The Insider

Huntington Ingalls Industries will lead the refueling and complex overhaul of aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), the Defense Department announced Friday.

The $913 million contract awarded to HII will consist of “engineering, design, material procurement and fabrication, documentation, resource forecasting and pre-overhaul inspections,” the announcement added.

“Comprehensive planning is vitally important to the overall success of an engineering and construction project of this magnitude on the aircraft carriers that serve our nation,” said Rob Check, NNS vice president of in-service aircraft carrier programs, in a company statement. “This contract allows us to properly plan for each step in the overhaul process, from preparing for the ship’s arrival at NNS to its redelivery back to the Navy, so that Harry S. Truman and its sailors can continue to protect peace and prosperity around the world.”

Advanced planning and long-lead-time material procurement is set to be completed by June 2026, according to the contract.

The contract follows debate in 2019 over whether to push forward with refueling the aircraft carrier, with the Navy saying that retiring the ship would allow for greater exploration of unmanned systems technology. Yet, lawmakers from both parties opposed the ship’s retirement.

The contract announcement also comes ahead of HII’s fourth-quarter earnings call this Thursday.

The Navy's Science and Technology Board plans to visit Pearl Harbor facilities and conduct interviews with officials this week on warfighting advantage and emerging technologies.

In closed meetings at Naval Station Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, HI, from Monday to Wednesday board members and subject matter experts will discuss expanding “warfighting advantage through technologies that have the potential to disrupt the nature of warfighting,” according to a Federal Register notice posted today.

Once completed, the meetings will aid the development of recommendations meant to support Navy secretary tasking, the notice added.

Boeing will commence the first 13 deliveries of its MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter to the Air Force this year, a company spokesperson told Inside Defense.

The news comes after the program’s first operational helicopter moved out of the final production stage and took its first flight at the Leonardo Helicopters facility in Philadelphia late last month.

The MH-139 is a multimission aircraft meant to patrol nuclear missile silos, shuttle high-ranking officials around the National Capital Region, and provide some tactical airlift capabilities. Boeing and Leonardo were awarded a contract in 2018 to recapitalize the Air Force’s Vietnam-era UH-1N Huey fleet.

In 2022, the Air Force accepted an initial four Grey Wolf prototypes for military testing.

“We are committed to advancing this program and have achieved another significant milestone with the first production aircraft," Azeem Khan, MH-139 program director, said in a statement. "This accomplishment positions us to complete outstanding testing and move closer to delivering this critical capability to the U.S. Air Force."

The program finally received milestone C approval from the Air Force in March of last year to kick off low rate initial production after facing a 17-month delay. Procurement of the Grey Wolf was ultimately deferred from the fiscal year 2022 budget to FY-23 due to pending completion of three supplemental civil airworthiness certifications to allow for military flight.

The Boeing spokesperson said the company will continue its required Federal Aviation Administration testing as it prepares for initial deliveries. The service has said it plans to purchase 84 Grey Wolf helicopters to replace 63 aging Hueys.

Zeno Power, which in May was awarded a $30 million Air Force contract to build a satellite powered by nuclear waste, has announced a new deal with the Energy Department by which it will obtain radioactive material needed to fuel its “novel” power system.

In an announcement today, DOE said it recently transported a “radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) containing strontium-90” from the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management “to a commercial nuclear facility out of state, where Zeno will recycle the material to power its novel radioisotope power systems (RPS).”

“The technology in these power systems is capable of converting heat generated by the decay of radioisotopes into a durable, reliable source of electricity in remote and challenging environments,” DOE said.

The public-private partnership with Zeno, DOE said, “has reduced the amount of legacy radioactive material on the site” so the company can “recycle the material into a source of clean energy.”

OREM Manager Jay Mullis called the arrangements a “win-win” that removes “a significant source of radioactivity at a savings to taxpayers, while also supporting nuclear innovation.”

Zeno co-Founder and CEO Tyler Bernstein said in a company press release that the “innovative partnership will transform a waste product and taxpayer liability into a clean energy asset that will advance national security and scientific missions.”

“We’ve now demonstrated the core building block of our technology and secured our initial fuel supply chain -- positioning us as the clear leader to commercialize RPS technology by 2026,” he said.

The Air Force contract Zeno was awarded in May was to build a radioisotope-powered satellite by 2025. In October, Zeno also announced it has been awarded a $7.5 million defense contract to build and demonstrate an RPS 2025 that is “capable of providing resilient, distributed power on the seabed.”

The company is also developing RPS technology with NASA and other lunar industry companies.

Zeno, in its statement, said RPSs are “compact devices that convert heat from radioisotopes into a persistent and reliable supply of clean energy.”

Though strontium-90 has been used in RPSs before, Zeno says that past systems have been “heavy, constraining their use to limited terrestrial applications.”

“Zeno’s key innovation is a novel design that increases the specific power of Sr-90 heat sources, enabling broad use of its RPSs in space and terrestrially,” the company said.

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest starts off with some missile defense news, a look at what is causing the cost increases for the Air Force’s Sentinel missile program, financial news from Electric Boat, Army investments in ammunition plants, and more.

Big changes may be coming for the Missile Defense Agency:

New missile defense governance, potential 'integrator' role, to be decided this spring

The Defense Department this spring must re-write its seminal missile defense governance policy to replace a controversial memorandum advanced during the Trump administration that curtailed the Missile Defense Agency's autonomy by elevating approval authority for key activities to senior Pentagon officials.

An Air Force official spoke about the Sentinel program’s cost growth:

Aspects of Sentinel other than the missile drove Nunn-McCurdy breach, official says

It's not the actual missile that's causing the drastic cost increase in the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program but the surrounding civil works components, a top Air Force official said today.

EB discussed its latest financial report this week:

Electric Boat reports improved submarine throughput amid continued supply chain challenges

General Dynamics Electric Boat is seeing throughput improvements within the Columbia- and Virginia-class submarine programs but still needs additional aid from the Navy to stabilize the submarine supply chain, company executives said today.

The Army told us where it is spending big money to improve its infrastructure:

Army spending $4.5B to modernize several ammunition plants

The Army will invest $4.5 billion to modernize its ammunition plants as part of a wide multibillion-dollar, 15-year effort to modernize its industrial base, according to the service.

An industry trade group sees real potential for the CMMC program outside of the defense sector:

AIA sees potential expansion of CMMC program beyond DOD following release of proposed rule

The Aerospace Industries Association is advocating for the Defense Department's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program to be used by civilian agencies, as part of an effort to address "ambiguity" over sensitive information held by contractors and create synergies.

This Wednesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on a Pentagon inspector general's report on the Defense Department's convoluted financial management system, plus the latest on the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program and more.

The Defense Department inspector general issued a new report this week that makes 31 recommendations to reform the Pentagon's labyrinthine financial management system:

IG finds DOD could save $728M by retiring outdated financial systems early

The Defense Department inspector general says the Pentagon is spending too much money on outdated financial systems that will never be compliant with a DOD-wide audit and could potentially save $728 million if it retires the systems early.

Document: DOD IG report on outdated financial management systems

Our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity recently spoke with an Aerospace Industries Association member about the Pentagon's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program:

AIA sees potential expansion of CMMC program beyond DOD following release of proposed rule

The Aerospace Industries Association is advocating for the Defense Department's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program to be used by civilian agencies, as part of an effort to address "ambiguity" over sensitive information held by contractors and create synergies.

Frank Peterkin, the principal director for directed energy at the Pentagon, said this week that directed-energy weapons offer the Defense Department a unique opportunity to transform integrated air and missile defense and counter asymmetric threats and sensors:

Directed-energy supply chains need to be strengthened, per DOD official

A senior defense official today said the directed-energy supply chain must be bolstered if the United States is to compete with peer adversaries like China and Russia.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is still recuperating from prostate cancer surgery and a two-week hospitalization, opened a meeting this week on Ukraine with remarks broadcast from his home saying Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to break the will of the Ukrainian people and its allies:

DOD hosts allies in support of Ukraine amid stalled funding

Senior U.S. defense officials met today with an international coalition of more than 50 countries supporting Ukraine, standing up new groups focused on drone warfare and armored vehicles, despite the fact Congress remains in a stalemate over a massive supplemental funding package the Pentagon says is vital to Ukraine's survival against Russia.

Melissa Dalton, the nominee to be Air Force under secretary, faced some withering questions from Republican lawmakers during a Senate hearing this week:

Nominee for Air Force's No. 2 civilian faces fierce GOP criticism over border

Senate Armed Services Committee Republicans today slammed President Biden's nominee for Air Force under secretary over the administration's delayed response in identifying the Chinese surveillance balloon last year and her office's alleged mishandling of stored Southern border wall materials.

Document: Senate hearing on Air Force, DOT&E, S&T nominations

This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on Lockheed Martin's deliveries of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, the Missile Defense Agency's Next Generation Interceptor program and more.

Lockheed Martin's chief executive discussed his company's quarterly earnings this morning:

F-35s with TR-3 may be delivered even later, Lockheed CEO says

Lockheed Martin may not deliver F-35 Joint Strike Fighters enabled with Technology Refresh 3 until the third quarter of this calendar year, CEO Jim Taiclet said today.

Some missile defense news:

New law extends mandated oversight reporting of NGI program through production phase

The Missile Defense Agency must extend a statutory accountability checklist for the Next Generation Interceptor program that was originally designed to end with the technology development phase after Congress lengthened the mandated reporting regime through production.

Initial reports on new integrated air and missile defense for INDOPACOM due soon

The Pentagon has a new missile defense assignment: craft a comprehensive strategy for developing, acquiring and operationally establishing an integrated air and missile defense architecture for select locations across U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, a 100-million-square-mile region that constitutes more than 50% of the earth's surface.

In case you missed it, here's our deep dive into shipbuilders awaiting news on how much money Congress is going to appropriate for amphibious vessels:

Amphibious warship industrial base is 'underutilized' as LPD procurement pause drags on

With little certainty in the Pentagon's amphibious warship procurement plans, the builders and suppliers that produce these ships are holding their breath as they wait for Congress to complete fiscal year 2024 spending legislation and the Navy to provide a clear shipbuilding forecast.

The Air Force could be on track to finalize the KC-26A full critical design review by the end of the first quarter of this calendar year, or March:

Boeing sends KC-46A's RVS 2.0 critical design review to FAA for airworthiness approval

Boeing has completed the final step for the KC-46A's Remote Vision System 2.0 critical design review, sending the application over to the Federal Aviation Administration, a Boeing spokesperson told Inside Defense.