Saturday, April 27, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
Jason Sherman is a reporter for Inside Defense. For more than two decades -- including stints with Defense News and Armed Forces Journal -- he has covered the Pentagon, defense industry, the military budget, weapon system acquisition and defense policy formulation as well as reporting on technology, business, and global arms trade. Jason has traveled to more than 40 countries, studied medieval history at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and lives in Brooklyn.
The Army and Lockheed Martin are aiming by the end of this year to begin incorporating a multimode seeker into the Precision Strike Missile -- adding a sensor that will give the long-range weapon an option to attack ships as well as surface targets -- expanding the service's inventory of so-called multidomain weapons, a capability intended to complicate China's response in a potential conflict.
A Senate panel has recommended a steep cut to Army plans in fiscal year 2022 to rapidly prototype and test trailer-sized directed-energy weapons, a proposal that if enacted could hobble service plans for laser and microwave protections against cruise missiles and drone swarms.
The Army is getting ready to lock in a requirement for an extended-range variant of its Precision Strike Missile and is moving to shroud the reach of the planned weapon -- which service leaders previously discussed openly -- in secrecy, a determination that will codify the scope of the competition for industry and keep potential adversaries, such as China, guessing about the precise offensive potential of U.S. ground units.
Three defense contractors from Europe and the Middle East deployed to Washington, DC, their respective 155 mm howitzer variants mounted on trucks for display at a convention center, all hoping to catch the attention of U.S. government officials who are contemplating options for replacing towed cannons that are now deemed vulnerable to counter-battery fire against an advanced adversary such as Russia or China.
Sandia National Laboratories launched a trio of research rockets in support of a Pentagon project to develop and field a long-range hypersonic weapon, the Navy announced today, lofting instrumented boosters over the Atlantic Ocean from a U.S. government launch pad in Virginia.
White House, Pentagon and North American Aerospace Defense Command officials are refining a list of critical sites in the United States and Canada for active defense against long-range Russian and Chinese cruise missiles, eyeing domestic deployments in a crisis of sophisticated air defense systems such as Patriot and optimal locations for fighter aircraft armed with advanced radar.
The Missile Defense Agency's plan to deliver the Long Range Discrimination Radar for operations is delayed yet again -- pushing the key milestone off by an entire year compared to original plans -- with a new target date now set for December 2021 as the government and prime contractor Lockheed Martin work to complete installation of the new sensor next month.
Senate appropriators are proposing $10.3 billion for the Missile Defense Agency in fiscal year 2022, an increase of $1.4 billion above the Pentagon’s request, including funds to buy 14 additional Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and eight Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptors as well as finance the start of a new air and missile defense system for Guam.
The Army -- which earlier this month announced deployment of its first Iron Dome battery to Guam -- is "on track" to ready for deployment a second short-range air defense battery equipped with the Israeli-developed system by December, according to a senior leader, in accordance with statutory mandates to utilize the interim cruise missile defense capability which the service does not plan to fully integrate with other elements of its air- and missile-defense network.
The first Army unit equipped with the new Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense capability conducted a first-ever, live-fire of the rapidly developed system this month -- a major milestone in the effort to harden U.S. ground forces in Europe from Russian threats.
U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command is readying within weeks to commence a high-stakes assessment of Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense -- a command-and-control system that integrates sensors, weapons and mission command across an integrated fire control network.
Lockheed Martin believes it can accelerate delivery of a Next Generation Interceptor to support emplacement by 2027, a new development that matches expectations from senior military officials that incentives built into the acquisition strategy could deliver a new guided missile to defeat North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles sooner than 2028.
AM General, maker of the U.S. military's legacy light tactical vehicle fleet, will toss its hat in the ring for the upcoming competition to build Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, a move that presents incumbent Oshkosh with a formidable challenger and assures the Army an industrial rivalry that acquisition officials hope will drive innovation and a fair cost in an estimated $7.6 billion project.
Lockheed Martin is touting a "record-breaking" flight of the Precision Strike Missile but will not disclose whether the new surface-to-surface round exceeded a 499-kilometer objective during an Oct. 13 test over the Pacific Ocean.
Lockheed Martin is planning an Oct. 13 flight test of its new deep strike weapon over the Pacific Ocean by conducting a maximum-range assessment of the Precision Strike Munition, untethering the next-generation surface-to-surface missile to fly out as far as it can -- possibly further than the 499-kilometer objective, according to a senior company representative.
Raytheon Technologies has developed a new medium-range radar optimized to support the full reach of the NASAMS missile, offering users of the ground-based air defense system a detection range greater than the Sentinel radar by drawing on technology developed for the Army’s Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor.
Raytheon Technologies is rebranding its LTAMDS radar GhostEye, shedding the U.S. government’s acronym for Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor for a moniker that suggests an invisible power with the capability to see -- petitioning the Commerce Department to trademark the name for the next-generation Patriot radar, a sensor with significant foreign sales potential.
The Pentagon would be required in fiscal year 2022 to draft a plan to help Taiwan improve its defenses against mainland China as well as adopt measures -- in accordance with a proposed new explicit policy -- ensuring U.S. forces can deny Beijing a fait accompli that would unilaterally alter the status quo with the self-governing island.
Lockheed Martin last week awarded Boeing a $1.1 billion contract to supply seekers for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors.
Lawmakers want an independent critique of the Defense Department’s system for creating annual budgets and future years spending plans, seeking an assessment of the efficacy and efficiency of processes introduced during the Kennedy administration to meet the needs of today's rapid technology acquisition in formulating and executing U.S. military expenditures.