AUSA. Rick Maze, the Association of the USA Army’s (AUSA) director of media operations, provided an update to Defense Day by day that the organization’s annual conference scheduled for Oct. 9 to 11 will happen “even when there’s a government shutdown due to a lapse in federal appropriations.” The event, which gathers 1000’s for Army updates and industry exhibits, may coincide with a shutdown if Congress is unable to pass final appropriations bills or a seamless resolution stopgap funding bill before the tip of September. “AUSA is preparing contingency plans that can allow the meeting to happen whatever the federal funding situation,” Maze said.
Navy S&T Board. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said he has established the Department of the Navy’s Science and Technology Board (DoN STB) as a federal advisory committee. The board is billed as a solution to provide the Navy with independent advice on scientific, technical, manufacturing, acquisition, logistics, medicine and business management functions. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin appointed former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig because the chair of the DoN STB. The vice chair might be Howard Fireman, former Chief Architect of the Navy, and the designated federal official might be Maria Proestou, a former industry executive serving as strategic acquisition adviser to the Department of the Navy. A Sept. 11 federal notice first announced the board will hold its first meeting on Sept. 22.
LCS-25 Commissioning. The longer term Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship USS Marinette (LCS-25) is about to be commissioned during a ceremony in Menominee, Mich., on Sept. 16. The ship was built by Fincantieri Marinette Marine for prime contractor Lockheed Martin. LCS-25 was delivered to the Navy in February. It incorporates the combining gear correction that permits for unrestricted and full speed operations. A combining gear defect affecting this variant of LCS limits the ship’s speed. LCS-25 is about to be homeported in Mayport, Fla.
…And LCS-5 Decom. The Freedom-variant USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) was decommissioned at Mayport, Fla., on Sept, 8 following eight years of operations because it was commissioned in 2015. The ship had two deployments, in April 2022 and June 2023, with U.S. Fourth Fleet. LCS-5 was built by Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Wisconsin for designer Lockheed Martin. The Navy has pushed to retire several Freedom-variant LCSs early as a consequence of a mixture of the associated fee to repair the faulty combining gear on delivered ships and the cancellation of the anti-submarine warfare mission package they were as a consequence of field.
MARAD NSMV. Philly Shipyard Inc. delivered the primary of 5 purpose-built National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV) training vessels for U.S. state maritime academies, the Empire State on Sept. 8. The Transportation Department’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) program goals to supply high class training for future American mariners and to support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions. This primary vessel is about to serve at SUNY Maritime College. Philly Shipyard President and CEO Steinar Nerbovik underscored that is the primary government recent construct for the shipyard. The shipyard won a contract to construct these NSMVs by TOTE Services, LLC, which MARAD hired to oversee construction of those training vessels. The NSMV program can also be the primary government-sponsored shipbuilding program using the brand new Vessel Construction manager (VCM) model, which had MARAD hire TOTE. The subsequent vessel, NSMV II, is about to be delivered for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 2024. The opposite vessels might be delivered in 2026. The NSMVs include instructional spaces, a full training bridge and accommodations for as much as 600 cadets.
LaPlante on 3D Printing. Additive manufacturing has come a good distance prior to now decade and “is real and is real as a capability for us to make use of on our weapon systems,” Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante said last week. Additive manufacturing, also called 3D printing, produces parts fast and “things that we couldn’t have produced otherwise,” he said at an Air Force Association conference. He also noted that 3D printing is “changing how sustainment is being done,” highlighting that Ukrainians are using the technology to supply parts of firing pins for M777 howitzers and “getting them right back into the fight.”
Recent Anduril UAS Variant. Anduril Industries last week introduced a brand new variant of its Ghost autonomous unmanned aircraft system (UAS), the Ghost-X, which incorporates an upgraded propulsion system for as much as 75 minutes of flight time, a doubling of payload capability to twenty kilos, an operational range up nearly 16 miles with an optional long-range communications kit, and modular payload carriage for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. Ghost-X leverages Anduril’s Lattice operating system to automate mission planning, airspace management, and flight operations, and includes recent capabilities resembling vision-based navigation and automatic frequency switching to enable improved operations in areas of low or denied communications.
DHS AI News. The Department of Homeland Security last week issued a directive with two recent policies for a way the department will use artificial intelligence, including for face recognition and capture. Directive 026-11 allows U.S. residents to opt-out using face recognition for specific, non-law enforcement uses, and “dictates that each one uses of face recognition and face capture technologies might be thoroughly tested to make sure there isn’t a unintended bias or disparate impact in accordance with national standards.” A policy statement, Acquisition and use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning by DHS Components, sets forth principles for using AI that comply with an earlier White House executive order on using “trustworthy AI” in the federal government. DHS will even not “establish AI-enabled systems that support decisions based on race, gender, sex, age, nationality, or disability.”
…Chief AI Officer. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has appointed Eric Hysen because the department’s first Chief AI Officer. Hysen will even proceed because the DHS chief information officer. In his AI role, “Hysen will promote AI innovation and safety inside the department, together with advising Secretary Mayorkas and department leadership on AI issues,” DHS said.
More STSS Awards. The Transportation Security Administration last week announced several more awards to a few of its prime contractors that provide security equipment for aviation security. The agency awarded OSI Systems’ Rapiscan Systems division a possible $21.5 million contract for life-cycle support. TSA has deployed the corporate’s Advanced Technology X-ray systems to scan carry-on bags at U.S. airports. The potential values of the Security Technology Support Services contracts to CEIA USA, which supplies walk-through metal detectors, and Desko GMBH, which supplies boarding pass scanners, were redacted. TSA also in September awarded STSS contracts to Analogic, Leidos, Rohde & Schwarz, and Smiths Detection.
More HASTE Launches. Rocket Lab last week said it signed a deal to launch 4 more Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) missions for Leidos in 2024 and 2025. Rocket Lab in June launched the primary HASTE mission, which demonstrated this system’s ability to speed up the cadence of hypersonic flight testing. Rocket Lab’s HASTE suborbital launch vehicle relies on the corporate’s Electron rocket but modified to support hypersonic payload deployment. The HASTE missions are a part of the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed, or MACH-TB, program.
Defensive Cyber Operations (DCO). The U.S. Space Force at Peterson Space Force, Colo. wants a contractor to support cyber “response actions and intrusion detection monitoring across all Delta 6 cyber squadrons,” including the 62nd, sixty fourth, sixty fifth, 68th, 69th, and 645th for Space Deltas 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9, Space Launch Delta 30 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., and Space Launch Delta 45 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla. Contractor tasks would come with “employing DCO capabilities, conducting intrusion detection monitoring and evaluation, identifying malicious cyber activity, and determining attack vectors, executing cyber response activities, developing defensive countermeasures, and providing on-the-job training for Cyber Guardians.” The cyber squadrons have different areas of responsibility. The 62nd, for instance, is under Space Delta 3 and executes counterspace programs, resembling Bounty Hunter and the Counter Communications System, and one other program named Red Cloud, while the 69th Cyber Squadron is under Space Delta 9 and is charged with the Satellite Control Network and orbital warfare systems.
Space Assurances. Elon Musk’s sway on whether and when Ukraine has been in a position to use SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation for military communications is resulting in high-level Department of the Air Force conversations. “If we’re gonna rely on industrial architectures or industrial systems for operational use, then we’ve got to have some assurances that they’re gonna be available,” U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall says. “We’ve to have that. Otherwise, they’re a convenience and perhaps an economy in peacetime, but they’re not something we will rely on in war time, and we’d like each.”
…War Time Losses. DoD and Musk got here to an agreement in June for the Pentagon to start picking up among the cost of Starlink services for Ukrainian military forces, but DoD has not released the associated fee nor the terms of the contract, nor the precise agency issuing it. Asked whether DoD is indemnified in order that SpaceX would should repay DoD, if Musk pulls the plug on Starlink’s contractual support of DoD-funded communications, Kendall replied that “the difficulty with indemnification is, if there have been war time losses, would they [SpaceX] be indemnified in order that we’d should cover the war time losses they could incur?” Kendall says he will not be sure, that he “doesn’t know what’s in that specific contract,” but that it is probably going a “straightforward industrial contract.” Kendall says that he doesn’t think the DoD contract with SpaceX for communications for Ukrainian military forces is with the Department of the Air Force. The U.S. Agency for International Development in February said that it has provided 5,175 Starlink high-speed web terminals to Ukraine to be used “in areas with compromised network connectivity, including in areas liberated from Russian troops” and by “critical infrastructure operators and the Ukrainian government.”
Ukraine Support. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will travel to Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Sept. 18 to host the subsequent in-person meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG). Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters the meeting will once more bring together senior defense officials from nearly 50 countries “to debate the continued crisis in Ukraine and the continued close coordination by the international community to supply the Ukrainian individuals with the means needed to defend their sovereign territory.” This might be the fifteenth UDCG meeting since April 2022.
Marder IFVs. Rheinmetall received a brand new order from Germany in August to provide 40 more refurbished Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, the corporate said on Sept. 11. The deal is value a “high double-digit million-euro amount,” Rheinmetall said, with deliveries expected to start before the tip of the 12 months. With the brand new order, Rheinmetall might be under contract to provide 80 refurbished Marder IFVs for Ukraine.
Romney Retiring. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah.), the previous Republican presidential nominee, announced on Sept. 13 he won’t seek a second term in 2024. Romney, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations and Homeland Security Committees, noted his efforts to “secure key Utah priorities, including funding for Hill Air Force Base and its program to modernize our nuclear deterrent,” in his retirement message. “On China, President Biden underinvests within the military and President Trump underinvests in our alliances. Political motivations too often impede the solutions that these challenges demand. The subsequent generation of leaders must take America to the subsequent stage of worldwide leadership,” Romney added.
Poland FMS. The State Department said on Sept. 13 it has approved a possible $389 million take care of Poland for F-16 aircraft sustainment and equipment. The brand new Foreign Military Sale covers additional non-”Major Defense Equipment” articles, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) noted, and follows an earlier $82 million take care of Poland for sustainment of Lockheed Martin-built F-16s. The brand new FMS case specifically covers electronic warfare database reprogramming support, software delivery and support, spare parts, Engine Component Improvement Program support, minor modifications and maintenance support. “The proposed sale will improve Poland’s capability to fulfill current and future threats by increasing the reliability of their F-16 fleet,” the DSCA said in a press release.
Austal Sub Orders. Austal USA received a $10.6 million order on Sept. 11 to construct and outfit three electronic deck modules for Virginia-class submarines from prime contractor General Dynamics Electric Boat. Construction is as a consequence of start this fall, with delivery by the center of 2025. This order follows an initial February order from Electric Boat for a Command and Control Systems Module (CCSM). The 2 firms have been working in partnership since 2022, with Austal constructing and outfitting CCSM and Electronic Deck Modules for Virginia-class attack submarines and Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. The Navy has encouraged shipbuilders which have not been traditionally within the submarine field to work with submarine contractors to enhance construct rates and efficiencies.
General Atomics’ Purchase. General Atomics said on Sept. 15 that it has bought Massachusetts-based EO Vista, LLC, founded in 2013 and a provider of advanced space-based and airborne electro-optical payloads. EO Vista is to be a part of General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) group. Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS, said in an organization statement that the acquisition matches as GA-EMS continues “to expand our weather and science programs and our growing portfolio of sensor system payload designs to support a big selection of customer requirements, including Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance missions.” GA-EMS said that EO Vista is supplying the advanced Electro-Optical Infrared (EO/IR) weather sensor payload for a planned GA-EMS EO/IR Weather System (EWS) satellite for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command “to support the transition from the Defense Meteorological Support Program (DMSP) on-orbit systems to a brand new generation of reasonably priced, high performance, small weather satellites.”