Welcome to the latest edition of Defense Tech and Acquisition. For those who haven’t noticed, our website is now defensetechacquisition.com and still available on Substack.
The biggest stories across the Department and the defense industry this week:
Pointed op-eds on cost memos, innovation funding, and disruptive tech.
Strong demand and industry advancements in hypersonics
Army advances many UGVs and nuclear microreactors
CNO status report, Navy gets two new ships, a boatload of new missiles.
Air Force puts loads of funds into legacy modernization, F-35 O&S comes down
Space Force pushing for more commercial use, SpaceX/Rocket Lab get contracts
China continuing to build long-range missiles & Russia builds drone launch pads
Congress has little time to pass budget and progress seems stalled for $1.5T
The Pentagon’s War on Commercial Defense Investment
BLUF: A memo signed by Deputy Secretary Feinberg on “Supplier Cost and Pricing Transparency” may be the worst and most damaging piece of defense acquisition and industrial policy written in the last 50 years.
If not quickly modified or rescinded, this memo will have immense damaging effects on the US’ future ability to compete in the coming age of modern warfare.
There is a real need to quickly produce more systems, many of which were designed and first built in the last century.
The problem is this has to be done through an industrial base that has over the decades been coddled by government ineptitude, sheltered from market forces, and constrained by low demand and funding.
Pentagon’s already large, overbearing government unique access to contractor internal accounting systems and management data, presumably with an aim to “better” manage these companies from the halls of the Pentagon.
The problem is the Feinberg memo applies these requirements to all defense contractors and subcontractors, save for those supplying items bought at your local Walmart.
Why this is so significant is Congress and past Administrations have over the last four decades exempted real commercial companies from these government unique requirements because they served as barriers to the Pentagon’s accessing commercial innovation.
We were on the road to commercial innovation with Secretary Hegseth’s announcement in November to embrace past acquisition reforms designed to innovate at speed by emulating Silicon Valley and how once the Department innovated in the 1950s. Unfortunately, that effort was just completely undermined.
The popping noise we are hearing is the Feinberg memo deflating the prospects of more venture capital and commercial defense investment and solutions coming to disrupt the Pentagon.
It intends to manage Silicon Valley like it manages Lockheed Martin—through socialist means not market ones. As the Pentagon myopically focuses ever more on the problem of producing more 1990s systems, the release of the Feinberg memo drives home that fact.
America’s Missing Military Revolution
BLUF: When Pentagon officials identify a problem, it takes years to identify and acquire a solution to meet defense requirements. By then, the solution is outdated. Despite real progress, the U.S. is still not changing this process fast enough, or at sufficient scale, to keep America safe in an increasingly dangerous world.
Relentless private-sector competition has spawned new technologies, but the military cannot buy them, much less do so at scale. The entrenched, byzantine system for acquiring things is why the most sophisticated country in human history is at risk of no longer having the world’s most sophisticated military.
The bureaucratic way the U.S. buys and deploys military technology is, like the rigid, Soviet-style five-year plans that even China and Russia have long jettisoned.
The breakneck pace of technological innovation makes it possible to roll out new autonomous weapons, AI algorithms, and other sophisticated systems.
For Washington and its allies to deter its adversaries from aggression, they must harness the power of commercially derived technology.
To deliver real, enduring change, the entire system needs to be transformed. The Pentagon, Congress, and the private sector need to get comfortable, together, taking risks, making mistakes, and quickly become adept at innovating at scale.
The Pentagon’s risk-averse culture, reinforced by rules established by Congress, encumbers every stage of development, procurement, and integration process.
Perhaps most damaging of all, the budgeting process established by Congress and the DoW locks in specific product designs at least two years in advance.
It is nearly impossible for the Pentagon to make bets on truly new technologies or adapt at the constantly accelerating speed of war.
Even after Pete Hegseth’s November call to reward outcomes and risk-taking rather than adherence to process, the Pentagon’s performance incentives remain structured around compliance, prescribed milestones, and avoiding cost overruns.
Between 2017 and 2023, DIU delivered solutions at a success rate of over 50% across hundreds of projects and helped innovative companies such as Anduril get off the ground. It brought in mission-planning tools, drones, counter-drone tech, and space launch capabilities.
DIU in 2023 moved out on five pillars to include embedding in each combatant command, partner directly with each Service, integrate the innovation community, ensure connectivity to the tech sector and remove barriers, and build relationships with allies and partners to grow stronger together.
Commercial firms are investing far more in defense innovation than at any time since the early Cold War. In 2025, VC firms invested between $30B in defense tech alone and $50B if dual-use companies are included, with over $35B in 2026 so far.
Even with all the expanded authorities, executive orders, and new policies, 1-3% of the U.S. defense budget is spent on truly innovative technologies.
DIU’s budget is around 1/10th of 1% of total defense spending.
Only about 1/3rd of 1% of contracts written are OTAs, whether from DIU or elsewhere, representing < 3% of new funding commitments.
The U.S. should reinforce and scale its early successes in accessing, prototyping, delivering, and integrating commercially derived technology. DIU should remain small, but empowered to serve as the vanguard of change.
Congress should thus carve out 20% of research and procurement budget for each of the services and require it to be spent on solutions in areas such as autonomous systems, AI, energy, biotech, space, cyber, advanced manufacturing, and quantum computing.
Within these portfolios of record, the services should have the freedom that today’s DIU has to switch from product to product, version to version, and from prototype to operational fielding without having to go back to Congress.
Alongside this new flexibility, the services should be required to provide detailed, real-time reporting that shows how they use this money and offer frequent updates, ensuring appropriate oversight for Congress and the American people.
The DoW needs to reduce the cost and increase the speed of acquiring more traditional platforms, and the commercial sector can assist here, by providing components, materials, and advanced manufacturing techniques.
Recruiting patriotic top tech talent willing to take a pay cut will require a major overhaul of the way the DoW conducts hiring and thinks about talent.
DoW officials and Congress, working with the private sector, must take appropriate financial, process, and reputational risks today to avoid taking more dangerous risks to military missions, to the troops, and to the nation later.
Our Take: Doug hit the nail on the head. DoD and Congress must commit a significant percentage of the budget to acquire and operate a hedge force. One that can tap leading tech companies to deliver meaningful capabilities at scale in the near term, and iterate as threats and tech evolve. The real breakthrough is not another innovation organization or acquisition pathway, but creating protected portfolios with the funding flexibility, incentives, and accountability to routinely move from promising tech to operational scale. Doug is right that without meaningful PPBE and JCIDS reforms alongside acquisition, today’s pockets of innovation will remain exceptions rather than becoming the way the DoW operates. Recommend reading his full article.
The Defense-Tech Bubble is Headed for Consolidation
BLUF: Hundreds of billions of dollars have poured into defense tech over the past several years. As a result, new defense-tech companies are launching every day. Whenever that much capital chases a single sector, you create the conditions for a bubble.
Defense-tech startups raising Series A rounds at $300M or $400M valuations with no recurring revenue, no meaningful long-term contracts, and, in many cases, little more than a vision.
Of the $1.5T budget request for FY27, RDT&E and Procurement is $760B. $280B depends on reconciliation. In that $480B, most modernization dollars are already spoken for in programs of record that are sole sourced or closed to new entrants.
The contestable slide of the pie is $54B for autonomous systems and $39B for drone procurement. Those are requests and appropriated dollars will likely flow mostly to established players.
In FY25, obligations to all VC and PE backed national security companies =$4.3B.
Nearly $50B in VC was invested last year. $10 in for every $1 out. The math simply doesn’t support the sky-high valuations today.
Government doesn’t want to manage 100s of niche vendors. It prefers working with a small number of trusted, reliable prime contractors and systems integrators.
Eventually, there will be a reckoning. And my bet is that it’s coming in the next 18 months. What consolidation will look like:
At the top of the market, there will be mergers of mutual convenience among well-positioned peers.
Next, recapitalizations driven by excessive valuations.
Then acquisitions by the primes and by the new mega-startups.
Then the rollups by PE firms to build platforms around anchor companies.
A test for who survives
Do you have real revenue?
Do you own your customer relationships?
Does your technology work reliably in the field?
Do your unit economics scale?
Do you have enough runway?
Four or five yeses, and you’re in a great position to scale.
Two or three, and you should be looking to take aggressive action now, and potentially to merge from strength. Fewer than two, you’re selling a story
Our take: Jordan’s analysis reinforces what we found in Are the Tech Bros Blockheads?: private capital and defense-tech valuations have raced far ahead of the Pentagon’s actual spending behavior, with most meaningful procurement dollars still flowing through established programs and primes. Consolidation is therefore not necessarily a failure of defense tech. It may be the healthy next phase that separates companies with real customers, scalable production, and durable warfighting value from those built primarily on expectations of future Pentagon demand.
A Two-Year Sprint to Rebuild the American Arsenal and Deter China
Rush Doshi, Erin Dumbacher, William Henagan, Michael Horowitz
BLUF: The U.S. weapons arsenal has been depleted and no longer has the capacity to deter a Chinese attack against Taiwan. In order to prepare for future conflicts in the South China Sea and elsewhere, the U.S. should undertake reforms of its defense industrial base to focus on the scaling of precise mass systems.
To address this gap in the near term, the DoD and Congress must implement far-reaching reforms to enable the production, acquisition, and deployment of “precise mass” systems: an emerging class of military capabilities that includes drones, sensors, and enabling technologies.
Precise mass systems can be manufactured cheaply, fielded rapidly, expended freely in combat, and sustained readily at scale in wartime.
To fill the gap amid China’s rapid military buildup, the U.S. military must acquire precise mass at scale.
Unlike traditional munitions, there is a concrete path to scaling precise mass. The Pentagon must spend appropriated funds and sign contracts to buy precise mass systems now, prioritizing speed, scale, and “good enough” capabilities over process and the usual “exquisite” capabilities—those that are technologically sophisticated, expensive, and hard to produce.
If war with China comes in the next two years, victory could depend on spending already-appropriated funds more quickly, relaxing procurement rules, and using every available industrial policy tool to expand production rapidly.
Efforts to produce more high-end, legacy capabilities, such as submarines, fighter jets, and exquisite munitions, remain relevant for an invasion or blockade of Taiwan, particularly when fielded in a “high-low” mix with expendable capabilities.
Legacy systems alone cannot provide enough combat power within two years to defeat a Chinese attack on Taiwan. Long production timelines, material shortages, workforce constraints, and other bottlenecks prevent exquisite capabilities from being scaled quickly enough.
Washington needs to immediately put production of precise mass on a wartime footing. To deter China and defeat an attack if deterrence fails the U.S. needs to build weapons faster, give manufacturers greater flexibility, align military goals with available resources, cut procurement red tape, and secure the supply chains required to sustain production.
Getting Creative About the Munitions Crisis
First Breakfast
BLUF: Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg sent a memo to industry leaders giving them 21 days to submit plans to “drive significantly faster, more aggressive delivery schedules and/or increased production for critical capabilities. We asked for ideas.
Open the Magazine: Compulsory Licensing for Mass Production
The Real Munitions Bottleneck Is Qualification, Not Capacity
Stop Lighting Money on Fire
Let ‘Em Build
It’s Not Easy, But It’s Not Rocket Science
We Need a Materials Manhattan Project
Outlaw the Obvious
Form the Army Munitions Production Corps
Earning by Doing
Forge the (Allied) Arsenal of Democracy
Our Take: Read this entire piece, it provides some creative thinking and cogent recommendations for solving this issue.
Pentagon Counter-drone Task Force Preps Shoot-off for Directed Energy Prototypes
BLUF: A pilot program run by the Pentagon’s counter-drone task force is planning to live fire directed-energy weapons later this year, which could be bought on the spot if they perform well.
JIATF-401 is going to run a directed energy shoot-off in December.
The pilot program selected five different military facilities to test out directed energy systems for counter-drone missions.
Officials are interested in directed-energy weapons, particularly lasers and high-powered microwaves, for their ability to cheaply and effectively defeat unmanned systems that have buzzed domestic military facilities and attacked US installations abroad.
Officials are still exploring how they can effectively use relatively nascent directed-energy technology, including for more challenging scenarios like homeland defense that come with greater guardrails.
“A promising demonstration could result in a purchase order that allows us to start building the production lines to get these systems into the field. We need to develop the tactics, techniques, and procedures to be able to use them on a base in a way that doesn’t impede the critical functions of that base.” BG Matt Ross, director of the Pentagon’s JIATF-40
Related: U.S. military to host directed energy ‘shoot-off’ amid governmentwide counter-drone push
New Software-Defined Power System Delivers up to 60% Lower Military Fuel Use
BLUF: Chariot Defense has won a $7.6M DIU contract to deploy its software-defined power systems with U.S. Army brigades. The deployment will put their Amphora systems into the field this fall under the Portable Resilient Integrated Storage Module (PRISM) program.
Amphora acts as an intelligent control layer between power sources and battlefield equipment. It can connect with tactical generators, solar arrays, and military vehicles.
Software then manages how electricity moves between those sources and connected equipment. The system works more like a power management computer than a conventional battery pack.
The platform can move energy in both directions and route available power where it is needed. Chariot designed it to work with existing military hardware. Amphora also collects energy data for command and control networks. That could give commanders a clearer picture of how deployed units produce and consume electricity.
Chariot says Amphora can reduce fuel consumption by up to 60% in combat scenarios. The system can support silent operations for up to 36 hours.
Two Keys to Accelerating System Modernization in the DoW
BLUF:
For nearly 20 years (OIF/OEF), the DoW had to put significant modernization initiatives aside to focus on funding a war being fought across two fronts.
In the last five years, the DoW’s modernization efforts have been somewhat limited. Operation Epic Fury, is being fought with numerous vehicles and weapons systems that were originally designed, developed, and deployed by the military’s industry partners many decades ago.
In addition to the increased number of systems and domains, the DoW also has to modernize on two levels.
This includes things like weapons systems, vehicles, sensors, C2 networks, logistics systems, cybersecurity, and other mission-critical systems.
The institutional backbone, the processes, procedures, and approaches for how those things are used. This includes adopting modern approaches to testing, digital engineering, and application development processes, embracing cloud infrastructure, improving cybersecurity posture, and modernizing other enterprise IT systems that underpin DoW operations.
Moving the needle on modernization requires resources, focus and institutional capacity to implement so many changes at once, all of which are finite.
Even substantial defense budgets are quickly consumed by expensive, complex weapons systems. The larger challenge is the DoW's ability to prioritize, absorb and execute modernization efforts across countless competing priorities.
There are commercial partners that are looking at fundamental problems, challenges, and requirements across the government and attacking them from the ground up, which is allowing them to identify new approaches and solutions.
Embracing a commercial off-the-shelf solution that is 90% or 80% towards meeting all requirements and working to adapt it to meet that last 10% or 20% will enable the DoW to modernize its systems more quickly and at a lower cost.
As the saying goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” The DoW should be making big bets on particularly essential capabilities and modernization initiatives.
Our Take: Yes, we must stop funding duct tape for America’s Ancient Arsenal and shift funding to modern tech and systems.
Judge Blocks Pentagon’s Anthropic Blacklisting
BLUF: U.S. District Judge Rita Lin vacated Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s designation of Anthropic as a “supply-chain risk” and related directives that barred federal agencies and defense contractors from using the company’s products.
The court found the measures were unlawful retaliation for Anthropic’s public positions on military use of its models (including limits on lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of Americans), violated the First Amendment and Fifth Amendment due process, and were arbitrary and capricious under the APA.
Lin wrote that “the empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,” and that Anthropic did not meet the statutory definition of a supply-chain risk.
The Pentagon is not required to use Anthropic’s models; an appeal is expected.
Pentagon Wants New Family of Maneuverable Hypersonic Weapons
BLUF: The Pentagon is preparing to build a new family of hypersonic weapons designed to maneuver past enemy air defenses, and it wants defense contractors to help design them.
The Strategic Capabilities Office published a special notice on a classified Industry Day set for Sep 14-16 in Chantilly, Virginia on a family of next-generation, maneuverable, and precise hypersonic weapons capable of defeating advanced defensive architectures.
Multiple programs will fall under the effort, each using different stand-off ranges, booster sizes, and payload packages to strike a variety of target types.
A hypersonic weapon instead flies low enough and fast enough to occupy a gap that neither ground-based air defenses nor space-based interceptors currently cover well.
SCO plans to award multiple Phase 1 Concept Development Other Transactions for Prototype, a contracting mechanism authorized under 10 U.S.C. § 4022 that lets the Department of War move faster than traditional procurement rules allow.
SCO is a Pentagon office built to move fast. Its mission is identifying, analyzing, and prototyping disruptive uses of new and existing systems, with a goal of fielding capabilities within three to five years rather than the decade or more a standard acquisition program can take.
Hypersonics, Rocket Startup Ursa Major to Go Public in $2.3B Deal
BLUF: Ursa Major, a defense startup specializing in hypersonics and solid rocket motors, today announced plans to take the company public next year in a $2.3B deal.
The agreement involves a merger with the publicly traded Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company backed by Inflection Point Asset Management, which works to take companies public.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.
Since its founding in 2015, Ursa Major has raised more than $380M in private capital while also garnering investment from the DoW to develop technology for solid rocket motors, space systems and hypersonics.
Last month, the company announced a $10M award from the Navy to advance its MK 104 solid rocket motor through critical design review and static fire.
In February, Ursa Major unveiled a new hypersonic missile system named HAVOC that they plan to mostly manufacture in-house for around $3M per unit
“For eleven years, Ursa Major has invested in the hard work behind that outcome: propulsion, manufacturing, testing, qualification and flight. This transaction will help us turn that foundation into the production capacity our customers need. Becoming a public company aligns with our high standard of transparency and accountability, strengthening our ability to deliver responsibly for the warfighter over the long term.” Chris Spagnoletti, Ursa Major CEO
Hypersonic Systems Manufacturer Opens Sixth US Factory to Boost Output
BLUF: Ursa Major opened a facility in Longmont, CO to take over production of spacecraft avionics and in-space propulsion systems.
Moving this work from the company’s Berthoud headquarters will also create more manufacturing room there for liquid rocket engines, hypersonic systems, and solid rocket motors.
The Longmont site includes dedicated welding and manufacturing laboratories, an environmental testing lab, an ISO 7 hard-walled clean room, and an adjoining ISO 8 gowning room.
Ursa Major said the site will consolidate production of its avionics and integrated in-space propulsion systems. The latter include propellant tanks, thrusters, and complete propulsion packages that allow spacecraft to maneuver after reaching orbit.
Programs expected to benefit include its Hadley and Draper liquid rocket engines, the HAVOC Missile System, and its expanding solid rocket motor portfolio.
Longmont becomes Ursa Major’s sixth US location. The company now operates three Colorado sites in Berthoud, Longmont, and Galeton; two Ohio sites in Youngstown and Boardman; and an office in Washington, DC.
The Pentagon’s Cheapest Weapon Is Its Own Name
BLUF: Designating defense manufacturing regions would cost almost nothing and organize what appropriations cannot buy.
The DoW could organize hundreds of regional economies around wartime production, and it could do it for roughly what a good-sized conference costs. The authority has been sitting on the books for years.
What the Pentagon has to do is name things: publish a standard that says what a defense manufacturing region is, designate every region that meets it, and give each one a person inside the building to call. The federal government has never had a cheaper way to organize its regions. It has just never used it.
Manufacturing labor is stubbornly local. Nobody drives 120 miles each way to pull wire. About forty miles is the practical edge of a manufacturing labor market. Every workforce solution needs to be built inside that circle.
The Pentagon cannot stand up three hundred local training programs. What it can do is cause three hundred localities to build their own.
The Pentagon is now creating longer term contracts to preserve its supply-chain, it needs to do the same for workforce.
Congress already supplied the authority in the Industrial Base Fund statute (10 U.S.C. 4817), which lists the defense industrial workforce next to castings, forgings, and machine tools.
A public standard, built on data anyone can check, reproducible enough that a region can compute where it stands. Designation for every region that clears the bar, which is another way of saying the Department picks no winners, caps no cohort, and promises nobody a dime. No new layer of bureaucracy either.
The cost is a small program office and some convenings, a mere rounding error beside the $8.4B Congress added above the president's request in 2026.
Private money is moving toward these industries at a scale not seen in a generation. JPMorganChase alone has committed up to $1.5T to industries it deems critical to national security.
Our Take: This is a solid strategy that we hope our readers in USW(A&S)/IBP and Service equivalent invite Michael to discuss the details further with the appropriate stakeholders to go execute.
SBA and DoW Establish Smaller War Plants Commission
BLUF: The US Small Business Administration and DOW announced an initiative to expand American military capacity, capability, and resilience by establishing the Smaller War Plants Commission (SWPC).
The Commission will marshal federal resources to expand production capacity, eliminate burdensome regulations, accelerate innovation, and provide targeted capital and support to small business suppliers.
Together, the agencies are putting the full weight of the federal government behind the small businesses that comprise more than 70% of the defense industrial base — ensuring the manufacturers, suppliers, and innovators that support our warfighters have the resources to build, grow, and keep America’s military the strongest in the world.
The newly established Smaller War Plants Commission serves as the federal government’s central coordinating body to expand the defense industrial base by investing in small suppliers.
The Commission will develop a comprehensive inventory of small business production capacity for the Civil Reserve Manufacturing Network (CRMN).
Both agencies will work to identify and eliminate costly or complex regulations that impede small manufacturers and deploy support to clear operational bottlenecks.
“Since our nation’s earliest days, American battle readiness has run through small businesses — from the local factories to the labs that forge the Arsenal of Freedom. But over the last fifty years, foolish trade deals and globalist policies shipped American jobs and manufacturing power overseas — eroding the domestic productive capacity that underpins American military might and surrendering our critical supply chains to China.” Kelly Loeffler, SBA Administrator
“The American military is already the strongest fighting force the world has ever known. President Trump has made clear that we will keep it that way — not by accepting a hollowed-out industrial base, but by building an arsenal that can outproduce, out-innovate, and outlast any adversary,” Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War
The L3Harris Shake-Up Is an Opportunity to Bet on Missile Rearmament
BLUF: The abrupt departure of L3Harris’ CEO has landed the defense company’s shares in the discount bin. But the company will be indispensable to rebuilding the stock of U.S. missiles, making the decline a rare buying opportunity.
L3Harris shares are down roughly 11% this year, underperforming a basket of its big U.S. defense prime peers by more than 20 percentage points.
Its shares now trade at less than 16 times forward free cash flow, by far the cheapest in and a third lower than the basket of defense primes.
The company recently postponed a planned spinoff of its prized missile business that makes solid rocket motors—a key component of interceptors—to at least mid-2027, citing unfavorable market conditions.
Smaller military-tech stocks haven’t fared well this year, a bad sign for a market debut. But the spinoff was supposed to be a catalyst that would unlock value within L3Harris, so the postponement wasn’t well received by investors.
The company’s fundamentals still look solid, though. L3Harris alongside Northrop Grumman, is one of only two companies that make solid rocket motors at scale.
The company also has a highly profitable communication segment, with operating margins of 25%.
In all, L3Harris expects its top line to grow to $27B in 2028, representing an organic compound annual growth rate of 8%.
Other Defense Industry News
DOW Critical Mineral Deals
Three Initiatives Causing Industry New Concerns About DoD Acquisition Reforms
BLUF: DoW’s third message to industry since early May is prompting many contractors to strongly doubt whether Secretary Pete Hegseth’s goal of revitalizing the defense industrial base still is a priority.
The Aug. 18 memo on cost and pricing is the latest example in the last three months of the Pentagon adding more compliance and complexity to contractors.
Experts stay this memo along with a July 31 open letter from Duffey and Michael Powers (comptroller), and Duffey’s May 4 memo on Contractor Facilitization Costs, will achieve the opposite effect of what Hegseth called for in November.
Taken together, industry and acquisition experts say DoD is sending a mixed message at best, and at worst, creating disincentives for companies to join or even stay in the defense industrial base over the long term.
“These memos go in opposite direction of what Secretary Hegseth said in November 2025. These send a signal that DoD doesn’t trust industry and that this is an adversarial relationship. DoD put out all of those memos on speed, innovation and expanding the DIB. But all of this flies in face of that. These new memos either show a lack of understanding of their impact on the initiatives or a lack of understanding of all other things already in place to guard against unreasonable pricing.” David Berteau, a former DoD acquisition executive and long-time procurement expert.
Our Take: The demand for detailed costs data has always been a mystery to us throughout our acquisition careers as we were forced to include them in contracts but understood that no one was using them in a value-added way. The cost estimating community loves them because it gives them historical information they can use for estimating another program (which rarely actually works). For execution purposes, they are mostly worthless and there are other measures (software metrics, milestones etc) that are much better for PMs to focus on to resolve delays or quality issues. The bottom line is that these reports are an expensive burden, even for the largest primes, and will not meaningfully contribute to better decisions. A better approach (since we know the costs of these programs without special reports) is to have continuous competition or have vendors submit alternative proposals for an ongoing effort to identify higher value options that could be adopted instead. That’s how you increase value, not through detailed cost reporting.
Office of Strategic Capital Posts Application for National Security Fund Finance Program
BLUF: OSC has announced the National Security Fund Finance (NSFF) program and it is live on their website.
OSC’s National Security Fund Finance program aims to provide capital support to credit funds addressing shortages, gaps, and vulnerabilities in critical minerals vital to United States national security.
OSC’s mission is to advance these strategic interests by providing direct loans and deploying other financial tools. The NSFF program acts as the fund-level financing solution to accomplish that goal.
Stop Digitally Paving Cow Paths
David Kuroda
BLUF: There is a failure pattern that defense acquisition professionals know well. Organizations buy modern software, point it at an outdated workflow, and call the result digital transformation.
In his 1990 Harvard Business Review article, “Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate,” Hammer urged leaders to stop paving cow paths.
The image endures because it is true. A cow path is a route worn by habit. Paving it does not create a better road. It only hardens an inefficient one.
The modern version is easy to spot. A program office buys an enterprise business system, then spends years customizing it to preserve old forms, old approvals, old reports, and old local practices.
The form becomes a screen.
The routing slip becomes workflow.
The spreadsheet becomes a custom report.
The paper folder becomes a repository.
The process is not reengineered. It is simply digitized in place.
The cost shows up later. Customization drives up implementation expenses, expands testing, complicates cybersecurity patches, slows upgrades, increases training burdens, and locks the organization into legacy practices.
The root cause usually is not technical. It is resistance to change disguised as a requirement. The objections are familiar: We have always done it this way. We are different. Our process is special. Sometimes that is true. Often it is not.
For defense business systems, business process reengineering cannot be ceremonial. It must come before automation, requirements finalization, software configuration, and major reorganization.
Weak business process reengineering shows up later as over-customization.
A commercial system comes with standard workflows, data structures, controls, reports, and integration patterns. The organization then asks the vendor or integrator to bend the system around local practices.
Some customization is unavoidable in government (statutes, security, auditability) but not every local variation is mission essential.
The cost compounds quickly. Custom code must be designed, tested, secured, and maintained. Unique interfaces must be monitored. Custom reports must be reconciled. Modified workflows must be retested after upgrades.
Security patches become more complicated because local changes can affect configured logic. Training gets harder because users are not learning the product; they are learning a local variant. It all starts to add up.
For defense acquisition leaders, the lesson is direct. Do not reorganize before understanding the work. Do not automate before redesigning the process. Do not customize a defense business system to protect every local practice. And do not mistake movement on an organization chart for mission improvement.
Our Take: Read this entire article if you have any interest in defense reform because David really nails it here and the impacts of the mindset he describes permeates everything else in the department. It’s emblematic. For business systems, it requires heroes in the functional communities to challenge their own folks and say we are going to evolve even if it’s painful for a period of time.
CenCore Unveiling Defense-Contractor Collaborative in Utah
BLUF: CenCore Group will on Friday unveil the Integrated Warfighter Ecosystem, a coalition of 150 businesses it has networked to win defense and intelligence-community contracts and arm U.S. troops with the best available gear.
A vast majority of IWE members are small to midsize businesses. Many are veteran-owned. And some have never even worked with the Defense Department.
Their product lines comprise both hardware and software: autonomy, command-and-control, counter-drone, energy, manufacturing.
“To provide the best of, from a solutions perspective, you’ve got to work together. You have to collaborate. And so the IWE exists to enable that collaboration.” CenCore chief executive Adam Fife
Bradley Fighting Vehicle Lugging Load Of Swarming Ground Drones Is A Sign Of What’s To Come
BLUF: Army soldiers used a Bradley Fighting Vehicle as a carrier for FireAnt UGV during a recent test exercise. The small 4×4 UGVs can be configured as one-way attack munitions, as well as for EW, surveillance and reconnaissance, and other missions. Bradleys acting as transports and controllers for swarms of UGVs like the FireAnt could open up important new operational possibilities.
Swarmbotics AI, the developer of the FireAnt, shared a video showing the Bradley with five of the UGVs attached to its side.
The footage was taken during Pegasus Charge 3, the third iteration of a 1st Cavalry Division-led test exercise series. The division is one of the operational formations supporting the Army’s larger Transformation In Contact (TIC) modernization initiative.
Units assigned to the 1st Cavalry have been testing and evaluating various new weapon systems and other capabilities through Pegasus Charge events and other exercises.
xTech is an in-house Army technology accelerator that regularly hosts “innovation challenges” to support new developments that could be of interest to the service.
FireAnt is designed to be readily reconfigurable for different missions using modular payloads. The anti-armor configuration, which arms the UGV with an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) warhead, has received the most attention to date.
In this role, FireAnt has to get close to its target to be effective. Swarming capability would be very beneficial here for overwhelming defenders, as well as just launching attacks on large groups of tanks and other armored vehicles across a broader area.
Our Take: We are very bullish on systems like these to shape the future of ground warfare. It is very exciting to see this technology emerge and must be frightening for adversaries to see a swarm of these converge on their position.
Army Tests Robot That Takes Counter-drone Sensing Closer to the Battlefield
BLUF: L3Harris Technologies and ARX Robotics have demonstrated a robotic ground vehicle carrying a counter-drone sensing system during the US Army’s Project Convergence-Capstone 6 experimentation campaign.
The concept is relatively straightforward. Instead of placing soldiers and EW equipment near a likely drone threat, put the sensor on a remotely controlled robot and send it forward.
For the demonstration, L3Harris mounted its CORVUS-RAVEN counter-drone capability on ARX Robotics UK’s GEREON uncrewed ground vehicle.
The system was used to explore how mobile robotics could extend the reach of passive drone detection into forward or hazardous areas while operators remained elsewhere in the battlespace.
The demonstration brought together two different technologies designed around adaptability. GEREON is ARX Robotics’ modular ground platform, built to carry different mission payloads. In this case, that payload was L3Harris’ counter-drone system.
CORVUS-RAVEN is designed around an open architecture and can generate TAK-compatible messages for integration with C2 and battle-management applications.
Army Launches Flagship Strategic Capital Initiative with FedEx Dataworks to Modernize Logistics Infrastructure
BLUF: The Army announced its newest project under the Army’s Strategic Capital Initiative — a landmark collaboration with a FedEx Dataworks-led team of logistics and technology experts, to undertake a sweeping modernization of its domestic non-tactical logistics networks, supply chain procedures and organic industrial base sites.
To meet 21st century threats, the Army is accelerating modernization through the SCI. This initiative centers on aligning the Army’s most acute, strategic needs with privately investable, commercial models to rapidly scale critical infrastructure upgrades without waiting years for traditional procurement cycles and maximizing value to the taxpayer, industry and the Army.
In collaboration with the FedEx-led team, the Army aims to create a predictive, intelligent logistics network to optimize materiel management and improve transportation routing, as well as modernize its physical logistics infrastructure.
FedEx will apply its expertise in large-scale orchestration to Army materiel management, optimizing stock levels and demand forecasting.
"The Army is holding itself to a new standard. A Soldier can order brake pads for his pickup and they're on his porch the next day. There is no reason the Army can't achieve that same level of speed and reliability for the warfighter. Logistics win wars. Through the Strategic Capital Initiative, we're pairing the Army's depots and demand with FedEx's logistics expertise and Google's secure cloud to build a supply chain that moves as fast as the fight demands.” Dan Driscoll, Secretary of the Army.
Army Seeks 8,000 New Short-Range Missiles Per Year
BLUF: The Army is looking for a weapon that is similar to the existing Hellfire and Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM).
The missile should be capable of integrating with joint manned and unmanned air, ground and waterborne platforms using a M299 launcher or equivalent.
Potential targets include heavy/light armor track vehicles, C2 nodes, air defense artillery radars, Counter-UAS, and small fast attack maritime targets.
The missile should be capable of operating amid jamming and GPS denial.
Contractors must provide technology and performance details on seeker sensors, warhead and propulsion solution.
The Lockheed Martin M299 is designed to fire the company’s Hellfire and JAGM weapons. The launcher can be fitted to helicopters such as the Apache, Cobra and Seahawk, drones and even cargo containers.
New $51M Deal Unleashes Switchblade Loitering Munition for 70+ Mile Precision Strikes
BLUF: The Army ordered another $51M worth of AeroVironment’s Switchblade 600 loitering munition systems. The purchase includes the newer Switchblade 600 Block 2 and Block 1 variants. Some Block 1 systems will support a Foreign Military Sale to a U.S. ally.
AeroVironment received the order through the Army’s five-year Lethal Unmanned Systems contract. The broader agreement carries a potential value of $990M. The purchase expands the Army’s growing inventory of long-range loitering weapons.
More than 20 brigade combat teams have already received Switchblade 600s.
Switchblade 600 Block 2 aims to operate where communications and navigation face disruption. Those conditions increasingly shape how the Army evaluates unmanned systems.
AeroVironment upgraded the system’s avionics and navigation capabilities. The weapon also incorporates automatic target recognition through its SPOTR AiTR technology. That capability can help operators detect and identify potential targets faster. It could also reduce the workload involved in monitoring targets during missions.
Army Modernization Problem: Local Transformation Without Direction
Matt Russell and Michael Carvelli
BLUF: Strategic direction has not kept pace with Army modernization. Units and organizations face several valid strategic demands without a clear framework for deciding which demands should shape force design, doctrine, training, and investment. Army modernization faces a problem of direction rather than effort.
The Army’s Transformation in Contact initiative drives transformation from the tactical to the strategic level.
Soldiers and battalion-level formations are developing prototypes, brigades are testing new formations and capabilities, and divisions are validating combat systems.
Portfolio acquisition executives are shortening acquisition timelines and moving capabilities toward fielding. Innovation initiatives connect tactical experimentation with Army-wide modernization. Army leaders have committed the organization to continuous transformation.
Local success does not automatically produce Army-wide change.
Experiments must move from individual formations into force structure, doctrine, training, acquisition, and funding. Scaling therefore requires institutional decisions about which innovations support the Army's strategic direction.
Without those decisions, modernization can remain a collection of successful local efforts rather than a coherent force-wide program.
Senior leaders still must decide which capabilities serve all theaters, which require regional specialization, and where the Army accepts risk. Strategic ambiguity pushes those choices downward.
Clear strategic direction would
Give battalion experimentation a defined purpose.
Align brigade modernization.
Help divisions specialize where strategy requires specialization.
Strategic Clarity can
Reduce duplication across modernization programs.
Increase modernization speed.
Army transformation depends on innovation guided by clear direction.
Army Awards Industry Contracts for Nuclear Microreactors Program
BLUF: The Army selected five commercial partners to build and deploy nuclear microreactors at five initial locations through its Janus program.
Nuclear energy is a natural game-changer for the Army, and in partnership with the DIU, the Army awarded five companies up to a combined $2.2B to own, construct and operate more than 20 nuclear microreactors on military installations by 2028.
Antares Nuclear Inc. will deliver its first microreactor to Fort Bragg, NC
BWXT Advanced Technologies LLC to Fort Campbell, KY
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems to Fort Hood, TX
Radiant Industries Inc. to Fort Benning, GA
Westinghouse Government Services to Fort Drum, NY
Each company will deliver a different number of microreactors based on their negotiated contract, and they have been allocated different amounts of government funds.
The Army’s Janus next-generation nuclear power program aims to deliver secure, resilient and reliable energy to support national defense installations and critical missions.
“Military operations are reliant on constant energy, and as modern threats evolve rapidly, there is a growing demand for electricity. Unlike in prior conflicts, we now know that our domestic electric grid is potentially at risk in a conflict. Right now, all critical infrastructure that the Army has is backed up by some form of liquid fossil fuel, primarily diesel.” Jeff Waksman, PDASA for installations, energy and environment.
Related: The Army’s Project Janus Taps Five Nuclear Companies for On-Base Power
Other Army News:
ThinKom Awarded OTA with U.S. Army to Deliver Alecto High-Power Microwave System for Maneuver C-UAS
How Detroit Defense Is Modernizing Army Logistics for the Fight Ahead
CNO Delivers State of the Navy Speech
Sailors are exceptional but slowed by bureaucracy, delayed maintenance, and processes that steal time from training and readiness.
“Sailors first” means greater lethality: move sailors off ships into barracks, invest in housing/food/fitness, and cut low-value paperwork so people, not processes, generate combat power.
Real-world ops plus new Fighting Instructions and the Foundry–Fleet–Fight concept give clarity on how the Navy builds, generates, and employs power.
UxS, Virginia Payload Module subs, Flight III destroyers, at-sea additive manufacturing, and Fleet Introduction Operating System FIOS are moving capability into the fleet ready to fight on day one, not as endless experiments.
The goal is a self-adaptive fleet (payloads over platforms, mixed manned/ unmanned packages) that deters by posing unsolvable dilemmas and can fight from seabed to space anywhere without asking permission.
Navy Boss Launches Defense Industrial Base Office
BLUF: Acting SECNAV established a new Office of the Defense Industrial Base, led by Andrew Magliochetti as the first deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for the DIB and principal civilian adviser to the Navy’s acquisition chief.
Magliochetti is charged with driving the revitalization of the maritime industrial base, fostering supply chain resilience, and accelerating the transition of innovative technologies from the private sector to the Fleet.
The office will expand the domestic manufacturing ecosystem, mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities, and integrate dual-use commercial technologies to enhance the lethality of the Navy-Marine Corps team.
The move responds to persistent industrial-base problems:
Large backlogs of orders across six major Navy shipbuilding programs
Diminished supplier capacity
Rising costs,
Ships being delivered years late.
The White House has directed the Department to restore both capacity and competition to the maritime industrial base.
Magliochetti brings more than 20 years of experience in finance, private equity, venture capital, small business and national security technology. His stated priority is accelerating the delivery of resilient supply chains and cutting-edge, dual-use technologies directly into the hands of our warfighters so Sailors and Marines are ready for a high-end fight.
Related: Hung Cao taps civilian to stand up Navy industrial base office, Magliochetti appointed US Navy deputy assistant secretary for DIB, and Acting SECNAV Appoints Andrew Magliochetti to Lead Defense Industrial Base Revitalization, Equip the Golden Fleet
Navy Tests Lockheed Missile System Aboard USV for Precision Strike
BLUF: Lockheed Martin and Saildrone demonstrated the ability to launch missiles from an USV during the RIMPAC 2026 exercise near Hawaii, showing how commercial autonomous platforms could be adapted for military missions.
A Surveyor-class Saildrone was integrated with Lockheed Martin’s Joint-Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) Dual Launcher and an Adjunct Remote Engagement System (ARES) fire-control system.
During the demonstration, the vessel responded to targeting data and engaged a surrogate high-speed surface craft while operating alongside the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group.
The companies said the system went from concept to live demonstration in six months, highlighting their efforts to rapidly integrate existing defense technology onto commercial unmanned vessels.
The exercise also included a separate electronic warfare demonstration. The Saildrone Surveyor used passive electronic warfare technology to detect, classify and identify a surrogate radar threat, working in coordination with an MH-60S helicopter.
Our Take: This is very promising. To have a traditional and non-traditional defense company partner to rapidly integrate their capabilities and demonstrate it in a premier exercise. The key is to then scale and iterate the integrated solution. We can’t have these companies get this done in six months only to wait 2-3 years for the Navy and Congress to fund the next phase.
Navy Awards Castelion $90M for Blackbeard Hypersonic Weapon EOC
BLUF: The Navy has awarded Castelion an $89.9M contract to advance the Blackbeard hypersonic strike weapon toward Early Operational Capability (EOC) by 2028.
The award is building on Castelion’s prior work on Low Cost Highly Manufacturable Long Range Strike Weapon Production.
The order funds engineering, technical, logistics, and manufacturing services supporting 50 EOC weapons and Blackbeard’s transition to a Navy Program of Record. It also funds Defense Exportability Features design modifications to accelerate export to our allies and partners.
The award is a critical step in Blackbeard’s transition from development and flight testing toward operationally relevant production. Work will be performed in Torrance, CA, and is expected to be completed in August 2028.
Blackbeard Low-Cost Hypersonic Missile Testing On The F/A-18 Super Hornet Has Begun
BLUF: The air-launched version of Castelion’s Blackbeard hypersonic strike missile for the Navy has now at least been test-loaded onto an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
The Navy is acquiring Blackbeard under its Multi-mission Affordable Capacity Effector (MACE) program
Whether or not any actual flight tests have been conducted is also unclear. Another slide in the Navy briefing at Tailhook included a bullet point reading “Project Alpha – Hypersonic missile shot in 2026,” but does not explicitly say whether or not that milestone has already been reached.
The MACE slide makes clear that the program is directly intertwined with Project Alpha, if they are not just different names for the same effort.
The picture of the Blackbeards on the Super Hornet’s wing offers a new look at the front of the missile, showing what look to be apertures on one side of the design’s wedge-shaped nose. The apparent apertures are also seen pointed up, but many air-launched munitions do flip down after release.
Tiny Air-To-Air Missile In Development For Stealthy U.S. Navy Combat Aircraft
BLUF: The big AIM-424 long-range air-to-air missile has grabbed headlines, but the Navy is also pursuing a new weapon for the exact opposite use case.
The Navy made a major splash this weekend when it revealed the existence of the AIM-424 Malice Long-Range Air-to-Air Missile (LRAAM), which is already deep in development.
At the same time, the service also highlighted plans for a new Compact Air-to-Air Missile (CAAM) optimized for shorter-range engagements and internal carriage on stealthy fighters like the F-35 and future drones as part of its larger future missile vision.
The core goals for CAAM sound virtually identical to what the service has outlined previously in relation to a “Compact Variant” of the AIM-9X Sidewinder (AIM-9X CV).
The CAAM effort is a future inner boundary weapon. Requirements are being evaluated and assessed by N98.
Related: AIM-424 “Malice” Very Long-Range Air-To-Air Missile Emerges From The Shadows, Navy Unveils AIM-424 Malice Long-Range Air-to-Air Missile and Navy reveals new long range air-to-air missile, dubbed ‘Malice’
Navy’s New Anti-Submarine Torpedo Will be a Glide Weapon
BLUF: The Navy is exploring two options for its Silent Anvil Air-Launched Torpedo and is seeking contractors that fit the bill. The first is a new torpedo launched from an aircraft or drone that glides into the water and acoustically homes in on the target. The other is a glide kit affixed to an existing torpedo.
The concept seems similar to the Navy’s existing High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability system, which added a glide kit to regular Mark 54 torpedoes that can be launched from P-8 Poseidon patrol planes flying as high as 30,000 feet.
Or, the Air Force’s highly successful Joint Attack Direct Munition, which added fins and GPS to turn iron bombs into cheap guided munitions.
Silent Anvil would extend the concept to a wider range of manned and unmanned aircraft platforms capable of executing ASW missions.
The Navy seeks a weapon that can be carried internally or externally, and is compatible with a standard BRU-61/A bomb rack.
The torpedo should have compact, lightweight form factor similar to the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) to maximize aircraft carriage options across multiple manned and unmanned platforms.
Related: Navy Wants New Standoff Aerial Torpedo for Carrier Aircraft and Navy seeks to prototype air-launched torpedo system for Silent Anvil program
Taiwan-Bound Harpoon Coastal Defense System Scores Direct Hit in Navy Test
BLUF: The land-based Harpoon Coastal Defense System (HCDS) scored a direct hit during Navy trials ahead of its planned deployment to Taiwan’s military. The HCDS is currently not under contract for the US or any other military besides Taiwan’s, making the successful live-fire test a critical step in fulfilling Taipei’s $2.3B order.
The Boeing-made Harpoon Coastal Defense System successfully struck the test target during a developmental test.
The test was designed to validate the ground-based Harpoon system’s ability to engage at-sea threats.
The test represents a significant milestone in our mission to deliver a vital, high-priority defense capability to the field. Further trials will proceed in the second phase of the developmental phase to further validate the HCDS.
Between 2022 to 2026, HF stocks were bolstered by the hundreds in the “Sea-Air Combat Power Improvement Plan.” Further developments have expanded their ranges out to 1,500 kilometers.
“During the event, the Harpoon missile successfully launched from land and engaged the target vessel in near-shore/littoral waters. HCDS is designed to provide a robust, land-based anti-ship capability, leveraging the proven Harpoon missile to protect vital coastal assets and strategic waterways.” PAE Maritime Release
The Navy’s Looming Submarine Cruise Missile Gap
Bruce Allen Lubbering
BLUF: A subtle but monumental shift is occurring beneath the waves, reshaping the future of American maritime strike capability. As the Navy quietly prepares to inactivate the Ohio-class guided-missile submarines, the era of the undisputed undersea leviathans is ending.
On August 3, 2026, the Department of the Navy formally reclassified 19 planned Virginia-class submarines equipped with the Virginia Payload Module (VPM) as guided-missile submarines (SSGNs).
This move, announced just weeks after USS Georgia (the first of the Ohio-class SSGNs) began inactivation, marks the transition in real time.
The underlying math has generated alarm, pointing to a sudden deficit of 400 to 600 vertical launch cruise missiles as the Ohio-class retires.
If the Navy is losing four submarines capable of carrying 154 missiles each (616 total) and replacing them with 19 submarines capable of carrying 40 missiles each (760 total), the fleet-wide capacity actually increases in theory.
The Navy has explicitly pivoted away from concentrating overwhelming firepower in a small handful of centralized platforms. This strategic shift is formalized under the doctrine of Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO).
This transition from concentrated mass to distributed lethality yields unparalleled operational flexibility, allowing combatant commanders to tailor their undersea presence dynamically without committing a massive strategic asset to a localized conflict.
First LCU 1700-class Vessel Joins the U.S. Navy Fleet
BLUF: Austal USA delivered LCU 1710 to the Navy, the first vessel completed under the Navy’s LCU 1700-class program and the first steel-hulled ship the shipbuilder has ever delivered to the service.
Austal USA, based in Mobile, has built its Navy business primarily on aluminum vessels, including Independence-variant littoral combat ships and Expeditionary Fast Transport ships.
LCU 1710 marks the company’s shift into steel-hull construction for the Navy, a different set of fabrication and welding processes than its aluminum work.
LCU 1710 is built to move equipment and personnel from ship to shore in support of expeditionary operations.
Austal USA and the Navy have described the LCU 1700 class as offering greater capability, endurance, and survivability than the legacy LCU 1610-class vessels it is replacing. Those legacy landing craft have been in Navy service since the 1970s.
Liberator: Understanding the Navy’s New Seabed Carrier Killer
BLUF: In 2025, the Navy quietly unveiled its Liberator program as an effort focused on developing, testing, and fielding a containerized heavyweight torpedo for expeditionary and contested environments.
The Navy curtly described its Liberator effort as a tool to develop an alternative delivery system for torpedoes or similar devices.
This year, new details regarding Liberator’s purpose and capabilities have emerged, still well-hidden, going far beyond what was previously known or speculated about the system’s intended use or deployment platform.
Liberator is an “innovative approach” to torpedo and mine warfare that will deploy as a “stationary system placed on the seabed to launch various payloads”.
Development has been underway for several years and FY2026 funding was allocated to move the system along in its prototyping phase for design and fabrication of a full-scale test asset.
The system is intended to serve as an extension of the U.S. Navy’s Orca Extra Large Uncrewed Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) submarine as a stealthy, covert insertion tool for further employment of the service’s Mark 48 Advanced Capability (ADCAP) heavyweight torpedo.
Navy Exercises SPY-6 Radar Aboard its First Next-Gen Destroyer
BLUF: Raytheon reports that its advanced SPY-6 radar has been successfully tested during the recent “Pacific Dragon” missile-defense exercise near Hawaii.
The exercise featured assets from various allied nations, including the United States, Australia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Chile, and Spain.
Raytheon’s system was tested onboard the Navy destroyer USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125). The exercise included a series of information-sharing and target-tracking events designed to test and improve the participating nations’ air and missile-defense capabilities.
Designed to improve a ship’s situational awareness, SPY-6 can feed its tracking data into the wider Aegis combat system, allowing that information to be shared with other fleet and allied assets through tactical data links.
A powerful upgrade over existing radars, the system is able to monitor surrounding air and sea, track objects, and send targeting-quality data to the ship’s weapons.
15,000 operational days lost due to US submarine maintenance delays
BLUF: Maintenance delays for Navy attack subs have resulted in boats that are frequently idle in port when they should be at sea. Over the last decade, these delays resulted in an estimated $3.4B in costs to sustain crews and submarines that provided no operational capability.
Perhaps even worse for a Navy already overstretched and exhausted, maintenance backlogs for attack subs between 2016-25 resulted in 15,000 lost operational days.
This includes active idle time, when submarines and their crews must remain pier-side because they are no longer certified to conduct normal operations and cannot be inducted into a maintenance period.
In other words, the Navy is stuck paying for a fully-crewed submarine that cannot be deployed.
Given current trends, the Navy will be stuck with 15 subs and 14,000 days of inactive idle time between 2026 and 2030, at an estimated cost of $3.1B.
Related: Submarine maintenance delays, ‘idle time’ cost $3.4B and Navy’s powerful submarines facing ‘idle time’, maintenance delays
Other Navy News:
Navy accepts delivery of final Expeditionary Sea Base vessel
Navy Touts EMALS Reliability As It Starts White House Steam Study
MCWL Accepts first Ancillary Surface Craft Prototype
BLUF: The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory has officially marked a critical milestone in Force Design modernization efforts with the technical acceptance of the first Ancillary Surface Craft (ASC) prototype.
Designed to navigate challenging maritime geography and bridge logistical gaps, the ASC represents a major leap forward in the Corps’ ability to sustain Stand-in Forces within contested littoral environments, particularly in the Pacific.
By using a partnership intermediary agreement strategy, the ASC program moved rapidly from concept to construction, placing work with a non-traditional shipbuilder to shorten the path to a fielded prototype.
Contracted to Birdon America in 2024, the first prototype’s delivery initiates a new phase of rigorous testing and tactical experimentation led by the MCWL.
The technical acceptance of the ASC underscores the Marine Corps' commitment to solving the complex challenges of contested logistics during Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO).
The roughly 150-foot roll-on/roll-off (RO-RO) craft was purpose-built to deliver personnel, equipment, and fuel over the ''last tactical mile,'' beaching directly on unimproved shores.
Marine Corps Bets on Techy, but Human-Centric Ground Warfare for Next 15 Years
BLUF: The Marine Corps’ vision for the next decade-and-a-half of conflict, its ground forces will have drone-busting air defenses at the squad level, specialized precision strike troops equipped with whizbang loitering munitions, autonomous robots, and tools to assess units’ own electromagnetic emissions, lest an adversary spot them first.
Underpinning this vision in a strategic blueprint called Ground Combat Element 2040, is a bet the Marines are making about how its most central formations will fight over the next 15 years: technology will help, but humans remain at the heart of ground warfare.
The Marines will not perfectly predict what the next fight will look like or design the right force to meet it from the start. So, it is attempting to cultivate a ground element that can adapt to those uncertainties, while still being able to fight if those technological advantages collapse under enemy force or in the face of the inherent frictions of warfare.
The long-range assessment includes the intersection of human decision-making and autonomous processes in its design principles. New technology, though empowering, never replaces human judgment.
“There will come a time in a conflict where the robotics and the fast decision making and all of that capability will fail, it will be denied by some adversary action. And so then it will be, what are the humans capable of?” Lt Gen Jay Bargeron, Deputy Commandant for Plans, Policies, and Operations
Air Force Refining Loyal Wingmen Specs
BLUF: Production is underway on Increment 1 of the Air Force’s CCA program, and the service is in the midst of developing what the next iteration of its uncrewed fighters will look like.
The Air Force is currently conducting a CCA Increment 2 concept refinement phase with nine unnamed vendors and the process is scheduled to last until about mid-2027.
The goal is to select up to six conceptual designs to move forward.
The service is committed to continually survey the marketplace and understand who is able to bring capability to bear.
As Increment 2 development continues, it will not be limited to the vendors participating in the concept refinement phase.
The service is undertaking two concurrent development efforts for Increment 2 propulsion systems.
The first is a small engine capable of 1,400 to 1,600 pounds of thrust, which is currently going through preliminary designs.
The second is a medium-class engine capable of 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of thrust. That effort will either involve a clean-sheet design or a modified commercial off-the-shelf system.
Our Take: This is all very confusing. The propulsion folks are spending funds to develop two engine classes but the CCA Inc 2 program will not be constrained by those concepts? It really calls into question why funds are being spent on these engines if there is no alignment to CCA Inc 2 requirements. The other disconnect is that the propulsion folks seem to think that Inc 2 will require greater performance while many in the CCA community expect CCA Inc 2 to be a cheaper version with lower performance. Hopefully, we’ll get some clarity soon - although maybe not until the middle of next year.
Boeing Nabs Whopping $131B F-15 Deal
BLUF: The Air Force awarded Boeing $131.2B for the “F-15 Eagle Crest” effort that covers aircraft production, upgrades and sustainment, among other features, for the Pentagon and the jet’s international customers.
The Air Force plans to surge its buy of the F-15 which will come with its own challenges. as it “introduces new cost and schedule uncertainties” with Boeing dealing with labor strikes and big delays in the F-15EX FOC.
A government report also says that F-15s will require “major technical refresh” to overcome diminishing manufacturing sources which requires replacing or redesigning obsolete systems like the radar, engines and electronic warfare suite.
“As an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, it provides flexibility to support future efforts up to the contract ceiling, while each award remains subject to independent decision-making. The ceiling represents capacity for future needs, not a commitment to spend the full amount. By consolidating these efforts under a single contract vehicle, Eagle Crest will help the Air Force move faster and reduce administrative burden.”
Our Take: This contract likely makes sense given the amount of foreign orders for the F-15 and the need to keep these aircraft (as well as new EXs) that have life left operationally relevant. At the same time, doubling down on a legacy aircraft instead of looking to the future really pains us and it will result in leaving most of the industrial base out of this market for the foreseeable future - as all hopes will lay in the CCA program. There also seems little appetite from the Air Force to look to other vendors who could also contribute upgrades - which seems very short sighted. One can only hope Boeing will deliver because the Air Force is now VERY reliant on their success with many programs (F-35 aside).
F-35 Lifetime Price Tag Dips Beneath $2T Even as Buying Costs Rise
BLUF: The Pentagon anticipates it will cost about $536.3B to acquire all planned copies of the F-35 up from $485.2B in 2024. But the cost of operating it over its lifespan dropped from $2.06T to $1.93T.
The operating cost figure projects costs like the price of fuel and staffing, as well as more complex technical estimates, such as sustainment and future upgrades.
Affordability Initiatives have apparently helped lower anticipated spending and changes to the cost of materials and projected manpower.
Increases in procurement come from higher development costs, boosting of spare parts and buying a new advanced radar.
Air Force Awards $100M Production Deal for AI-Enabled Readiness Platform
BLUF: The Air Force announced that VivSoft Technologies will develop and field a new platform intended to consolidate the service’s fragmented aircrew scheduling, training and readiness-management capabilities.
The company received a $100M OT production agreement for the Aerospace Readiness Enterprise System (ARES) program.
This will consolidate multiple Air Force scheduling software tools into a single enterprise environment enabled by artificial intelligence.
The service plans to begin rolling out ARES across major commands in 2027.
ARES grew out of a broader Air Force push to replace its patchwork of legacy scheduling, training and readiness platforms — many of which require manual data entry and provide limited visibility across different MAJCOMs.
Our Take: We don’t know much about this company but good to see the Air Force trying new approaches to solving these problems.
Air Force Seeks More Portable C2, Comms Approach After Studying Epic Fury
BLUF: The Air Force is modernizing how it conducts command and control (C2) and edge communications, moving away from a decade-old model that proved cumbersome and ineffective.
A PACE plan is a mechanism to prepare multiple means of communications in case one is denied or there are technical issues preventing it from working properly, referred to as a Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency plan.
The Air Force realized they only had a primary means of communications with no redundancies.
Considerations like PACE will be a higher priority in a fight against Chinese forces, whose doctrine insinuates US communication lines are first on their target list.
One of the big focus areas during Epic Fury was to provide edge connectivity for troops at frontline airfields and other forward positions who might be using a ruggedized laptop or radio, but it took too long to get comms kits into theater.
Other efforts being looked at include using software-defined networking capabilities to collapse their four or five independent networks into one that is classification- and transport-agnostic, making the user experience seamless.
“We were operating under a model where we deploy big comm packages that took 10 pallets, about 20 tons, about 40 people to deploy. We can’t do that anymore. We have to be more agile and mobile and we need a case that is carriable by one person and can be run by one or two people.” Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Phillips, Air Force deputy chief of staff for warfighter communications and cyber systems
Air Force Awards Raytheon, Boeing $766M in Contracts for B-52 Radar Upgrades
BLUF: The Pentagon announced contracts to Raytheon and Boeing, totaling more than $766M, for advance work on adding new radars to the B-52H Stratofortress.
The bigger of the two deals went to Raytheon Technologies as an IDIQ contract worth up to $603M to equip B-52s with new AN/APQ-188 radars.
Boeing’s contract is for $163 million to build and deliver bomb rack modernization system kits to support the B-52’s Radar Modernization Program.
The Radar Modernization Program is meant to replace the legacy mechanical AN/APQ-166 radar with a modern active electronically scanned array radar and is a critical part of a large-scale upgrade of the Cold War-era B-52.
Our Take: So much funding is being spent on modernizing the B-52 that the Air Force is essentially building a new aircraft one modification at a time.
Related Articles: Air Force awards $766M for B-52 radar modernization
Air Force Plans Contract That Could Keep RQ-4s Flying Into 2030s
BLUF: The Air Force is planning to award Northrop Grumman a contract (no declared value) that could allow the RQ-4 Global Hawk to keep flying into 2033.
The Air Force plans to award Northrop a sole-source contract for development, modernization, retrofit, and sustainment of the surveillance drone.
Those support activities include program management, hardware and software upgrades and sustainment, engineering and onsite support, logistics, training development and administration, and other test and integration activities.
The RQ-4 is a strategic long-endurance, high-altitude intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance unmanned aircraft. It can capture imagery or signals intelligence or conduct ground moving target indication.
The FY26 NDAA Congress barred the Air Force from retiring any of its remaining nine RQ-4s until the end of fiscal 2030.
Machina Achieves First Flight of a RoboFormed Component on Repaired C-17
BLUF: Machina, a leader in advanced manufacturing and robotics, announced that a critical structural repair fabricated by its RoboCraftsman platform has flown for the first time, returning a damaged C-17 to operational capability.
The repair was completed in partnership with the Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO), University of Dayton Research Institute and Boeing.
Machina’s RoboCraftsman platform fabricated a first-of-its-kind replacement part for the damaged C-17 without the need for dedicated tooling.
“The RoboCraftsman capability significantly decreased our timeline, reducing the repair process from years to only a few months.” Mary Schuler, RSO Automation and Robotics lead program manager.
Emerging Space Technologies Still Not Making it to Orbit
BLUF: According to experts, despite Pentagon initiatives aimed at fielding innovative technology quicker, new space technologies are languishing.
Some of the challenges acknowledged by the Space Force include:
Industrial friction and cultural transition, as encouraging smaller partners to enter the picture breaks the mold of focusing on the prime contractors.
Additionally, buyouts and downsizing have resulted in bottlenecks in the industrial base, which cannot be eliminated overnight.
One proposed approach from industry is to establish “programs of merit” that are budgeted separately and focused on scaling a SBIR or similar effort like a PoR.
“Portfolio acquisition executives, which are the replacement for traditional program executive officers, are not incentivized to prioritize innovation. Instead, those officials are focused on their programs of record, as that is where their efforts are measured — not on a capability that has no requirement.” Clive Cook, CEO of Precursor SPC
“Companies cannot build a sustainable business based solely on demonstration and pilot programs. Eventually, there has to be a customer buying an operational capability or a service at scale. We don’t know who owns the capability after demonstration, who incorporates it into their architecture, who budgets for it and who becomes the recurring customer.” Tahara Dawkins, senior director of policy at Astroscale U.S.
Space Force Plans Scorecard to Evaluate Programs Commercial Integration and More
BLUF: The Space Force is exploring ways to incentivize acquisition leaders to leverage more commercial innovation across their programs, including a new “scorecard” to quantify their efforts.
The Space Force is still determining what those metrics will be, but commercial integration will likely be one of them.
The Space Force has for years talked about adopting commercial technology, with acquisition leaders calling for PMs to consider what capabilities are available in the private sector before opting to build a new satellite, sensor, or ground system.
Space Force leaders say this “commercial first” mindset has been normalized across its acquisition community, but some companies are still looking for evidence the service is serious about adopting private sector innovation.
Industry sees holding PAEs accountable to actually integrate commercial technology into their larger programs is a step toward addressing that challenge.
“Where we are today is at kind of a fundamental turning point, paradigm shift in how we’re going to do acquisition across all levels, including commercial integration. The idea here is, commercial first and speeding up capability to the warfighter.”
Space Force Spent $124M on Commercial Data, Services over 3 Years
BLUF: The Space Force spent nearly $124M on commercial space data and services between 2023 and 2025—and a little known interagency working group could help facilitate even more data buys going forward.
This includes things like imagery and electro-optical observations as well as analytic reports and services that allow the agencies to identify potential positioning, navigation, and timing interference.
The Space Force uses a contractor-run platform called the Global Data Marketplace to buy much of its commercial data.
GAO found that the Joint Commercial Operations cell— a U.S. Space Command-managed organization—was the largest purchaser from Jan 2023 to Sep 2025 it tracked, accounting for about 62% of its spending, or $76M.
System Delta 810, which delivers space-based sensing and targeting capabilities, bought about $35M through the marketplace during that time frame.
There is a little-known organization called the Cross-Government Commercial Data Sharing Working Group, composed of various DOD offices and other federal agencies, meets regularly to discuss options for data sharing, address issues and concerns from user groups, and even to coordinate data buys.
The challenge however is that few seemed to know of the office’s existence.
Our Take: It’s great to see SPACECOM take more advantage of commercial services but there is great potential for scaling that further - hopefully this group can improve its marketing and be a function to improve commercial procurement.
Space Force Acquisition Office Arrives from L.A., Bringing Focus on Testing and Training
BLUF: Col. Richard Beckman arrived in COS in early August and will oversee an office of 300 people responsible for purchasing new training and test systems, personnel management infrastructure, and data management capability as part of his new PAR for Infrastructure responsibilities.
Related Article: Space Force PAE For Infrastructure Completing Move To Colorado Springs
Rocket Lab Launches 9th Satellite for iQPS
BLUF: Rocket Lab launched another satellite for Japanese radar-imaging company iQPS on Aug. 20.
This was the ninth Electron launch for iQPS overall and the second consecutive mission for the company.
iQPS is deploying a constellation of synthetic aperture radar, or SAR, satellites, with a goal of having 24 satellites in orbit by May 2028 and 26 satellites by 2030.
It has primarily used Electron to launch those satellites, with nine additional Electron launches under contract.
Rocket Lab to Test Space Force Data Network Connection in Orbit in 2027
BLUF: Rocket Lab plans to use one of its Photon spacecraft for an in-orbit demonstration of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Data Network in 2027.
This includes a Photon spacecraft equipped with optical communications and networking hardware to demonstrate interoperability in orbit.
It will test connections between the SpaceX-built network backbone and satellites from other suppliers.
SSC named Rocket Lab as one of five companies selected for a $60M effort to demonstrate how different commercial satellite systems can connect to the Space Data Network, or SDN.
Amazon LEO for Government, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and York Space Systems also received $12 million apiece.
The SDN is a planned military communications architecture designed to move large volumes of data among satellites and between space and the ground.
The Space Force is trying to establish common interfaces that allow spacecraft and networks from other suppliers to connect to that backbone, avoiding an architecture dependent on proprietary technology from a single company.
Space Force Adopts Digital Engineering Tool for NC3 Satellite Program
BLUF: A new collaborative digital environment could change the way the Space Force—and possibly the broader Defense Department—designs and tests capabilities.
Space Systems Command has been working with General Dynamics Information Technology since 2023 to develop the platform, called Project Enigma.
Because many aspects of the program are classified, SSC needed a secure environment where its prime contractor Boeing and other industry partners could share and validate designs.
While major systems like the B-21 Raider have used digital modeling to speed up development, adoption has been slow and many program teams are siloed, with contractors using different tools that aren’t compatible adding time and money.
“With unified access to critical platforms, stakeholders can co-develop solutions, share insights, and innovate while maintaining strict security controls and compliance at the highest classification level. Enigma ensures ESS capabilities are developed faster, smarter, and with high integrity, while maintaining industry-leading security.” SSC Announcement
Space Force Expands Starshield Service for Military Aircraft
BLUF: The Pentagon is expanding its use of SpaceX’s Starshield satellite network aboard military aircraft, awarding the company a new fleet-level service contract that sheds light on how the system is being integrated across U.S. aviation fleets.
An award notice was posted on Aug. 25 for “Starshield Custom Fleet Aviation Services,” covering satellite subscription services for aircraft equipped with SpaceX’s Starshield Tile and smaller Tile Mini terminals.
The new task order calls for worldwide Starshield service with data rates of at least 500 megabits per second downlink and 100 megabits per second uplink.
Documents show that U.S. government organizations have already funded development and qualification of ruggedized Starshield terminals for a range of military aircraft, including cargo planes and tactical fighter jets.
Eleven government organizations participated in development of the Tile Mini during 2024 and 2025.
The award was made under the Space Force’s Proliferated Low Earth Orbit Satellite-Based Services contract.
Government market research found OneWeb-compatible aviation terminals were the only potential alternative but said none had been tested to MIL-STD-810H and MIL-STD-461G standards required for military aviation.
SDA Fills Out Tranche 1 While Bracing for Challenges Ahead
BLUF: Northrop Grumman satellites are preparing for launch into the Pentagon’s first operational military data network in LEO.
After a months-long pause, SDA is filling out the Tranche 1 Transport Layer, the communications backbone of the PWSA.
Two planes of York Space Systems satellites and one plane of Lockheed Martin spacecraft are in Tranche 1.
In spite of the progress, SDA faces challenges as it turns from demonstrating key technologies to populating and operating constellations. Rapidly expanding manufacturing has been difficult due to supply chain constraints.
Recent Space Force restructuring is also changing Sandhoo’s responsibilities. He is overseeing PWSA Tranches 1 and 2 and directing future tranches of missile-warning satellites with sensors in LEO, MEO, HEO and GEO.
The PWSA Transport layer will be managed by another PAE (SBST).
“It’s one thing to build three or four satellites and get into an assembly, integration and test campaign. To do that for a whole constellation is challenging. Companies are learning and adapting.”
Related Article: SDA Director Says Constellation’s Tranche 1 Checkouts Progressing Faster After a Slow Start
Anduril Launches 1st Satellite with Apex
BLUF: The Anduril space team used Lattice to commission and task ANDURIL-216, the first time Lattice has commanded an on-orbit spacecraft.
We bet our own money to rapidly design, build, test, and fly a fully integrated satellite. Last month, ANDURIL-216 reached orbit. Anduril, alongside a few core partners, went from clean sheet to on orbit in less than two years.
Initial Golden Dome tests focused on C2, software
BLUF: The first large-scale tests for the Golden Dome missile defense shield focused on validating the architecture’s complex command-and-control and software systems.
Members of the military and industry observed the tests, which were designed to demonstrate and challenge the C2 capabilities required for the architecture.
A key focus was understanding how the Pentagon can integrate current systems with new technologies, as well as pushing boundaries of the department’s vision.
Guetlein has previously described command-and-control architecture as the initiative’s “secret sauce.” The Golden Dome office has already established an industry consortium of nine vendors to guide the network’s development.
“They were designed to validate software, they were designed to validate sensor-to-shooter linkages that perhaps are different than what today exists. They were designed to add stress on the locations and the ranges where we did them to be the biggest that we’ve ever done.”
Why the Golden Dome Is Essential for Homeland Defense
BLUF: The argument that Golden Dome will compromise nuclear deterrence and thereby erode strategic stability does not fully appreciate the extraordinary new threats to the homeland that have been created.
This is not just by drones but also ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missile systems capable of hitting critical infrastructure and targets in the United States.
Strategic stability is eroding. The risk of deterrence failure is growing daily.
Today, the United States faces what has become a strategic missile gap.
An array of modern, offensive conventional systems, both kinetic and non-kinetic, are now more than capable—without using nuclear weapons—of disrupting our national command response system and gravely damaging critical infrastructure.
To deter such attacks on the homeland, the United States must field Golden Dome for America—a layered, integrated air and missile defense architecture designed to counter these new conventional threats.
Deterrence works when an adversary concludes that an attack will fail to achieve its objectives or that the cost will far outweigh any gain.
Golden Dome defensive systems, along with a comprehensive homeland defense campaign plan, will address that decisively.
It will create a multi-layered shield—sensors and effectors, both kinetic and non-kinetic, operating from the ground, sea, air, and space.
Other International News:
China Develops Missile to Target Planes Thousands of Miles Away
BLUF: The Chinese military has developed hypersonic glide vehicles that can launch air-to-air weapons, an advancement meant to threaten high-value targets such as command-and-control aircraft thousands of miles away.
The breakthrough is part of a larger effort by China to use its missile arsenal — the world’s largest at more than 3,150 ballistic weapons — for nearly every military task.
Meanwhile, the US is struggling with supplies of crucial air defense missiles and long-range strike weapons after six months of war with Iran.
China also added air-to-air capabilities to some hypersonic cruise missiles and built anti-ship capabilities into several types of missiles.
Such weapons would pose a serious threat to air operations during a conflict.
Support aircraft such as tankers, airborne warning-and-control planes and flying command posts are meant to operate far from combat.
A hypersonic glide vehicle deployed from a DF-17 missile could travel about 1,500 miles — just short of the distance from China to Guam, a major military site.
The DF-27 missile has a range of about 5,000 miles, putting Hawaii in range.
To be sure, using what is essentially a ballistic missile to attack a distant aircraft is costly, difficult and risky.
The travel time of a ballistic missile — 20 minutes or more at maximum range — means that targeting information must be extremely precise.
That long “kill chain” of getting distant sensor information to the missile makes operations easier to disrupt.
Related Article: China Turns Hypersonic Glide Vehicles into Long-Range Air-to-Air Hunters of US Planes
How the Iranian Shahed Drone Transformed War—With China’s Help
BLUF: China has long served as arguably the most important clearinghouse for Shahed components, including engine parts, servomotors and gyroscopes.
It is part of a complex global supply chain that enabled an isolated country like Iran to pioneer and share one of the most transformative military innovations of the era: cheap, flying, killing machines that have bedeviled the U.S. and its allies.
he Shahed—a simple and destructive flying wedge of fiberglass, microchips and explosives costing as little as $20,000—helps show how weapons proliferation has changed, and why tapping global supply chains is now so important.
To develop Shaheds, Iran employed a design pioneered by the U.S. and West Germany. To actually make them, however, Tehran had to source parts from across the globe, including Western nations as well as China.
Russia Is Expanding Its Long-Range Strike Drone Network
BLUF: Commercial satellite imagery shows Russia has been expanding the dedicated launch infrastructure for its long-range one-way attack drones, including newly constructed extended rails intended to accommodate larger, newer Geran variants.
The construction provides concrete evidence that Moscow is increasing its ability to stage and launch larger numbers of long-range strike drones from dispersed locations near Ukraine and Belarus.
The launch sites also bring more NATO territory within the drones’ reach.
The investigation counted at least 59 launch rails, roughly 20 of which were assessed to be long enough to support newer Geran-type drones.
Related Article: Russia builds secret drone bases in striking distance of Nato
Taiwan Proposes Boosting 2027 Defence Spending 18% to a Record High
BLUF: Taiwan’s government on Thursday proposed an 18% rise in defence spending for next year, including for drones and missiles, taking it above T$1 trillion ($31.41 billion) for the first time as Taipei bolsters its military to ward off China.
The budget details come as Beijing, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past few years to assert its claims, which Taipei strongly rejects.
Spending plan includes drones and missiles previously denied parliamentary approval.
Destinus and the Netherlands Ministry of Defence Launch Hornet B2 Naval Counter-UAS Development Program
BLUF: Low-cost aerial threats can arrive in volume, and meeting each one with a premium interceptor is an equation no navy can sustain. The Netherlands Ministry of Defence and Destinus are now working to develop that layer with Hornet B2.
High-end naval air-defence missiles remain essential, but fleets also need an additional interceptor layer that can be deployed in greater numbers and matched more closely to the cost and scale of the threat.
The Ministry of Defence’s Materiel and IT Command, COMMIT, has signed a contract with Destinus to launch a Concept Development & Evaluation program for a kinetic counter-UAS capability for the Royal Netherlands Navy.
Hornet B2 is built around a different architecture from a traditional interceptor missile.
The system is stored in a sealed canister and launched by a rocket booster. After launch, it deploys folding wings and transitions to electric-powered cruise flight.
This combines missile-class launch readiness with aircraft-class range and endurance, while targeting a cost per engagement far below that of traditional interceptor missiles.
Successful Trial of Laser Marks Deepening of Australia-Japan Defence Collaboration
BLUF: The collaboration between Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), Mitsubishi Electric Australia (MEA) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) has seen the successful field testing of a world-first prototype laser system.
This $70 million investment will become the home of a new MEA Defence Division, supporting future manufacturing opportunities in Australia and strengthening access to advanced Mitsubishi Electric defence technologies for the Australian Defence Force into the future.
Boobook is more than a technology project. It is a practical example of the growing defence industrial partnership between Australia and Japan, as well as the opportunities that partnership creates for both nations.
U.S., U.K. Firms Partner to Airdrop Uncrewed Boat
BLUF: U.S. company Capewell combined its parachute-based Universal Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery System with U.K.-based Kraken Technology Group’s optional airdrop kit to launch the K3 SCOUT uncrewed surface vessel from an A400M military transport aircraft into water from an altitude of 1,300 feet.
Capewell modified a Type V heavy-duty airdrop platform and strapped it to the bottom of the robotic boat to ensure a safe and reliable landing.
Once the airdrop was initiated, a parachute pulled the whole bundle out of the aircraft, and a pair of timers initiated a separation sequence between the airdrop system — which deployed its own parachute — and the K3 SCOUT.
Both companies tweaked the design over the course of four airdrops, ultimately succeeding with the final drop.
The tests demonstrated that a K3 SCOUT could be inserted directly by air and enter the water ready for operation, significantly expanding the speed, range and flexibility with which uncrewed maritime capabilities can be deployed.
Indonesia’s First Aircraft Carrier Is on Its Way from Italy
BLUF: Indonesia is about to become the second Southeast Asian country to operate an aircraft carrier, after Thailand became the first with HTMS Chakri Naruebet.
The latest addition to the region’s small carrier club is the former Italian Navy carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi, which departed Italy earlier this week, bound for Indonesia, where it will eventually become KRI Gajah Mada.
Commissioned in 1985, Garibaldi was initially described as a “helicopter cruiser” before being redesignated as an aircraft-carrying cruiser in 1989 and receiving the Italian Navy’s AV-8B Harrier II jump jets.
The ship subsequently served as Italy’s flagship and later shifted toward amphibious operations and command-and-control duties after the larger Cavour entered service.
At around 13,850 tons full loa, Garibaldi combined compact aviation capability with a multirole weapon and sensor fit, at least in its early period of service.
Its armament historically included two octuple launchers for Sea Sparrow/Aspide surface-to-air missiles, four Otomat Mk 2 anti-ship missiles, two 2 triple torpedo tubes, and three twin Oto Melara 40mm guns.
Indonesia is acquiring the ship through an intergovernmental grant arrangement rather than purchasing it through a conventional commercial transaction.
Bulgaria Advances Project to Launch New Space, Defense Innovation Hub
BLUF: Bulgaria’s government has approved a draft memorandum of understanding with the local satellite manufacturer EnduroSat to collaborate on the development of a new space and defense innovation hub near the country’s capital Sofia.
The development comes as the country’s other space companies such as Sfera Technologies are expanding their capabilities, and the Bulgarian government is taking new steps to establish itself as a preeminent European space hub separate from the European Space Agency.
Bulgaria represents a rare European example of a country with a near-full stack of space technology, comprising modern ground segment services for low Earth orbit, medium Earth orbit and geostationary orbit, satellite manufacturing and AIT, sovereign geostationary communications capability and a rich heritage in space and planetary science that dates back to the 1970s.
The Fight Over the FY27 Defense Budget is On.
BLUF: When Congress returns to Capitol Hill in September, lawmakers will face a massive to-do list on defense issues, including a stopgap bill to keep the government open through the midterm election, a supplemental funding plan to cover the Iran war, and the fiscal 2027 defense budget.
The Pentagon is betting big on a $1.15 trillion discretionary budget request with a further $350 billion coming from the reconciliation process.
whether the Republican-led Congress can find the political will to pass the full $1.5 trillion sum is very much up in the air.
The House has yet to pass its version of the FY27 defense appropriations bill, having moved the bill through committee in June.
The Senate is even further behind, with Republican and Democrat leaders of the SAC still at a stalemate on how to balance defense and nondefense spending.
The House has passed its so-called “Reconciliation 3.0” bill with $60B for defense, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune has yet to find the votes to push the bill forward in the Senate.
Congress won’t have much time to pass a funding stopgap. The House will be back in session next week before adjourning for a weeklong break for Labor Day, and the Senate won’t return to Capitol Hill until Sept. 14.
See our NDAA and budget posts for the latest insights and analysis.
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cow paths. efficiency. sorta like perpendicular sidewalks coexisting with worn paths through grass. the sidewalks are the inefficiency. the worn paths are the shortcuts. analogies. metaphors.