Thursday, April 25, 2024
Thursday, April 25, 2024
This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has coverage of the Space Force, the Navy's Knifefish UUV program, the Army's Chinook helicopter and a lot of defense business news.
The Air Force has submitted its Space Force organizational plan to lawmakers:
Space Force report details plans for agile, 'clean sheet' organizational structure, processes
The Air Force this week delivered to Congress its plan for the organizational structure of the Space Force, outlining "clean sheet" plans to stand up a lean, agile service.
Document: Air Force report to Congress on Space Force
The Pentagon's latest operational test and evaluation report looks at the Navy's Knifefish unmanned underwater vehicle program:
Weapons testers 'unable to assess' Knifefish viability because of test environment
Pentagon weapons evaluators in their latest annual report criticized the Navy's testing of an unmanned undersea vehicle designed for mine countermeasures, saying the environment was too comparable to the conditions the vessels' original creators used when developing classification algorithms.
(For full coverage of this year's DOT&E report, click here.)
Andy Builta, Boeing's vice president of cargo and utility helicopters and H-47 program manager, spoke with reporters during a media call yesterday:
Boeing to accelerate Chinook Block II flight testing with funding restored
Boeing will accelerate its CH-47 Block II flight testing after a second aircraft enters flight tests "as early as next week," according to a company official.
Some big mergers and acquisitions news within the defense contractor world:
Leidos to acquire L3Harris' airport security businesses
Leidos said today it has agreed to acquire L3Harris Technologies' security detection and automation businesses for $1 billion in cash.
Huntington Ingalls to acquire Hydroid
Huntington Ingalls Industries said today it has agreed to acquire Hydroid, which provides advanced marine robotics to the defense and maritime markets, in a $350 million deal.
AECOM's management services business becomes stand-alone company Amentum
The former management services unit within AECOM is now a stand-alone, private company called Amentum.
Lockheed Martin Ventures made nine new investments in 2019
Lockheed Martin Ventures, the venture capital arm of the world's largest defense contractor, last year invested in nine new companies and made more than 30 follow-on investments.
The Golden Horde swarming munitions vanguard program aims to introduce networking and autonomy to munitions the Air Force already has in its inventory:
'Collaborative' Small Diameter Bomb I, MALD to serve as initial Golden Horde demonstrators
The Air Force has selected variants of the Small Diameter Bomb I and Miniature Air Launched Decoy as the initial demonstration weapons for the Golden Horde swarming munitions vanguard program, according to a service spokeswoman.