The Insider

By Tony Bertuca
October 28, 2024 at 5:00 AM

Senior defense officials are scheduled to speak at several public events this week.

Monday

The annual Microelectronics Commons meeting is held in Washington. The event runs through Wednesday.

Tuesday

The Hudson Institute and National Defense Industrial Association host a discussion on advancing joint experimentation.

Wednesday

CyberTalks 2024 is held in Washington.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies hosts a discussion on the National Defense Industrial Strategy.

Thursday

The American Enterprise Institute hosts a discussion with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin.

By Shelley K. Mesch
October 24, 2024 at 4:04 PM

The Space Force yesterday awarded Northrop Grumman another $1.8 billion for the two early warning satellites it will now carry through build to launch to transition to operations, bringing the total for the program to $4.16 billion.

The Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Polar will consist of two satellites in highly elliptical orbit to watch for various missile types that could pass over the North Pole, which Space Systems Command says is the fastest path for most missiles that could threaten the homeland.

The initial launch date for Next Gen OPIR Polar is scheduled for fiscal year 2028 with the second satellite launching in FY-30. It is set to replace the Space-Based Infrared System and be more resilient to counter-space capabilities while offering better missile defense capabilities and battlespace awareness.

The program passed critical design review in the summer along with Northrop’s Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution ground station.

By Shelley K. Mesch
October 24, 2024 at 3:39 PM

The Space Development Agency picked 19 companies to comprise its first vendor pool to solicit and rapidly award prototype contracts for demonstration satellites.

The non-traditional defense companies won indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts for the Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated Low-Earth Orbit (HALO), SDA announced yesterday. The initial agreement is valued at $20,000, but as contract holders, they can now compete for other transaction agreements.

The orders will focus on rapid, end-to-end mission demonstrations with launches of two identical satellites within 18 months of the award.

The first HALO orders will coincide with the Tranche 2 Demonstration and Experimentation System and will demonstrate feasibility of proliferation for future data links.

“Through HALO, SDA has an even faster and more flexible contracting mechanism in place to compete and award T2DES and other SDA demonstration projects,” said SDA Director Derek Tournear. “We believe HALO will also increase the pool of performers capable of bidding on future SDA programs, including participation in layers of future tranches.”

The companies awarded the contracts are Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Apex Technology, AST Space Mobile, Astro Digital, Capella Space, CesiumAstro, Firefly Aerospace, Geneva Technologies, Impulse Space, Kepler Communications, Kuiper Government Solutions, LeoStella, Momentous Space, Muon Space, NovaWurks, SpaceX, Turion Space, Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems and York Space Systems.

The companies submitted proposals for at least one of three representative orders: the S-band payload Europa, the translator satellite Titan or the tracking dual function Deimos. They will now compete for more specific orders, according to SDA.

By John Liang
October 24, 2024 at 1:34 PM

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on defense contractors' quarterly earnings as well as a Defense Intelligence Agency report on the nuclear programs of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.

We start off with coverage of Northrop Grumman, Boeing and General Dynamics quarterly earnings:

Northrop expecting second lot contract for B-21 by end of year

Northrop Grumman expects to be awarded a contract for the second low-rate initial production lot for the B-21 Raider bomber by the end of the year, CEO Kathy Warden said today.

Boeing CEO says company must fundamentally change as defense unit logs $2 billion charge

Defense manufacturing giant Boeing is again hemorrhaging money, but CEO Kelly Ortberg says the company can pivot back to prior success via better discipline in its "tough contracts" and a focus on risk management in future ones.

Boeing adds $217 million loss on MQ-25 Stingray

Boeing has added a loss of $217 million for the MQ-25 Stingray program, according to company earnings released this week.

GD execs: Submarine supply chain not improving fast enough, program costs rising

The submarine supply chain is not improving fast enough, according to General Dynamics executives, who today said the company is slowing construction work to match the sluggish pace of component deliveries.

A new Defense Intelligence Agency report "provides an updated, unclassified overview of the nuclear programs of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran":

DIA: China on track to have more than 1,000 operational nukes by 2030, faster than expected

China is growing its nuclear force at a faster rate than previously forecast and will have more than 1,000 operational warheads fielded by 2030 on delivery systems capable of striking the United States, according to a new Defense Intelligence Agency report on the growing nuclear capabilities of strategic competitors and regional rivals.

Document: DIA report on nuclear challenges

By Vanessa Montalbano
October 24, 2024 at 1:17 PM

The Air Force wants to deploy low-collateral-effects interceptor technologies against small unmanned aerial systems in future battles, according to a request for information issued today.

The counter autonomous aircraft would be able to defeat so-called Group 1 and 2 enemy systems -- or platforms which weigh up to 55 lbs and operate below 3,500 feet above ground level at roughly 250 knots of speed -- using “hard-kill systems” that limit damage nearby, the service wrote in the RFI.

“All interceptor systems must be hosted on air vehicles that can be determined to be air-worthy by the government,” the contracting authority Air Force Materiel Command stated. Additionally, the aircraft must be “based on or derived from U.S. components and electronics” and “have sufficient flight hours and reliability data.”

The Air Force is seeking industry answers to questions regarding whether the technology can be interchangeable, deploy several effects to different targets simultaneously or what its engagement success rate is at night versus daytime. The service is also interested in the potential product’s top speed, payload, weight and loiter time, plus documentation of any kind of environmental or performance testing that has already been conducted.

The filing asks businesses with knowledge of such capabilities, or which have existing products aligned with the service’s specifications, to respond to the service by Nov. 24.

By Theresa Maher
October 23, 2024 at 3:41 PM

The Defense Department is set to fund a research project to develop infrared seekers for hypersonic weapons for use across military services in the amount of $45 million over three years, the department announced Wednesday.

The Hypersonic Infrared Target Sensing (HITS) joint-service project will be conducted by the Naval Research Laboratory, Air Force Research Laboratory and the Missile Defense Agency -- all led by the Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory. The cooperation of these teams will facilitate the collaboration of more than 50 federal scientists and engineers across military service labs.

The project comes from a proposal submitted for the department’s annual Applied Research for the Advancement of Science and Technology Priorities (ARAP) program award competition. Eligible submissions were required to include funding proposals for applied research “addressing specific technology or capability gaps while enhancing collaboration across the military services and DOD agencies,” and proposals had to “demonstrate a clear pathway from research to product fielding,” according to the Pentagon’s announcement.

The HITS project will specifically address challenges developing infrared seekers for hypersonic weapons -- including “locating targets throughout hypersonic flight, advancing gimbal-free target discrimination in extreme hypersonic turbulence, developing high-temperature infrared materials and addressing thermal distortion through the seeker window,” the release said.

“Investments into our military labs and facilities are imperative for the DOD to invest in technological solutions that attract and retain the future workforce,” Aprille Ericsson, assistant secretary of defense for science and technology, said during a check-presentation ceremony at the Pentagon with the project team, according to the release.

By John Liang
October 23, 2024 at 2:49 PM

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Defense Department signing a defense supply chain agreement with Germany, small businesses being awarded Pentagon contracts, the DOD inspector general looking into U.S. aid to Ukraine and more.

A bilateral, non-binding Security of Supply Arrangement was signed in Brussels yesterday by Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante and Head of the Directorate-General for Equipment within the Federal Ministry of Defence Vice Adm. Carsten Stawitzki:

DOD inks supply chain agreement with Germany

The Pentagon has entered a new agreement with the German military meant to bolster defense industrial supply chains, an increasingly urgent priority for both nations since the start of the war in Ukraine.

A number of small businesses have been awarded Pentagon contracts:

DOD, SBA announce funds for new critical technology investment initiative

The Defense Department and the Small Business Administration announced the first group of Small Business Investment Company licensees and “green light approved” investment funds under the agencies' joint initiative Monday.

The objective of an Oct. 22 Defense Department inspector general's audit "was to determine whether the DOD used Ukraine assistance funds in accordance with Federal laws and DOD policies":

IG finds Pentagon paperwork lacking on Ukraine aid

The Defense Department inspector general's office has found the Pentagon has not adequately documented more than $1 billion in U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, raising concerns that the funds may not have been used as intended.

Document: DOD IG audit of execution of funds to assist Ukraine

Lockheed Martin reported its quarterly earnings this week:

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics sales slip 3% due to withheld payment as F-35 negotiations drag

Aeronautics sales for defense prime Lockheed Martin fell nearly 3% in the third quarter of 2024 -- from $6.7 billion to $6.5 billion -- compared to one year earlier, the company told investors today, attributing the loss directly to contractual and technical issues on its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.

In an Oct. 16 memo, the DOD IG announces an audit "to assess the effectiveness with which the DOD conducted enhanced end-use monitoring of designated defense articles provided to the State of Israel":

DOD watchdog to audit U.S. weapons transfers to Israel

The Pentagon inspector general announced a new audit today to determine whether the Defense Department's "enhanced end-use monitoring" of U.S. weapons being provided to Israel has been effective.

Document: DOD IG memo on monitoring of defense articles provided to Israel

A recent Government Accountability Office report "assesses the extent to which (1) the Army's watercraft fleet is able to meet current and future mission requirements, and (2) the Army has taken steps to address or mitigate maintenance challenges to its watercraft fleet":

Army planning future end state for floundering watercraft fleet

The Army is revising a 2018 modernization strategy for its dwindling fleet of ships that "will outline the vision and future end state for Army watercraft by 2030 and 2040," according to a Government Accountability Office report released last week.

Document: GAO report on the Army's watercraft fleet

By Dan Schere
October 23, 2024 at 10:15 AM

The Army has awarded Teledyne FLIR Defense a $91 million, five-year contract for its Black Hornet 4 personal reconnaissance drones, the company recently announced.

The Black Hornet 4 can be easily carried and launched by soldiers, and the drone then sends video and pictures back to the operator, the company said Tuesday. It is meant to “provide soldiers with situational awareness more safely from a protected position,” and to enable squad and small unit surveillance and reconnaissance.

The Army began acquiring Black Hornet 3 drones for the Soldier Borne Sensor program in 2018 and have placed orders worth more than $215 million altogether in the years since, according to Teledyne.

The Soldier Borne Sensor program “provides units with near-real-time video, increased situational awareness and reduced risk of detection, while allowing units to detect personnel and targets,” according to the Army.

In 2023, the Army awarded Teledyne a contract for 8,000 of the Black Hornet 3 variant of the drone, Inside Defense reported.

For the recent contract for Black Hornet 4, Teledyne has already received $25 million in initial orders to cover delivery of the first tranche of the drones, along with controllers, spare parts and training, according to the company.

By Shelley K. Mesch
October 22, 2024 at 4:32 PM

The Air Force will shed more light on its new structure for requirements generation and capabilities development in an online, unclassified industry day Nov. 14.

The “process-focused, non-technical” information session, the service announced yesterday, is designed to provide insight into how the Air Force has changed its capabilities development process as part of the service’s greater plan to restructure to compete against the pacing challenge, China.

Capabilities development will now be handled by three new organizations -- Integrated Capabilities Command, the Integrated Capabilities Office in the secretariat and the Integrated Development Office within Air Force Materiel Command -- as laid out in Secretary Frank Kendall’s “Reoptimization for Great Power Competition” plan announced in February.

ICC, which was provisionally stood up last month, will be the requirements generator for the Air Force. By creating the command, the service has one organization thinking about needed capabilities across the service rather than what is needed within one major command.

ICO, which stood up in July, works with senior leaders to create modernization plans across the Air Force Department, including the Space Force.

IDO, which also stood up last month, houses the acquirers for the service and will also oversee development and sustainment of various programs.

The industry day aims to tell businesses and other stakeholders how and when to work with the different organizations, according to the notice.

Those who would like to participate in the online industry day should register in advance as the presentation may be capped and participation is on a first-come, first-served basis, the notice states.

By Nick Wilson
October 22, 2024 at 3:11 PM

Naval Sea Systems Command has selected General Dynamics to design and build an unmanned maritime minelaying system, awarding the company a contract worth up to $58 million, according to a Monday notice.

Under the award, General Dynamics Mission Systems will build a tactical prototype system of the Mining Expendable Delivery Unmanned Submarine Asset (MEDUSA), an expendable uncrewed undersea vehicle that will launch from submarine torpedo tubes to lay mines.

The Navy received three bids for the contracts and awarded General Dynamics an initial $15.9 million contract on Sept. 27. Work under this award is expected to conclude in September 2026 but could stretch until 2032 and climb to $58 million if additional options are exercised, the announcement states.

A draft request for proposals was published in September 2023, describing MEDUSA as a “tactical clandestine mining system.” According to budget documents, the system “features torpedo tube launch capability, long range, high payload placement accuracy and can handle heavy payloads.”

The Navy requested approximately $9.3 million for the program in fiscal year 2025 following a $32.5 million request the previous year. Budget documents attribute this decrease to the completion of technical risk-reduction efforts in FY-24 and the transition to contractor design efforts in FY-25.

Industry-led risk-reduction efforts are expected to continue in FY-25, budget documents indicate, along with “submarine integration, system safety engineering activities, mine payload development, and mission planning and submarine control system integration efforts.” A preliminary design review is expected in the final quarter of FY-25.

By Abby Shepherd
October 22, 2024 at 3:10 PM

The Navy's Take Charge and Move Out mission aircraft has a new selected name -- E-130J -- after being previously referred to as E-XX, the service announced Monday.

The Navy’s program for airborne nuclear command, control and communications is set to replace current aging E-6B aircraft and is slated to transition to a major capability acquisition pathway in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, a Navy spokesperson told Inside Defense in August.

“I am proud to announce that the U.S. Navy’s new TACAMO aircraft will be the E-130J,” said PMA-271 Program Manager Capt. Adam Scott in the news release. “This is an important milestone as we work toward delivering the next generation of TACAMO aircraft to the warfighter."

Northrop Grumman is the incumbent contractor for maintaining the E-6B TACAMO aircraft and is currently competing for the E-130J contract award.

By John Liang
October 22, 2024 at 1:02 PM

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Army scrapping plans to base the Mid-Range Capability on Guam, the Indirect Fires Protection Capability (IFPC) Increment 2 project, the developmental Launched Effects initiative, the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle program and F-35 operations and maintenance problems.

On Sept. 11, Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord finalized a budget action to reprogram funds appropriated in fiscal years 2023 and 2024 from lower- to higher-priority projects, identifying $34.7 million previously allocated for the Strategic Mid-Range Capability now available to finance other pressing needs:

Army scraps plans for MRC on Guam; 'adversaries took notice' of inaugural deployment

The Army is scrapping plans to base its new Chinese ship-killing unit on Guam, removing the Mid-Range Capability (MRC) from the planned architecture for the Western Pacific U.S. territory -- an aspect of Defense Department designs for the region not previously made public.

Document: DOD's September 2024 reprogramming request

More coverage from last week's AUSA conference:

IFPC Inc. 2 notches 'very successful' developmental test, begins operational testing

The Indirect Fires Protection Capability (IFPC) Increment 2 project -- the Army effort to develop a new cruise missile defense system -- is pivoting to operational testing this fall after knocking down a trio of targets in a "very successful" live-fire event, a milestone that keeps the project on track for a production review in early 2025.

With FARA cancelled, Army charts way forward on Launched Effects

With the Army's decision to end its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program earlier this year, officials touted the developmental Launched Effects initiative last week at the Association of the United States Army's annual trade show in Washington.

BAE Systems set to speed up AMPV pace with new production line and 'Virtual Proving Ground'

As the Army prepares a pivot to full-rate production for the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, the prime contractor, BAE Systems, announced it will open a second production line, and, going forward, take advantage of its advanced digital modeling system, dubbed the Virtual Proving Ground.

Read our full AUSA coverage.

A new Government Accountability Office report "provides information on how the Air Force and Navy (which includes the Marine Corps) develop their [operations and maintenance] funding requirements for active-duty tactical aircraft; the amount of O&M funds used during fiscal years 2018 through 2023; and any association of trends in O&M funding with mission capable rates":

GAO: All F-35 variants fall short of minimum readiness goals for sixth consecutive year

The Pentagon's costliest weapon system has yet again fallen below Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps mission-capable rate goals, due partly to ongoing challenges with depot and organizational maintenance, according to the government's top watchdog.

Document: GAO report on tactical aircraft O&M

By Nick Wilson
October 21, 2024 at 4:31 PM

The Marine Corps is in the early stages of a transition to buying “agnostic hardware” where physical platforms are decoupled from the software they run on, giving the service freedom to outfit its systems with the best software for the task at hand.

“You typically would buy a capability, you would buy some hardware, and the software would be installed on it. I think going forward, what we're marching toward is agnostic hardware,” Col. Jason Quinter, commanding officer of Marine Air Control Group 38, said today during a Defense News webinar.

“So, the hardware meets a certain performance specification for memory, processing, compute, storage [and] you're agnostic to what company built it. It's just commodity hardware, and that hardware can support the software that we would want to run on it,” he continued.

This idea is still at least five to 10 years away, Quinter said, but the Marine Corps is beginning to establish a foundation to make it a reality. Eventually, the concept could improve interoperability across the Defense Department by enabling more systems to talk to one another.

Currently, many programs of record have hardware interface issues that prevent them from communicating, Quinter said. But in a hardware-agnostic world, the Marine Corps and other service branches could implement their own software fixes to solve these issues.

“The way we're going to make the systems interoperable is through a development and use of [application programming interfaces] or we're going to stitch that software together to fix some of the interoperability problems ourselves,” he said.

The Navy is also taking steps to establish an autonomy baseline for its uncrewed systems, tasking technology company SOLUTE with building an archive of commercially available software and hardware for autonomous surface and undersea systems to help the service select and pair the best capabilities.

By John Liang
October 21, 2024 at 2:01 PM

This Monday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Air Force's new Global Enterprise Network for Universal Sustainment, the Army's Armored Multipurpose Vehicle and more.

We start off with an Air Force effort that makes up the service's portion of the Pentagon's Regional Sustainment Framework announced in May to maintain, repair and overhaul weapon systems in the Indo-Pacific region without needing to send bad equipment all the way back to U.S.-based depots:

Meet GENUS: Air Force's offering for Regional Sustainment Framework in the Indo-Pacific

Since January, a contingent of Air Force Sustainment Center officials have traveled to Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines to forge early partnerships for the service's new Global Enterprise Network for Universal Sustainment, Inside Defense has learned.

More coverage from last week's AUSA conference:

Army makes move to define new AMPV configuration, seeks concept study for engineers

The Army is laying the groundwork for a sixth configuration of the Armored Multipurpose Vehicle -- the first addition to the original fleet of five variants since the AMPV requirement was codified in 2013 -- to give combat and mechanized engineers a modern, tracked system to support front-line forces.

Integration and autonomy: Army wants to hear from industry on robotics

The Army will work closely in a "back-and-forth process" with the user community to develop robotic vehicle capabilities, starting next month when it hosts industry days to hear how companies might help smooth over issues it’s having, officials announced Wednesday.

Read our full AUSA coverage.

Last but by no means least, here's the latest CMMC coverage from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:

Cyber AB sees opportunity to grow assessment ecosystem following release of final CMMC program rule

The accreditation body behind the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program is expecting an increase in the number of assessment firms and certified assessors who want to participate in the Defense Department initiative, as work gets underway to stand up a formal ecosystem under the final programmatic rule.

NDIA, AIA propose providing prime contractors with access to CMMC assessments on Pentagon system

Two major defense associations are proposing to allow prime contractors access to an online system where companies who are part of the defense industrial base will provide the results of their Cybersecurity Model Certification assessments to the Pentagon.

By Tony Bertuca
October 21, 2024 at 1:07 PM

The Pentagon announced a $400 million weapons package for Ukraine today amid a visit to Kyiv by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The package, being provided via Presidential Drawdown Authority, includes:

  • Ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
  • 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition;
  • 60mm, 81mm, and 120mm mortar systems and rounds;
  • Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) missiles;
  • Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems;
  • M113 Armored Personnel Carriers;
  • Satellite communication equipment;
  • Small arms and ammunition;
  • Grenades and training equipment;
  • Demolitions equipment and munitions;
  • Equipment to protect critical national infrastructure; and
  • Spare parts, ancillary equipment, services, training, and transportation.

Austin, during a speech today, said the stakes are clear in Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion.

“The outcome of Ukraine’s fight for freedom will help set the trajectory for global security in the 21st century,” he said. “Europe’s future is on the line. NATO’s strength is on the line. And America’s security is on the line.”