued.

The defense ministry said these torpedoes will be procured as sections assembled and tested at the Torpedo Maintenance Facility in Western Australia. The facility is certified to also assemble, maintain and test the torpedoes for U.S. Navy vessels.

Defense Watch: DPA Importance, Duffey Nom, Shipbuilding Office

$2 Billion. In the last few years, Congress has stepped up investments under the Defense Production Act, which Congress is to reauthorize this year. “In recent years, spurred by the COVID crisis and the war in Ukraine, there’s been fresh understanding of the importance of America’s domestic production capability, from medicine to minerals to munitions,” says Steve Morani, a senior executive service member performing the duties of DoD acquisition chief. “In response, over the past three fiscal years, nearly $2 billion in Defense Production Act funding has been obligated to enhance domestic industrial capacity for microelectronics, castings and forgings, batteries, solid rocket motors, energetics, and more.” Morani’s office is overseeing implementation of DoD’s first National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS), released by the Biden administration in January last year. NDIS “focuses on deterrence throughout the Indo-Pacific, and in doing so we are aligning industrial base investments to support priorities laid out by the President [Trump] and [Defense] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth,” Morani says. “America’s ability to deter China will depend in large part on production capacity, as well as innovating new capabilities and warfighting approaches, and right now we don’t have enough of it, at least for crucial weapons and supply chain.”

…Duffey Nomination

. Trump nominated Michael Duffey to be Pentagon acquisition chief on Dec. 22 last year, but, three months later, he has not had a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). Duffey served as the associate director for national security programs in the White House Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first term. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a SASC member, has asked for answers from Duffey on his role in freezing $250 million in congressionally approved aid to Ukraine in 2019.

MESA Combat ID. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Boeing, and Northrop Grumman “recently developed” and flight tested at RAAF Williamstown improved combat identification for Northrop Grumman’s Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA), Northrop Grumman says. The advanced radar is carried on Australia’s Boeing-built E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft. “Rather than simulating performance via a testbed aircraft, an in-service E-7 was utilized to perform these flight tests, reflecting the technical maturity and mission readiness of these capabilities,” Northrop Grumman says. “Flying in a true mission environment with these advanced capabilities for the first time, MESA identified air threats and securely processed key intel faster than ever before.” The U.S. Air Force is buying Wedgetail to help replace its 16 1970s-era Boeing E-3 AWACS planes.

NRO Proliferated Architecture. The National Reconnaissance Office’s (NRO) NROL-57 mission reached orbit after an early Friday NRO/U.S. Space Force Launch Delta 30 lift-off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The launch is the eighth for the agency’s proliferated architecture. “About a dozen” NRO launches are scheduled this year–“approximately half” of which are to advance that proliferated architecture, the agency says.

Navy Training. HII on March 18 announced it won a $147 million contract to support shipboard and shore-based combat training services for the Navy. The five-year task order covers HII providing engineering support for every aspect of training systems under the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, Dam Neck Activity (NSWCDD DNA), including hardware, software subsystems and elements. Tasks include integrated training system hardware and software installation, system certification and testing, troubleshooting, repair and lifecycle sustainment.

Oiler Fleet Task. The Navy announced its first-in-class fleet replenishment oiler, the USNS John Lewis (T-AO 205), became the first ship of the class to conduct a fleet task under the U.S. 3rd Fleet by refueling the USS Mustin (DDG-89) off the coast of Southern California on March 15. The Lewis was officially introduced into the fleet as a trained and certified ship on March 10 and is now fleet operational and set to depart on its first deployment later in 2025. This class can carry 162,000 barrels of diesel ship fuel, aviation fuel and dry stores cargo and is set to replace the aging Kaiser-class fleet of replenishment oilers.

Aussie LRASM. The Australian defense ministry announced its AGM-159C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) is ready for operational use following a successful live firing off the coast of California in February. Australia has allocated $561 million to acquire LRASM, which the ministry noted will increase the Royal Australian Air Force’s maritime strike range to over 370 km. The government said testing included validation of weapons preparation and loading, targeting and engagement. It also simulated a long-range maritime strike, supported by Australian E-7A Wedgetail and EA-18G Growler aircraft and a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon. This is part of a larger effort to invest $17.5 billion to $22 billion to enhance the military’s targeting and long-range strike capabilities.

New Hypersonic Facility. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions last week broke ground on a $50 million 68,000-square-foot office, laboratory, integration and test complex that will be used to integrate experimental payloads to increase the cadence of hypersonic flight testing. The Indiana Payload Integration Facility (IPIF) in Crane, Ind., is expected to achieve operational readiness by late 2026. The IPIF will support the Defense Department’s Multi-Service Advanced Capabilities Hypersonic Testbed program, which is aimed at creating an affordable flight-test bed to rapidly increase U.S. capacity to conduct hypersonic flight testing. Kratos in January nabbed a potential $1.5 billion award order for the MACH-TB 2.0 task area, which the company said provides a bridge between ground tests and system level flight tests.

Standardized Cyber Hunting. The Defense Innovation Unit last week said it awarded prototype contracts in February to Omni Federal, Parson Corp.’s Sealing Technologies, and World Wide Technology to deliver deployable Joint Cyber Hunt Kit (JCHK) that U.S. Cyber Command will use to hunt for advanced persistent threats. The rapidly deployable JCHK leverages commercial solutions that standardize cyber incident response kit across coalition and joint forces. DIU described the JCHK as a “mobile ‘security operations center in a box’ that can be transported by a nine-person team, anywhere in the world.” Britain and Australia also worked on the project.

…Hydrogen at the Edge. Prototype hydrogen generation systems have been delivered to two Marine Corps bases for operator testing of power produced at the tactical edge, DIU also said last week. NovaSpark Energy and Zepher Flight Labs in April 2024 were each awarded contracts under the Hydrogen at the Tactical Edge of Contested Logistics (HyTEC) to provide prototypes that produce hydrogen in austere environments. The prototype systems were delivered to units on Marine Corps Base Hawaii and Marine Corps Air Station Yuma to produce power that “will be used to operate fuel cell-powered UAS, small tactical electrical generators, and weather and communications balloons,” David Lorio, DIU HyTEC program manager, said in a statement. DIU, Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office, and the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific are partners on the project.

Startup News. New startup Distributed Spectrum, which is developing software and sensors to “let anyone identify critical radio signals across defense missions,” last week announced an oversubscribed $25 million Series A funding round. Founded several months ago, the small New York City-based company said it closed more than $7 million in Defense Department contracts in 60 days. Distributed Spectrum said its machine learning-based products are being used in Ukraine to help front line forces identify threats.

…New Hivemind Partner. Expanding its roster of partners working with its Hivemind autonomy technology, Shield AI last week said it is working with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) to accelerate development of artificial intelligence pilots for aircraft. KAI will use Hivemind Enterprise “to rapidly verify its independently developed AI pilot technologies through various methods and elevate the to a world-class level,” KAI said. Shield AI’s Hivemind Enterprise includes an autonomy factory, middleware, an autonomy catalog, and mission control for developers to build their own autonomy solutions.

…New Software Security Firm. The venture capital firm Red Cell Partners last week publicly launched Hunted Labs, emerging from stealth with $3 million in pre-seed funding to bring AI-powered products that give organizations “end-to-end visibility into their software supply chains, allowing them to quickly identify, and eliminate, malicious threats,” the company said. Hunted Labs also has a $1.8 million Small Business Innovation Research Direct-to-Phase II contract with the Space Development Agency for the company to continue to develop Entercept, a product to give customers “command and control over their software supply chain,” it said.

Autonomy. Overland AI on March 18 announced its new SPARK offering, a “comprehensive autonomy upfit” that can turn any ground vehicle into an autonomous platform utilizing the company’s OverDrive software stack. “Designed for rapid deployment across existing military fleets, SPARK provides an immediate path to autonomy without the extended procurement timelines typically associated with new autonomous systems,” the company said in a statement. Overland AI said SPARK enables integration of the OverDrive autonomy software on an “ultra-compact compute module that fits in most vehicles.” “Its perception system uses LiDAR and stereo cameras to see through darkness, dust, and storms, while tracking movement via integrated GPS, IMU, and speed encoders. The system’s modular, drive-by-wire design allows for rapid installation with minimal modifications to the host vehicle, preserving manual control capabilities when needed,” Overland AI said.

Australia FMS. The State Department on March 18 said it has approved a potential $165 million foreign military sale with Australia for decoy flares, flare countermeasures, flare countermeasures, chaff cartridges and impulse cartridges. “The proposed sale will improve Australia’s capability to meet current and future threats by protecting and increasing aircraft survivability,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement. The contractors for the pending deal would include Kilgore Flares, Armtec Countermeasures, Alloy Surface Co. and CCI Capco.

Saudi Arabia FMS. The State Department on March 20 then announced a potential $100 million FMS case with Saudi Arabia for 2,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems (APKWS) II all-up rounds. Along with the BAE Systems-supplied APKWS, Saudi Arabia would also receive support equipment, missile software and engineering and logistics support services. “The proposed sale will improve the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s capability to meet current and future threats and give it the ability to precisely engage targets with much less risk of collateral damage than other guided missile systems,” the DSCA said in a statement.

Shipbuilding Office. Ian Bennitt, a special assistant to President Trump and senior director for White House shipbuilding and maritime initiatives, is leading the administration’s new Office of Shipbuilding, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) said this week. Wittman, vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters following remarks at this week’s McAleese Conference that Bennitt used to work on the HASC Seapower Subcommittee staff and previously spent time with the Shipbuilding Council of America. Trump, in his recent joint address to Congress, announced the new office and said it will focus on both military and commercial shipbuilding, to include offering tax incentives to help improve domestic capacity.

IBCS Software. Ultra Intelligence & Communications said on March 19 it has received a five-year, $86.8 million Other Transaction Authority agreement from the Army to deliver advanced software prototypes for the Northrop Grumman-built Integrated Battle Command System mission command systems that will be deployed in support of Guam defense operations. “Ultra I&C will integrate its ADSI software platform, providing comprehensive Link-16 interoperability, MIL-STD and tactical data link interfaces and force operations data within the IBCS architecture,” the company said in a statement. “Additionally, the company will deliver seamless Link-16 interoperability capabilities alongside state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and machine learning integration to meet emerging battlefield requirements.”

Wicker/Rogers’ Concern. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services Committee, issued a joint statement on March 19 stating they’re “very concerned” with reports the Trump administration may be considering unilateral changes “on major strategic issues, including significant reductions to U.S. forces stationed abroad, absent coordination with the White House and Congress.” The statement followed an NBC News report on March 19 that Trump was considering withdrawing the U.S. from its role as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe and canceling plans to modernize U.S. Forces Japan. “We support President Trump’s efforts to ensure our allies and partners increase their contributions to strengthen our alliance structure, and we support continuing America’s leadership abroad. As such, we will not accept significant changes to our warfighting structure that are made without a rigorous interagency process, coordination with combatant commanders and the Joint Staff, and collaboration with Congress,” Wicker and Rogers said.

Antitrust Approvals. New space economy company Redwire Corp. last Friday said it has received all regulatory approvals for its pending $925 million acquisition of Edge Autonomy, which would give it a play in unmanned aircraft systems. U.S, Canadian, Latvian, and United Kingdom regulators all granted their approvals. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, pending approval by Redwire’s stockholders.

Boeing Edges Lockheed To Win F-47 NGAD Fighter Contract That Air Force Says Offers More Range, Stealth, Sustainability

The Air Force last Friday awarded Boeing [BA] the contract to build the first sixth-generation manned fighter aircraft that it said will have more stealth, range, maneuverability, sustainability, readiness, and adaptability to meet future threats than the fifth-generation air superiority fighter it will replace, the F-22.

The value of the F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Platform award is classified and comes after nearly five years of flying experimental test planes, President Donald Trump said in announcing the award from the White House.

The engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) award to Boeing is a bit of a surprise as the company’s defense business has been struggling for years with a number of fixed-price development aircraft programs that have resulted in billions of dollars in cost overruns and schedule delays.

Lockheed Martin [LMT], which also vied for the manned NGAD, was thought to be the frontrunner but it too has had trouble developing the F-35 fighter, a multi-role aircraft being acquired by Air Force, Navy, and Marines Corps.

“There will be questions about the company’s bid strategy, the development and production contract type, and the technical complexity of the aircraft,” Roman Schweizer, an aerospace and defense analyst with TD Cowen’s Washington Research Group, wrote in a client note.

The Air Force said the EMD contract covers “maturing, integrating, and testing all aspects of the F-47” and includes “competitively priced options for low-rate initial production.” The Defense Department’s five-year budget plan for fiscal year 2025 has $20 billion for NGAD, which stemmed from the Aerospace Innovation Initiative, kicked off in 2015 by Frank Kendall when he served as former President Obama’s DoD acquisition chief.

Kendall has said that the initiative led to a contract before the end of the Obama administration to investigate needed technologies for a sixth-generation fighter. Before the Aerospace Innovation Initiative, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) had spearheaded an Air Dominance Initiative–a two-year study, begun in 2013, on a “family of systems” approach that would tie together sensors, weapons and battle management for a future fighter.

Trump and the top Air Force officer said on Friday that risk has already been brought down on the sixth-generation F-47.

“The F-47 will be the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built,” Trump said in the Oval Office while flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, and Lt. Gen. Dale White, military deputy to the Air Force Acquisition and Technology Office. “An experimental version of the plane has secretly been flying for almost five years, and we’re confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation.”

In addition to the experimental flights, additional risk reduction on the program has been made, Trump said. There will be aircraft flying during his administration, over the “next couple of years,” he said. “It’s ready to go. They’ve already built much of what has to be built in terms of production, including the sheds.”

Allvin in a statement released by the Air Force said X-planes for the program have flown “hundreds of hours, testing cutting-edge concepts, and proving that we can push the envelope of technology with confidence. These experimental aircraft have demonstrated the innovations necessary to mature the F-47’s capabilities, ensuring that when we committed to building this fighter, we knew we were making the right investment for America.”

The NGAD effort has allowed the Air Force to rapidly develop technology and refine “operational concepts” to the point that the aircraft will be fielded “faster than ever before,” Allvin said, echoing Trump’s comments that the F-47 will fly during his administration. The plane’s “unprecedented maturity…at this phase in the program confirms its readiness to dominate the future fight,” he added.

In September 2020, Will Roper, the head of research, development, and acquisition for the Air Force in Trump’s first administration, said that a full-scale demonstrator of the manned NGAD had flown (Defense Daily, Sept. 15, 2020). He credited digital engineering in advancing the program and breaking “a lot of records in the doing.”

A separate Air Force release on Friday said the service had partnered with DARPA on NGAD, noting the program has advanced “stealth, range, and autonomous systems while refining operational concepts.”

Allvin also said the F-47 will cost less than the F-22 and be more adaptable, supportable, and “require significantly less manpower and infrastructure to deploy.” NGAD is designed to be adaptable, he said.

Some of that adaptability appears to be in more government control over aspects of the aircraft, possibly referring to data rights, Allvin suggested.

“The manner in which we put his program together puts more control in the hands of the government, so we can update and adapt at the speed of relevance, at the speed of technology, not at the speed of bureaucracy,” he said at the White House.

There is also an unmanned component to the larger NGAD platform. The Air Force is working with industry on the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, an unmanned jet aircraft with certain autonomous features that would be quarterbacked by the manned NGAD and possibly the other aircraft like the F-35.

General Atomics and Anduril Industries last year were selected by the Air Force for the first CCA increment and their unmanned jets are expected to fly this summer (Defense Daily, March 4). The Air Force has said that the CCA program will contain on-ramps for additional competitors, which would likely include Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman [NOC], and others.

Boeing is spending nearly $2 billion to build a new 1.1 million square-foot Phantom Works facility at its military aircraft operations in St. Louis (Defense Daily, June 26, 2026). The F-47, and any CCA’s the company may build, will be built there. Phantom Works is Boeing’s advanced research, development, and prototyping division with the largest site already in St. Louis.

Boeing said last summer the new Phantom Works facility would open in 2026. A company spokesperson said on Friday work is on schedule.

Praising the decision to move forward with the F-47, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said in a statement, “I now look forward to working with President Trump on a massive scale-up of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, supercharging B-21 bomber production, and a broad revitalization of the defense industrial base.”

The Air Force last spring paused the manned NGAD program to reassess affordability and design. Then, late in the Biden administration, then Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall decided to defer a decision on the program to the Trump administration.

GE Aerospace [GE] and RTX’s [RTX] Pratt & Whitney segment are developing engines for manned NGAD, with each recently having received $3.5 billion technology maturation and risk reduction contracts for the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program (Defense Daily, Jan. 28). The Air Force did not say if an engine supplier for manned NGAD has been selected.

An Air Force official said the names of NGAD subcontractors are classified.

A GE spokesperson said “We’re excited to see this important program advance and look forward to the opportunities it represents to power future fighters.” The spokesperson could not confirm a role on NGAD and referred questions to the Air Force.

The Air Force has 183 Lockheed Martin-built F-22s in its inventory.

Of the NGAD loss, Lockheed Martin said it remains “committed to advancing the state of the art in air dominance” and “will await further discussions with the U.S. Air Force” related to the competition.

Anduril Developing Rocket Motor For Army Long-Range Precision Artillery

Anduril Industries has received multiple contracts worth more than $25 million to develop, build, and qualify a solid rocket motor to power new long-range precision artillery for the Army that the company says will also increase magazine depth for the service.

The 4.75-inch diameter motors will help enable the Army to equip itself with smaller artillery rockets that can squeeze more fires out of the service’s M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) that typically carries a single pod capable of launching six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, or a single ATACMS missile that has a longer range and larger warhead.

The solid rocket motor (SRM) being developed by Anduril “potentially allows for up to 30 guided rockets to be configured in a single HIMARS pod, drastically improving loadout within existing launcher constraints,” Neil Thurgood, a senior vice president in charge of Anduril’s Air and Ground Deterrence Division, wrote March 21 on the company’s blog. “Anduril is one of the first companies developing rocket motors in this form factor to meet the Army’s need for increased volume and affordability.”

Thurgood retired from the Army in 2022 as a Lt. Gen. and his last assignment was as director of the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office.

Anduril is also developing SRMs for the Navy, in competition with other companies, as a potential second source to fuel the second stage of the Standard Missile-6. The company entered the SRM business in 2022 with the acquisition of Adranos (Defense Daily

, June 26, 2023).

Anduril has other SRM contracts that it has not disclosed, a company spokesperson said.

The timelines for the Army contracts were not disclosed.

Thurgood said that the company will build and test SRM’s using both its traditional aluminized propellant and its proprietary aluminum-lithium alloy fuel called ALITEC that Adranos claimed can increase range by up to 40 percent while saving money.

“ALITEC enhances rocket motor performance by improving munition range while reducing size, weight, and power demands,” Thurgood wrote. “We anticipate that ALITEC-powered SRMs will achieve ranges comparable to significantly larger rocket motors, providing long-range strike capability in a smaller and more efficient design.”

In January, the Defense Department awarded Anduril $14.3 million in Defense Production Act (DPA) funds to modernize its SRM facilities and manufacturing processes (Defense Daily, Jan. 7). The DPA award is being put toward “single-piece-flow manufacturing,” which includes a “bladeless propellant high-speed mixer, to efficiently and affordably produce and qualify these propulsion systems,” Thurgood said.

Last fall, Anduril partnered with FlackTek to develop the Mega FlackTek mixer to rapidly mix solid propellants using less real estate to boost production in the face of surging demand for SRMs (Defense Daily, Oct. 3, 2024).

Appropriators’ Blueprint To DoD On CR Spending Has More F-35s, Flexible Funds For C-UAS

Congressional appropriators have provided Pentagon leadership with how they would like fiscal year 2025 defense funds spent under the continuing resolution, to include adding six more F-35s, cutting MQ-25 drone procurement and granting the Army flexibility for counter-UAS spending.

With the Pentagon now operating under a full-year stopgap funding measure for the first time, the funding tables provided to the department are more along the lines of recommendations rather than a binding blueprint if Congress had passed final appropriations bills.

Two F-35C Lightning II aircraft from Naval Air Station Lemoore fly in formation over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range after completing a training mission (U.S. Navy Photo)

President Trump signed the CR this past Saturday to avoid a shutdown and keep the government open through the end of September, with the stopgap funding measure including a slight boost to defense and containing provisions allowing the Pentagon greater flexibility on spending plans compared to typical CRs, to include the ability to initiate new start programs.

For F-35 fighter jets, lawmakers are looking to add $196 million for two additional Air Force F-35As and an additional $524 million to cover four more F-35Cs for the Navy.

Appropriators also want to add $411.6 million for additional C-130J aircraft for the Air National Guard and $200 million for two more HH-60W combat rescue helicopters.

The funding tables include a $318.7 million cut for C-40 fleet expansion citing a “lack of acquisition strategy” and a $77.8 million reduction for the new Northrop Grumman [NOC] B-21 bomber due to a “classified adjustment.

For the Navy, appropriators are seeking a $261 million add for two additional KC-130J tankers for the Navy Reserve while looking to cut $102.4 million for Standard Missiles procurement due to “production delays.”

The CR itself included $33.3 billion for shipbuilding, a slight boost above the Navy’s request, with the measure outlining a range of adjustments, to include a $1.5 billion add to support building a potential third Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, an $868 million cut to the Constellation-class frigate program and adding $480 million for Ship-to-Shore Connectors (Defense Daily, March 12).

For drones, lawmakers called for a $240 million add to buy more MQ-1C Gray Eagle 25Ms for the Army National Guard while including a $450 million cut for Navy procurement for MQ-25 aerial refueling drones stating the low-rate initial production aircraft are “ahead of need.”

Appropriators are also looking to grant the Army’s request for flexible funding authority related to counter-drone procurement, with service leaders having discussed the benefits of budget line item consolidation to be able to more rapidly procure promising technologies (Defense Daily, Feb. 13).

The funding tables sent to the Pentagon replaces the Army’s $117.4 million line item for RTX’s [RTX] Coyote interceptors with a broader request for C-UAS “interceptors and launchers” and then add an additional $184.9 million for additional C-UAS capabilities, for a total of $302.3 million.

Additional plus-ups for the Army include $60 million for more UH-60M Black Hawks for the Army National Guard, $110 million for ATACMS missiles, $150.9 million for the Paladin Integrated Management program, $10 million for GM Defense’s [GM] Infantry Squad Vehicles and $287 million for Oshkosh Defense’s [OSK] Family of Medium and Heavy Tactical Vehicles.

Appropriators also include an additional $289 million for Army industrial facilities, covering a $248 million add for a modular artillery production facility and $41 million more for ammunition plans modernization.

Under the appropriators’ plan, the Army would face a $129.2 million cut for the RTX-built LTAMDS sensor, $58 million reduction to Lockheed Martin [LMT] PAC-3 MSE interceptors due to the “delivery backlog,” a $105.1 million cut to the Indirect Fire Protection Capability Inc. 2 program and a $133.8 million reduction for BAE Systems-built Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles.

South Korea’s Hanwha Buys Nearly 10 Percent Shareholding In Australia’s Austal, Seeks 20 Percent

A major South Korean conglomerate this week purchased a significant stake in Australian shipbuilder Austal, with hopes of expansion.

On March 18

Hanwha Group said it acquired a 9.9 percent stake in Austal as a “strategic investment” to become a long-term strategic partner in developing Australian defense capabilities.

The USS Mobile (LCS-26) rolled out of its assembly bay and was launched in early 2020. (Photo: Austal USA) — The future USS *Mobile* (LCS-26) rolled out of its assembly bay and was launched in early 2020 at shipyard Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. (Photo: Austal USA)

The company on Tuesday also said it officially applied for approval by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) to add another 9.9 percent stake via a total return swap, which if approved would increase its total shareholding value to 19.9 percent. Australian regulators must approve purchases of 10 percent or more of a company.

Hanwha in a press release argued it wants to make a “meaningful contribution” to Austal and the Australian defense industry by providing its manufacturing and operational experience to maximize company opportunities.

“As a strategic shareholder there will be a great opportunity for us to add significant value to Austal’s business, including in global defence and shipbuilding, supporting investment in Australia’s local manufacturing industry and capacity,” Michael Coulter, Global Chief Executive Officer and President at Hanwha Defence, said in a statement.

This move comes as Hanwha continued to make moves to expand its defense sector and shipbuilding portfolio into Australia and the U.S.

Last year, Hanwha also made an unsolicited acquisition offer for Austal, which it ultimately declined (Defense Daily, April 2, 2024).

In 2024 Hanwha also bought Philly Shipyard for $100 million with plans to expand work beyond the current portfolio of Jones Act commercial vessels, maintenance, repair, overhaul and conversion work for Military Sealift Command shops and building National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV) for the Maritime Administration (Defense Daily, June 20, 2024).

Last year, former Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro visited Hanwha Ocean’s shipyard, expressing interest in investment in the U.S. and expanding cooperation (Defense Daily, April 10, 2024).

Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro visits Hanwha Ocean shipyard in Geoje, Republic of Korea on Feb. 27, 2024. (Photo: U.S. Navy via Hanwha Ocean photo/released)

“Hanwha’s position as a global leader in smart shipbuilding will provide Austal access to capital, international relationships and operational and technical expertise which can accelerate the development of Austal’s business and in turn, enhance Australia’s sovereign defense capability, at a time when this capability is more important than ever,” Coulter added.

He emphasized the South Korea company is looking to replicate its investment in land capability in Geelong, Australia to improve growing local presence through investment and partnerships.

Last August, Hanwha Aerospace completed construction on the Hanwha Armoured Vehicle Centre of Excellence (H-ACE) in Geelong, Australia, the first overseas production base for Hanwha.

Coulter added Hanwha will seek to gain board representation as a result of this purchase.

Hanwha owns subsidiary Hanwha Ocean, the former Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering company in South Korea that builds various South Korean naval vessels, LNG and very large crude oil carriers.

Austal’s Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala., builds one variant of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships, Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport ships, new T-AGOS(X) ocean surveillance ships and an increasing amount of modular components for American submarines.

Northern Command Using Lockheed Martin Radar For Border Security

Lockheed Martin [LMT] on Wednesday said it integrated its AN/TPQ-53 radar into command-and-control systems being used by a task force supporting U.S. Northern Command to help secure the U.S. southern border.

USNORTHCOM activated Joint Task Force-Southern Border (JTF-SB) on March 14 to synchronize activities and military forces from Joint Task Force-North, which will continue to focus on detecting and monitoring transnational criminal organizations threats inside and on the borders to the continental U.S., the command said.

The multi-mission radar can detect and track items of interest based in the air and on the ground. Lockheed Martin said the radar features an open architecture design to integrate with other sensors and systems to create a single operating picture.

“The successful integration of the AN/TQP-53 MMR in the southern border deployment showcases the power of collaboration between industry, government agencies such as the Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, and end-users in addressing complex challenges,” Rick Cordaro, the company’s vice president and general manager of radar sensors and systems, said in a statement.

JTF-SB is operating out of Fort Huachuca, Ariz. Elements of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division deployed there in early February to establish the infrastructure for the task force, which is commanded by an Army general, who is supported by two deputy commanders, one from Customs and Border Protection and one from the Marine Corps.

The Trump administration is pushing more military resources to the southern border to stem the flows of illegal migrants and drugs into the U.S.

The AN/TPW-53 radar was demonstrated last year in the National Guard’s Northern Strike exercise in Michigan in August, and U.S. Central Command’s Desert Guardian 1.0 exercise in November, Lockheed Martin said.

Department of the Air Force Likely to See Gains in Fiscal 2026 Budget

As the defense community awaits the release of the Pentagon’s fiscal 2026 budget in the next month or so, the Department of the Air Force may stand to gain a significant funding boost, as DoD seeks to deter China.

“It’s our airpower, the next generation of it and our ability to project it that will be the decisive factor in whether or not we truly deter our peer [adversaries] of the 21st century,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday at the Air Force Summit at Joint Base Andrews, Md., according to a DoD statement.

U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Allvin, unlike some previous service leaders, has been outspoken in his comments on the need for “more Air Force,” as service fighter, bomber, and tanker fleets age. The U.S. Space Force stands to gain as well in the upcoming budget, as Trump and his advisers, including SpaceX‘s Elon Musk, have been advocates of a larger U.S. presence in space.

A recent Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies’ paper–Air Force and Space Force Vectors for the Incoming Trump Defense Team–has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill and has called for a $45 billion annual increase for Department of the Air Force (DAF) programs.

Such a significant increase is unlikely, but the DoD fiscal 2026 budget request may contain some modernization dollar gains for the Air Force and Space Force.

The largest annual increase called for in the Mitchell Institute paper is more than $11 billion to fund Weapons System Sustainment (WSS) fully for the 200 flying hours annual standard for fighter pilots during the Cold War, up from 130 currently.

Allvin has said that one of his top priorities is increasing WSS funding (Defense Daily, March 18).

“In fiscal 2025 alone, the Air Force requested to divest 250 aircraft while buying just 91,” according to the Mitchell Institute paper. “Continuing to remove more aircraft than it buys will collapse the Air Force. Currently, there is no plan to stop that from happening. However, the situation is worse than declining force structure. At any given time, over 500 of the Air Force’s flyable aircraft are grounded due to a chronic lack of spare parts. As the Air Force gets older, readiness gets worse. Furthermore, the Air Force suffers from a chronic 2,000 pilot shortfall. Over half of this shortage is made up of combat pilots.”

Beside WSS funding boosts, other top dollar, annual increases proposed in the Mitchell Institute paper include $5.2 billion more to double the forecast production rate of Northrop Grumman [NOC] B-21 Raiders to 20 by 2030, more than $5.1 billion for a total of 26 Boeing [BA] E-7 Wedgetails to replace the 16 E-3 AWACS “in hospice care,” a resumption of $3 billion to $4 billion in funding for the manned Next Generation Air Dominance fighter, $3.7 billion to increase the build of Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35s from 42 to 74 per year, $3.5 billion more for Space Force space control and counterspace, $3 billion for 24 Boeing F-15EXs and an increase in the total plan from 98 to 225 fighters, more than $2 billion for space domain awareness and battle management, and $2 billion more for establishing Space Force launch sites beyond Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.

Hybrid Architectures That Include Commercial And International Are A Growth Area For Space Force, Guetlein Says

The U.S. Space Force is moving to rely more on the commercial sector and its international partners for capabilities it once owned and operated, giving it more capacity, redundancy and making the nation’s space architecture more resilient, a senior service official said this week.

The connections and networking of Defense Department, commercial, and international assets make them hybrid architectures, Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations, said on Wednesday at the annual McAleese Conference.

In April 2024 the Space Force published its strategy for acquiring commercial space capabilities and soon will release its international strategy, “and when you plug both of those together with the current capabilities, we have that will enable hybrid architectures,” Guetlein said. “That will probably be our growth area for the foreseeable future.”

While DoD at one time led the way in space technology, that era is over and now partnerships with the commercial and international sectors are crucial, he said, highlighting that “All of us operating together are better than the sum of the parts.”

The Space Force is “looking at offloading some of our legacy capabilities” and halting some development programs in favor of relying more on commercial and international resources, Guetlein said. The service’s “acquisition philosophy” is to “exploit everything that we have,” which includes organic, commercial and international by “networking, integrating it in ways that nobody ever thought about before.”

The Space Force only wants to build what it “absolutely must” and not “buy something new and exquisite,” he said.

Currently, satellite communications are the “most closest to being a hybrid architecture” followed by space domain awareness, which DoD is buying a “tremendous amount” from commercial partners and “looking to collaborate with our international partners,” Guetlein said. Next is positioning, navigation, and timing capabilities, which are mostly government-owned but the Space Force is “experimenting” with commercial capabilities here, he said.

The spectrum of space capabilities also includes surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking, and counter-space, that latter being all “DoD kit,” Guetlein said. If any of these capabilities exist in the commercial and international areas, then DoD would rather buy it than make it, and then “integrate it into the enterprise,” he said.

The legacy of the Space Force is one of providing services such as satellite communications, GPS, and launches, but as near-peer adversaries have narrowed the gap on the U.S. lead in space the service is pivoting toward “space superiority for the joint force,” Guetlein said. The nation’s adversaries have rejected the old international norms of behavior and are creating new ones that include the use of cyber-hacks, jamming, spoofing, and lasing, he said.

“What’s more concerning is the new kit that they’re bringing to the fight,” Guetlein said. “Nesting dolls in space capable of launching a missile to take out another satellite. Shadowing satellites. Multiple satellites up there today are shadowing our U.S. satellites in a cat and mouse game. We move, they move. We move, they move. We don’t know what their intent is.”

The U.S. is also seeing adversary spacecraft use grappling arms that can move or kidnap a satellite in space, he said, calling all this behavior “unsafe” and “unprofessional.

Dogfighting between satellites is another capability U.S. near-peer adversaries are assessing in space as they practice tactics, techniques, and procedures, he said. The Space Force, using commercial assets, has “observed five different objects in space maneuvering in and out and around each other in synchronicity and in control,” he said.

GAO Focuses on Mitigating NNSA Explosives Supply Chain Risk

The Government Accountability Office last week said the National Nuclear Security Administration could do more to develop a resiliency strategy to mitigate risks to its explosives supply chain, manufacturing and infrastructure.

According to a report published March 12, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found 66 total risks, identified by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), across the agency’s 11 explosives supply chains.

Potential risks include relying on a sole-supplier that provides a material that could become unavailable, relying on a foreign supplier during a potential geopolitical situation that affects international commerce, operational delays, legacy processes, testing requirements, and the age and safety of infrastructure.

While NNSA followed supply chain risk management practices, such as developing a strategy for mitigating supply chain risks like identifying new suppliers and developing new production processes, GAO said the agency needs a resilience strategy “to ensure the supply chain is flexible” to adapt to and mitigate “future adverse events.”

NNSA’s Acting Administrator Teresa Robbins agreed to all three of GAO’s recommendations. Robbins estimated NNSA would finalize a policy with a process to conduct supplier risk reviews by May 31, and assess the need for a required supply chain risk management training by the same date.

Robbins said by Dec. 31 NNSA is expected to complete a strategy for supply chain resiliency.

The GAO report accompanies the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a provision that GAO assess NNSA’s explosives supply chain, infrastructure and program management.