Defense Daily

Defense Watch: Coast Guard V-BAT, QUICKSINK, Cyber ROE

Readying for V-BAT. The Coast Guard is readying three of its National Security Cutters (NSCs) to begin testing and deployment of the V-BAT unmanned aircraft system (UAS) this summer, a service spokesperson told Defense Daily last week. The cutters are undergoing minor modifications of electrical and fiber optic systems, and installing equipment necessary for V-BAT operations. The Coast Guard is not disclosing the specific timing of the initial deployments due to security protocols but they are part of regular operational patrols, the spokesperson said. The Coast Guard in June 2024 awarded Shield AI a $198 million contract to operate the Group 3 UAS aboard the 420-foot high endurance cutters. Boeing’s ScanEagle UAS is currently used on the NSCs.

MDA Evaluation. The Missile Defense Agency on June 10 awarded Integration Innovation Inc. (i3) a contract potentially worth up to $429 million to have it help evaluate new missile defense system capabilities. The contract announcement specifically said i3 will have it “enable the identification, collection, distribution, and analysis of critical test data needed to assess and evaluate new and updated Missile Defense System capabilities to support fielding decisions to the Warfighter.” At the time of award MDA issued a $100,000 task order to start, with work to occur in Huntsville, Ala., and Colorado Springs, Colo. The total ordering period is set to last through June 2030, plus five one-year options that could last through June 2035. MDA noted i3 was the winner among 14 proposals it received. This award comes as MDA calls on industry and academia to submit white papers on useful technologies for next generation missile defense, in line with the White House’s Golden Dome initiative.

ONR Lasers. The Office of Naval Research on June 10 awarded Coherent Aerospace & Defense a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract worth up to $30 million for laser weapon system components. It specifically covers the SONGBOW Pulsed Fiber Lasers and Directed Energy Subsystems with High Bandwidth Wavefront Control Project. The DoD announcement said the contract covers development of pulsed fiber lasers for remote sensing and illumination that it also hopes will “further the development of a 400 kilowatt (kW) directed-energy subsystem by integrating a 50-kW laser with a beam-control assembly.” The $30 million contract value incorporates a 20-month base period combined with one 11-month and one 18-month option periods that would run concurrently. This was the result of a competitive procurement , with proposals received throughout the year under a long-range Broad Agency Announcement, so DoD could not describe the number of proposals they received. 

EPF-15. Austal USA announced that the shipbuilder and the Navy’s Expeditionary Fast Transport (T-EPF) program team completed acceptance trials on the future Spearhead-class future USNS Point Loma (EPF-15) on May 21. The next step for EPF-15 is delivery to the Navy, set for this month. This is the second EPF Flight II ships delivered to the Navy, following USNS Cody (T-EPF-14). The Fight II variant includes “enhanced” naval medicine capabilities, on the way to ultimately producing a modified EPF as a full medical vessel, the Bethesda-class (EMS-1). The new class will aim to provide hospital-level care. Austal had delivered 14 EPFs to the Navy, with two Flight II EPFs still under construction.

LPD-25 Maintenance. The Navy on June 12 awarded BAE Systems’ San Diego Ship Repair facility a $156 million contract for the maintenance, modernization and repair of the amphibious transport dock ship USS Somerset (LPD-25) in a fiscal year 2025 Docking Selected Restricted Availability (DSRA). The announcement notes this covers all of the labor, supervision, equipment, production, testing, facilities, and quality assurance needed to prepare for and perform the work. The contract includes options that, if exercised, would raise the total value up to $178 million. The work is expected to be finished by January 2027. While the contract was solicited for pen competition, DoD noted this was the only offer it received for LPD-25.

B-2 QUICKSINK. The U.S. Air Force said this month that a service B-2 Spirit stealth bomber by Northrop Grumman used a 500-pound, long-range anti-ship weapon from the Air Force Research Laboratory in a QUICKSINK test at the Gulf Test Range by the Air Force 53rd Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla., Air Force Col. Dan Lehoski, the 53rd Wing commander, said in an Air Force statement that the QUICKSINK demonstration “offers an affordable, game-changing solution to rapidly and efficiently sink maritime targets” and that the weapon “adds options for the warfighter and enhances operational flexibility.” DoD has previously used Air Force F-15 and U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighters for QUICKSINK, and last year the Navy Pacific Rim Exercise featured a B-2 conducting a QUICKSINK Joint Capability Technology Demonstration using a 2,000-pound Boeing GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition. The Air Force has said it wants to field the Spirit Realm 1 (SR1) open mission systems architecture for the stealth bomber, which first flew in 1989. SR1 comes under the B-2 Battlespace Collaborative Combat Communications (B2C3) integration effort. Under B2C3, the B-2 program is to replace the BAE Systems’ AN/ARC-234 radio, which is to retire by the end of fiscal 2026, and the HAVE QUICK waveform.

CYBERCOM Nominee? Among the eight flag officers fired by the Trump administration so far was Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, relieved in April as the head of U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) and the National Security Agency. “We pruned him for over a decade to fill those shoes, and I don’t know that anybody can fill those shoes right now, and it’s gonna take a year or two for people to get there,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation body. “I really believe that the most happy people on the firing of Gen. Haugh were Russia and China.”

…Explanation. Bacon said he knew most of the eight flag officers fired by the Trump administration, who also included then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown. “Yes, the president has the constitutional right to hire and fire generals, but there’s also decency involved here,” said Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general. “I’ve known many of these people. I served with most of these folks when I was a colonel and as a one-star. I knew one as a captain. They served their whole adult life, and I think they deserved an explanation why they were fired, and I think the American people deserved that as well.”

…Limited Cyber Rules of Engagement. Bacon said he is concerned by limits on U.S. cyber offense and that “I think we should be carrying a bigger stick here,” given Russian and Chinese cyber attacks. “I’ve talked to multiple layers [of the U.S. cyber community], and they are restricted based off the rules of engagement,” Bacon said. “Maybe they’re appropriate. I just hope we re-look at them because if China can attack our energy grid, our Wall Street grid, our hospitals, I think we should be reviewing if our response is adequate.”

York on Deck. The first of York Space Systems’ 12 prototype satellites it building for a Space Development Agency (SDA) constellation is ready to launch by the end of June, the Denver-based company said last week. The Dragoon mission will demonstrate secure connectivity to warfighter platforms for targeting, missile warning, and tracking of advanced missile threats. SDA in October 2022 awarded York a potential $200 million contract for the Tranche 1 Demonstration and Experimentation System, called T1DES, to demonstrate tactical satellite communications and Integrated Broadcast Service from low Earth orbit through 2031.

Security Detection Teaming. Artificial intelligence solutions provider BigBear.ai has teamed with Analogic to integrate its computer vision screening technology with Analogic’s computed tomography-based carry-on baggage scanners used at airports worldwide. BigBear’s computer vision technology comes via the company’s previous acquisition of Pangiam, which developed an AI-based threat detection platform for integration with security scanners. The companies said the integration will provide airport security personnel with real-time insights to adapt screening operations.

New Company Lab. Allen Control Systems has launched its Innovation Lab, bringing together interdisciplinary engineering teams to accelerate the development of autonomous systems. The lab will be led by Alex Clark, a former senior director of advance innovations at BlueHalo with experience in counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS). Allen’s main product is Bullfrog, an artificial intelligence-enabled robotic weapons station for C-UAS. “We are doubling down on our commitment to build the weapons systems that the U.S. and our allies will need for the conflicts of the future,” Steve Simoni, co-founder and president of ACS, said in a statement. “Alex’s proven record of scaling complex defense technology programs and his deep engineering and technical expertise make him the ideal innovation leader.”

People News. Jason Rathje, who has led the Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital since it was created in late 2022, said last week he is stepping down. General Dynamics last week said that Danny Deep, the company’s executive vice president of Combat Systems, has been promoted to EVP of Global Operations with a base salary of $1.2 million. Jason Aiken, GD’s lead for the Mission Systems division, will also be EVP for Combat Systems. Miami-based drone maker Heven has appointed Michael Buscher as president of U.S. operations to lead engagement with the defense community and help scale operations for various government and commercial customers. Buscher is a retired Lt. Col. In the Army Reserve and former CIA officer.

Qatari Jet. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week declined to publicly provide specifics on DoD’s potential acceptance of a 747-8 airliner from Qatar that President Trump reportedly wants to use as Air Force One. “Any specifics about future aircraft that could be Air Force One can’t be discussed here. But there is a conversation about a memorandum of understanding…[that] remains to be signed,” Hegseth said when pressed for details during his hearing before the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), who also chairs the Armed Services Committee, urged Hegseth to provide specifics, to include the cost of reconfiguring the aircraft to meet the security requirements for Air Force One. “Why can’t that be revealed in this session? This is the Appropriations Committee of the United States Senate. We appropriate the money that you will spend after it’s authorized by my committee, [SASC]. And you cannot tell us how much the contract is for?” Reed said.

‘Valley of Death.’ A new bipartisan proposal from the leaders of the House Armed Services Committee to speed up DoD’s acquisition process includes establishing the Bridging Operational Objectives & Support for Transition (BOOST) program at DoD to help promising technologies cross the “Valley of Death” from development into production. Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the HASC chair and ranking member, respectively, noted their Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery (SPEED) Act aims to help bring more new entrants to work with the Pentagon, to include reducing “barriers to the DoD’s use of commercial technology.” The legislation is expected to be included as part of the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, according to Rogers and Smith.

DOT&E Cut. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said this week his directive to reduce the size of the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Test and Evaluation down by 50 personnel, down to 30 civilians, 15 military personnel and one Senior Executive Service leader, was a result of a review led by Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg and the Department of Government Efficiency team working with DoD. “After we got rid of a lot of the really low hanging fruit of tens of billions [of dollars] of contracts and things that we’ve reduced that were duplicative, that were completely wasteful, that were creating PowerPoint presentations that no one was looking at, you start to look at things like DOT&E…which in a headline sounds quite significant and it can be in many ways. But when you ask the services and you ask the Joint Staff, you talk to the comptroller and CAPE and you go across the other under secretaries, there’s the universal recognition that the DOT&E’s mission has bloated and expanded well beyond the scope of what it was supposed to be,” Hegseth said at a House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee (HAC-D).

…Calvert Seeks Details. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) pressed Hegseth for details on the DOT&E downsizing, which has already received push back from the top Democrats on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. “There’s a lot of examples of DOT&E catching flaws that would’ve had catastrophic consequences for our military, including loss of life,” Calvert said. “We share the same goals to create a more efficient, leaner DoD. But with things like Golden Dome coming along, we want to make sure that the technologies we pick are going to work and that we fund them accordingly.”

FMTV A2 Extension. The Army on June 11 awarded Oshkosh Defense a $792.4 million contract extension for continued delivery of Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles A2 trucks. Oshkosh said the three-year deal extends deliveries on its current FMTV A2 contract into 2030, and will include providing the Low Velocity Air Drop (LVAD) vehicle variants. “The FMTV A2 contract extension enables the Army to continue modernizing its fleet with proven medium tactical vehicles in support of the Army Transformation Initiative and Force Design 2030,” Pat Williams, Oshkosh Defense’s chief programs officer, said in a statement. “The FMTV A2 LVAD variants fill a critical capability gap for the Airborne community by replacing an aging fleet with an upgraded capability that can be rapidly deployed in contested and austere environments.”

120mm Ammo. The Army on June 11 also awarded General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems a $706.5 million contract for production and delivery of 120mm ammunition. Work on the deal is expected to be completed by June 2029, according to the Pentagon.

Netherlands FMS. The State Department said on June 12 it has approved a possible $215 million foreign military sale with the Netherlands for nearly 300 Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles. Along with the Lockheed Martin-built JAGMs, the deal would also include captive air training missiles, missile handling training and spare parts. “The Netherlands intends to use these defense articles and services to modernize its armed forces and expand its capability to strengthen its homeland defense and deter regional threats. This will contribute to the Netherlands’ military goals of updating capability while further enhancing interoperability with the United States and other allies. These systems will be employed by AH-64 Apache attack helicopters operated by the Royal Netherlands Air Force,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement.

Tech Execs/Army. The Army on June 13 announced the establishment of the new Detachment 201: Executive Innovation Corps, swearing in four tech executives as Army Reserve officers to support the effort aimed at bringing in Silicon Valley expertise to support innovation efforts. “In this role they will work on targeted projects to help guide rapid and scalable tech solutions to complex problems. By bringing private-sector know-how into uniform, Det. 201 is supercharging efforts like the Army Transformation Initiative, which aims to make the force leaner, smarter, and more lethal,” the Army said. Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, CTO of Meta, Kevin Weil, OpenAi’s chief product officer and Bob McGrew, adviser at Thinking Machines Lab and OpenAI’s former chief research officer, were sworn in as Army Reserve lieutenant colonels. “Their swearing-in is just the start of a bigger mission to inspire more tech pros to serve without leaving their careers, showing the next generation how to make a difference in uniform,” the Army said.

DDN Staff Email: [email protected] |

House Appropriators Pass $831.5 Billion FY ‘26 Defense Bill With Measures Protecting UH-60, E-7 Funds

The House Appropriations Committee voted 36-27 to pass its $831.5 billion defense spending bill, as lawmakers reiterated the uncertainty of advancing appropriations legislation without having received full budget details from the Trump administration. 

During the HAC markup, lawmakers adopted provisions to protect funding for UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft from potential cuts while voting down a measure to add $300 million in Ukraine security assistance to the bill.

“The committee recommendation is fiscally responsible [and] adheres to the budget cap put forward by the administration in the abbreviated budget proposal. The committee recommendation was developed with an awareness of the defense investments moving on a parallel legislative track through the reconciliation process. While we sought to synergize the investments in our bill to the extent possible to those in reconciliation, the mandatory spending proposals in the administration’s budget fall outside the jurisdiction of this committee and are not addressed in this bill,” Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), chair of HAC’s defense subcommittee, said at the markup.

HAC-D unveiled its $831.5 billion proposal on Monday, a flat spending level when compared to FY ‘25 enacted funding but which aligns with the administration’s plan to factor in reconciliation funds to achieve a $1 trillion total national security topline (Defense Daily, June 9).

The White House in May rolled out a “skinny” budget outline for FY ‘26, touting an “unprecedented” 13 percent boost in defense spending, while the proposed $1 trillion national defense topline factored in a $113 billion increase that would come from funds in the pending reconciliation bill (Defense Daily, May 2).

Calvert said it was a “challenged process” crafting defense spending bill due to the “continuing lack of a defense budget,” and noted that the committee efforts to look at areas for cuts was “hampered by the lack of a full budget proposal and detailed justification material.”

“This lack of information meant the committee was unable to examine up to date program execution data, [making] it more difficult to assess either opportunities for increased investment or for additional reduction and elimination,” Calvert said. 

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), the HAC-D ranking member, further cited the “unprecedented circumstances” of putting together an appropriations bill without full budget details and noted the uncertainty of funding plans tied in with anticipated spending in the reconciliation bill.

“For example, Golden Dome at this point is merely a concept – we don’t have a plan. None of us have been briefed on how the administration intends to spend $175 billion or deliver it in three years. A portion of Golden Dome is listed in the reconciliation bill. But…what will [DoD] do if that does not pass in reconciliation? They can’t come back to this committee and ask us to fill those gaps. And that’s why defense spending should never have been included in reconciliation,” McCollum said at the markup. 

A budget document the White House submitted to Congress this week lists several major programs where the Pentagon is requesting that large portions of the FY ‘26 funding come from the reconciliation bill, to include all of the requested dollars for the Golden Dome project and nearly half of funds for the B-21 bomber, while spending allocations in the reconciliation bill have not yet been finalized (Defense Daily, June 11).  

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said at the markup that Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has indicated that the White House won’t deliver full budget documents to Congress until the reconciliation bill is passed. 

During the mark-up, HAC adopted two measures by voice vote as part of a package of bipartisan amendments that would block reprogramming funds away from the Black Hawk and E-7 programs and protect those platforms from potential cuts.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the HAC ranking member whose district includes Stratford, Connecticut where Sikorsky [LMT] builds the Black Hawk, pressed Army leaders at a hearing in May on their lack of commitment for awarding another UH-60 multi-year contract (Defense Daily, May 7). 

“I think [the Black Hawk] is a critical tool and I hope you agree with me that is the case,” DeLauro said at the time. “It’s not just a constituency issue here…it’s about the Black Hawk and what it has meant to the safety of our soldiers and the national security of this country. That is my primary goal in addressing this issue.”

For the Boeing [BA] E-7, HAC’s defense bill includes $500 million for the platform and rebukes the Trump administration’s plan to cancel the plane as a successor to the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (Defense Daily, June 12). 

The bipartisan package of amendments that was adopted to the bill includes requiring Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to provide regular reports on the progress of AUKUS’ Pillar 2 focused on advanced technologies work with the U.K. and Australia and to provide detailed information on efforts to develop counter-drone capabilities across the department.

A measure from Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) to add $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative was not adopted by voice vote, with HAC Chair Tom Cole (R-Cole.) citing his support for helping Kyiv while noting that adding the amendment could “jeopardize” some Republican votes for the bill. 

“The politics is just practical. I want to get a defense bill done. And I’m not interested in dividing those who will support it initially by adding an issue that to them is very important and they feel very strongly about. And that’s really the deal here,” Cole said, adding that Ukraine aid “at time this is a very divisive issue.” “If you put this in here, you’re going to end up voting against it yourself in many, many cases. You will vote against the bill that carried the amendment that you supported. And you will expect the people that disagree with you on that amendment to vote for the bill, and they probably won’t or might not.”

McCollum noted Democrats’ opposition to the defense spending bill over the inclusion of “poison pill riders,” such as measures limiting servicemembers’ ability to travel to seek abortion-related care and anti-LGBT provisions, as well as the lack of Ukraine aid.

“Every member here knows what needs to happen for this bill to become law. The Trump administration needs to do its job and submit a complete budget request to Congress. The partisan riders have to come out. That is the only way this bill will get the bipartisan support it deserves. It was deeply unfortunate that we wasted an entire year,” McCollum said.

Matthew Beinart Reporter: Cyber Security/IT/Military Defense Daily Ph: 240-477-2677 Email: [email protected] | Twitter: mbeinart22

GD, AWS Demonstrate Integrated AI, Cloud Solution For Aerial Threats

For the second time in less than a year, General Dynamics’ [GD] Information Technologies division and Amazon Web Services [AMZN] demonstrated an integrated artificial intelligence and cloud computing solution to quickly sort through disparate data sources to provide situational awareness and speed decision-making to contend with aerial threats, including unmanned systems.

The companies demonstrated their co-developed Defense Operations Grid-Mesh Accelerator (DOGMA) solution last August at the Defense Department’s Technology Readiness Experimentation (T-REX) 24-2 event, and again this spring at T-REX 25-1.

DOGMA brings together AI and cloud capabilities with satellite connectivity to streamline data processing and analysis in support of air defense.

The solution reduced the time for decision-making tasks from 30 minutes to three seconds, they said.

“With the DOGMA solution, we enabled analysts to access the data they needed, pass it to other collaborators and perform analytics at scale at the edge and in the cloud,” the companies said.

During the 2024 T-REX, the industry team first demonstrated DOGMA for speeding data processing and decision-making for helping to maintain air dominance, and then was asked to expand its capabilities for monitoring UAS, which they did by retraining their monitoring models in less than a week. GDIT and AWS also were tasked to demonstrate DOGMA at the edge, and provided this capability in several days, getting real-time data from an antenna feed to an edge compute platform.

DOGMA tracked more than 350 commercial aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems, and analyzed nearly nine million aircraft position measurements to predict where the aircraft were going, the companies said.

In T-REX 25-1, DOGMA integrated 16 different data sources to create a common operating picture across eight event locations, the companies said earlier this month. The solution “delivered resilient and secure edge-to-cloud connectivity and allowed mission partners to successfully demonstrate their autonomy capabilities,” they said.

The DoD Office of Research and Engineering manages T-REX to give the department and vendors an opportunity to assess the technical maturity of defense technologies, helping pave the way for potential use in larger exercises, and to receive government contracts.

Cal Biesecker Reporter: Business/Homeland Security Defense Daily Ph: 434-242-7750 Email: [email protected] | Twitter: calvinb21

GAO Says Navy To Merge MUSV and LUSV Programs, Skeptical XLUUV To Become Program Of Record

The Navy plans to merge the programs for the Large and Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels (LUSV and MUSV) into a single autonomous surface craft program while delays to the Orca XLUUV mean the Navy may not turn it into a program of record, according to the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) annual weapons systems assessment.

The report, published June 11, said Navy officials in April told the GAO they would merge the MUV and LUSV programs. The consolidated program thereafter aims to start development under the major capability acquisition pathway by FY 2027.

This follows statement from Rear Adm. Bill Daly, Director, Surface Warfare (N96), who in January said the Navy was shifting from separate LUSV and MUSV programs into one combined larger end MUSV program that would have different payloads to accommodate the separate previous MUSV intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and LUSV adjunct magazine mission concepts (Defense Daily, Jan. 14).

At the time, Daly said the synthesized MUSV should be about 200 feet long and able to field four 40-foot payload containers similar to the Overlord Unmanned Surface Vessels that have been tested in recent years, based on offshore oil drilling supply vessels.

Daly also estimated the costs for each MUSV could be $50 million each and allow competition with many shipyards, given the Overlord MUSV origins as common commercial vessels  (Defense Daily, Jan. 17).

GAO noted that previously the Navy planned for LUSV to be a long-endurance ship intended for warfare operations with varying levels of robotic system autonomy combined with a crewed ship. It also wants them to be low-cost ships that feature modular payloads, especially to augment fleet missile capacity.

However, the LUSV program hit a delay in awarding the detail design contract in fiscal year 2025, and GAO said the Navy now plans to award the contract in FY 2027, “a more realistic date for the program to achieve, according to program officials.

Given the merging of MUSV and LUSV, the 2027 date has shifted to the decision on acquisition pathway.

Despite the program change, the report revealed several other aspects of Navy USV planning. It said the Navy has been developing a new LUSV cost estimate using stakeholders from outside the program office “because the Navy often uses assumptions in its initial cost estimates that may not apply to the LUSV.”

While the Navy usually focuses cost estimates based on a ship’s weight, the automated systems on the Large USV forced them to change the planning because the automated systems have different weights than traditional systems due to the need for the mechanized controls.

GAO also said the Navy is developing a “repository of autonomous capabilities” from government and industry partners and that industry will act as the system integrator for the USV and other autonomous systems, that the approach aims to reduce software acquisition and sustainment costs across various autonomous systems, and it plans to leverage the repository to fulfill LUSV mission requirements.

Separately, the report noted the significant delays with the Boeing [BA]-produced Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) program.

While the Navy started developing XLUUV in FY 2027, the program has been delayed more than once and it now expects to get the initial five prototype vessels before the end of 2025, a three-month delay from a year ago.

Last month, a service official said they now plan to receive the first OXLUUV this summer, dubbed XLE-1, with the remaining vessels delivered within a year and a half (Defense Daily, May 9).

During a December visit to Boeing’s California facility by former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy said XLE-1 was set to be delivered in early 2025 (Defense Daily, Dec. 10).

“It is now unclear whether the Navy will transition the XLUUV to a program of record because there are no clear requirements that the XLUUV can meet within current budget constraints, according to officials,” the report said.

Further changes to XLUUV payloads to meet other requirements or capability gaps would mean the Navy paying the contractor to modify the XLUUV’s proprietary software, officials told GAO. 

“However, officials said that the modular design of XLUUV software and payload modules provides hardware flexibility and supports the potential for adopting an iterative approach. Should the Navy decide to transition to a program of record, an iterative approach could accelerate the Navy’s deliveries,” the report continued.

Orca XLUUVs will start with the sole purpose to deliver clandestine mines, but the Navy envisions them ultimately performing more missions, like deploying other smaller unmanned vessels.

The Orca is already running years later than first planned due to fabrication delays and “ongoing battery development challenges,” GAO said.

A 2022 GAO report explained the vehicles’ issues, largely related to poor business planning because the Navy did not require Boeing to demonstrate its readiness to build the Orca to the Navy configurations compared to the Echo Voyager base commercial model (Defense Daily, Sept. 29, 2022). 

At the time, the report noted the Navy’s changes to the battery requirements were so significant that the company had to find a totally new battery subcontractor.

GAO now says the battery challenges have remained so significant that the Navy plans to use less-capable battery technology than it wants for testing while it awaits Boeing’s development of the intended final XLUUV battery.

The Navy also plans to start operational testing that verifies the system meets mission requirements concurrently with acceptance of the prototypes in FY 2025, but in April the Department of Defense Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) said the program is experiencing testing delays.

The Navy claims XLUUV will be ready for operations in fiscal year 2026.

Rich Abott Reporter: Navy/Missile Defense Defense Daily Ph: 703-522-5915 Email: [email protected] | Twitter: ReaderRabott

CBO: Availability of 7-Year-Old F-35A That of a 36-Year-Old F-16C/D

Facing a “China scenario”–an invasion of Taiwan–continuously mentioned by top DoD officials in recent years would require sheer system number that the U.S. may not have.

For their part, U.S. Air Force leaders have said that a thousand or more unmanned, autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) will help achieve the rapid fighter sortie re-generation required, if the bogeyman lifts his head from under the bed in the South China Sea. DoD has also been working on its Replicator drone initiative, but development/fielding of first person view, kamikake drones, such as used in Ukraine, has lagged.

On the manned fighter side, rapid sortie re-generation looks problematic.

“Since 2022, fleetwide availability of F-35s has been in the range of 50 to 60 percent, which is lower than the program’s target availability rate of 65 percent,” according to a report this month by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). “The [military] services told CBO that they would like to achieve higher rates of availability.”

Such rates include aircraft with operational units and those in depot.

On average, less than 30 percent of the F-35 fleet is in the air 30 hours or more per month, CBO said.

Last year, more than half of Air Force F-35As were available–about the same percentage as the rate for the service work horse F-15E Strike Eagles and above the rate for F-16C/Ds and F-15C/Ds.

“Although the F-35A is not meeting the Air Force’s availability goal, availability rates of F-35As have exceeded those of other Air Force fighter aircraft in recent years,” CBO said. “Those other aircraft are much older than the F-35As.”

Last year, the Air Force had fielded about 400 Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35As, the U.S. Marine Corps 140 F-35Bs, and the U.S. Navy 80 F-35Cs.

Since 2022, full mission availability for the F-35A has been about 40 percent, for the F-35B less than 20 percent, and for the F-35C about 20 percent. Full mission availability measures the percentage of aircraft able to perform all missions, including those at night.

In 2023, DoD spent more than $5 billion on F-35 operating and support (O&S) costs–$3.2 billion of which was for the F-35A. Such O&S costs include fuel, maintenance, and repair personnel.

“As F-35s have aged, their availability and use have decreased,” CBO said. “The availability and use of F-35s have been lower, in some cases much lower, than those of other fighter aircraft of the same age. For example, the average availability rate of a seven-year-old F-35A has been about the same as that of a 36-year-old F-16C/D and a 17-year-old F-22. The availability of the Navy’s F-35Cs has been closer to that of its earlier fighter aircraft at the same age.”

Supply source diversification looks to be a key factor, if F-35 production is to go above the annual Lockheed Martin goal of 156 annually.

In 2023, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman [NOC], Rheinmetall AG, and German officials broke ground on an F-35 center fuselage Integrated Assembly Line in Weeze, Germany near the Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall.

Starting this year, the German plant is to build at least 400 F-35A center fuselages, Rheimetall has said.

As the U.S. Air Force moves out on CCA, Lockheed Martin has said that it demonstrated last fall its ability to control eight autonomous drones from the F-35.

 

Frank Wolfe Email: [email protected] |

Redwire Closes $925 Million Acquisition Of Edge Autonomy, Adding UAS Tech

Redwire Corp. [RDW] last Friday completed its $925 million acquisition of Edge Autonomy, taking the space technology company into the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) business.

Redwire announced the deal in January. The company repeated its previous disclosure that if the acquisition had been completed on Jan. 1, 2025, projected sales this year would be between $535 million and $605 million, and adjusting operating income between $70 million and $105 million with positive free cash flow (Defense Daily, Jan. 21).

Redwire’s workforce totals more than 1,300 employees, and it has more than 628,000 square feet of manufacturing and production space in the U.S. and Europe.

Edge Autonomy’s products include long-range, long-endurance Group 2 and 3 UAS, electro-optical and infrared payloads, and power systems. Customers include Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security, and foreign agencies.

“With Edge Autonomy, we are uniquely positioned to transform the future of multi-domain operations and provide decisive advantages to U.S. and allied warfighters,” Pater Cannito, Redwire’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “We look forward to leveraging our combined capabilities to enable the most critical missions as we strive to achieve air and space superiority and create significant value for Redwire’s customers and shareholders.”

Redwire’s products include solar arrays, deployable boom structures, guidance, navigation and control systems, very low Earth orbit spacecraft, engineering and mission support services, and life- and agri-science in space.

Cal Biesecker Reporter: Business/Homeland Security Defense Daily Ph: 434-242-7750 Email: [email protected] | Twitter: calvinb21