Page 75 – Defense Daily

Construction Halted On Last National Security Cutter Over Conformance Issues

The Coast Guard and shipbuilder HII [HII] are negotiating to resolve “material conformance” issues identified during construction of the 11th and final Legend-class National Security Cutter (NSC), the service said last week.

The issue is alarming enough to raise concerns whether the ship will ever be delivered.

“In addition, new problems have developed with the last hulls in the National Security Cutter program, and we could receive one ship less than what Congress appropriated,” Rep. Mike Ezell (R-Miss.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s panel that oversees the Coast Guard, said on March 5.

A Coast Guard spokesman told Defense Daily the issue is just about NSC-11. The first 10 high-endurance cutters have already been delivered and are critical to the service’s global operations.

NSC-11 was supposed to be delivered in November 2024. Work has been halted since at least last November with construction only 15 percent complete.

The Coast Guard also told Defense Daily that HII notified the service in late 2024 that the earliest the vessel could be delivered is 2029.

HII and the Coast Guard are currently in negotiations to resolve the issue, which includes the ship potentially not being completed, as alluded to by Ezell.

“The Coast Guard identified material conformance concerns on NSC #11 and is working with the shipyard to reach a resolution,” the Coast Guard said in a statement to Defense Daily last Friday.

Kimberly Aguillard, a spokesperson for HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division in Pascagoula, Miss., where the company builds Navy ships and the NSC, told Defense Daily on Monday that “We value our long-standing partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard and are proud of the work our shipbuilders have accomplished over the past two decades to deliver a total of 10 NSCs to the U.S. Coast Guard. We are currently engaged in active discussions with the USCG regarding NSC 11 and remaining issues under the contract, and expect the parties will reach a mutually agreeable resolution. We’ll share updates when appropriate.”

The original program of record for the NSC program was eight 418-foot ships, equipped with more advanced C5ISR capabilities, to replace 11 378-foot Hamilton-class high endurance cutters, all of which have been decommissioned. Former Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.), who was the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee before retiring in 2018, led the effort to increase the number of NSC’s purchased by the Coast Guard to 11.

The Coast Guard resisted the push for 11 NSCs but the ships are important contributors to missions such as freedom of navigation operations in seas that China claims, maritime defense and homeland security missions, counter-drug interdiction, fishery patrols, and others.

A $930 million fixed-price contract option was awarded to HII in December 2028 for NSCs-10 and -11.

The Ingalls division currently has hot production lines with three Navy vessel types, the Arleigh Burke-class DDG destroyers, LPD troop and supply transports, and the America-class LHA amphibious assault ships. The company is also installing the Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic weapon system on the Navy’s Zumwalt-class DDG-1000 destroyers.

Sikorsky Details Successful ‘Full Mission Profile’ Demos With Rotor Blown Wing UAS Concept

Sikorsky [LMT] on Monday detailed recent successful demonstrations with its “rotor blown wing” unmanned aircraft system (UAS), flying its prototype in both helicopter and “winged aircraft” mode through a “full mission profile.”

The work with the rotor blown wing UAS is continuing to inform Sikorsky’s continued development of a larger version for a separate DARPA program and as the company explores building a family of hybrid-electric advanced mobility systems.

Sikorsky’s rotor blown wing UAS prototype in airplane mode. Photo: Sikorsky

“We are trying to find a very nice blend between helicopters’ ability to hover and operate from confined areas or small ship decks and have, quite frankly, handling qualities that allows us to operate from ship decks at high sea states…and couple that with the range and cruise efficiency of winged aircraft,” Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky Innovations, told reporters on Monday.

Sikorsky’s rotor blown wing UAS tech demonstrator is a 115-pound, twin prop-rotor prototype, which is designed to take off and land vertically like a helicopter and then can transition its rotors in-air to act as propellers in aircraft mode.

“Combining helicopter and airplane flight characteristics onto a flying wing reflects Sikorsky’s drive to innovate next-generation VTOL UAS aircraft that can fly faster and farther than traditional helicopters,” Rich Benton, Sikorsky’s vice president and general manager, said in a statement.

Sikorsky Innovations, the company’s rapid prototyping group, has been flying the prototype for “a little bit now,” according to Cherepinsky, before taking on the more extensive demonstrations in January

The January demos with the rotor blown wing UAS included conducting more than 40 takeoffs and landings, performing 30 transitions between helicopter and aircraft mode and reaching a top cruise speed of 86 knots, according to Sikorsky.

“[In January] is where the aircraft took off vertically on its tail, accelerated and flipped over into the wing [mode], achieving wing-borne flight, did a little bit of a mock mission and then transitioned back into vertical flight and landed successfully. And that pretty much proves the physics of what we are trying to do,” Cherepinsky said.

DARPA in May 2024 selected six companies to continue onto the risk reduction and component testing phase for its Advanced Aircraft Infrastructure-Less Launch and Recovery (ANCILLARY) program, to include Sikorsky as well as AeroVironment [AVAV], Griffon Aerospace, Karem Aircraft, Method Aeronautics and Northrop Grumman [NOC] (Defense Daily, May 23 2024).

Sikorsky has said DARPA’s ANCILLARY program aims “to develop a Class 3 UAS VTOL X-Plane that can operate in most weather conditions from ship decks and unprepared surfaces without infrastructure.”

Cherepinsky noted the January demos with the 115-pound demonstrator were part of Sikorsky’s internal research and development effort for the rotor blown wing UAS, while the work is informing continued efforts to develop a slightly larger 330-pound hybrid-electric version for the DARPA program.

The rotor blown wing UAS is one of several hybrid-electric VTOL concepts Sikorsky is pursuing as part of a family of new systems, along with new HEX VTOL platforms and a potential hybrid-electric, single main rotor helicopter (Defense Daily, July 22 2024).

Cherepinsky told reporters Sikorsky is now working through the “full design” of a HEX VTOL testbed and then plans to build two air vehicles, with the company planning to hold discussions with potential customers interested in the platform.

“We’re basically going to accelerate it as much as we can,” Cherepinsky said. “We will be making production decisions sometime in the next few years.”

Sikorsky last February detailed its HEX VTOL demonstrator, which includes a tilt-wing configuration for potential commercial and military applications, noting it had partnered with GE Aerospace [GE] to integrate a 1.2 megawatt-class turbogenerator into the platform. It’s intended to have an operating range of at least 500 nautical miles and 9,000-pound maximum gross weight and would utilize the company’s MATRIX autonomy software (Defense Daily, Feb. 27, 2024).

Cherepinsky last July also said Sikorsky is designing a larger version of its rotor blown wing UAS for an “undisclosed customer” that could be 2,000 to 3,000 pounds, telling reporters on Monday he could not disclose additional details “at this time” (Defense Daily, July 22, 2024).

“But I can say the work is certainly still ongoing,” Cherepinsky added.

House GOP’s Full-Year CR With Defense Boost Faces Narrow Path, Senate Dem Pushback

The House’s stopgap funding proposal to avert a government shutdown, which includes an $8 billion defense add, faces a tight path to pass the lower chamber this week but is already meeting resistance from several senior Senate Democrats over its cuts to non-defense spending.

While the continuing resolution (CR) is likely to receive near-unanimous opposition from House Democrats, the bill to keep the government open through September 30 would require the support of several Senate Democrats to pass in the upper chamber.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) gives his remarks in honor of WWII Ghost Army veterans, formerly assigned to the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops and the 3133rd Signal Service Company, during a special ceremony at Emancipation Hall, U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C., March 21, 2024. (U.S. Army photo by Henry Villarama)

“Instead of turning the keys over to the Trump administration with this bill, Congress should immediately pass a short-term CR to prevent a shutdown and finish work on bipartisan funding bills that invest in families, keep America safe, and ensure our constituents have a say in how federal funding is spent,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, said in a statement.

Murray noted the final funding levels in the House GOP’s CR proposal breaks with arrangements set by last year’s Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), to include cutting non-defense spending by $15 billion and defense by $3 billion relative to the FY ‘25 toplines set by the FRA.

“This is a shutdown bill that’s bad for the economy—let Trump shutdown whatever he wants, hurting everyday folks to use money for tax breaks for the uber-rich. Hell no!” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

House Republicans released their CR proposal on Saturday, with plans to vote this week as Congress faces a government shutdown deadline at midnight on March 14.

“Funding the federal government is a constitutional obligation, and House Republicans are acting to uphold that duty. This straightforward continuing resolution ensures the government remains open and working for Americans,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. “With no poison pills or unrelated riders – the bill is simple: extend funding and certainty for the nation. Democrats have a choice to join us or display their true intentions. Should they choose to vote to shut the government for negotiation leverage and their contempt of President Trump, they are readying to hurt hundreds of millions more.”

The CR proposal includes an additional $8 billion for U.S. Central Command and European Command to spend on “military operations, force protection, and deterrence” and allows the Pentagon to move out on new start programs, which are otherwise blocked while under a stopgap funding measure.

President Trump has previously endorsed taking up a “clean” CR that would keep the government open through the end of September, rather than short-term CR to avoid a shutdown and allow lawmakers additional time to pass final FY ‘25 appropriations (Defense Daily, Feb. 28).

The House Appropriations Committee notes that the CR proposal does not include any language related to savings found as a result of Department of Government Efficiency efforts.

“As their work continues to identify government waste and abuse, the House looks forward to engaging and coordinating on recissions in the future,” HAC wrote in a statement.

Byron Callan, an analyst with Capital Alpha Partners, said his firm raised their odds that Congress passes a full-year CR from 50 to 65 percent, while adding they view it as a “negative” for U.S. defense sentiment.

“We see this outcome as a negative for U.S. defense sentiment because of flat spending, and it may imply another full-year CR for FY ‘26 that would sustain real declines in DoD spending,” Callan said.

NGA’s Latency For Imagery Improves But More Data Requires More Compute, Whitworth Says

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is processing imagery 80 percent faster than it did a year ago. However, as satellite constellations and the amount of related data increase, the latency gains could diminish without more computing power, NGA Director Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth said on Monday.

Whitworth described the drop-in latency times in terms of “running inference,” which refers to running the agency’s artificial intelligence models against the imagery data to automatically find targets of interest for warfighters and decisionmakers. The 80 percent decline is a dramatic boost considering a year ago Whitworth boasted that its analysts have sifted through 40 percent more sensor imagery since 2023 because of NGA Maven, the agency’s computer vision-based technology that finds potential targets to attack (Defense Daily, March 21, 2024).

Despite a cascading deluge of data that NGA is processing and expects to process more of in the years ahead, Whitworth feels good the agency’s resource needs will be met.

“I’m confident in our discussions with both on the DoD and on the DNI (Director of National Intelligence) side, that we’ll find those resources and we’ll make sure that we keep up with that demand,” he said at the annual SATELLITE Conference in Washington, D.C.

This year NGA’s theme is accelerating AI, which Whitworth described as “NGAI.” One of the agency’s goals to help accelerate AI is around leadership organization, some of which was done last year and some this year. NGA last fall formalized the role of Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, a role filled by Mark Munsell, who is also director of the Data and Digital Innovation Directorate (Defense Daily, Oct. 30, 2024).

Munsell is the “director of AI standards,” Whitworth said.

In addition, Trey Treadwell, NGA’s associate director of capabilities, is also the chief acquisition executive, and is in charge of AI programs, Whitworth said, adding that this fits with the agency’s move to a program executive office approach to acquisition management.

More recently, in January, NGA hired Joe O’Callaghan, a retired Army colonel who was the fires coordinator for the 18th Airborne Corps. He was an early adopter of the Maven Smart System.

O’Callaghan is the director of AI Mission and will continue to work from Fort Bragg, N.C. Whitworth said that he is a Defense Intelligence Senior Leader and a senior leader of NGA, “So he is able to make decisions about operations.” He said that O’Callaghan “has hit the ground sprinting.”

This “task organization recognizes the significance of AI” and is the first of Whitworth’s New Year’s Resolutions Whitworth has for accelerating NGA’s approach to AI.

“We will have ops integration teams with all of the people who do normal, structured observations as part of their normal trade craft to ensure that they’re thinking through and processing opportunities for AI,” he said.

Ensuring NGA has the resources, particularly around computing power, which “doesn’t come cheaply,” is his second resolution, Whitworth said.

Next is accreditation and certification. Certification is about responsible AI training, and the former is Accreditation of GEOINT AI Models, which is assessing the quality of AI training data and models.

“The idea here is to allow the standard to be established for accreditation so that you can decentralize the development of these models,” he said. He added, “And if there’s one thing that’s really, really important in this business, it’s having proper PID, positive identification. So, to ensure that those standards are set, when we make a model that helps us with the PID process, we find that the fastest way will be to accredit the model so that then business can be decentralized.”

Whitworth’s fourth resolution is a having his analysts mentor the models, essentially creating a “team approach” to responsible AI.

“Don’t forget, these are some of the best people we have in the world at generating PID, generating warning, generating targeting,” he said. “We need to keep them in a place of constantly training through machine learning, structured observations, data labeling, what’s responsible and a good approach to the model.”

In the past year AI models are already automating imagery collection of things in the past that NGA’s did not hold on to, he said.

“And that’s a very powerful thing,” he said.

The final resolution is GEOINT AI Assurance, which is ensuring that the nation’s adversaries are not able to manipulate the data, he said.

Space Development Agency Independent Review Team Begins Work

Originally to start launch last September, the U.S. Space Force Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 1 satellites–the first to link to military forces in the field–are to begin orbiting late next summer, as SDA works to integrate them with ground systems and as a DoD-ordered independent review team (IRT) examines the agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA).

The IRT work may help inform the future of SDA, as the Department of Government Efficiency scrubs federal spending and aims to consolidate or eliminate some departments and agencies.

Chaired by former House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the IRT also includes Tina Harrington, who has worked as the signals intelligence director for the National Reconnaissance Office; Randall Walden, a consultant who headed the Department of the Air Force’s rapid capabilities office (RCO), which had signature programs, such as the B-21 Raider, under the RCO purview; and Sarah Mineiro, a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Aerospace Security Project and Thornberry’s former staffer on military space. Mineiro also worked as the senior director of space strategy at Anduril Industries.

PWSA Tranche 1 launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., are “now anticipated to begin in late summer 2025 and continue on a pace of approximately one launch per month until the entire Tranche 1 Transport and Tracking constellations are on orbit,” SDA said over the weekend.

“SDA continues to aggressively work toward the first Tranche 1 launch,” the agency said. “However, additional time is required for system readiness to meet the Tranche 1 minimum viable capability. SDA is committed to delivering the initial warfighting capability of the PWSA in early calendar year 2027, consistent with warfighter expectations.”

DoD recently said that SDA has met the “minimum viable product” (MVP) standard for the agency’s PWSA Tranche 0 Transport Layer communications satellites and Tracking Layer missile warning satellites, but a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said that four evaluated contractors for the Tranche 0 satellites have only met standards four times out of 32 in eight optical communications terminal (OCT) categories (Defense Daily, Feb. 27).

SpaceX hit the mark three times–in the category of Tracking Layer space-to-space laser links among SpaceX satellites in the same orbital plane, Tracking Layer space-to-space data transmission among SpaceX satellites in the same orbital plane, and Tracking Layer space-to-ground laser links.

York Space Systems passed muster in the Transport Layer space-to-space laser links among York satellites, while Lockheed Martin [LMT] and L3Harris Technologies [LHX] did not hit any of the marks, according to the GAO report, Laser Communications: Space Development Agency Should Create Links Between Development Phases (GAO 25-106838).

“SDA has met the MVP for [Tranche o], which is to demonstrate the feasibility of the proliferated architecture in cost, schedule, and scalability towards necessary performance for beyond line of sight targeting and advanced missile detection and tracking,” the Pentagon wrote on Feb. 6 in response to the GAO report. “SDA’s MVP for the [Tranche 0] Transport Layer includes periodic regional access for low latency data connectivity, data directly to tactical elements, and data disseminated to theater targeting cells.”

“[Tranche O] validates our approach and achieved stated objectives: Link-16 from space-to-ground, air, and sea; and forming an optical network in low Earth orbit for both the Transport and Tracking Layers,” DoD said. “SDA continues to incorporate lessons from [Tranche 0] into [Tranche 1], Tranche 2, and future tranches.”

Yet, former SDA Director Derek Tournear, who is on administrative leave, said in October “that SDA is no longer planning to develop an MVP, rather that the agency considers the MVP to be equivalent to the MVC [minimum viability capability].”

GAO said that an example of MVC would be the amount of global coverage expected for a satellite constellation, while MVP would be the number of satellites required to provide such coverage.

OCT laser links among satellites built by different companies has been a point of concern and one that DoD has sought to alleviate with the Enterprise Management and Control effort (Defense Daily, March 19, 2024).

SDA developed an OCT standard of 2.5 gigabits per second data transmission–“relatively lower than some commercial technologies that transmit data at 100 gigabits per second,” according to GAO.

SDA said that its Tranche 0 satellites were not meant to be operationally tested and that it is working with industry and the DoD Directorate of Operational Test and Evaluation to test the Tranche 1 satellites.

Wicker Pushing Skeptical OMB On SAWS

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday said he is trying to push the skeptical White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to accept an initiative to move money around to boost shipbuilder pay in the short term.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he strongly supports the Shipyard Accountability and Workforce Support (SAWS) approach developed by industry and the Navy but was not previously supported by the Biden administration or enough lawmakers to previously move forward.

SAWS aims to shift money already obligated for future submarines to help boost pay and incentives for current shipyard workers to rebuild and maintain a better shipbuilding workforce that could then build future ships more efficiently and on time.

“It’s a way, without having a budget score, to move appropriated money from the outyears to the current years and give our shipyard workers, right now I’m interested in submarine workers, a big pay raise to incentivize them and incentivize our submarine industry to expand. We can’t do it unless we’re willing to pay talented men and women to do this very difficult physical job,” Wicker said during a fireside chat at the Reagan Institute’s National Security Innovation Base Summit.

However, he noted the debate on whether SAWS is a good approach is pushing up against a skeptical OMB, interested in how it scored on costs vs. benefits.

“You can imagine where OMB might be on something new that doesn’t score. It’s almost like magic so there must be something wrong with it. But that debate is going on now in the White House,” Wicker said.

He argued if the SAWS proponents can find a way to implement SAWS that does not score as an additional expenditure in the budget but just move money already planning to be spent this year, “I’d like to see what the negatives are that outweigh the really positive effect of getting our workforce in line with where our industrial base needs to be.”

Wicker underscored OMB is “the most powerful office in the government and I learned that long ago. They’re very frustrating.”

Christening ceremony in Oct. 2018 for the SSN 791 Delaware Virginia-class submarine. (Photo: HII) — Christening ceremony for the SSN 791 *Delaware* *Virginia*-class submarine on in October 2018. (Photo: HII)

Last October, a bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to OMB asking it look into promising submarine funding proposals like SAWS. Wicker was not among the signatories (Defense Daily, Oct. 28, 2024).

In December, the House Appropriations Committee’s continuing resolution extending funding into this month included an additional $5.68 billion to fund Virginia-class attack submarine shortfalls and workforce wage improvements through 2029. At the time, Navy officials told reporters the OMB proposal that led to this provision included everything industry asked for under SAWS that could be executed in FY 2025 (Defense Daily, Dec. 18, 2024).

Before Trump’s second inauguration, the CEO of HII [HII] expressed optimism that the new administration would likely be more receptive to SAWS (Defense Daily, Jan. 10).

“It really checks all the boxes relative to how you want to get boats under contract. So, I think there could potentially be some more receptivity, because it’s a very innovative approach, and it solves a lot of challenges,” HII CEO Chris Kastner told reporters in early January.

Hegseth Signs Memo Directing DoD ‘Maximize’ Use Of Tools To Rapidly Deliver Software

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the Pentagon to “maximize” the use of existing rapid acquisition authorities to speed up the delivery of software capabilities, according to a new memo.

Hegseth specifically calls on all DoD components to utilize the Software Acquisition Pathway as the “preferred” tool for software development and directs the use of Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements and the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Commercial Solutions Openings (CSO) as the “default solicitation and award approaches” for acquiring capabilities.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth holds a town hall meeting for Department of Defense personnel at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Feb. 7, 2025. (DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Madelyn Keech)

“This will enable us to immediately shift to a construct designed to keep pace with commercial technology advancements, leverage the entire commercial ecosystem for defense systems, rapidly deliver scaled digital capabilities and evolve our systems faster than adversaries can adapt on the battlefield,” Hegseth writes in the memo dated March 6 and released publicly on Friday.

Since taking helm of the Pentagon, Hegseth has reiterated his focus on “rebuilding the military” includes more rapidly fielding new technologies, noting in his new memo that software is “at the core of every weapon and supporting system DoD is fielding” (Defense Daily, Feb. 7).

“The Department of Defense has been slow to recognize that software-defined warfare is not a future construct, but the reality we find ourselves operating in today,” Hegseth writes. “While commercial industry has rapidly adjusted to a software-defined product reality, DoD has struggled to reframe our acquisition process from a hardware-centric to a software-centric approach. When it comes to software acquisition, we are overdue in pivoting to a performance-based outcome and, as such, it is the warfighter who pays the price.”

The Software Acquisition Pathway (SWP), established in recent years as the recommended avenue for software development, is now expected to be the main driver of software development contracts for business and weapon system programs, according to the memo.

The use of OTAs and CSOs is then expected to serve as “the default” for buying capabilities development through the SWP pipeline.

“This applies to any software pathway program in the planning phase prior to execution,” the memo states.

DIU Director Doug Beck cited the new memo as a “critical step” in scaling the use of the CSO process to a broader range of DoD users.

“We look forward to working with partners across the department to help scale DIU’s proven Commercial Solutions Opening solicitation process, combined with Other Transaction authority, to software acquisition across the force. This will make it easier for our teammates everywhere in the department to dramatically accelerate the best technology to the warfighter, at the speed the mission requires,” Beck said in a statement.

The Army recently placed a solicitation for its potential 10-year, $10 billion multiple-award Modern Software Development contract “on hold indefinitely” as the service reviews its strategy for the effort (Defense Daily, Feb. 21).

Collins: Missile Defense ‘Magazine Depth Is Going to Be Crucial’

AURORA, Colo.–Iran’s missile and drone attacks against Israel last year and what DoD officials have often stated is a significant Chinese threat have led to Pentagon missile defense officials urging U.S. adaptations to take on daily attack waves.

On Apr. 13 last year, Iran launched 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and more than 120 ballistic missiles against the Golan Heights, while on Oct. 1, Iran launched 200 missiles against Israel–attacks which likely included the Fattah hypersonic missile, according to articles at the time.

During the Reagan era, “we set this missile defense system up back in the day against a small number of threats–[that] was what we thought was gonna happen,” U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, the director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), said on March 5 during a panel at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Warfare Symposium here. “When we tested and designed, we thought a dozen, maybe a couple of dozen [missiles]. The sheer size of the volley–April was the largest volley of ballistic missiles ever seen in the planet until October.”

Missile defense “magazine depth is going to be crucial in the future,” Collins said. “The large volleys that we saw were just small percentages of the overall inventory that Iran could bring to bear, and so we also need to raise our game when it comes to magazine depth. As we start talking Golden Dome…the sheer depth of magazine is a problem–a cost problem, a scale problem–but it’s something we really have to get after, and it’s something that we’ve learned from the Israeli fight.”

On Jan. 27, President Trump signed an executive order for DoD to develop an “Iron Dome for America”–since renamed Golden Dome, a massive, likely multi-billion dollar project that will utilize space-based interceptors.

The executive order calls for DoD to submit “a reference architecture, capabilities-based requirements, and an implementation plan” for Golden Dome by the end of this month.

“Every [military] service has its own command and control system, whether it’s IBCS for the Army, CEC with the Navy, BMC3 or cloud based C2 for the Air Force and then C2BMC [for MDA],” Collins said. “We’ve gotta be able to integrate all those into a seamless weapons system that the commander of NORTHCOM [U.S. Northern Command] can fight.”

Northrop Grumman

[NOC] is the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) contractor for the Army, RTX [RTX] for the Navy’s Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC), and Lockheed Martin [LMT] for MDA’s command and control, battle management and communications (C2BMC) system.

“Today, we’re very reliant on J-series messages on how we pass data between our players,” Collins said. “It’s how we pass data to the Israelis during the fight, but we’re also working at the fire control level an interface called the Joint Tactical Integrated Fire Control Standard, and we have demonstrated the ability to take sensors from different services and share the radar or the sensor measurement data with another command and control system through the initial instantiation we call the Joint Track Management Capability Bridge. Through that, we’ve tied an F-35 with a ship, and the ship’s been able to shoot off data from an F-35. That’s what’s gonna be at the core of IAMD [integrated air and missile defense].”

“The different target types require different sensors and sensor suites to provide 360 degree sensor coverage of the [United] States,” he said. “Depending on hypersonics, depending on ballistic missiles, we need to get the right sensor mix attached in there. We need the right C2 battle management construct, which does not exist today. We do need to work on that to be able to fight at the peer integrated level, but then we also need effectors.”

The latter could include new interceptors and non-kinetics, such as lasers.

Defense Watch: Sentinel Static Fire, Spartan Mace, Guam Challenges, Maven

Static Fire. The U.S. Air Force said that the service and Northrop Grumman conducted “a full-scale qualification static fire test of the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM] stage-one solid rocket motor” on Thursday at Northrop Grumman’s site in Promontory, Utah. The company is building the LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM to replace the Minuteman III ICBM. “This critical milestone further validates the motor’s design and paves the way for the production and deployment of a safe, secure and reliable strategic deterrent,” according to the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland AFB, N.M. “This test confirms the accuracy of digital engineering models and brings the stage-one solid rocket motor closer to achieving full qualification. This achievement follows static fire tests of the second and third stages, showcasing clear momentum in the Sentinel program’s development…The test results are currently being analyzed by a team of experts from the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center and Northrop Grumman.” On Jan. 18 last year, the Air Force said that it notified Congress that Sentinel had breached Nunn-McCurdy guidelines, primarily due to construction design changes. The program has continued, but last summer DoD pulled Sentinel back from the engineering and manufacturing development stage, which the Pentagon had approved for the next generation ICBM in 2020.

…Weapon System Review.

Future nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) is to share some commonality with other systems developed under the command, control and communications battle management (C3BM) effort of Air Force Maj. Gen. Luke Cropsey, the Air Force program executive officer (PEO) for C3BM, even though NC3 is a separate development under the Air Force PEO for NC3, Scott Hardiman, at Hanscom AFB, Mass. “Very early on, Gen. Cropsey’s team and Mr. Hardiman’s team realized that there needs to be synergies, and we need to have as much commonality as possible,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara, the service’s deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, said on March 5. “They routinely talk to each other, and they are not architecting anything that could not, at some point, be connected… Just last week, I believe, Air Force Global Strike Command did a weapon system review of NC3. There were C3BM teammates watching that. That commonality is very important, as we go to that future architecture, based on the threats that we see today.”

Bomber Close Air Support. Two U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortresses and two Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon fighters practiced close air support missions with Italian troops on Friday in the SPARTAN MACE exercise, according to U.S. Air Forces Europe (USAFE). Under the U.S. Air Force Bomber Task Force (BTF) 25-2 deployment, the B-52s, escorted by the Eurofigher Typhoons, “entered an Italian military range near Sardinia Island, where they conducted simulated live bomb drops under the guidance of Italian Joint Terminal Attack Controllers,” USAFE said. “The mission reinforced coordination between air and ground units, refining precision strike capabilities in a complex training environment. The B-52s and aircrew are currently deployed with the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at RAF Fairford, England, where they are executing operations alongside NATO Allies and partners…SPARTAN MACE marks the tenth operation integrating U.S. B-52s with allied air and ground forces during this BTF 25-2.”

3-D Printed Carrier. HII said on March 4 that it installed the first valve manifold assembly built via additive manufacturing onto a future USS Enterprise (CVN-80) Ford-class aircraft carrier. The company boasted that using certified 3D-printed parts like this could accelerate construction by reducing lead times and improving manufacturing quality of critical components. This specialized assembly allows distribution of a single source of fluid to multiple points on a ship and is installed in a pump room on the carrier. The assembly is about five feet long and 1,000 pounds. HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding worked with DM3D Technology to manufacture the manifold body. HII next plans to install similar manifolds on the future USS Doris Miller (CVN-81)

NSMV V. TOTE Services LLC and Hanwha Phully Shipyard, Inc. marked the keel laying of the fifth and last of the National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV) on March 5. The NSMV program is designed to provide training for future American mariners and double as supporting humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions. The program was commissioned by the Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD). The first two NSMVs, the Empire State and Patriot State, have been delivered while the third is scheduled for delivery later this year. The companies boasted the Vessel Construction Manager acquisition model used in the program allowed all five vessels to have had their keels laid in the last 39 months. These vessels include advanced training facilities, fully equipped bridge, and accommodation for up to 600 cadets and 100 faculty.

Secret Guam Challenges. The Government Accountability Office on Feb. 28 published a classified report titled “Missile Defense: DoD Faces Support and Coordination Challenges for the Defense of Guam.” The office website notes this means it was determined it contains classified information so cannot be publicly released, but the listing lets Congress, agencies and the public know it exists.

Seahawks Down Under. The Australian Minister for Defense Industry on Feb. 28 announced the government awarded a $197 million contract to Sikorsky Australia for through-life maintenance of the military’s 23 MH-60R Seahawk helicopters. Pat Conroy, Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, noted the investment will create 75 “well-paid jobs and support another 200 jobs for locals in Nowra, Australia. The company already employs 200 people at the facility. Conroy noted in a press conference Australia expects another 13 helicopters to be delivered by the end of 2026, which will also be serviced at the facility.

…Future U.S. Support? The ministry also said this funding is helping make Nowra a potential maintenance hub that could be used by the U.S. Navy for repair, overhaul and upgrade support. “This contract also means that if the United States Navy requires maintenance, repair overhaul, and upgrade support for their Sea Hawk helicopters in the Indo‑Pacific we can do that work here if needed,” Conroy said in a press conference. Previously in 2023 the Nowra facility completed the first deep-level maintenance of a U.S. Navy MH-60R.

Navy AI Test. The Navy on March 5 issued a Request for Information/Submissions for respondents hoping to be considered for participation in the DoD’s RAITE 25, a red/blue team test event for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and autonomy technologies on a cyber-physical range. RAITE is meant to provide academia, industry and government a real-time collaborative environment to test AI capabilities in terms of attacks and defenses to find technology gaps. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane), issued the RFI in support of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO). NSWC Crane said this will require the combined effort of industry, academia and government experts “to bring innovative initiatives into the experimentation event to achieve definable specific outcomes.” RAITE began in 2023 and the 2025 event will support scenarios including multimodal data (computer vision, radar, e.g.), cyber-enabled AI networks (such as critical infrastructure), UxV collaboration and environment interaction, and for the first time use Large Language Model Test & Evaluation as a dedicated scenario.

DDG Voice Comms. Leonardo DRS, Inc. on March 6 announced it delivered the first next-generation Integrated Voice Communication Systems (IVCS) for Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The computer-controlled telephone system provides ship-wide communications. It connects to a ship’s announcing system, shore telephone lines, radio communications and battle sound-powered telephone circuits, the company said.

C-UAS Demo. Allen Control Systems will demonstrate its Bullfrog counter-drone robotic gun system at this year’s Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft System demonstration. Bullfrog is designed to defeat Group 1 and 2, and small Group 3 UAS autonomously using its passive machine vision detection technology integrated into an M240 machine gun turret to target low flying drones. The Texas-based company showcased its technology last August at the Defense Department’s Technology Readiness Experimentation—or T-REX—event at Camp Atterbury, Ind.

Expanding Partnership. Epirus and General Dynamics are looking to integrate the former’s Leonidas high-power microwave system aboard GD’s Tracked Robot 10-ton (TRX) combat vehicle to bring counter-drone and counter-electronic capability to highly mobile ground forces and to help secure borders and critical infrastructures, Andy Lowery, Epirus’s CEO, told Defense Daily last week. The companies have already done the design work for the full-scale integration where the TRX would be able to power Leonidas while driving along at 45 miles per hour in the vanguard of Army forces, “knocking systems offline, knocking down missiles, knocking off things in the front” to allow troops to more safely follow, he said. The companies have already demonstrated Leonidas on GD’s Stryker wheeled combat vehicle, and GD is considered a major investor in Epirus.

Constructive ADAIR Wingman. Top Aces Corp., which operates F-16 aircraft for air combat training, last week announced a proprietary artificial intelligence-powered autonomous constructive wingman for adversary air (ADAIR) training. The AI technology is supplied by Applied Intuition’s EpiSci unit and the constructive wingman was integrated by Coherent Technical Services into Top Aces’ F-16 advanced aggressor fighters. The open architecture Advanced Aggressor Mission System “hands-on throttle and stick interface allows Top Aces’ pilots to direct constructive wingman formations and maneuvers, coordinating them with the company’s F-16s to provide additional beyond visual range targeting challenges for 5th generation fighter pilots,” Top Aces said last week.

Leaving Antarctica. The Coast Guard’s Polar Star heavy icebreaker and crew on March 4 departed the Antarctic region after 65 days south of the Antarctic Circle in support of Operation Deep Freeze, an annual resupply mission to support the National Science Foundation at McMurdo Station. The icebreaker cuts a channel for resupply vessels. The Coast Guard’s lone heavy polar icebreaker departed its Seattle homeport last November and made stops in Honolulu and Sydney, Australia, before sailing to McMurdo Station.

GD Hikes Dividend. General Dynamics’ board last week increased the quarterly dividend nearly 6 percent to $1.50 per share payable May 9. The current dividend is $1.42 per share.

Maven Use Case. Contracting personnel working for a brigade subordinate to the Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command used a simulation of the Maven Smart System tool that uses computer vision to rapidly analyze imagery for potential targets to gain to gain situational awareness for planning contracting support of a warfighter exercise at Fort Bragg, N.C., in January and February, the Army said this month. “Maven provided continuous visual representation of contracted capabilities at the division and corps support area levels across all operational phases, including reception, staging, onward movement and integration, theater opening, theater distribution and theater sustainment, to fully support all aspects of the large-scale combat operations,” Lt. Col. Aditya Khurana, who helped oversee contingency contracting operations, said.

People News. The Senate last Thursday voted 53 to 43 to confirm Troy Edgar as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. Edgar served during the first Trump administration as chief financial officer and associate deputy under secretary for management at DHS. U.S. Central Command in late February named Joy Shanaberger as its new chief technology officer, replacing Sky Moore, who is in the Navy Reserves and was mobilized to serve overseas. Shanaberger most recently served as a senior adviser in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Finally, Young Bang, who was principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics, and technology during the Biden administration, has been appointed chairman of the newly formed strategic advisory board of Safe Pro Group. Safe Pro develops artificial intelligence solutions focused on drone imagery processing using commercial unmanned aircraft systems to rapidly identify explosive threats.

Defense Modernization Caucus. Reps. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) and Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) will continue leading the bipartisan House Defense Modernization caucus for the 119th Congress, the lawmakers said this week. Wittman and Ryan, who both sit on the Armed Services Committee, said the group aims to “continue their efforts to advance the national security ecosystem through the integration and adoption of emergent technologies.” The two lawmakers launched the caucus last March, stating its goal is to serve as a “a driving force behind key policy and funding initiatives aimed at modernizing the U.S. Department of Defense and strengthening national security.”

Directed Energy. Parsons Corporation said on March 3 it has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, Readiness Directorate to integrate its ZEUS 4 directed energy system onto the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). The CRADA builds on Parsons’ previous work integrating the earlier ZEUS 3 capability onto Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles for the Recovery of Airbase Denied by Ordnance (RADBO) program. “Integrating a ZEUS 4 system on a JLTV enhances operational flexibility and mobility for the Air Force. It allows for rapid deployment in diverse mission scenarios while maintaining a lower profile than larger MRAP vehicles. Additionally, the JLTV’s advanced technology and lighter weight facilitate improved power management and better integration of directed energy capabilities, ultimately increasing overall mission effectiveness and adaptability on the battlefield,” Parsons said in a statement.

Social Science Research. The Office of the Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering is canceling its portfolio of social science research efforts “to ensure fiscal responsibility and prioritize mission-critical activities,” the Pentagon said on March 7. The move is expected to discontinue 91 studies and save $30 million in the first year, according to DoD. “This initiative involves focusing resources on technologies essential for maintaining a strong national defense, aligning with the administration’s commitment to efficient government and ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent wisely,” the Pentagon said. “Secretary of Defense Hegseth has emphasized the importance of equipping the American military with the tools and capabilities necessary to deter adversaries and maintain a strong defense. This initiative directly supports that commitment by prioritizing investments in areas like hypersonic weapons development, AI-powered systems for enhanced battlefield awareness, and strengthening the domestic military industrial base.” The Pentagon cited studies focused “on global migration patterns, climate change impacts and social trends” as examples of studies that will be scrapped.

Palantir Delivers Two More TITAN Intel Ground Station Prototypes To Army

Palantir [PLTR] on Friday announced it’s delivering the next two prototypes of the Army’s new intelligence ground station.

The latest update follows the delivery of the initial Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) system last August, with Palantir under contract to provide the Army with 10 total prototypes.

The first Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) prototype. (Photo Credit: US Army)

“TITAN is the Army’s first AI-defined intelligence system, and this delivery marks a new chapter in Palantir’s history bringing next-generation capabilities to America’s warfighters,” Palantir said in a statement.

Palantir beat out RTX [RTX] in early March 2024 to continue developing TITAN, winning a $178.4 million agreement to move forward on the prototyping program and to build the 10 systems for testing (Defense Daily, March 6 2024).

The first prototype arrived at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Washington last August, with the Army noting it would go through “rigorous testing and evaluation” (Defense Daily, Aug. 5 2024).

The two new prototypes are configured to a new hardware and software baseline as part of the prototype maturation phase of the program, Palantir told Defense Daily.

“There has been continuous, iterative feedback during this phase to rapidly improve the baseline for both hardware and software,” Palantir said.

The TITAN program is expected to deliver scalable and expeditionary intelligence ground stations capable of providing fused sensor data to weapons systems at the battalion level, with the Army describing the future system as “a crucial component to enable deep sensing and [shortening] the sensor-to-shooter loop.”

Palantir, whose team for TITAN includes Northrop Grumman [NOC], Anduril Industries, L3Harris Technologies [LHX], Pacific Defense, SNC, Strategic Technology Consulting and World Wide Technology, has previously described its TITAN solution as a “ground station that has access to space, high altitude, aerial and terrestrial sensors to provide actionable targeting information for enhanced mission command and long range precision fires.”

The 10 prototypes Palantir will deliver to the Army are split between five Advanced and five Basic variants of the platform.

The Army has previously said the “Advanced” version of TITAN is intended for heavier platforms such as tactical trucks and includes a space direct downlink capability, while the “Basic” model is designed for lighter platforms (Defense Daily, Aug. 31 2022).

The first prototype delivered last August was an Advanced variant, and the latest delivery includes one Advanced and one Basic vehicle, Palantir confirmed to Defense Daily.

The Army last August also released a Request for Information notice detailing a goal to transition the TITAN program into a production phase in fiscal year 2026, which could include awarding a contract worth up to $1.5 billion covering procurement of nearly 100 systems (Defense Daily, Aug. 20 2024).