Benchmark Electronics [BHE] is upgrading its Mobile Video Surveillance Systems [MVSS] with a radar provided by SRC to increase range and add autonomy for border security operations.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is funding the upgrades of the currently deployed MVSS under its Surveillance Systems program for use in high-risk border regions.
SRC on Tuesday said its SR Hawk ground surveillance radar is already being integrated into the MVSS, extending surveillance to nearly eight miles for persistent, real-time, 360-degree wide area coverage. Once a potential threat is detected, data is automatically sent to a command station for review.
CBP in 2015 awarded Tactical Micro, now part of Benchmark Electronics, the contract for the MVSS, which include an integrated suite of sensor equipment mounted on a mast in the bed of a light duty pickup truck. The addition of the radar to the MVSS-R, enables automatic detection and tracking of moving ground vehicles, individuals, and maritime vessels in the littorals, SRC said.
Initially, Benchmark is upgrading 30 of its systems to the MVSS-R configuration to achieve full operational capability by August 2025. There are 167 MVSS fielded.
The first production unit of the B61-13 gravity bomb is complete, nearly a year ahead of schedule, Pantex Plant prime PanTeXas Deterrence said Monday.
The first production unit was completed four months after the announcement of the last production unit for the B61-12. Pantex Program Manager Taylor Massey said in a press release Monday that the team leveraged attributes of the B61-12 to accelerate B61-13 design, authorization and testing within a year.
In April, a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) spokesperson made similar comments, and in a recent hearing Acting NNSA Administrator Teresa Robbins attributed the accelerated delivery to an “existing production line.”
“The remarkable speed of the B61-13’s production is a testament to the ingenuity of our scientists and engineers and the urgency we face to fortify deterrence in a volatile new age,” Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in remarks Monday at the Pantex Plant. “It was my honor today to stamp the first completed unit at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, where all the efforts of NNSA’s labs, plants, and sites culminated in this amazing milestone.”
According to the 2025 Stockpile Stewardship Management Plan (SSMP), which NNSA released in October, the B61-13’s first production unit was originally planned for fiscal 2026. The SSMP also projected the B61-13 will finish production in fiscal year 2028, but the Pantex press release said completion is now expected by fiscal 2027.
The B61 family of bombs is currently deployed from the U.S. Air Force and NATO bases, NNSA said. The gravity bomb itself is the oldest in the U.S. arsenal, with over 50 years of service, and the B61-13 is one of seven warhead modernization programs executed by NNSA.
Adm. James Kilby, acting Chief of Naval Operations, said last week that he was in talks with the director of Strategic Systems Programs on nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) alternatives.
“I’ve had a couple of sessions with Vice Adm. Johnny Wolf, who is the strategic programs office lead, who will produce this,” Kilby said in a May 15 oversight hearing on the Marine Corps and Navy with the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. “He’s on target for a new production by 2035 but to your point, he’s looked at some alternatives, and we haven’t totally briefed the Secretary on those yet, but he’s looking at speed and an urgency to get something out sooner.”
Kilby responded to a question by Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), a member of the subcommittee whose district abuts the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Y-12 National Security Complex. He asked how the Navy is ensuring the SLCM-N program does not “stall in development purgatory for years when we need a capability as soon as possible.”
“I’m a strong proponent of the nuclear sea-launched cruise missile program,” Fleischmann said. “Recognizing, Sir, that we are limited on our launch tubes afloat, it is only necessary to have a small number of tactical nuclear weapons to significantly complicate our adversary’s decision calculus. I think given this dangerous capability gap, the emphasis should be on speed.”
“We do not need to reinvent the wheel when we’re talking about a capability we recently had in service only 15 years ago,” Fleischmann added,
The fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Navy and the NNSA to 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 sister publication TheExchange 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.
SRC Inc. on Tuesday detailed the expansion of its Gryphon family of multi-mission radars with the new R1430/R1440 and R1540 systems, noting the latter has been “extensively deployed with the U.S. military.”
An SRC spokesperson told Defense Daily
its assessing “numerous opportunities” for the upgraded three-panel R1430 and four-panel R1440 lightweight radars and already has “numerous customers” for the extended range R1540 system which has been “deployed internationally.”
Gryphon R1540 multi-mission radar. Photo: SRC
“Building on the success of the field-proven R1410 radar, these new radar systems deliver powerful, mobile, and precise capabilities to meet the growing threat of unmanned aircraft systems across complex operational environments,” SRC said in a statement.
SRC describes its Gryphon family of radars as “lightweight, low-cost, air-cooled 3-D active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars capable of detecting hundreds of moving targets at any moment across heavily congested long distances.”
“These systems provide counter-UAS and fire control capabilities to accurately defend against modern threats,” SRC said.
The upgraded R1430 and R1440 offer “persistent 360-degree coverage” and “faster update rates and enhanced target tracking in a compact configuration designed for on-the-move or fixed-site deployment,” according to SRC.
The extended range R1540 offers “higher accuracy and precision fire control in a smaller solution than typical radars in its class,” according to SRC.
“While counter-UAS is a primary application, these new radars also provide precision tracking of various aircraft, vehicles, personnel, and rocket, artillery and mortar threats,” SRC said. “They are multi-mission capable, supporting SHORAD, base defense, force protection, and coastal and border security, while operating seamlessly on-the-move or at fixed locations.”
Development of the R1540 radar began in 2020 and has been in full-rate production since last year, according to the SRC spokesperson, while noting the company is unable to name specific customers at this time.
“We are pursuing multiple opportunities for these radars, but we are unable to name them at this time,” the spokesperson told Defense Daily.
The Marine Corps has awarded Mack Defense a deal to build two prototypes for its Medium Tactical Truck (MTT) program, which will inform a potential replacement for its Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) fleet.
The new award continues Mack Defense’s work on the MTT program along with ND Defense, which received its deal to build two prototypes in January.
Mack Defense Awarded Contract by U.S. Marine Corps to Develop Medium Tactical Truck (MTT). Photo: Mack Defense.
“These prototypes represent the next generation of purpose-built, specialty vehicles for the Marine Corps,” David Hartzell, president of Mack Defense, said in a statement on Monday. “By leveraging our commercial vehicle technology expertise and adapting it for military applications, we’re delivering a highly capable platform that can perform in the most challenging terrains, while incorporating advanced safety features and hybrid propulsion systems that meet the Marine Corps’ rigorous mission requirements.”
Mack Defense’s delivery of its two prototypes, which include a a 4×4 configuration with a 10-foot cargo bed and a 6×6 configuration with a 20-foot cargo bed, is expected around fall 2026, a company spokesperson confirmed to Defense Daily.
The Marine Corps in February 2024 announced it had selected Mack Defense and ND Defense for the MTT effort, with Phase 1 of the prototype program focused on design and development work (Defense Daily, Feb. 2 2024).
MTT is intended to inform a potential replacement for the Marine Corp’s MTVR fleet, built by Oshkosh Defense [OSK], to include the cargo, dump, wrecker, tractor and resupply variants.
The new $10.8 million contract modification to Mack Defense for Phase 2 of MTT was officially awarded on May 8, and brings the total value of the company’s Other Transaction Agreement for the program to $16 million.
ND Defense received its $17.2 million contract modification for Phase 2 on Jan. 17, which brought the total value of its work on MTT to $24.1 million.
Mack Defense said construction of its two prototypes is expected to be completed by early fall and it will then conduct its own testing on the vehicles at the Nevada Automotive Test Center (NATC) in the first half of 2026 before delivering them to the Marine Corps.
“The MTT prototypes incorporate significant technological advancements in driver safety and operational capability. These include advanced driver assistance features such as collision avoidance, blind-spot detection and vehicle dynamic control systems incorporating enhanced traction control and anti-lock brakes,” Mack Defense said in a statement.
Mack Defense noted the vehicles are integrated with hybrid-electric technology “delivering improved fuel efficiency while enabling critical tactical advantages such as silent watch capabilities using extensive onboard power storage and generation and exportable power for other military systems.”
Hartzell told Defense Daily in a February interview that NATC is also building a tech demonstrator to inform the Marine Corps’ plan for a potential MTVR replacement.
The Marine Corps has said that key requirements for MTT include integration of hybrid-electric technologies, on-board power generation, mobility capability for a 70 percent off-road and 30 percent on-road mission profile and a modular and scalable armor system.
Bell [TXT] is “confident” it can meet the Army’s plan for a multi-year acceleration of the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program, a lead company official told Defense Daily, as it works toward delivering the first prototype in 2027.
“The intent on our side, and I think on the Army side as well, is to get the capability out to the warfighter as soon as possible,” Ryan Ehinger, Bell’s FLRAA program director, said in an interview last week. “We’re highly supportive and believe it is an executable plan.”
The V-280 Valor. Bell photo.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Gen. Randy George, the service’s chief of staff, told lawmakers recently the Army wants to accelerate the FLRAA program and speed up the timeline for fielding the aircraft, which had been planned for 2030 (Defense Daily, May 7).
Gen. James Mingus, the Army vice chief of staff, announced last week at the Army Aviation Association of America’s annual conference in Nashville that the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell in Kentucky will be the first division to receive the new aircraft, and Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, the Army aviation branch chief, then confirmed the Army aims to begin that fielding by late 2028 or early 2029 (Defense Daily, May 14).
Ehinger told Defense Daily discussions have been “ongoing” with the Army on the acceleration efforts for FLRAA, which has been officially designated as the MV-75, adding the timeline Bell is working toward would align with officials’ comments about moving the fielding plan to the left.
“I think this is more an acceleration of the production aspects of the [program]. Our priority will remain on getting the prototype aircraft out there and into test and executing a safe test program, in parallel though having the confidence to start working those production aircraft,” Ehinger said in an interview at the conference.
Gill, in a briefing last week, reiterated the Army is “100 percent committed to FLRAA” and accelerating the program, noting service officials met recently with Bell to discuss “shared risk” on speeding up the timeline.
“Our leadership has gone to Congress and said that’s what we want to do. They’re going to go find additional money to figure out how to accelerate that program,” Gill told reporters. “Like all things, we don’t want to own all of [the risk] nor do we expect them to own all of it. So we’ll come to some agreements through these negotiations on the appropriate shared risk for the development program.”
Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft was named the winner of the FLRAA competition in December 2022, beating out a Sikorsky [LMT] and Boeing [BA] team’s Defiant X coaxial rigid rotor helicopter offering for the program to find a platform that will eventually replace a sizeable portion of the Black Hawk fleet (Defense Daily, Dec. 5, 2022).
The Army’s initial FLRAA deal to Bell is worth up to $1.3 billion but could total $7 billion if all options are picked up.
Last August, the Army approved the Milestone B decision to move FLRAA into the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase, to include picking up the next contract option that will cover the build of six prototype aircraft (Defense Daily, Aug. 2 2024).
Ehinger noted Bell’s next major milestone for FLRAA is completing the Critical Design Review by late this year or nearly next year.
“Our focus right now is really on…that completion of the Critical Design Review, getting through all of that technical maturity, moving toward that initial prototype aircraft and getting into that flight test program,” Ehinger said. “The focus right now is making sure we’ve got the design right. [That provides] a level of confidence that when we do deliver that first prototype aircraft, it is going to do well in test and we won’t get the significant discoveries that you might see in flight testing programs of the past because we’ve got validated analytical models, because [both Bell and the Army] are both working in the design space and looking over things as we go, because everything’s 3D modeled and we’re doing maintenance and sustainment run throughs with augmented reality and other things to get ahead of those hardware discoveries.”
Delivery of the first prototype is planned for 2027, according to Ehinger, while he declined to offer a specific date for when an initial flight could occur.
Bell has begun manufacturing components for the prototypes, with Ehinger citing the company’s use of automated fiber placement and “higher tech” processes that “improve repeatability and quality” in the process as helping to enable some of the production acceleration.
“We started manufacturing a while ago. We’re starting to see some really strong proof points right now that some of the simplification that we’ve done in our manufacturing processes and some of the different ways that we’re designing for manufacturing is yielding very positively,” Ehinger said. “We pride ourselves on being very vertically integrated in a lot of the traditionally more complex, dynamic components. And so, Bell is doing not just final assembly [of the aircraft] but we’re doing the gearboxes, we’re doing the rotor blade systems, we’re doing the wing structure and the fuselage as well. A lot of that is in work now to support those early prototypes.
Ehinger also pointed to Bell’s model-based systems engineering work and prior risk reduction efforts with the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator program as having set “a strong foundation technically” to support acceleration efforts.
“The real-time collaboration in the same digital environment with the customer, I think [that] provides a high level of confidence to be able to move forward into some of these things in production,” Ehinger said.
The U.S. Air Force B-52 Radar Modernization Program (RMP) has exceeded the 15 percent significant unit cost increase threshold “due to design, production, and installation cost increases,” the Air Force said on Monday.
The Air Force program executive office for bombers at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio submitted a program deviation report on B-52 RMP to the service’s acquisition executive office on Apr. 11 (Defense Daily, May 8).
The Air Force has said it has reduced requirements to focus on an initial “minimum viable product” to meet Air Force Global Strike Command needs.
“The Air Force is reducing B-52 RMP costs by pursuing production contract and modification efficiencies,” the Air Force said on Monday.
Last July, Air Force officials said that RMP was abutting a significant cost breach and that the program executive office for bombers was re-examining requirements that may be operationally irrelevant or too restrictive–requirements like the level of fidelity for the new radome and the number of hours required for B-52 “cold starts” (Defense Daily, July 31, 2024).
The Air Force has said that RMP for the 76 B-52Hs is to include a new, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar based on RTX‘s [RTX] APG-79; a new, wide-band radome by L3Harris Technologies [LHX] on the aircraft’s nose; two L3Harris 8 x 20 inch high definition displays for the radar navigator and the navigator; two new, hand controllers by California-based Mason Controls; and new display sensor system processors by L3Harris to interface between the radar and other B-52 systems.
ST LOUIS — Commercial satellite imagery and sensing leaders see growing demand in the international market for geospatial intelligence and are looking at ways to increase collaboration and streamline the way U.S. government and international partners can access commercial insights.
“We’re seeing a speed to adoption in the international market that’s accelerated like never before,” Maxar Intelligence
CEO Dan Smoot said Monday at GEOINT 2025 here.
Smoot referenced to the situation in March of this year when the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) temporarily suspended Ukraine’s access to the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery system (GEGD), which allows access to commercial satellite imagery. In media statements at the time, Maxar said it temporarily suspended access to Ukrainian users through GEGD. Access was later restored.
Smoot said the shutdown was an “interesting time,” and that it opened the world’s eyes to how impactful commercial GEOINT is for defense and intelligence missions. “I think sometimes there’s an understanding about what we did for mapping but truly how the information is used to help the warfighter really became apparent in these discussions,” Smoot said.
He described a shifting geopolitical landscape as European and NATO nations are looking to invest more in space capabilities.
“We’re seeing that nations are stepping up, realizing that they don’t have time to go and build assets. … Commercial is its path to develop capabilities needed moving forward,” Smoot said. “Our operational capabilities to deliver this information in a timely manner is becoming more and more important for them every day, for more national security. There’s been a major shift because of recent policies to help open up the international markets.”
BlackSky CEO Brian O’Toole echoed “strong momentum” from international government customers, saying these governments want to move faster with commercial capabilities.
“Our partners want to more rapidly build internal capacity, either through sovereign satellites, but also in software and AI. I think that’s where the opportunity is right now — countries around the world see the need to accelerate their space-based intelligence capabilities. Commercial is a really good way to get there very quickly that leverages things that are already on orbit, plus entering into long-term partnerships that help build that capacity,” O’Toole said.
Motoyuki Arai, CEO of Japanese synthetic aperture radar (SAR) company, said that Synspective sees “huge demand” from the Japan Ministry of Defense and the Japanese government has an advanced strategy to deploy its budget for technology, including space capabilities.
“This is a good opportunity for us, but we have to leverage this opportunity to make collaboration to [meet] international demand, not only for national security but also for commercial businesses as well,” Arai said.
Speaking to commercial imagery’s role in Ukraine, Capella Space CEO Frank Backes said Ukraine showed the value of Earth Observation (EO) data from a military tactical perspective and not just an intelligence perspective — driven by speed of access.
“The barrier and the driver there is latency. How quickly can we get from tasking to the satellite capturing the data that you’re interested in, getting that back in the hands of the warfighter who’s interested in that particular piece of information,” Backes said. “Latency has been a big challenge, without question.”
Earlier this month, quantum networking company IonQ announced a deal to acquire Capella Space to accelerate its plans in quantum networking. Backes said that merging with a quantum company will lead to improved latency and security.
“One of the reasons that we’re excited about the IonQ acquisition merger with us, is getting after what latency represents. The other side is security — the need for us to be able to deliver reliable, secure data to those customers is more critical than it’s ever been. Being able to take the technology and be able to create sovereign control and sovereign access is really what the next generation of the commercial systems are going to represent,” Backes said.
ST. LOUIS—Mirroring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s priority of opening up the DoD procurement process to find the best solutions, the intelligence community is doing the same, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Monday.
The goal is to avoid using the same prime contractor “over and over and over again” and instead find the best solutions wherever they come from, Gabbard said at the GEOINT 2025 Symposium here.
Traditional ways of contracting can be too costly and make it difficult for startups and other small businesses to do business with the IC, Gabbard said.
“How do we make sure when we’re bringing in a startup, for example, who may just have a simple solution to provide a single source HR contract that can be used across all the IC elements?” she said. “How do we make sure there’s not another second or third layer of contractors built on top of that to supervise, and then have another layer of supervisors to supervise the supervisors.”
One challenge is “there is some internal resistance” to these changes, she said, highlighting the revolving door between industry and government at times as a problem.
“This is where the revolving door can be dangerous, where you’ve got folks who are working in the intelligence community, who’ve made friends with the big prime and they want to get a job as they go out the door, and they’re kind of, you know, seeding the landscape for that,” Gabbard said.
Gabbard was asked about opportunities for the intelligence community to use more commercial solutions and do so faster. She replied that the IC’s “archaic procurement laws” are an impediment.
Before her lunch keynote, Gabbard walked the exhibit floor at the symposium and visited with some vendors.
“It’s something I’ve known for a long time,” she said. “Small businesses often may be the ones who have that capability, because you’re small and you’re agile and nimble and able to get after a problem set, perhaps more quickly than a bigger business or contractor, but you don’t have the ability to get inside the door and make your pitch.”
Culture change and education within the intelligence community are needed to open doors for these companies, Gabbard said. She added that some personnel are scared that the artificial intelligence-based technologies that some of these small companies are offering will replace them.
Instead, these employees need to understand that AI will enhance their work, she said.
“We’ve got some doors to kick down and some barriers to break through, but ultimately, this is the time to do it,” Gabbard said. “We’ve got a president who is interested in delivering solutions.”
The Navy’s top officer revealed a laser weapon installed on a destroyer to test an ability to disable drones and small boats has had problems in testing and is still not up to its full advertised 60 kW power output.
“We had some problems with testing, but now we’re up to one-third of the power, and we’re going to continue to test that weapon system to make sure it works,” Acting Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby said about the High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system during a May 14 House Appropriations Committee hearing.
HELIOS is installed on the
Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Preble (DDG-88). The Navy means to use it to test disabling unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and small boats with its laser weapon. It has a secondary use as a counter-UAS intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) dazzler that blinds or confuses UAS sensors. HELIOS also feeds more ISR data into the destroyer’s combat system.
HELIOS is also fully integrated with the Aegis Combat System.
Lockheed Martin [LMT] first delivered the 60+kW-class laser system to the Navy in 2022, ultimately installed on the Preble (Defense Daily, Aug. 18, 2022).
Kilby’s note about HELIOS delays adds more details to what a former Navy and current company official said in January during the WEST 2025 conference (Defense Daily, Jan. 30).
At the time, Vice President of Strategy and Naval Systems at Lockheed Martin’s missile and fire control division Thomas Copeman underscored HELIOS was on the Preble for 25 months by then but with very limited test time.
“The problem is the prioritization of everything else that’s going on in the world and the maintenance and operations and stuff has limited the amount of underway test times, test days that we’ve had with the system,” Copeman said. Copeman previously served as a former commander of Naval Surface Forces.
Last year, Commander of Naval Surface Force (SWOBOSS) Vice Adm. Brendan McLane said he wants to see the Navy significantly accelerate deployment of directed energy systems like HELIOS to deal with the kind of weapons Houthis forces have used in the Red Sea (Defense Daily, Jan. 9, 2024).
At the time, McLane expressed frustration that there have been few deployed advanced in the past decade, since he saw the Afloat Staging Base Ponce (AFSB(I)-15) test with a 30-kW Laser Weapons System (LaWS) while commander of Destroyer Squadron 50 in Bahrain.
In 2021, Joe Ottaviano, then-director of Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Product Solutions business division, said while HELIOS is targeted for a 60kW output, it is classified at 100-kW and the modules can be popped out to make it capable of delivering a higher power output level upward of 150 kW to target some kinds of missiles (Defense Daily Jan. 11, 2021).
The original Navy contract with Lockheed Martin would have allowed production for up to nine HELIOS systems, but the Navy never executed those orders.
During the hearing, Kilby repeated his recent argument about having “buyer’s remorse” about choices while serving as the deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities (OPNAV N9) earlier in his career. N9 serves as the fleet architect and integrator for warfare systems requirements, including procurement.
“I was focused on a laser between 500 kilowatts and one megawatt, because that’s what it takes to knock down an anti-ship cruise missile. I wish I had been a little bit more thoughtful and taken a lesser power weapon that would have been capable against UASs,” Kilby said.
While the Navy is continuing to test HELIOS, he reiterated they are also strapping several cheaper systems for the counter-UAS mission on the Ford Carrier Strike Group, set next to deploy from the East Coast. This may include the Coyote missile, high velocity projectile from the five-inch gun, or Longbow missile.
“So we’re going to put those on that system. They’re not fully integrated with the combat system, but I think they’ll be very effective. And we’ll test them out at sea, and then we’ll procure them at scale if we need to,” Kilby said.
