The Insider

Contractors Saildrone and Palantir Technologies today announced the formation of a new strategic partnership intended to leverage artificial intelligence tools from the latter company for maritime domain awareness applications on the former’s autonomous platforms.

According to a Saildrone announcement, the partnership will “revolutionize maritime intelligence capabilities” by streamlining manufacturing and improving fleet capabilities.

Saildrone makes multiple long-endurance unmanned surface vessels used by the Navy and other U.S. and international agencies largely for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The vessels use “sophisticated and proprietary edge-computing AI/ML algorithms” to detect and track threats including adversary submarines, illegal fishing and drug trafficking, the notice states.

“As demand for Saildrone services surges, the company will integrate Palantir’s sophisticated AI cloud infrastructure to enable rapid scaling across its entire operational spectrum -- from transforming its manufacturing, supply chain, and fleet operations with Warp Speed to enabling AI-powered tasking of autonomous assets in the field,” the announcement states.

Federal civilian employees working in shipyard maintenance facilities and depots are exempt from the Trump administration's sweeping federal layoffs, a defense official told Inside Defense today.

Layoffs have begun in other unspecified areas of the Navy’s civilian workforce, the official confirmed. However, shipyard employees working at government facilities including the United States’ four public shipyards are safe from the cuts.

Testifying before Congress today, Adm. James Kilby, the vice chief of naval operations who is currently performing the duties of CNO after Adm. Lisa Franchetti was abruptly fired last month, said public shipyard workers and civilian mariners at Military Sealift Command are also exempt from an otherwise service-wide hiring freeze.

“We are trying to shape this in a manner that allows us to continue the most important work as we work through guidance from the administration,” Kilby told Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) today during a hearing on Defense Department readiness.

In late February, the Pentagon announced plans to cut its civilian workforce by between 5% and 8% -- 35,000 to 56,000 jobs -- starting with the termination of about 5,400 probationary workers.

Lawmakers have previously raised concerns over the impact of these layoffs on ship maintenance, with Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Susan Collins (R-ME) directly calling on the Navy and Office of Personnel Management to exempt public shipyards from the cuts.

Today, Kilby said ship availability rates sit at about 67% with the Navy still working toward the 80% combat-surge readiness goal established by Franchetti.

The Navy estimates the maritime industrial base -- including both private industry and public maintenance facilities -- will need to hire 25,000 workers each year over the next decade to catch up with ship construction and maintenance demand.

As part of a new Australian AUKUS submarine industry strategy, shipbuilder HII has been awarded a $9.6 million (AUD) -- or roughly US$6 million -- contract to deliver a pilot program meant to integrate more Australian suppliers and products into the U.S. industrial base.

The Australian Submarine Supplier Qualification pilot program will be implemented over the next two years and will “accelerate the identification and qualification” of these Australian sources, according to an HII news release.

“This contract represents a significant milestone in building a resilient and globally integrated supply chain for nuclear-powered submarines,” HII CEO Chris Kastner said in a statement. “HII has a long history of working with suppliers to ensure they meet the highest standards in safety, security, and performance. We welcome Australian partners to help build out this critical nuclear shipbuilding capability and ensure the long-term success of AUKUS.”

The new Australian strategy released last week calls for AU$30 billion to be invested in the country’s industrial base and calls for further investment in workforce training and educational programs.

The U.S. has agreed to sell at least three Virginia-class submarines to Australia starting in the early 2030s, yet builders are currently unable to deliver these boats at a two-a-year cadence. Australia has pledged to give $3 billion to the U.S. to aid on-time production and has already delivered $500 million of this.

Elbridge Colby -- the Trump Administration’s pick for under secretary of defense for policy -- told lawmakers at his confirmation hearing last week that he does support AUKUS and called it a “model of the type of cooperation we need to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”

Yet, Colby did bring up concerns related to the U.S. shipbuilding industry’s ability to meet the country’s own force structure goals, as well as the targets to deliver boats to Australia by a certain date. The potential threat posed by China in the Indo-Pacific means the U.S. should be poised to defend itself with its own submarines, he said.

“If we can produce the attack submarines in sufficient number and [at] sufficient speed, then great,” Colby said. “But if we can’t, that becomes a very difficult problem because we don’t want our servicemen and women to be in a weaker position and more vulnerable and God forbid, worse, because they’re not in the right place at the right time.”

Michael Obadal, currently an executive at Anduril, has been nominated by President Trump to be the Army's next under secretary, according to a nomination posting from Congress.

Obadal’s LinkedIn page lists him as a “senior director” with Anduril for the past two years.

Obadal is an Army veteran who earned a degree in international studies from Virginia Military Institute, then served both overseas and in stateside posts as an attack helicopter officer before joining U.S. Special Operations Command, according to a biography from the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, where he is listed as an ambassador.

He spent 18 years commanding units and task forces throughout Army and Joint Special Operations, according to the bio. Obadal also worked on counterterrorism efforts when he commanded Joint Special Operations Command’s Joint Inter-Agency Task Force for the National Capital Region, and Operation Gallant Phoenix in Jordan.

If confirmed, Obadal would succeed Gabe Camarillo, who served as under secretary during the Biden administration.

Obadal’s nomination follows the Senate confirmation of Trump nominee Dan Driscoll as Army secretary last month.

This Monday INSIDER Daily Digest has coverage of a new Joint Strike Fighter simulator trainer, space-based missile warning satellites and more.

We start off with continuing coverage of last week's AFA Warfare symposium in Colorado:

F-35 pilots at Nellis Air Force Base could train on JSE as soon as this month

DENVER -- The Joint Integrated Test and Training Center at Nellis Air Force Base, NV could soon receive a final assessment of its Joint Simulation Environment before the synthetic test system can be officially stood up in the next few weeks, a senior Air Force materiel leader said Wednesday.

Next Gen OPIR GEO readying for launch this year, needs ULA's Vulcan rocket certified

DENVER -- The first satellites of the Space Force's program to augment missile warning from geosynchronous Earth orbit will be ready to launch this year, a top official said this week, but they will need the United Launch Alliance's rocket to be certified to launch such a mission.

(Read our full AFA Warfare Symposium coverage)

Some Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture news:

SDA Tranche 1 satellites to begin launching in late summer

The Space Development Agency is now expecting its first operational satellites for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture to launch late this summer, the agency announced, about a year after initially scheduled.

The Light Marine Air Defense Integrated Systems (L-MADIS) capability, which was developed in-house by the Marine Corps' ground-based air defense program office, consists of a "fighting pair" of Ultra-Light Tactical Vehicles:

Marine Corps using L-MADIS to protect ships from aerial threats as Pentagon continues hunt for low-cost drone defense

The Marine Corps is using a mobile air defense system to protect amphibious warships from drones and other aerial threats, according to a service spokesperson, who told Inside Defense the recently developed capability now deploys with each Marine Expeditionary Unit as part its Low Altitude Air Defense detachment.

In a recent memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed "all DOD Components to adopt the Software Acquisition Pathway (SWP) as the preferred pathway for all software development components of business and weapon system programs in the [Defense] Department":

Pentagon moves to streamline and scale new software procurement

The Defense Department is being directed to adopt special contracting pathways for rapidly acquiring software, according to a new memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Document: Hegseth memo on software

Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky successfully flew its "rotor blown wing" uncrewed aerial system prototype in both helicopter and airplane modes, the company announced today.

Weighing 115 pounds, the rotor blown wing UAS has a twin proprotor, which takes off in a fashion similar to a helicopter and can then “transition” to horizontal forward flight for “long-endurance missions,” according to the company.

Sikorsky announced in May 2024 that it was conducting flight tests of the UAS to support the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s initiative to develop vertical takeoff and landing UAS that can operate in a variety of weather conditions. The drone can be used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, among other applications.

In January, Sikorsky completed more than 40 takeoffs and landings with the aircraft, including 30 transitions between helicopter and airplane modes, according to the company. It reached a cruising speed of 86 knots during its horizontal flight, and wind-tunnel tests provided “validation of the newly developed control laws by correlating them with real-world experimental data.”

Sikorsky Innovations Director Igor Cherepinsky said in a statement that the new control laws were required “for this transition maneuver to work seamlessly and efficiently.”

“The data indicates we can operate from pitching ships decks and unprepared ground when scaled to much larger sizes,” he said.

Ahead of a Friday night deadline, the House GOP has proposed a stopgap continuing resolution that would fund the federal government through September, adding about $8 billion for defense and cutting non-defense around $13 billion, while also granting the Pentagon authority to spend money on "new-start" programs.

The bill is opposed by Democrats who say it would cut vital domestic spending and not do enough to boost national security.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who has spent weeks trying to get fiscal hardliners to support a CR, has said he wants to pass the bill as soon as Tuesday, relying on only GOP votes and then adjourning the House. Doing so would “jam” the Senate, where the bill would need 60 votes to pass and is opposed by most Democrats.

Johnson issued a dare to Senate Democrats, saying if they voted against the CR the result would be known as the “Chuck Schumer shutdown,” referring to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Johnson, who has the slimmest majority in the history of the House (218 to 214), will need just about every Republican to back the CR.

Meanwhile, Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) called the CR a “slush fund” and said a short-term measure should be enacted beyond the Friday deadline to give bipartisan negotiators more time.

It is also unclear how much support Johnson’s CR has among Senate Republicans.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News he did not believe the government would shut down but also withheld his support for the House’s CR proposal because it included only modest funding for defense and border security.

“The CR is terrible on defense and the border,” he said. “I want a commitment. We're going to have more money for border and defense before I vote for the CR, but I think we'll keep the government funded. The only thing we need to be shutting down is Iran's nuclear program, not our government.”