Page 64 – Defense Daily

Defense Watch: FPV Drones, Portugal Fighters, Reaper Pod, Office of Net Assessment Closes, McAleese Conference

First-Person View. Conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine should spur the Pentagon to put a higher priority on offensive first person view (FPV) drones, according to one lawmaker. “We think of offensive drones as Reapers and Predators dropping Hellfires, and then we’re defending against small drones, but we are not, as far as I can tell, adopting small UAS organic to our maneuver elements,” Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) says. “Just like every infantry squad has an automatic weapon, every infantry squad should have an organic sUAS offensive capability—a backpack full of FPVs that they can fly at and into the enemy maneuver units and disrupt them just like we’re seeing all over the world on battlefields from Iranian proxy groups to the Russia-Ukraine war. From my old buddies still in uniform, I do not hear that we have an organic, offensive small UAS capability within our maneuver units, and I think that’s gonna be a great disservice to our young men and women when the next conflict arises.”

…6,000 FPVs. The Latvia-based International Drone Coalition is funding a buy of 6,000 Archer FPVs by California-based Neros Technologies, the company said. The International Drone Coalition’s “down-select process started with 260 companies and included multiple rounds of rigorous testing, which ultimately led to the selection of Archer,” according to Nero Technologies. Archer became the first FPV to receive Pentagon “authority to operate” last month through the drone’s certification under the Defense Innovation Unit’s Blue UAS list, started in 2020 to accelerate the adoption of commercial UAS by DoD. The U.S. Army has an FPV-focused Personal Battlefield Awareness System (P-BAS) program–also called the Company Level sUAS–in the works.

Portugal Fighters. Portugal’s parliament ended Prime Minister Luis Montenegro’s center-right administration with a vote of no confidence on March 10, and new elections may come in May. Outgoing Portugal Defense Minister Nuno Melo told the Portuguese newspaper, Publico, on Thursday that the country is unlikely to buy the Lockheed Martin F-35 despite the Portuguese Air Force recommending the fighter as the prime candidate to replace the country’s F-16s. “We cannot ignore the geopolitical environment in our choices,” Melo said. “The recent position of the United States, in the context of NATO…must make us think about the best options, because the predictability of our allies is a greater asset to take into account.” Melo said that Portugal is concerned that the U.S. “could bring limitations to use, maintenance, components, and everything that has to do with ensuring that aircraft will be operational and used in all types of scenarios.” Instead of up to 28 F-35s, Portugal may now opt for the Rafale or Eurofighter.

Reaper Pod. The Navy MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle test squadron at Patuxent River, Md., received its first SkyTower II (STII) pod in February, ahead of initial operational capability set for later this year, the Navy said this month. Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 3 is currently flying MQ-9s in theater today and are set to be the first to deploy with this new system in 2026. A Navy official said they worked with GALT, a small business prime vendor, to quickly develop the capability via middle-tier acquisition. The STII is an airborne network extension pod to improve cross-domain communications, required to perform the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) concept of operations.

Oiler Engines. Fairbanks Morse Defense won another contract from General Dynamics NASSCO to build the main propulsion diesel engines for a Military Sealift Command John Lewis-class fleet replenishment oiler, the future USNS Dolores Huerta (T-AO 214), the company said March 11. T-AO 214 will be the 10th new oiler in the class and will be powered by two 12V 48/60 CR main propulsion engines and two 71 32/44 CR service diesel engines built at the company’s Beloit, Wis., facility. Fairbanks Morse already previously supplied the engines for T-AOs 205 to 2011 and is producing engines for T-AO 212 and 213.

Kratos. Kratos said it won a contract on March 11 worth up to $50 million as a partner to Corvid Technologies LLC for the Short/Medium Range Sub-Orbital Vehicle (SSOV) II contract. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme, White Sands Detachment awarded the contract to cover the design, manufacture, and delivery of short- and medium-range suborbital vehicles. This also includes the provision of ground test hardware, special test equipment, materials, engineering, and launch support services. Work for the subcontract will occur for both the U.S. and international customers, like AUKUS partners Australia and the U.K. in support of missile defense target missions and defense launch services. Kratos is set to provide its Oriole Rocket Motor, Thrust Vector Control and other hardware and systems to help perform complex mission trajectories. The subcontract component could exceed $50 million if all options are exercised. Senior Vice President at Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services Josh Peterson said the suborbital configurations under the contract “significantly enhance the nation’s ability to rapidly and affordably demonstrate emerging technologies.”

T-REX Assessments. The Department of Defense’s Research and Engineering Office this month is conducting its first Technology Readiness Experimentation (T-REX) event of the year at Camp Atterbury, Ind., with a focus on passive multi-spectral air surveillance kill chain sensor and fusion integration, and low-cost short range air defense counter-drone activities. Companies participating in the counter-unmanned aircraft system limited objective experimentation get to demonstrate their technologies in an operationally relevant environment. T-REX is running March 10 through 18. T-REX is part of R&E’s Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve to put promising prototypes into experimentation campaigns to provide lessons and observations that could help them become fielded quickly.

Sat-to-UAS Comms. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems last week said its Gray Eagle Extended Range unmanned aircraft system (UAS) in January began flight tests using a proliferated low Earth orbit satellite constellation for aircraft communications under an Army contract. The company said this is the first Army aircraft to be controlled over the satellite service. So far, two flight tests and a series of grounds tests have occurred, with more flights expected. The testing has focused on flight-critical operations, including core aircraft control function as well as sensor and communications systems, the company said.

Containerized Energetics. Maritime systems solutions provider Fairlead and Firehawk Aerospace, which is developing solid rocket motors and new manufacturing techniques for propellants, have formally teamed to adapt Fairlead’s containerized mission modules to house Firehawk’s energetics systems. The modules currently support command and control, power distribution, and electronic warfare applications. The companies last week said their partnership supports the Defense Department’s shift to distributed, forward deployed capabilities. “Combined, they will provide scalable options for shipboard, shore-based, and autonomous operations, supporting missions from force and power projection to long-range strike, deterrence, and expeditionary warfare across multiple domains, including contested environments,” they said of their combined solutions.

AI-Powered SDA. Voyager Technologies last week said it is enhancing its signal processing systems for artificial intelligence-powered space domain awareness (SDA) by leveraging Palantir Technologies’ software, marking an expanded partnership between the companies. “We’re developing an integrated solution, harnessing the power of AI with Palantir’s software stack and taking advantage of real-time radio frequency streams and imagery to perform space-based object detection, identification, classification and tracking,” Matt Magana, president of defense and national security at Voyager, said in a statement.

CISA Nominee. President Trump last week nominated Sean Plankey to be the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security. During the first Trump administration, Plankey spent a year on the National Security Council as director for cyber policy before moving to the Energy Department for a year as principal deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity, energy security, and emergency response. A former Coast Guard operations officer, Plankey also managed the service’s telecom and satellite communications, served in Afghanistan providing cyber support, was the weapons and tactics branch chief at U.S. Cyber Command, and has worked in industry. He is currently head of cybersecurity software at Indigo Vault.

More AMPVs. The Army on March 13 awarded BAE Systems a $356.7 million order for more Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles, covering the third phase of the current full-rate production contract. Work on the latest deal is expected to be completed by the end of May 2028. BAE Systems’ AMPV is the Army’s replacement for its legacy M113 armored personnel carriers, with the company receiving a full-rate production contract for the platform in September 2023 that could be worth up to $1.6 billion.

Australia FMS. The State Department on March 10 said it has approved a potential $91.2 million foreign military sale (FMS) with Australia for 54 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System-Alternate Warhead rounds. Along with the Lockheed Martin-produced munitions, the deal also includes engineering services, technical assistance and logistics and program support. “The proposed sale will enhance Australia’s capability to meet current and future threats by increasing its capability to deter adversaries. The proposed sale will support its goal of improving national and territorial defense, interoperability with U.S. forces, and working to uplift industry as a new source of supply,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement. Australia in October rolled out plans to spend up to $14 billion over the next decade to boost domestic production of munitions, which will include building a new facility by 2029 capable of producing thousands of Lockheed Martin’s GMLRS rockets annually.

Japan FMS. The State Department on March 10 also approved a potential $200 million FMS case with Japan for equipment and services to support its Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectiles program. Under the deal, the U.S. would provide capability to support testing and transportation efforts as well as coordination meetings in the U.S. and Japan. “The proposed sale will improve Japan’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing defense for remote islands,” the DSCA said in a statement.

ONA Closed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the closure of the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment, often referred to as DoD’s internal think tank. Hegseth has ordered the development of a plan to rebuild it “in alignment with the department’s strategic priorities,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. “This decision ensures that our resources are focused on the most pressing national security challenges while maintaining accountability and efficiency,” Parnell said. “The Department remains committed to conducting rigorous, forward-looking strategic assessments that directly inform defense planning and decision-making.” The office’s personnel will be reassigned to new roles, according to the announcement.

GDIT/AWS. General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) announced on March 14 it’s expanding its technology partnership with Amazon Web Services through a new strategic collaborative agreement to develop “cutting-edge cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, cloud migration and modernization solutions to accelerate digital transformation” for defense, intelligence and civilian agencies. “Government agencies will benefit from AWS’s cloud computing environment, widely considered to be one of the most secure available today, to support their unique missions. GDIT will leverage its research and development labs to collaborate with AWS on emerging technologies such as quantum, edge computing and high-performance computing,” GDIT said in a statement. GDIT and AWS said they will work with customers to identify “new use cases and rapidly develop proofs of concept and solutions for a wide variety of missions,” including improving cyber security, intelligence and healthcare outcomes, reducing fraud, waste and abuse and advancing high-performance computing research.

Feinberg Confirmed. The Senate on March 14 voted 59-40 to confirm Stephen Feinberg as the new deputy secretary of defense. Feinberg is the co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management, which has invested in a portfolio of defense contractors. He also served as chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and Intelligence Oversight Board during Trump’s first term. During his confirmation hearing, Feinberg said DoD should consider simplifying program requirements to spur more companies to work with the department, including large, non-defense U.S. manufacturers. Feinberg received the support of all Senate Republicans and six Democrats, to include Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Senate Armed Services Committee members Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.).

McAleese Conference. The 16th annual McAleese defense programs conference kicks off tomorrow in Arlington, Va. Speakers include Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David Allvin, Strategic Command’s Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton, Missile Defense Agency Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), and other top military leaders. This year’s event includes a “defense disruptors” panel with leading CEOs.

U.S. Air Force Surveying Industry on Mature Counter UAS

The U.S. Air Force wants to hear from companies able to demonstrate mature, Technology Readiness Level 6 ground-to-air and air-to-air counter drone systems by June 30 and to increase production by 2,000 systems annually.

The request for systems able to counter drones in the Group 2 and Group 3 categories–from 21 pounds to 1,320 pounds–comes in request to a Joint Urgent Operational Need, according to a request for information by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s attack division (AFLCMC EBD) at Eglin AFB, Fla.

“This capability may be autonomous or pseudo-autonomous,” AFLCMC said. “EBD requires an effective and cost efficient air-to-air weapon system.”

Among the questions AFLCMC EBD poses to industry is a company’s “manufacturing maturity” for counter drone systems.

“Do you have the capability to manufacture this product?” the business notice asks. “At what Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) has this been demonstrated? Would it be manufactured in the U.S.? What is the current maximum production capacity per month? Describe ability to increase capacity, if any, along with tooling and ROM [rough order of magnitude] to achieve increases up to 2,000 units/year. Address willingness to provide unlimited/government purpose rights on the design for the government to pursue other/additional manufacturing sources.”

Last month, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s aviation panel heard testimony that the drone threat to military bases in Alaska points to the need for improved technology and testing (Defense Daily, Feb. 6).

DIU Selects Companies To Rapidly Prototype Long-Range Loitering Munitions For Contested Environments

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) last Friday said it has awarded contracts to AeroVironment [AVAV], Auterion, Dragoon Technology, and Swan to rapidly prototype and demonstrate long-range loitering munitions that can operate in disconnected, GPS and electronic warfare denied environments against near-peer adversaries.

Neither the values of the individual awards nor the companies’ respective solutions were disclosed. A DIU spokesperson told Defense Daily the overall value of the contracts is $16.5 million.

Swan and Auterion, both U.S. software companies, are partnered with undisclosed Ukrainian unmanned aerial systems (UAS) companies, DIU said.

The Artemis program plans to have “demonstrated success” by the end of May through an aggressive testing and integration effort. The end goal is to have “an option for services and combatant commands to choose from, delivered years in advance of current program of record timeframes.” The spokesperson said DIU is “actively pursuing a transition partner” with the services and commands to give them options for solutions.

The ground-launched UAS will have ranges between 50 and at least 300 kilometers, the ability for rapid launch, navigate at low altitudes, carry various payloads, and quickly be updated and upgraded. The problem statement included in the commercial solutions opening last year called for UAS that can carry at least a 10 kilogram payload and ideally more than 25 kilograms.

Artemis, went from problem statement, proposal evaluation—165 proposals were evaluated—and flight demonstrations of selected companies to verify their capabilities, in four months. The program is managed by DIU and the office of the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment.

“We are excited about the non-traditional companies who are providing low-cost, affordable, long-range, UAS platforms with the potential to maximize operational flexibility for the joint force,” Trent Emeneker, DIU’s program manager for Artemis, said in a statement. “This was the intent of Congress’ direction to rethink how to get capabilities to the warfighter at speed and scale that can deliver much faster than traditional programs of record.”

Congress in the fiscal year 2024 budget directed the acquisition and sustainment office to operationally test loitering munitions in EW and global navigation satellite system denied environments with the aim being to provide these capabilities affordable to enable “mass deployment,” DIU said.

Dragoon, which is based in Tucson, Ariz., has developed and flight-tested for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coriolis, a long-endurance, low-cost, small UAS that it says is cheap enough for a one-way flight.

Auterion, based in Arlington, Va., provides software and computing systems for autonomous vehicles, including aircraft and ground vehicles.

The inclusion of drones built by companies in Ukraine is interesting given that the country’s forces appear to be relying heavily on domestically-built UAS rather than unmanned aircraft provided by western companies, including the U.S.

AV late last Friday afternoon said its one-way attack UAS is “fully autonomous,” provides precision strike, and operates in GPS-denied, disrupted, disconnected, and low-bandwidth environments, and is based on a software-defined architecture. The company also said its system, which it did not identify, is engineered for mass production.

USAF Awards Lockheed Martin More Than $1.9 Billion for JASSM and LRASM

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] a more than $1.9 billion contract for the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), DoD said on Thursday.

The contract covers JASSM production Lot 23 and LRASM production Lot 9 “as well as economic order quantity for JASSM Lot 24 and LRASM Lot 10,” according to the Pentagon contracts announcement. “Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by July 31, 2029.”

Lockheed Martin said this month that it is developing the Common Multi-Mission Truck System (CMMT–“comet”)–what could serve as a drone, sensor, or a high-subsonic cruise missile that is to cost $150,000 per unit or less and to be a modular weapon that military forces can alter on the go for different missions from cargo planes, fighters, and bombers at ranges up to 1,000 miles (Defense Daily, March 3).

In addition, a smaller CMMT version could serve as a “long-range launched effect” from helicopters, Lockheed Martin said.

Long-range cruise missiles, such as JASSM and LRASM, can cost $1.5 million per copy.

While the Trump administration may alter Air Force plans, the service said last year that its inventory of high-end munitions is sufficient and that the service was moving to field lower-cost, $100,000 models in the coming years to bolster capacity to deter China and Russia.

Such munitions may include the “Franklin” low-cost cruise missile–so named as a nod to soul legend Aretha Franklin and her hit song Respect. The homage is also meant to connote “respect” for the low-cost, high-punch missile under development, though the “Franklin” name may change, Air Combat Command has said.

Boeing Tapped To Advance In Army’s IFPC Inc. 2 Second Interceptor Effort

Boeing [BA] has been selected to advance to the next phase of the Army’s effort to develop a second interceptor for its new Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) Inc. 2 defeat system, the company said.

The update on Boeing’s participation arrives as the Army plans to finalize awards later this fiscal year for vendors to move into the prototype development phase in 2026, with an interest in IFPC Inc. 2 interceptors capable of taking out supersonic cruise missiles and larger caliber rockets.

Artist’s rendering of Dynetics’ Enduring Shield. Photo: Dynetics.

“We understand warfighter needs and the dynamic environments soldiers operate in, and our goal is to keep them safe with an innovative, affordable offering that leverages our industry-leading missile expertise,” Jim Leary, Boeing’s executive director of business development for precision engagement systems, said in a statement. “Our design offers increased magazine depth with a missile that provides enhanced speed to target, greater range and maneuverability for sustained engagement against an evolving threat.”

While a Boeing spokesperson declined to offer specific details on the offering citing the “sensitive” nature of the competition, the company in a statement said its interceptor “will help the Army fill a capability gap between short- and long-range air defenses against rapidly proliferating low-flying, mid-range threats like cruise missiles and militarized drones.”

“The goal is to develop a new medium-range interceptor to better protect fixed and forward operating bases against emergent aerial threats,” Boeing added.

Boeing, as of right now, has not teamed with any additional vendors for the interceptor solution it’s offering, a company spokesperson confirmed to Defense Daily.

Dynetics’ [LDOS] Enduring Shield capability won the IFPC Inc. 2 competition in September 2021, with the Army having said the system is intended to “defeat subsonic cruise missiles, Group 2 and 3 unmanned aircraft systems, rockets, artillery, mortars and other aerial threats,” while utilizing the Sentinel radar as its sensor, with the new Northrop Grumman [NOC]-developed Integrated Battle Command System serving as the fire control component (Defense Daily, Sept. 24 2021).

In late November, the Army awarded Dynetics a potential $4.1 billion production contract for IFPC Inc. 2 which could cover procurement of up to 317 new launchers (Defense Daily, Dec. 11 2024).

The current interceptor that is part of Dynetics’ Enduring Shield solution for IFPC Inc. 2 is RTX’s [RTX] AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, while the Army has previously expressed interest in pursuing a second interceptor option to defeat supersonic cruise missiles and larger caliber rockets.

Brig. Gen. Frank Lozano, the Army’s program executive officer for missiles and space, said last summer that for a second interceptor “what [he’s] been communicating is an AIM 120D-like capability in an AIM-9X package, because the key is magazine depth” (Defense Daily, July 31 2024).

Boeing said its interceptor offering “leverages a Modular Open Systems Approach design to enable rapid updates as threats evolve.”

BlueHalo Details Successful Live Fire Of Offering For Army’s Next-Gen C-UAS Missile

BlueHalo has completed a live fire demonstration of its offering for the Army’s Next-Generation Counter-Uncrewed Aerial System (C-UAS) Missile (NGCM), conducting three successful missile test flights in January.

Jonathan Moneymaker, CEO of BlueHalo, said the test launch of its Freedom Eagle-1 (FE-1) solution for NGCM was a result of increasing internal investments aimed at expediting development of the capability, with the company working toward a planned demo for the Army in the third quarter of this fiscal year.

BlueHalo conducts a test launch of its FE-1 offering for the Army’s Next Gen C-UAS Missile at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Photo: BlueHalo.

“In light of recent global events, including activities in Europe, the Red Sea and Taiwan, we’re taking a proactive stance–increasing internal investments to advance our FE-1 system and leaning in to meet the demand signal on an expedited timeline,” Moneymaker said in a statement. “Our investments and development progress, including this successful [Controlled Test Vehicle] test launch, underscore BlueHalo’s dedication to addressing evolving threats and ensuring that warfighters have access to critical capabilities sooner rather than later.”

The Army last July selected BlueHalo and RTX’s [RTX] Raytheon for the NGCM program, which aims to rapidly develop and field a $200,000 or less unit cost C-UAS missile that is capable of defeating Group 3 drones as well as larger Group 4 and Group 5 UAS (Defense Daily, July 15 2024).

BlueHalo has described its FE-1 offering as “a low-cost effector with superior maneuverability to defeat an array of short-range air defense threats,” noting this past August it had completed successful firing of its dual-thrust, solid rocket motor (Defense Daily, Aug. 2 2024).

Raytheon in October detailed its approach to the NGCM program and an executive said the company will “pull together a solution” for its NGCM offering based on the Army’s requirements, when asked if it was specifically offering its current Coyote interceptor (Defense Daily, Oct. 9 2024).

“Raytheon is absolutely committed to providing a solution based on the Army’s requirements. We are working closely with the Army to develop the requirements to understand what it is they are trying to achieve and we will use our technologies to create the appropriate next-generation counter-UAS missile based on the Army’s requirements for that second effector,” Joe DeAntona, Raytheon’s vice president of requirements and capabilities for land and air defense systems, told reporters.

At the live fire demo in January at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, BlueHalo said the FE-1 “successfully and performed its flight as planned” and that data collected was used to evaluate “the missile’s guidance, navigation and control systems and analyze aerodynamic models to drive down significant technical risk associated with the program.”

“Going three for three on the first ever launch during the development of a new kinetic missile program is an astounding engineering feat and a testament to our team’s incredible dedication and expertise,” James Batt, BlueHalo’s chief growth officer, said in a statement.

“While competitors in the NGCM program remain focused on conceptual presentations, BlueHalo is actively building and testing flight hardware,” Batt added. “Team BlueHalo went from paper design to first flight in 107 days, demonstrating incredible innovation and a commitment to the NGCM program. This success not only indicates our readiness but also significantly reduces the technical and schedule risks associated with the NGCM program.”

Firestorm Labs Selected For STRATFI Funding To Scale IT Modular UAS, 3D Printing Cell

Startup Firestorm Labs has been selected for an Air Force venture funding award to help the company scale its Tempest unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and its additive manufacturing cell that can 3D print and assemble Tempest, and third party UAS and spare parts, the company said this week.

The company is negotiating its Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) potentially worth $45 million, $15 million of government funds and $30 million of Firestorm’s, Chad McCoy, a co-founder and chief strategy officer, told Defense Daily on Thursday.

The STRATFI contract is still to be negotiated but McCoy said the Air Force had said it wants 140 of the company’s modular Tempest systems, including 100 of Group 2 aircraft in a standard configuration, 20 equipped with pusher propellers, and 20 in a vertical take-off and landing variant.

The government will also be acquiring 10 long-range ground control stations, and several xCell expeditionary manufacturing cells that enable distributed additive manufacturing and assembly of the company’s UAS, other UAS, and spare parts. xCell comes in two 20-foot standard steel shipping containers that are climate controlled and can run on generator or base power.

Firestorm’s manufacturing platform can work in the Indo-Pacific Command area of operations or the Arctic region, McCoy said. With seven xCells, a user could produce 1,000 Tempest UAS in six months, he said.

The STRATFI award is through the Air Force’s AFWERX innovation arm. The company also recently won a $100 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity with AFWERX that will transition to the Air Force Program Executive Officer for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, and Special Operations Forces Directorate.

The earlier AFWERX contract is to further build out the Tempest UAS, containerized launch tube systems, and xCell.

Firestorm’s xCell supports the Air Force’s Agile Combat Employment concept for operating from dispersed forward bases, McCoy said. The company’s manufacturing cell supports more than small drones, including larger MQ-9 UAS, the CV-22 manned tiltrotor, and ground vehicles with spare parts production, he said.

“We’re building up this library of systems that we can print very quickly,” he said.

Firestorm recently used xCell to build multiple quadcopters for a company and is building partnerships with OEMs to be able to do contract manufacturing for them, McCoy said. He also said that Tempest can be built by the company’s network of contract manufacturers.

McCoy said that compared to traditional 3D printing systems, xCell enables faster production giving the Defense Department the ability to scale.

Firestorm currently has an xCell system at the Army’s Project Convergence Capstone 5 event at Fort Irwin, Calif., to print Tempest UAS. The system is “printing aircraft non-stop out there,” McCoy said.

Based in San Diego, Firestorm has 58 employees. In another year, the company hopes to have about 100 employees, he said.

Saildrone Becomes Third Defense Startup To Partner With Palantir

Saildrone on Thursday announced a new strategic partnership with Palantir Technologies [PLTR] the third agreement with a defense startup and fourth overall in recent months.

Saildrone said this cooperation will help them rapidly scale autonomous systems for maritime artificial intelligence (AI) solutions by applying Palantir’s tools across both internal operations and to improve the AI power in the USVs themselves.

Commercial operators deploy Saildrone Voyager Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) out to sea in the initial steps of U.S. 4th Fleet’s Operation Windward Stack during a launch from Naval Air Station Key West’s Mole Pier and Truman Harbor on Sept. 13, 2023. (Photo: U.S. Navy by Danette Baso Silvers/Released)

Saildrone has grown increasingly popular to provide maritime domain awareness because it can produce vehicles at a faster rate than regular naval vessels while classified information is not stored on the vessels.

The company specifically said it will integrate Palantir’s AI cloud infrastructure “to enable rapid scaling across its entire operational spectrum—from transforming its manufacturing, supply chain, and fleet operations with Warp Speed to enabling AI-powered tasking of autonomous assets in the field.”

This makes Saildrone the third defense startup to find a utility for Palantir’s software systems after Anduril Industries and Shield AI announced their own partnerships last year.

In December, Palantir confirmed its first cohort of companies working with its Warp Speed OS to improve manufacturing speed, flexibility and security including Anduril, Shield AI, L3Harris [LHX] and Panasonic Energy of North America.

In October, L3Harris first announced its strategic partnership with Palantir while Shield AI confirmed its own partnership (Defense Daily, Oct. 18, 2024).

In December, Shield AI also announced an expansion of its work with Palantir. At the time, the company said it intended to combine Palantir’s expertise in software with Shield AI’s autonomy knowledge. At the time Palantir also noted Anduril was the first to use the Warp Speed system in production as part of the Arsenal OS suite of tools to power “workflows in support of manufacturing at scale.”

Saildrone specializes in operationally deploying autonomous surface vessels (ASV) to provide maritime domain awareness to the U.S. Navy, Department of Homeland Security and American allies. It noted its vehicles use “sophisticated and proprietary edge-computing AI/ML algorithms to monitor activities both above and below the sea surface.”

“Leveraging Palantir’s sophisticated manufacturing and AI tools will allow us to streamline manufacturing and radically enhance fleet capabilities,” Richard Jenkins, Saildrone founder and CEO, said in a statement.

Palantir and Saildrone officials confirmed this partnership will include Saildrone utilizing the company’s Warp Speed manufacturing operating system.

During a presentation at Palantir’s AIPCon event on Thursday, Jenkins added they need to work with Palantir because while his company has amassed “the world’s largest data collections of service-based maritime intelligence data,” which is then used to train their machine learning models, Saildrone had reached a scaling bottleneck.

“We need systems that can scale as we grow. Firstly, we’re deploying Warp Speed to our supply chain manufacturing. As we transition from making hundreds to making thousands, old manual processes break. We need sophisticated systems that can correctly order, store and assemble the hundreds of thousands of items that go through our facility on a regular basis. Secondly, we will apply AI to our enormous data set,” Jenkins said.

“Even with our sophisticated onboard machinery models that only send back what is absolutely required and important, we still deliver a huge amount of information back to shore, far too much for the human eye to monitor and digest. Using Palantir’s AI solutions to monitor real-time data feeds from the fleet will transform our intelligence products,” he added.

Transfer of Four KC-135s to Eielson in the Works, USAF Says

U.S. Air Force plans have called for moving four more KC-135 tankers by the end of September to Eielson AFB, Alaska under the 168th Wing, and a service official said on Wednesday that such plans are in the works.

Regarding “contested logistics” in a possible confrontation with China or Russia, Sen. Daniel Sullivan (R-Alaska) said that “the Air Force with its tanker fleet is particularly challenged.”

“I think that one [of the four KC-135s] has already been moved to Eielson, but we need three more with over 150 5th gen fighters in Alaska,” he told Air Force Lt. Gen. Adrian Spain, the service’s deputy chief of staff for operations, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s (SASC) readiness and management support panel, which Sullivan chairs.

Such U.S. 5th generation fighters are the Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II.

Such fighters “very regularly” intercept overflights by Russian Bear bombers, Sullivan said.

Boeing [BA] KC-46 Pegasus tankers are supplementing the service’s Boeing KC-135, which entered service in 1957, as the Air Force looks to the future Next Generation Air Refueling System (NGAS).

As the Air Force finishes an Analysis of Alternatives for NGAS–a possibly stealthy tanker–the service is considering runway size, fuel carriage for long-range missions, and the need for tanker stealth (Defense Daily, March 6).

“We’re committed to the KC-46 program–89 aircraft on the ramp today,” Spain told the SASC readiness and management support panel on Wednesday. “For the KC-135, we did some re-engining and service life extension in the 1980s and 90s that will keep the platform flying for decades to come, but we are also fully committed to tanker recapitalization post the KC-46 program. Right now, we’re on track to continue to procure 15 KC-46s a year, and we’re continuing to move the tanker recapitalization acquisition strategy forward.”

Responding to Sullivan, Spain said that the Air Force is “continuing to move down the path to bringing the remaining three KC-135s to Eielson.”

“We have some work to do with the department on some notifications, but beyond that, we’ll be able to move relatively quickly,” Spain said.

DIU Selects Slew Of Awardees For Quantum Sensing To Address PNT

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) on Wednesday awarded prototype contracts to a number of startups, traditional, and non-traditional defense companies to demonstrate quantum sensing technology for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), and anomaly detection for military needs.

The awardees and their subcontractors include mainstay contractors such as Honeywell [HON], Leidos [LDOS], Lockheed Martin [LMT], and Northrop Grumman [NOC], and startups and others that include Alare Technologies, Anduril Industries, AOSense, Beacon Photonics, Freedom Photonics, Frequency Electronics, Inc., Nexus Photonics, Princeton Innotech, Q-CTRL, QuSpin, SubUAS, Twinleaf LLC, Vector Atomic, and White River Technologies.

In the first phase of the Transition of Quantum Sensing (TQS) program, there will be 10 field tests of the companies’ different applications over the next year in ground, air, and maritime domains. The solutions are in the areas of quantum inertial sensors, quantum gravimeters, quantum magnetic sensing for navigation and anomaly detection, and components that make up the quantum sensing supply chain.

The TQS program launched in the summer of 2024.

For the quantum inertial sensors effort, which is focused on technology that allows a platform to help maintain its orientation, position, and location with and without GPS, two use cases are being pursued. One is for dynamic airborne platforms for the Air Force and Space Force, and the other is maritime platforms for the Navy. Air Force Global Strike Command and several combatant commands are also advocating for this type of future PNT capability, DIU said.

The Navy is interested in quantum gravimeters, which are useful for land surveying and navigation based on gravity anomalies.

“In collaboration with DIU under the TQS effort we are maturing an atomic accelerometer for naval navigation applications,” Tommy Willis, program manager at the Office of Naval Research, said in a statement. “The stability provided by the atomic systems is unique and opens up new operational spaces in the maritime domain.”

Lockheed Martin, partnered with AOSense and Q-CTRL, Northrop Grumman, and Vector Atomic received Other Transaction Agreements as primes for the inertial sensing effort.

Quantum magnetic sensors that work in ambient temperatures are being sought for use to navigate in GPS-denied environments, and to detect adversarial objects. The sensors measure small variations in the magnetic field.

“We want to provide warfighters with options for reliable navigation, regardless of terrain or time of day, using the compact and cost-effective quantum sensors in development with the TQS effort and we believe magnetic anomaly navigation has the potential to become a cornerstone for affordable and robust navigation within the DoD,” Kevin Brink, section chief for navigation at the Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate, said in a statement.

Anduril, Honeywell, and Leidos received OTA prime awards for magnetic sensing for navigation. Alare and White River received OTA prime awards for magnetic anomaly detection.

DoD is funding various components such as advanced materials and microelectronics to bolster the supply of enabling technologies for quantum sensors. The goal is to help foster a “sustainable quantum technology ecosystem ready to integrate into the many DoD systems and platforms where it could give us a competitive edge,” John Burke, principal director of quantum science at the office of the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said in a statement.