• A new AI Executive Order and Cloud Marketplace for National Security

• DoW focuses on scaling munitions from containers to hypersonics

• Five military Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAEs) are promoted.

• The Army’s G-TEAD brings speed and competition to close capability gaps.

• The Navy is deploying an MUSV with a Carrier Strike Group to advance CONOPS.

• Air Force pursues attritable ISR tentatively and is encouraged to go big on CCAs

• Space Force supports Blue Origin despite setback and gets corrections from HASC

• Europe pursues armor, Poland spends big, and AUKUS goes joint on UUVs

• The HASC completes markup and advances their FY27 NDAA bill.

Executive Order: Promoting AI Innovation and Security

• Advanced AI capabilities make our Nation stronger, but also introduce new national security considerations that require coordinated action across executive departments, agencies, and components.

• It is the policy of the U.S. to promote AI innovation and security by working collaboratively with the private sector to modernize government and private sector information systems and harden them against external threats

• To protect American ingenuity and IP from exploitation and theft by adversaries; and to cultivate America’s advanced AI-enabled capabilities.

• Prioritize the cyber defense of National Security Systems and DoW information systems

• Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) shall release Binding Operational Directives and other guidance as appropriate to:

  • Prioritize the cyber defense of Federal Government information systems.

  • Establish or expand Federal programs and cybersecurity services that enhance AI-enabled defensive tools.

  • Facilitate access to cybersecurity tools and services including, where appropriate, covered frontier models for agencies, State and local authorities, and operators of critical infrastructure.

• Form an AI cybersecurity clearinghouse, in voluntary collaboration with the AI industry and operators of critical infrastructure, that coordinates and deconflicts scanning for software vulnerabilities and prioritizes remediation of vulnerabilities.

• Develop and maintain a classified benchmarking process to assess the advanced cyber capabilities of AI models and determine the threshold at which an AI model should be designated a “covered frontier model”

• Design a voluntary framework with AI developers through which developers would be able to:

  • Provide the Federal Government with access to covered frontier models, subject to appropriate confidentiality, cybersecurity, insider-risk, and IP protection, use, and nondisclosure requirements, for a period of up to 30 days before they plan to release such models to other trusted partners.

  • Collaborate with the Federal Government to select trusted partners that will have early access to covered frontier models to promote secure innovation and strengthen the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure.

Our Take: This is a light-touch, innovation-focused approach to managing the cybersecurity risks of frontier AI models without imposing excessive regulation. It emphasizes public-private collaboration, leverages AI for defense, and introduces voluntary government pre-release reviews for the most advanced systems. Given the voluntary framework, successful implementation will hinge on companies’ willingness to engage and the government’s effectiveness in coordinating efforts. At this pivotal time with mixed public sentiment surrounding frontier AI, improving coordination to better secure critical government systems is a pragmatic and constructive step.

Pentagon’s JWCC Follow-on Would Create Cloud Marketplace, Expand AI and Edge Computing

BLUF: The next iteration of the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract would establish a cloud marketplace for military users while expanding support for AI, edge computing and cross-domain operations

• JWCC Draft Performance Work Statement

• The program is intended to create a single marketplace through which DoD organizations can access authorized cloud services from a broad range of vendors.

• Under the proposed structure, the UCM would be organized into three tiers.

  • Hyperscale cloud service providers delivering core infrastructure and platform services.

  • Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS) offerings — including software-, platform- and infrastructure-as-a-service capabilities.

  • Commercial innovators and small businesses offering cloud-based technologies that meet the department’s security requirements.

• While officials have touted the success of JWCC, the DoD began working on a successor contract in 2024 to improve the program — such as by adding more cloud service providers and different contract types.

• AI integration is another major focus of the proposed JWCC follow-on.

A Cyber Force Budget Would Require at Least $10B

BLUF: The Commission on US Cyber Force Generation published their report on what a Cyber Force roadmap would look like. A new uniformed service focused solely on cyberspace operations would require an initial budget of $10B realigned from the Services.

• The Commission comprises of CSIS in partnership with the Cyber Solarium Commission 2.0 at FDD.

• There has been a growing chorus in recent years calling for an independent cyber force to remedy readiness shortfalls with the underlying cyber personnel in the military and inconsistencies across each of those services.

• Currently, each of the military services are responsible for providing personnel for a set number of teams to CYBERCOM, which then employs those forces in operations for the other geographic combatant commands.

• The commission studied two possible structures:

  • Within the Department of the Army, akin to the Marine Corps under the Department of the Navy and the Space Force under the Department of the Air Force

  • Its own military department called the Department of the Cyber Force, which would then require its own service chief and secretary.

• Core focus areas for the new Cyber Force would be offensive and defensive cyber operations. The report recommends leaving efforts related to defending the DoDIN to the services, which is currently CYBERCOM’s number one mission area.

Related: Cyber Force? Senator Pushes to Create Service Branch Under the Army

U.S. Cyber Force an Inevitability

“This is something where it feels like a conversation where the volume continues to rise. … I think we’re facing an inevitability. I’d just rather we pull this trigger and do it sooner rather than later. It's typically better to prepare for war in advance of conflict rather than after the fact.” - Joshua Stiefel, Commission Co-Chair and VP for GR at Second Front

Cyber Innovation Warfare Center Will Pair Industry Side-by-Side With Operators

BLUF: CYBERCOM’s new Cyber Warfare Innovation Center will pair operators and members of industry side by side in order to drive faster capabilities and tactics, and bridge the so-called valley of death.

• CWIC is one of three enabling organizations under the CYBERCOM 2.0 plan, the department’s push to improve how cyber forces are generated from the services to the command.

• The other two are a Cyber Talent Management Organization and an Advanced Cyber Training and Education Center.

• The goal is for the center to feed tactics and requirements to the acquisition pipeline in CYBERCOM J9, who will work to build and field them.

“For too long, prototypes developed by industry have withered in the so-called valley of death, failing to transition to operational use. We do not have the luxury of time anymore to let good technology sit on the shelf. The CWIC will be our proving ground, a collaborative environment where operators and industry will sit side by side to test new concepts against realistic threats and operational scenarios.By forging this direct link between those who build the tools and those who wield them, we ensure that our best innovations actually make it to the fight and onto the cyber battlefield.” Katie Sutton, ASD for Cyber Policy

Gaining the Cyber Supply Chain Advantage

Lonny Anderson

BLUF: We need to invest in defending our supply chains. That means bringing a defensive and offensive operational security mindset to protect our own supply chain attack surface and map where our adversaries are most vulnerable.

• Our adversaries study America’s defense industrial base every day. They don’t need to target a prime contractor when a smaller supplier offers an easier entry point to penetrate and then swim upstream.

• These sub-tier attacks cost almost nothing but impose billions in disruption and downtime on U.S. businesses and government. Those simple economics make our supply chains a constant target of choice for our adversaries and AI will only accelerate the trend.

• The DIB was estimated at roughly 108,000 companies, 92% of which are small businesses. When you look at their cyber posture, most struggle with even basic email security and IT hygiene.

• The DIB is poised to spend $63B over the next two decades on the CMMC.

• Expecting small businesses to bridge the gap between baseline compliance controls and defense against AI-enabled nation-state attackers is not a strategy. It’s exposure.

• Right now, every prime contractor and every program office pays separately to monitor the same small supplier to meet audit requirements. Under an enterprise security approach, suspicious activity can be identified and acted on collectively, not in isolation. This would cut costs and harden the entire DIB ecosystem.

• If our adversaries can map our DIB from the outside in, we can map theirs and then prepare to activate those options.

• DIB companies that have the resources to adopt this more operational approach to supply chain risk management valuing shared insight and collaborative mitigation in their own supplier relationships.

Built, Not Stolen: How Commercial Data Is Changing Intelligence

Aaron Conti

BLUF: An adversary can assemble an intelligence targeting picture without accessing a single classified system, but solely through Commercial satellite imagery.

• In 2024, ODNI releases an IC policy framework for commercially available information and the IC Strategy for 2024-2026 reflecting the growing intelligence value of public and commercial data.

• Publicly available data, aggregated and processed at scale, can generate intelligence effects traditionally associated with classified collection.

• The gap between open source and classified is shrinking.

• What has changed about the data is the ability to fuse the information together in significant way, and the speed at which it can be processed by AI

• AI enables continuous ingestion and correlation across these streams, producing time-indexed models of military activity –force posture reconstruction, pattern-of-life analysis, and increasingly, predictive assessments.

• The recent restriction of commercial satellite imagery during an active conflict, and U.S. response to its use are two public signs that the market now produces intelligence effects once associated primarily with state collect systems.

• Commercial analytic platforms that directly enable targeting decisions by identifying military assets, tracking movements, or providing operationally actionable intelligence may in certain circumstances, approach the Law of Armed Conflict threshold.

• IC has begun adapting through new policy on commercially available information, a new OSINT strategy, and new sourcing standards for publicly available information, and OSINT in analytic products.

• The U.S. operates within a dense web of legal constraints governing intelligence collection and use. Its competitors do not face equivalent restrictions when exploiting the same commercial data environment.

• Operational security must shift from protecting information to disrupting patterns.

• The meaning of unclassified must be reassessed. Data that is individual benign can, when aggregated, produce operationally significant insight.

• Legal review must move upstream. The most consequential legal questions are no longer confined to the moment of strike authorization, but data sourcing, vendor reliance, and analytic methods.

The Quantum Clock Is Already Ticking on America’s Autonomous Arsenal

Burak Oktenli

BLUF: The Pentagon is building a generation of autonomous systems drones, loitering munitions, uncrewed vessels, and the command networks that direct them on a cryptographic foundation that a future quantum computer will be able to break.

• For autonomous weapons, the most urgent part of the threat is already here, and the United States is not moving fast enough to meet it.

• Experts widely expect a quantum computer to threaten today's public-key cryptography within the 2030s. Everything an adversary captures today that must stay secret into the 2030s is, in effect, already compromised.

• An autonomous system has to know that an order is genuine. The difference between a loyal drone and a hijacked one is, at bottom, a cryptographic signature: the system verifies that a command came from a legitimate controller and not an impostor.

• An adversary who can forge the authentication that an autonomous system trusts does not merely read its mail it can potentially issue orders the system will obey.

• What is missing is urgency calibrated to the specific vulnerability of autonomous systems and a recognition that for these systems, the 2035 horizon is dangerously late.

• A conventional weapon system is fielded, used, and retired. An autonomous system, by contrast, is defined by its software and its cryptographic trust relationships, which persist and propagate.

• DoD should treat post-quantum cryptography as a mandatory design requirement for any autonomous system entering development today not a retrofit to be scheduled before 2035.

• The services should prioritize autonomous C2 links at the front of the CNSA 2.0 migration queue, ahead of less time-sensitive systems.

• Congressional Defense authorization and appropriations committees should require the DoD to report which fielded and in-development autonomous systems remain dependent on quantum-vulnerable cryptography, and on what schedule each will be hardened.

• The systems being designed now will live into the threat window. The only open question is whether the U.S. finishes hardening its autonomous arsenal before the alarm goes off.

Boeing’s Ghost Bat Drone Beats Radar with Ace-Level Stealth Performance in Test

BLUF: Boeing announced that its MQ-28 Ghost Bat combat aircraft has officially passed stealth performance tests.

• Boeing said this achievement provides customers with clear proof of the aircraft’s ability to survive and avoid detection on complex battlefields.

• The MQ-28 is built to work with crewed military aircraft and to handle various missions while remaining hard to detect on radar.

• The MQ-28 Ghost Bat was designed to support current fighter and surveillance aircraft by handling tasks such as ISR, EW, and boosting force strength.

• Boeing said the MQ-28’s radar cross-section makes it much harder for enemy radar to detect and target the aircraft from a distance. The company added that testing proved that its design, manufacturing, and materials are keeping radar visibility low.

• Development of the Ghost Bat began in 2017, and it flew for the first time in 2021. Since then, it has completed over 150 flights and taken part in more complex demonstrations.

Under Drone Dominance, Pentagon Begins Receiving Small Drones

BLUF: DoD ordered a total of 20,000 small, FPV drones from 10 of the top 11 vendors that competed in its Gauntlet 1 competition.

Drone Dominance Leaderboard

• Neros shipped all 2,400 of its ordered Archer small quadcopters, 1,040 accepted.

• Two others combined to ship 560 drones.

• The Pentagon is now moving out with a broader plan to spend roughly $1 billion purchasing drones within a two-year window. As part of that push, it hosted the initial “Gauntlet” competition consisting of 25 companies competing before ranking the top 11 vendors.

• Separately, the DoD tapped five additional companies as winners of a lethality challenge to possibly provide payloads for Group 1 drones, those weighing 20 lbs. or less. These include Bravo Ordnance, Kela Defense, Kraken Kinetics, Mountain Horse and Northrop Grumman.

• Looking ahead, the DoD is planning to host a second Gauntlet event to find drones ideally suited for long-range strike and tactical assault in close quarters operations.

Our Take: In checking the leaderboard Saturday morning, we see 22,320 drones ordered from all 11 top performers.

Lockheed’s 10-Foot Containerized Launcher Shoots Down 1,320-pound Attack Drone

BLUF: Lockheed Martin has successfully shot down a Group 3 one-way attack drone with a Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) launched from its GRIZZLY containerized weapon system. This is the first time the missile has been used in this way.

• The live-fire test at Arizona’s Yuma Proving Ground demonstrated the full process of detecting and destroying a drone using a quickly integrated system.

• Lockheed Martin revealed that it completed the integration and live-fire testing in less than 45 days.

• The test brought together Lockheed Martin’s Sanctum C-UAS software, Fortem Technologies’ R-40 radar network, and the GRIZZLY launcher. These systems worked together to detect, track, and engage a live Group 3 drone.

• Lockheed invested $25M in Fortem Technologies to help bring their radar and interceptor technologies into the Sanctum system.

• GRIZZLY is built using a standard 10-foot shipping container and can hold up to eight missiles. The launcher works with both Hellfire and JAGM missiles and uses design features from Lockheed Martin’s M299 launcher.

• The system is made for quick deployment and needs very little infrastructure. Operators can reload missiles without tools, and wireless connections link the radar, software, and launcher with minimal setup.

• The Navy is showing more interest in using GRIZZLY at sea as it looks at containerized weapons for both manned and unmanned ships. These systems could add firepower without needing big changes to the ships.

US Hypersonic Race: Pentagon’s 5 Next-gen Weapons and Programs Shaping the Future

BLUF: Several American hypersonic programs are moving closer to operational service. Some are undergoing advanced testing, others are nearing deployment, and a few represent ambitious concepts that could define future warfare.

• One of the most common misconceptions surrounding hypersonic weapons is that any missile traveling faster than Mach 5 qualifies as one. In reality, many ballistic missiles already reach hypersonic speeds at certain points in their flight.

• What separates a true hypersonic weapon from a conventional ballistic missile is its ability to maneuver unpredictably while traveling at extreme velocity.

• Dark Eagle / Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW)

  • America’s closest path to an operational hypersonic capability. The Army-led program uses a boost-glide design that launches a maneuverable hypersonic glide body capable of traveling at speeds above Mach 5.

  • Designed to strike heavily defended targets at ranges exceeding 1,700 miles.

• Conventional Prompt Strike

  • CPS uses a common hypersonic glide body jointly developed by the Army and Navy. After launch, the glide vehicle separates from its booster and races toward its target at hypersonic speed while maneuvering along the way.

  • The Navy plans to deploy CPS aboard the USS Zumwalt and eventually on Virginia-class submarines.

• Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM)

  • Powered by a scramjet engine, allowing it to sustain hypersonic speeds within the atmosphere rather than gliding unpowered after launch.

  • The Air Force views HACM as a key future capability because its smaller size could allow deployment from a variety of bombers and fighter jets.

• AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW)

  • One of the Pentagon’s most visible setbacks in hypersonic development.

  • A series of testing failures and development challenges repeatedly delayed the program, yet played an important role in advancing American hypersonic research.

• Other initiatives

  • The Navy’s HALO missile and Lockheed Martin’s Mako concept.

  • DARPA’s OpFires program and technologies like the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) continue to serve as the foundation for multiple hypersonic weapons.

The Pentagon is Rewriting How it Buys AI

Dr. Roslyn Layton

BLUF: The Pentagon is quietly overhauling one of its most entrenched systems: how it sources and buys modern technology and by extension, who controls it.

• After a public split with Anthropic, the DoD is cutting deals across the tech industry, assembling a line-up of top-performing commercial players to deploy their models on its classified networks.

  • Connectivity and battlefield resilience are expected from SpaceX

  • Frontier model intelligence from OpenAI and Google

  • Compute and hardware acceleration from Nvidia

  • Open-weight model ecosystems from Reflection

  • Enterprise deployment at scale from Microsoft, Oracle and AWS.

• The Pentagon is billing this pivot toward a best of breed strategy – assembling a mix of commercial providers instead of betting on a single vendor – as a way to accelerate its AI-first warfighting vision.

• It’s a deliberate move to avoid winner-take-all dominance and retain long-term control over the technologies that will define modern warfare.

• Instead of monolithic, all-in-one platforms, the Pentagon is shifting toward a model that looks more like modern cloud architecture: modular, interoperable and composed of multiple vendors. No single company owns the full stack, and that’s the point.

• The Pentagon’s multi-vendor approach starts to look less like procurement reform and more like a safeguard. Overreliance on closed, proprietary models risks concentrating power in private hands, limiting visibility into how decisions are made. A modular system, by contrast, creates conditions for accountability.

Our Take: As part of the ongoing transformations and rebuilding of the DIB, this is a pivotal strategy. To enable many vendors to integrate warfighting capabilities to avoid or minimize vendor lock, fuel competition, and maximize resiliency in supply chains and operational availability.

Pentagon Looks to AI, Other Tech to Help Tackle Contested Logistics Challenges

BLUF: With U.S. military supply chains facing a growing risk of adversary attack, senior defense officials are keen on using AI and other advanced technologies to address the challenges associated with contested logistics.

• Supply chains face a variety of potential threats, including kinetic strikes, cyberattacks, geopolitical instability and infrastructure vulnerabilities.

“Logistics will be sort of the key as we go forward, ensuring that we can produce the mass and scale and really reconstitute all of our capabilities at a time of need and, you know, much faster than any adversary can. It’s not just the systems that are forward or the exquisite systems. It is everything from the interconnected software, it is transportation nodes, its logistics hubs, it’s fuel, it’s ports, it’s the supply chain all the way down to the critical minerals that that the military relies on.” Brent Ingraham, ASA/ALT

“From an R&E standpoint, we’re looking at planning tools, the actual movers, and reducing logistics chains. We’re looking at a handful of technologies and AI tools for planning are absolutely important. How do we get small modular nuclear reactors onto bases for energy resilience.” Robert Mantz, Principal Director Energy Resilience

Engineer Raises $42M to Build the Amazon of Composite Parts

BLUF: Zack Eakin left Anduril in 2024 to start a new composites company called Layup Parts. The goal is to make ordering custom parts made of carbon fiber or fiberglass as easy as if they were sold on Amazon.

• Layup Parts raised $42M in a Series A funding round led by Marlinspike, with participation from new investors Cerberus Ventures and Pinegrove Venture Partners, and existing backers Founders Fund and Lux Capital.

• Eakin has been working with composite materials for around two decades. He was the first engineer at Elon Musk’s Boring Company in 2017 and by 2021 was once again elbow-deep in composites when he took the role at Anduril.

• While startups dramatically reduced the time and cost required to prototype and ship parts to customers, no one was doing this for composites.

• Composites tend to be harder to deal with and there had been a lot of consolidation among composite companies.

• The biggest business lines for rapidly prototyping and producing parts are aerospace and defense. That includes both startups and the more traditional defense primes.

“If we have stock materials, and you have a good understanding of those materials, we can build software that has an order of magnitude reduction in the amount of clicking it takes for an engineer to produce those and ultimately gets to zero clicks, where it just takes customer data and poops out shapes.” Zack Eakin

Don’t Let China Buy Into America’s Industrial Future

Nadia Shadlow

BLUF: Modern manufacturing is no longer about building more factories. Tomorrow’s factories will not merely produce goods. They will generate information, shape supply chains, and help determine future military and economic advantages. They are as much data systems as production systems.

• Future military strength will depend heavily on commercial manufacturing.

• DoD is prioritizing industry driven, commercial solutions that are modular “plug and play” with other industry partners.

• Companies that build robotics, autonomous platforms, industrial software, and precision components may not have traditionally been viewed as defense firms, but many now sit at the core of the national security ecosystem.

• Chinese capital could also end up crowding out American investment.

• China knows advanced manufacturing will shape the next era of competition, and it has spent over a decade determined to dominate it.

• Others might assert that excluding China is merely a shield for uncompetitive American manufacturers and that they can only get stronger if forced to compete with Chinese firms.

• But American manufactures are not shielded from all competition.

• They already compete fiercely with companies from Japan, South Korea, and Germany, which have formidable manufacturing cultures and capabilities. In addition, as noted, competition with China is not on a level playing field.

• The U.S. can’t afford to lose its edge at the increasingly important cross section of data, technology, and advanced manufacturing, especially since it is foundational to so many other competitive arenas, from defense to energy to AI.

• Rebuilding American manufacturing is urgent. But it should not involve inviting America’s principal rival into the systems on which future military and economic power will depend.

Mach Industries Raises $300M at $1.8B Valuation

BLUF: Mach Industries announced that it closed a $300M Series C co-led by Infinite Capital and Ribbit Capital. The round brings Mach’s valuation to $1.8B, up from $470M after its $100M Series B a year ago.

• Funds are expected to be used to expand its Forge factory network, increase small jet engine production, advance the second generation of its systems and hire.

• The company now has multiple product lines:

  • Stratos: A “pseudo-satellite” that deploys communications tech, sensors, and effects from the stratosphere via a high-altitude balloon.

  • Viper: A turbojet-powered vertical takeoff one-way attack UAS.

  • Pike: A small plane-like drone (formerly called Venom) built in collaboration with Divergent.

  • Dart: A low-cost kinetic drone interceptor designed to take down Group 1-3 drones. Mach also designed a ground-based radar system to go with it.

  • Glide: A high-altitude glider with a strike system capable of long-range, low-signature delivery.

Our Take: Huge props to our friend Nate Diller who’s guiding the company to great heights. Looks like we’ll have to update our War Unicorn’s post soon.

Applied Aerospace & Defense Goes Public

BLUF: Applied Aerospace & Defense—a Huntsville, Alabama-based, PE-backed defense and space subsystem manufacturer—went public on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, raising $650M in its IPO and valuing the company at $3.25B

• PE firm Greenbriar Equity Group is set to keep a roughly 80% stake after the IPO.

• The company, while not as well-known as some of the primes, produces many critical subsystems for space and launch systems, aviation, and C5ISR and precision-strike (missile bodies, satellite solar arrays, fuel tanks, aircraft wings, etc).

Our Take: It’s good to see more defense companies going public but we do want to see these funds gained from IPOs and large raises to go into new products or scaling promising ones, not necessarily driving an M&A spree that reduces competition at the sub supplier level. Sounds like Applied will likely be doing some of both as their CEO mentions using IPO for both “internal investment and acquisition opportunities” but a company where a PE firm owns 80% of it seems more likely to focus on streamlining (if history is any guide). We are concerned that this could bring less resiliency to the industrial base if this becomes a trend.

L3Harris Successfully Tests Advanced Propulsion System

BLUF: L3Harris Technologies has successfully tested a potential propulsion solution for the Army’s PrSM Increment 4 program, demonstrating readiness to support the extended range capabilities.

• L3Harris conducted the testing at its facility located in Orange County, Virginia

“The Direct Connect Transition Test shows the missile’s core propulsion is not a future concept but a validated capability that can be loaded onto current HIMARS and M270 launchers quickly, dramatically shortening the time to warfighter delivery.” Randy Crites, Vice President, Advanced Programs, Lockheed Martin.

Impulse Space Raises $500M

BLUF: Impulse Space has raised $500M Series D round led by 137 Ventures and BANNER VC to expand production of orbital transfer vehicles and other spacecraft.

• The funds will allow it to scale up production of vehicles like:

  • Mira, a maneuverable spacecraft that can deploy satellites and host payloads,

  • Helios, a high-energy kick stage under development to quickly move spacecraft from low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit and beyond.

• Commercial customers are interested in Helios to get satellites to GEO faster.

• Impulse also sees an opportunity at NASA to establish a moon base.

• The company now has 500 employees and about 200 open positions.

Related Article: Impulse Space Raises $500M Series D to Build In-Space Mobility Infrastructure for the Space Economy

Our Take: We are very bullish on Impulse Space. Apart from their commercial and NASA ambitions, they are deeply involved in Space Force’s responsive space efforts and their Space-Based Interceptor (SBI) efforts for GD4A (teaming with Anduril).

Axiom Space Adds $175M to Funding Round

BLUF: Axiom Space added more than $175M to its latest funding round, with Japan’s largest bank joining the company’s investors.

• The company added the funding to a $350M round it announced in February that was led by Type One Ventures and the Qatar Investment Authority.

• Investor interest is due to the company’s commercial space station plans and work on lunar spacesuits for NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration campaign.

• Funds will support work on its space station and spacesuit programs as well as its broader space infrastructure and technology advancement roadmap.

Shifters Raises $10.2M Seed for Ground Robots

BLUF: US-Israeli robotics startup Shifters announced that it’s raised a $10.2M seed round led by Ace Capital Partners, bringing total funding to $15M.

• Funding will accelerate the development of its autonomous ground robot teams, which they say will “help operators extend reach, improve situational awareness and preserve human life in dangerous environments.”

• This includes dangerous environments first to clear rubble, navigate tunnels, and operate in jammed or debris-filled areas before human teams move in.

• The company has developed three products:

  • RITA: The software and command layer that “helps robotic systems interpret intent, adapt to changing conditions, and execute autonomous tasks with confidence.”

  • TRUST: A family of robotic platforms that look a lot like rugged robotic dogs.

  • DIGITAL TWIN: A virtual simulation and analysis tool that “mirrors Shifters robots, environments, and missions in a virtual space.”

Powerus Teams Up with Swarmer

BLUF: Powerus and US-Ukrainian company Swarmer announced a partnership to explore integrating Swarmer’s swarming tech with Powerus’ air and maritime platforms and mission systems.

Powerus has three companies under its umbrella:

• Kaizen Aerospace, which makes heavy-lift aerial drones with payload capacities ranging from 100 lbs to 1,000 lbs (with goals to get to 2,000 lbs).

• Tandem Defense, which makes FPV quadcopters, including one that made the cut for the Drone Dominance Program’s Phase II competition.

• Agile Autonomy, which is focused on maritime autonomy including conversions of private boats into USVs.

Swarmer has three primary software products:

• Swarmer UI: Flagship swarm management software, which coordinates recon and strike drones, even in areas with limited comms.

• Swarmer AI: A module for collaborative autonomy, designed especially for denied environments.

• Swarmer OS: The company’s UAV operating system layer. This helps ensure secure data storage, streaming, and status updates, making the swarms reliable.

Our Take: This is an intriguing teaming arrangement for UAV capabilities. Definitely one to watch.

Motorola Snaps Up C-UAS Startup D-Fend Solutions for $1.5B

BLUF: Motorola Solutions acquired Israeli-American drone-takeover company D-Fend Solutions for $1.5B, adding a key C-UAS capability to its broader public safety portfolio of products.

• D-Fend’s drone-downing tech uses an RF-cyber “takeover” systems that detects UAS via their radio signals, “hacks” them, and lands them instead of jamming or kinetic defeats.

• Their product lineup includes:

  • EnforceAir: identifies, locates, and commandeers rogue drones.

  • EnforceAir 2: A more compact package that has better Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP), portability, and performance.

  • EnforceAir UX: The user interface and airspace-management tablet software for EnforceAir and EnforceAir 2

  • EnforceAir PLUS: An enhanced version of their other platforms that offers more adaptability to radio frequencies, jamming, an optional radar detection and an AI-integrated target fusion system that “merges cyber and radar data.”

Anduril Teams with Elbit America for Army’s Self-Propelled Howitzer

BLUF: Anduril has joined the Elbit America team to provide the Sigma mobile tactical cannon for the Army’s self-propelled howitzer modernization program.

• Anduril will provide its C5ISR capabilities for Sigma and will integrate its artificial intelligence-driven Lattice software platform into the system.

• Elbit will provide the 155-mm, 52-caliber fully automated cannon

• OshKosh will provide the 10×10 vehicle.

Anduril Set to Win ACV cUAS Award

BLUF: The Marine Corps announced that it intends to issue a sole-source contract to Anduril for non-kinetic counter-drone technology for its Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACVs), including the company’s Pulsar-L EW platform and vehicle integration kits.

• Pulsar is Anduril’s family of EW systems; Pulsar-L is the smaller, lightweight version (weighs less than 25 lbs).

DoD Not Allowed to Fix Most of Its Own Stuff. Guess Who’s Cashing In?

Stavroula Pabst

BLUF: Because defense contracts often prevent the military from repairing its own equipment, critics say weapons companies are price-gouging the Pentagon.

• Until the early 1990s, the Pentagon often purchased complete technical data packages for its equipment, allowing the military to handle its repairs as needed.

• Over time however, acquisition officials ceded some leverage over the issue.

• Many DoD contracts now leave repair and maintenance, which can make up as much as 70% of a military program’s lifetime cost, to the vendors.

• Examples

  • RQ-11 Raven: When it has issues restarting, DoW was having to ship the drone back to the contractor at a cost of $26,000, regardless of the issue. It was found that common issues could be solved with hot glue.

  • Black Hawk: Screen control knobs are prone to breakage but contract terms require the purchase of an entire screen display assembly for $47,000. The knob itself could be manufactured for about $15.

  • Repair and Maintenance Instructions: Lockheed Martin has charged $900 per page for biannually updated maintenance manuals for the AC-130J. Boeing was paid $84M for Air Force One flight and maintenance manuals.

• Weapons contractors say that giving the DoD the information it needs for its own repairs may compromise their private intellectual property (IP) and trade secrets.

• The Warrior Right to Repair Act was introduced last year — which would have made contractors hand over the technical data for troops to fix their own gear.

• Weapons contractors successfully lobbied to remove it from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY2026.

• Renewing their push for the Warrior Right to Repair Act this year, Sens. Warren and Sheehy contend that a military right to repair will save the Pentagon, and taxpayers, billions of dollars.

• Marines have found that they can 3D print a communications antenna it needs, dropping the cost from $5600 to $10 each and accelerating availability from 220 days the vendor typically takes to producing it nearly immediately.

“We’ve given away our right to repair our own equipment some of the time, which [means] we will have exquisite pieces of equipment sitting on the sidelines for 8 to 12 months, when we know how to 3D print [them much more cheaply]. That is a sin, and we’ve done it to ourselves.” Army Secretary Driscoll

Our Take: This is a complicated issue because it requires nuance. Most of the systems being discussed were ones that the government 100% (or very nearly) of the development and production readiness costs to field. For those systems, there should be little argument about the government having the ability to repair and modify them as they want. The challenge has been that OEMs for those systems usually assert restricted rights for the technical data based on some nugget of IP that they assert they developed at private expense. The government should be prepared to challenge those assertions (we see promise in the IP Ombudsmen provision in the FY27 NDAA).

On the flip side, there are firms who have invested most or all of their own funds to developing a product at great risk. Gaining access to technical data on those systems should be part of the broader business case in procuring them since it would not be fair or sustainable for those companies to get 10% margins in production (which are common for many of the legacy systems) and then have little to no revenue beyond. If DoW wants the right to repair on those systems, it should either buy the technical data or negotiate a more comprehensive price in procurement that provides a healthy margin for those companies to gain a reasonable return on their risk.

PAE Star Power

The following PAEs were nominated for promotion or recently promoted

• Col Timothy Helfrich, PAE Fighters and Advanced Aircraft to BGen

• Col Ryan Frazier, PAE Space Sensing and Targeting to BGen

• Col Eric Zarybnisky, PAE Assured Access to Space to BGen

• Ms. Shannon Pallone, PAE Battle Mgmt C3I was recently promoted to SES

• BGen Jason Vooheis, PAE C3BM to AFLCMC/CC as a Lt Gen

Munitions Industry Needs New Acquisition Strategy

Jay Brannam

BLUF: The munitions industrial base’s inability to arm a coalition partner, deter an adversary or replenish stockpiles is not a funding problem, but an acquisition strategy problem. The solution is to contract for stability, readiness and surges.

• Production lines that sat idle between contract awards cannot surge on demand. Suppliers that exited the market during years of procurement uncertainty cannot be recalled overnight. And surge capacity that was never funded cannot be conjured by emergency appropriation.

• DoD spent decades designing munitions contracts that maximize government flexibility.

• Episodic contract awards leave production lines idle for months between cycles.

• The result is a process that systematically transfers demand and readiness risk to industry.

• This risk imbalance discourages private investment, accelerates supplier exits among small and medium-sized businesses and leaves the Pentagon reliant on a hollowed-out supply chain at precisely the moments when capacity is most critical.

• The Munitions Industrial Base Task Force advocates for requirements-based, multiple-year contracts that treat industrial capacity as a readiness function, not an administrative byproduct.

• What they provide, and what current practice does not, is time-based demand stability: the multi-year horizon against which suppliers can justify hiring, tooling investment, sub-tier qualification and workforce development.

• They incorporate economic price adjustment mechanisms for volatile inputs, energetics, metals and specialty chemicals, without which small and medium-sized businesses cannot responsibly commit to sustained production.

• It funds steady-state production quantities across multiple years, keeping up the minimum sustaining rates necessary to retain workforce, tooling and supplier networks.

• Multiple-year contracts, properly structured, incorporate annual reviews, defined quantity adjustment bands, recompete triggers and termination for convenience provisions.

• The U.S. does not have a munitions production problem. It has a munitions contracting problem. Will the acquisition community will treat industrial capacity as the strategic asset it is.

DLA Working to Increase Demand Signal Precision

BLUF: DLA is working with the military services to be more precise in what it buys and provide a more specific demand signal.

• When it comes to spare parts, the agency’s record is “not good,” and one of the ways it can improve its ability to apply available resources is to improve forecasting accuracy.

• To increase forecasting accuracy, the agency is digitally connecting with and continuously exchanging data across disparate systems with each of the armed services, as well as applying artificial intelligence solutions.

“Collectively, the average accuracy is only around 60 percent. That means potentially we might be ordering 60 percent of the right thing, meaning it’s available when it’s required, … or there’s another 40 percent that might mean 20 percent we’re buying too much of the wrong stuff, and it sits on the shelf and it’s costly. Obviously, sunk cost ... never contributes to readiness. It has forced us to be connected; it has incentivized all of the aspects of interoperability, so it’s no longer the technical aspect of interoperability that’s a limiter — it’s really the human, the procedural dimensions.” DLA Director Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly

Army Directorate is Delivering Tech to Soldiers in Under 180 Days

BLUF: The Army’s Global Tactical Edge Acquisition Directorate (G-TEAD) has been awarding contracts and delivering tech at speeds the Army has never seen.

• G-TEAD was part of the Army’s overarching goal of continuous transformation.

• G-TEAD was born to get capabilities with a TRL of 7 or above into the hands of the warfighters as quickly as possible, specifically within 180 days or less from when the directorate publishes white papers.

• The Directorate has awarded two OTAs for counter drone systems. The Merops counter drone system and one made by Mountain Horse Solutions.

• An OTA for ground autonomy to be announced in coming days.

• After the white papers are posted for a specific technology area, hundreds of companies respond and about 15 companies are then selected to take part in exercises called Accelerated Capability Events (ACEs).

• Around five winners are selected from the competitions and eventually one finalist wins the OTA. Hill said the other winners still win agreements so they can be put on contract at any time (without having to go through another competition).

• All of the ACEs so far have taken place in US Army Europe and Africa’s theater, but in Nov or Dec, the first one will take place in US Army Pacific theater.

• G-TEAD prioritizes the tech it’s looking for directly from the commanding generals of the Army Service Component Commands (ASCCs).

• The team looks at the larger Army capability gaps through the service’s Forge database, which is a data environment facilitating the synchronization and integration of modernization processes enabling Army modernization enterprise collaboration and a common operation picture of progress.

• ASCCs have always had requirements, but never acquisition authority or access to RDT&E and G-TEAD brings both.

“The G-TEAD in general, we’re fighting against a cultural problem right, an identity. What does acquisition look like in the eyes of our warfighters, which is really important at the tactical edge. It’s really an understanding of what acquisition officers and operational commanders do. How are we a combat multiplier? And how we can take a system that is historically slow, and how can we weaponize that system to be flexible and responsive for the warfighter?” COL Christopher Hill

Our Take: There are so many exciting elements to this story. OTAs, rapid timelines to awards. Demonstrating capabilities in exercises vice paper proposals. Awarding to multiple winners (including some awardable, not funded) to maintain competitive pressure. GTEAD also has a cool logo and their director, COL Christopher Hill, teases some exciting news coming soon on their Accelerated Capability Events (ACE). This could be the ground autonomy OTA.

AI Making Vulnerability Detection Faster and Easier for Cyber Actors

BLUF: As the Army modernizes its network, the availability of AI capabilities is presenting new opportunities for the network to be compromised.

• With all data under now under a single architecture, the Army must better understand the ins and outs of the network, especially in the face of a growing threat of emerging AI tools that are making it easier for attackers to exploit holes.

• The hardest barrier to these changes is likely cultural. It involves getting personnel the right training and changing the bureaucracy into more of an operational mindset as opposed to a compliance or checklist based posture.

“The threat now is a different spot. These new AI capabilities [are] lowering the barrier of entry and exposing more of our attack service. We really need to better understand our unified network, rapidly understand where those attacks may be coming in … and be able to ingest the threat and act faster than any adversary.” David Markowitz, Army Deputy CIO and CDAO

Data Evolving into Army Warfighting Capability

BLUF: Data is a warfighting capability. It impacts how Army Materiel Command can anticipate requirements and deliver and share large amounts of information at scale.

• AMC is focusing on three main priorities: equipment readiness, reimagining the organic industrial base and enhancing sustainment and quality of life for soldiers.

• It is also reimagining the organic industrial base by transforming its 23 depots, arsenals and ammunition plants into “modern, data-driven production nodes” capable of manufacturing, repairing and overhauling equipment at scale.

“Sustainment can no longer be treated as an afterthought. It must be the decisive advantage of our future force. That means transforming our traditional practices in ways that are meaningful, in ways that are measurable, in ways that are mission-focused, ensuring that we deliver materiel and critical capabilities where and when they are needed, in support of our warfighters and the national interests we entrust them to defend.” LTG Gavin Lawrence, Deputy CG, Army Materiel Command

Army, J-7 to Test New Sensor with High-Altitude Balloon

BLUF: The Army’s G2 and Joint Staff’s J-7 are set to test a new prototype system, dubbed Project Wallabee, comprising a sensor with autonomous target recognition (ATR) capabilities on top of a stratospheric high-altitude balloon.

• The exercise, in which the Army’s G-2 is partnering with the J-7’s Warfighter Laboratory Incentive Fund program, is the first time the military is testing manufacturer Urban Sky’s high-altitude balloon with Applied Intuition’s ATR software that controls and processes data from the small sensor.

• It’s been notoriously difficult to find sensors small enough to thrive on high-altitude platforms given the precarious nature of the stratosphere with extreme weather and thinning air.

• The payloads that the Army has been investing in up until this point have been much heavier and require much more power, causing them to be ineffective in the stratosphere. As a result, he said the force needs something lighter and that can operate in the vast temperature swings in that part of the atmosphere.

• A multi-layered approach allows the force to provide early entry forces with the tools they need to find without relying on uncontested communications or exquisite space-based sensing systems.

House Wants the Army to Consider Sea Drones for Watercraft Escort Missions

BLUF: The HASC wants the Army to examine the use of unmanned surface vessels to escort its watercraft against threats the ground branch may face during contested logistics.

• The draft bill includes: The committee believes that manned Army watercraft may be aided by dedicated USV providing enhanced force protection, early warning, sensing and defensive effects while reducing risk to personnel.

• The Army’s watercraft fleet has been highlighted in recent years amid concerns of a poor logistical footprint under contested conditions as Washington orients regional forces to counter China.

• The Army’s logistical support vessels and other landing craft have been eyed as a crucial capability in any conflict spanning the Indo-Pacific.

• The HASC wrote the Army may not provide resourcing consistent with a realistic strategy to support the watercraft needed for operations in the Indo-Pacific area of responsibility.

• Last week DIU issued a solicitation for autonomous resupply vessels for the Army operations in the Indo-Pacific. The call is looking for solutions that could provide USVs capable of transporting containers up to sea state six to locations 1,600 nautical miles away and back.

Ramjet-Powered PrSM Increment 4 Advances Toward Flight Testing

BLUF: L3Harris has conducted a key propulsion test for the Army’s ramjet-powered Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) Increment 4 program, paving the way for flight testing to begin in the fall.

• During the Direct Connect Transition Test, the developmental missile successfully transitioned from a solid-rocket booster to an air-breathing ramjet engine, which is intended to significantly enhance its range for future threat environments.

• Increment 4 features a combination of rocket-booster and ramjet propulsion. After the initial boost phase, the missile uses atmospheric oxygen to sustain combustion in its ramjet engine, eliminating the need to carry an onboard oxidizer during cruise flight.

• The missile is expected to strike targets at ranges exceeding 1,000 kilometers, nearly double the range of earlier PrSM variants.

• Launched from existing HIMARS and M270 launchers, the missile is designed to operate in GPS-denied environments and features high control authority and high terminal velocity, complicating interception in anti-access/area-denial scenarios.

• Increment 4’s development is being accelerated for operations in the Indo-Pacific, where it could hold long-range land and maritime targets at risk.

• To support the program’s timeline, prime contractor Lockheed Martin and L3Harris have invested more than $300M in additive manufacturing and automation, establishing a rapid-production hardware pipeline.

PAE Maneuver Ground Polaris Industry Stakeholder Engagement Forum

PAE Maneuver Ground is hosting a discussion of the Polaris 2026 Soldier Modernization Plan to engage with industry and stakeholders about future modernization priorities. It is focused on delivering capabilities for the Army of 2030 and shaping the Army of 2040. 12-13 Aug in Alexandria, VA

Other Army News:

• Army Awards Production Contract for the Spectrum Situational Awareness System (S2AS) to 3dB Labs

• Army Plans Acquisition of 1,134 PrSM Missiles and More HIMARS in FY2027 to Expand Long-Range Strike

A Navy Carrier is About to Deploy With a Robot Ship. Could it Change the Navy Forever?

BLUF: Aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt is gearing up for a deployment with a Seahawk MUSV as part of its strike group for the first time. This is a key milestone signifying the transition of the unmanned system from an experimental to operational part of the fleet.

• This deployment could lay the foundation for how the Navy develops its CONOPS for integrating unmanned into the rest of the fleet, at a time when the Navy is still struggling to articulate how and when it will make autonomous vessels a core part of its arsenal.

• The Seahawk is one of Leidos’ unmanned vessels. It supports anti-submarine warfare and maritime domain awareness, and stems from a DARPA initiative.

• Per Bryan Clark, the announced upcoming deployment with the Theodore Roosevelt shows the Navy wants unmanned systems to supplement primary forces as the Navy develops new tailored force packages for specific mission sets and geographies.

• Whatever is learned from this deployment will help the service set its approach to both the CONOPS for unmanned vessels, and their acquisition strategy.

• CNO ADM Daryl Caudle’s Fighting Instructions laid out plans to utilize a “hedge force strategy” that seeks to capitalize on unmanned systems and create a range of tailored options that fall outside the traditional carrier strike group model where an aircraft carrier, a destroyer, and several other assets go out to sea together.

• In an attempt to procure MUSVs faster, the Navy announced in March a new MUSV marketplace where industry could submit proposals. This shift to the marketplace approach veered away from narrow requirements into performance-based requirements, ultimately allowing more options for the warfighter.

• The Navy announced in May that seven designs from the marketplace were selected to advance to the prototype testing phase. Leidos is one of the seven.

“We need to move these capabilities from individual units into composite mission sets, including contested logistics. Using USVs to move food and parts replenishing underways without risking humans is a major use case.” CNO ADM Daryl Caudle

“It is certainly a significant development. Up to now, it’s all been a matter of testing, and the actual use in operational deployment is a major step. I think that what will happen as a result of this is, we won’t necessarily see immediately some big change in the way the fleet operates, but it will tell the fleet a lot about how to use this type of capability.” Bradley Martin, a senior policy researcher at RAND.

Our Take: Deploying a Seahawk with the Roosevelt is a key effort to infuse MUSVs into the Fleet. We continue to see competing perspectives across the Navy on USV and UUV adoption. Some appear resistant and focused on Carrier Strike Groups and manned ships, setting high bars that USVs must match in speed and range. Others, active champions of USVs and UUVs, are eager to explore pairing them with manned ships for targeted missions and novel unmanned mission sets. Increasing the number of exercises and deployments of the full range of USVs and UUVs should be a top Navy priority over the next few years. Dedicated resources are needed to capture these insights and drive modern CONOPS and acquisition strategies.

Navy Accepts Accelerated Delivery of Future USS Patrick Gallagher

The Navy accepted delivery of future USS Patrick Gallagher (DDG 127), the final Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-Class destroyer, from Bath Iron Works, May 28.

• The delivery, which marks the official transfer of the ship from the shipbuilder to the Navy, was accelerated by more than two months, due to exceptional builder’s sea trials.

• The trials executed hull, mechanical, electrical and combat systems at sea testing in series, during a single accelerated effort.

“Our nation’s leadership, including Secretary Hegseth and Acting Secretary Cao have been very clear—build ships faster. Thanks to innovative collaboration between the Navy and industry, we’re doing exactly that.” - William Mahan, PTDO ASN/RDA

Raytheon’s Most Advanced Maritime Radar Set to Boost Battleship’s Defense Capability

BLUF: Raytheon’s most advanced radar is set to power the Navy’s battle power. Their SPY-6 family of radars can simultaneously defend against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hypersonic missiles, hostile aircraft, and surface ships. The Navy awarded Raytheon a $515M contract for the SPY-6 family of radars.

• SPY-6 radars offer many advantages over legacy radars, such as greater detection range, increased sensitivity, and more accurate discrimination.

• the SPY-6 radar is now operational aboard two commissioned U.S. Navy ships. The company also confirmed that the system has been installed on 11 additional vessels, which are currently undergoing various stages of testing and evaluation.

• The SPY-6 is expected to see widespread deployment across the fleet in the coming years. Over the next decade, more than 50 U.S. Navy ships are slated to receive the advanced radar system.

• Once fully integrated, the SPY-6 will strengthen the Navy’s ability to detect, track, and counter a broad range of threats. These include aircraft, surface vessels, ballistic missiles, and EW attacks.

• The company also revealed that each variant uses the same hardware and software, and their construction is modular, making the SPY-6 family more reliable and less expensive to maintain.

“With over a decade of demonstrated success at sea, SPY-6 remains the U.S. Navy’s most advanced maritime radar, providing the fleet with unmatched sensing power and multi-mission readiness to counter evolving threats. Backed by an $800M investment to modernize our radar manufacturing facilities, we’re accelerating production and are expecting to double SPY‑6 output by 2028.” Barbara Borgonovi, Raytheon President of Naval Power

The Navy Wants Next-Generation Munitions, So it’s Spending Millions on Innovation Hubs

BLUF: The Navy broke ground on the Maryland Energetics Innovation Hub (MEIH) to furnish lab space where companies can test new tech, such as high-performance computers to run simulations.

• The Navy awarded ACMI $50M to bring companies working in munitions and energetics closer to the service’s technical expertise. The group aims to raise another $200M for the project.

• The MEIH will focus on eight technical areas: developing new energetics materials, high-performance computing; non-destructive test and evaluation; integration with drones or unmanned systems; automating energetic processing and assembly; creating new manufacturing processes for propulsion systems and warheads; analyzing energetics obsolescence, and producing high-precision, high-throughput non-energetic components.

• The southern Maryland-based hub builds on an ecosystem of energetics companies working in the region, but could foster new growth and partnerships for companies designing military technology.

• Defense tech hubs have already sprouted around the country, in Austin, TX; Rhode Island’s Unity Park and Quonset Point; and the Louisiana coastline. MxD, a Pentagon manufacturing partner, has a 22,000-square-foot hub in Chicago.

“This initiative ensures that NSWC Indian Head Division remains at the forefront of energetics innovation, scale-up, and production. By bringing together government and industry partners in a collaborative environment, we can accelerate the development and fielding of critical capabilities that strengthen the Navy’s arsenal and the larger munitions industrial base.” CAPT Stephen Duba, NSWC Commander

Congrats to Justin Fanelli for winning
Washington Exec’s Government CTO of the Year award.

Other Navy News:

• Navy’s destroyers to get big boost with generator supplier’s expansion push

Marines to Make Weapon Integration a Priority

BLUF: The Marine Corps is working to operationalize its long-term vision known as Force Design, and its armament goals are a combination of kinetic and non-kinetic effects that the Marines needs to integrate seamlessly to operate in an evolving landscape.

• One of the Marines’ top priorities is its Organic Precision Fires concept. The effort is intended to equip small, dismounted units with man-packable, precision-strike loitering munitions to destroy targets beyond line of sight without relying on external support.

• In the near term, the Marine Corps is focused specifically on Organic Precision Fires-Light, a loitering munition system intended for small Marine Corps units operating on the front line.

  • The capability will give small formations the ability to launch kamikaze drones at targets beyond the reach of rifles and other direct-fire weapons.

  • In 2024, the Marines selected AV, Anduril, and Teledyne FLIR for the multi-vendor effort, with Teledyne and Anduril receiving follow-on contracts ($42.5M and $23.9M respectively) following the program’s initial phase.

• The Marine Corps is also developing a larger companion system, Organic Precision Fires-Medium, aimed at battalion-sized formations.

  • The medium variant is a little bit bigger and expands capability to engage armored targets beyond line of sight, looking after anti-tank targets and weapons for dismounted Marine Corps anti-armor.

Marines’ AV-8B Harrier Has Flown Off Into The Sunset

BLUF: In a ceremony , the Marine Corps said its official farewell to the AV-8B when its final operational Harrier II squadron, Marine Attack Squadron 223 (VMA-223), known as the “Bulldogs,” marked the retirement of the aircraft at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, NC.

• The event closes a remarkable chapter in Marine aviation history.

• The Harrier’s departure marks more than the retirement of an aircraft; it represents the conclusion of a concept that shaped Marine air power for generations and helped define the Corps’ expeditionary character.

• The Harrier was the embodiment of the Marine Corps’ longstanding determination to bring airpower wherever Marines fought, regardless of whether a conventional airfield existed.

• Looking forward, the F-35B possesses short takeoff and vertical landing capability. Unlike the Harrier, however, it combines that flexibility with stealth technology, sensor fusion, powerful electronic warfare systems, and the ability to operate as an intelligence-gathering node across the battlespace.

Ashley Devoto Named as Air Force, Space Force CIO

BLUF: Ashley Devoto has a decades-long career in cybersecurity fields and will now oversee the Air and Space Forces’ modernization and sustainment efforts for information technology and more.

• She served as the chief information security officer for major companies like Discount Tire and Booz Allen Hamilton, as well as an advisor for cyber-focused venture capital and investment firms.

• Her career started in 2005 when she became a cyberspace operator for the Air Force. During her 15 years of service, she directed full-spectrum operations of the service’s computer emergency response team.

USAF Wants “MQ-9 Next” Reaper Replacement to Be Modular, Cheap

BLUF: Modularity is a key area of interest as the Air Force formulates its latest set of requirements for a successor to the MQ-9 Reaper.

• A modular design, both in terms of hardware and software, would help make the chosen platform more flexible and adaptable to different mission sets.

• Earlier this year, the Air Force laid out other prospective requirements for an MQ-9 replacement, including a design that is easier to produce, lower-cost, and that can be more freely sent into higher-risk environments.

• This follows several abortive Air Force attempts in the past to devise a successor to the Reaper.

• Greater control over intellectual property, and software in particular, has emerged as a major guiding principle.

I think what we’d like to have is something that’s perhaps got more range, perhaps a lot more modularity. We could hang ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] sensors, we could hang weapons, we could hang fuel – something that we could line-in/ line-out, very modular. We’re just going through some early work, our Air Force Futures team, to figure out exactly how we want to tackle that going forward.” Gen LaMontagne

Our Take: This whole scenario is classic Air Force. They will do studies for the next 3 years and try to find the perfect set of requirements while the PLA simultaneously fields 3 different versions of ISR UAVs. This mentality is rooted in the thinking that once we buy one thing, we’re stuck with it forever, so we have to get it perfect. This is the Air Force’s most limiting bias that keeps it from getting with the times. It’s only a minor miracle that CCA Increment 1 is where it is (well it’s actually the leadership from a few key people).

The mentality should be let’s field an ISR platform that is simple and can swap out sensors with maybe some ability to integrate APWKS and JAGM. Give it a moderate range to support CENTCOM missions and ACE concepts in the Pacific but think of it as the first model. Field it within the next 2 years and get something out to the warfighter. Simultaneously think about the next iteration and what effects another larger UAV could provide. Maybe it’s a version with higher SWAP for delivering EW/Cyber effects and maybe there’s a version that’s more of a weapons carrier (although this is less ideal since it drives a lot of design considerations and we have other platforms to do that). Come on Air Force - we can do this!! Aim High.

Demand for New Airplanes ‘Outstripping’ Production

BLUF: The Air Force is seeking to buy around 108 new aircraft in FY27 but would buy more if the production capacity existed.

• Despite the overall defense budget soaring to $1.5T and the Air Force budget increasing ~25%, the service’s 62 new fighters fell short of its goal of 72 new fighters per year to hold down the fighter fleet’s age and keep capacity steady.

• The service is responding to the issue by retaining more of its older aircraft it had planned to retire, such as the A-10 and the KC-135 tanker.

• Leadership acknowledges that industry is put off by the “sawtooth” funding that fluctuates every year.

• To that end, the Air Force is supporting multiyear procurement deals for the F-35 and F-15EX and modernizing its older fleets.

• The 2027 procurement budget request includes:

  • 38 F-35As

  • 24 F-15EX Eagle II fighters

  • 23 T-7A Red Hawk trainer aircraft

  • 15 KC-46 Pegasus refueling tankers

  • An undisclosed number of B-21 Raider bombers

Our Take: The situation the Air Force finds itself is partially about steady demand for certain aircraft but also because it’s been so tentative about starting new efforts. The F-15EX situation is in the Air Force’s court as they have been steadily adding the total numbers they plan to buy. On the F-35 front, it’s been more about the delays with Block 4 and TR-3. The Air Force has few other production lines for aircraft it wants although it should be considering buying Block 70/72 F-16s and rapidly scaling up CCA production (for multiple increments) to meet the need for capacity. It should also be leaning into NGAS to get a more survivable tanker fielded but that looks like it’s going to be deferred indefinitely.

Now Is the Time to Boost CCA Investment

Heather Penney

BLUF: The FY27 defense budget request comes at a crucial time for the CCA since the Air Force inventory is both too old and too small for the myriad missions it faces, and CCA can be the key to ensuring U.S. fighting capacity in the future.

• The Air Force wants about $1B to move the CCA Increment 1 program into production in FY27 and accelerate the introduction of this game-changing technology. Congress should support that objective.

• These uncrewed jets have the potential to radically change air warfare. Because they are autonomous, CCA can act as force multipliers operating in partnership with crewed combat aircraft.

• CCA will change air combat and inaugurate new types of missions, increasing effectiveness and lethality.

• Despite the magnificent performance of our combat Airmen, the age and lack of capacity is driving operational risk to unacceptable levels.

• The Air Force shrunk from well over 4,000 fighters and 400 bombers at the end of the Cold War in 1990 to just over 2,000 fighters and less than 150 bombers today.

• Recent wargames point to novel uses of the jets, increasing USAF’s ability to surprise adversaries, decrease their battlespace awareness, deliver kinetic and non-kinetic effects, and draw forces away from manned force packages.

• Like the MQ-9, CCA can be employed to execute the most dangerous missions and increase total force effectiveness. But the Air Force will need the funding to develop the CCA autonomy—the mission-oriented “brains” of the aircraft.

• The faster Airmen get their hands on this technology and put it to work in operational environments, the sooner warfighters will gain from the technology.

• Likewise, those reps and sets will also pay off for the mission commanders operating with CCA, who must develop the tactics, techniques, and procedures needed to effectively integrate, employ, and sustain CCA.

Our Take: Heather nails it 1000%. We often throw tons of money at different problems to try to drive progress faster than risk-averse officials like (check out the gobs thrown at scaling old missiles and accelerating a new high-tech fighter). CCA is actually the case where the risk is low enough and the payoff high enough that it deserves to be funded at “extreme levels” to get the supply chains activated, the manufacturing ready to move, and as Heather points out - to get the operational community activated (beyond just the EOU) to really drive the CONOPS forward. Congress: Please support the $1B and triple the request. Will it be perfectly executable? No. Will it drive positive action? Yes. Will the results be bad for the PLA and other competitors? Yes.

Next Generation Penetrator Bomb Slated to Replace MOP Has Been Designated GBU-76

BLUF: The Air Force is laying the groundwork for fielding the replacement of its GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster bomb. The follow-on Next Generation Penetrator (NGP) has now been designated as the GBU-76/B.

• Fuzing is a critical element of the design of deep-penetrating munitions.

• These weapons are designed to be employed against targets that are underground or otherwise present inherent challenges when it comes to establishing their exact location and layout.

• As such, advanced fuzes that ‘count’ floors to determine depth and/or sense the ‘voids’ of underground mission spaces help maximize the damage.

• These fuzes also need to be highly reliable in order to function after impacting very hard surfaces at high speeds and then drilling even further down into them.

• The Air Force has said in past NGP notices that it will consider novel, demonstrated, or fielded Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC) technologies.

• The Air Force has previously said that the bomb’s “warhead” is set to tip the scales at around 22,000 pounds, but the complete weapon could be heavier.

• The Air Force has raised the possibility of a powered design offering extended reach in past discussions about MOP replacements.

• When the Air Force expects to start fielding its first operational GBU-76/Bs is unclear but it seems to want to move into production around FY28/29.

Our Take: The focus on fuzing is accurate because that was one of the hardest challenges with the MOP. In the future, having alternate PNT options will also be key because adversaries will be focused on denying GPS and other common timing sources used for navigation.

Other Air Force News:

• House Panel Votes to Prohibit F-22 Retirements Through Fiscal 2032

• KC-46’s New Remote Vision System Completes Initial ‘Non-Contact’ Testing

NRO Nominee Says Commercial Space, AI are Reshaping Agency

BLUF: Roger Mason, nominee to lead the National Reconnaissance Office, said that the agency is navigating a period of rapid innovation in commercial space and artificial intelligence that is transforming space-based intelligence.

• The NRO operates the nation’s spy satellites and acquires commercial satellite imagery used by military commanders and civilian policymakers.

• Under the previous director, the agency has embraced commercial launch and satellite technologies while deploying a proliferated low Earth orbit imaging constellation that now exceeds 200 satellites.

• Mason believes that maintaining strong ties with private industry would be essential as the agency expands its satellite architecture and seeks access to emerging technologies.

• He said government agencies must provide clear signals to industry about future requirements.

• He also highlighted the role of AI as proliferated constellations require AI to synchronize operations and process information at speeds that would be difficult for human operators alone.

“We are in a space renaissance where the pace of technology advancement, speed of innovation and promise of the future has drawn unprecedented investments,”

Lawmakers Push Space Force to Seek More Commercial Integration

BLUF: House lawmakers want the Space Force to buy more technology and services from commercial companies, evidenced in a handful of amendments approved as part of the FY27 NDAA.

• The bill now includes at least five amendments that would require studies and plans to incorporate technology from nontraditional firms into missions like:

  • space domain awareness

  • space sensing

  • satellite communications

  • autonomous satellite operations.

• House lawmakers state in their bill they’re concerned about reductions to “seed corn” efforts, like Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Tracking, the Joint Commercial Operations Cell, and the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve.

• COMSO is funded through a dedicated commercial services line, which dropped from ~$168M in FY26 appropriations to just $23M in the FY27 request.

“The committee encourages the Secretary of the Air Force, in coordination with the Chief of Space Operations, to continue developing and operationalizing mechanisms to ingest, validate, and fuse relevant commercial data into the HAC. The committee continues to encourage the Space Force to treat commercial data as a core element of a resilient, hybrid SDA architecture designed to operate effectively in a contested space domain.” NDAA Provision

Our Take: We appreciate the congressional focus here because the Space Force has sometimes not matched its rhetoric with the budget…and has slow rolled integration of commercial data into operations. However, the Space Force does deserve a reasonable amount of credit because they turned to commercial and non-traditional providers for an increasing range of critical capabilities. Shortchanging some of the lines (like TacSRT and COMSO) do send a conflicting message this year.

Space Force’s Commercial Gatekeeper Offers a Playbook for Startups Seeking Defense Business

BLUF: As investment pours space startups, the Space Force is trying to draw more of those companies into the national security market and offers some candid feedback on what companies get right — and wrong — when approaching government buyers.

• Col. Tim Trimailo shared his personal observations from those interactions.

• His central message for startups:

  • Build something that solves a real problem.

  • Explain why it matters.

  • Be candid about what has gone wrong.

  • Understand how government buying works.

  • Keep commercial customers in the picture.

• Trimailo’s advice also reveals a persistent misunderstanding between startups and the acquisition system with many companies expecting hidden pools of funding or rapid procurement pathways. He warned that such opportunities are rare.

• Trimailo cautioned against abandoning commercial markets in pursuit of perfect alignment with government requirements.

• That philosophy reflects a growing consensus within parts of the Space Force that commercial innovation is most valuable when it remains commercially viable.

“Persistent engagement is really the name of the game. We want to see dual-use capabilities, we want to see other people paying down some of our R&D bills,” Trimailo said. The strongest performers are often those that combine private capital and government funding in a deliberate sequence as they move through development.” Col. Tim Trimailo

Our Take: This is generally good advice even if it puts more of the onus on industry rather than detailing how the Space Force could be a better buyer. There is also some double talk in this messaging where the Space Force wants its cake and to eat it too. To tell industry they have to build something that solves a military problem and have good understanding of the operational user while also building a viable commercial business can sometimes drive agonizing tradeoffs. The Space Force might not buy data that doesn’t provide say a certain level of resolution for imaging or does not pass over certain locations with a desired rapidity. So, to meet that need, a company may need to invest in higher quality sensors and a larger constellation that raises their prices and maybe reduces their commercial customer base. The answer lies in both parties discussing the tradeoffs and the Space Force showing a demand for service levels that are price competitive for the commercial sector.

SpaceX Gets US Approval to Test New Starfall Capsules for Space Manufacturing

BLUF: SpaceX will soon test reentry vehicles that could enable in-space manufacturing and rapid point-to-point cargo delivery.

• On May 15, the FAA issued an environmental assessment for test flights of the new reentry vehicle, called Starfall.

• SpaceX has remained tight-lipped when it comes to providing specific details to the public regarding Starfall.

• Previously announced plans included Starship providing rapid delivery of military cargo for the U.S. military.

• The Starfall vehicles could also serve as a “proliferated successor” to the International Space Station (ISS), as they could support “a self-sustaining manufacturing economy in space.”

• Starfall could put SpaceX in direct competition with companies that have relied on SpaceX rocket launches for their business models.

  • Varda Space Industries, for example, has flown six in-space manufacturing W-series spacecraft aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare missions.

  • Other companies, including Inversion and Armos Space Cargo, have also flown their reentry vehicles aboard SpaceX’s workhorse rocket.

Our Take: This is a big step forward to providing affordable cargo delivery from space and weapons delivery of different types to locations around the globe.

HASC NDAA Markup Challenges Space Force on Satellite Programs

BLUF: Congress took exception to some of the Space Force’s plans in the FY27 budget and is redirecting some key efforts.

• Next-Gen OPIR Polar: The Space Force had proposed cancelling this effort in lieu of other proliferated constellations. HASC reinstates it.

• Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global: The HASC criticized the decision to procure only two satellites — one from each company — for a program that had been promoted as a proliferated architecture.

• PNT Enterprise: The HASC criticized that the PNT enterprise remains disjointed and underprioritized despite its importance to military operations. Requires the designation of single responsible official.

Our Take: We support these changes by the HASC. We noted the reduction to NG-OPIR in our budget post but didn’t recognize it as a full reduction in that capability. It makes no sense to get to this point in that program and not see the polar segment through to completion.

Space Force Wants 5 New Tactical Ops Centers for Electronic Warfare

BLUF: The Space Force wants to make its electronic warfare capabilities more resilient by building five new tactical EW centers in the U.S. and around the globe

• The 2027 budget request includes $1B for four new space operations centers around the country.

• There is currently just one SEWTOC, run by Mission Delta 3 at Peterson Space Force Base, Colo. If funded, the five new centers will be placed according to the Air Force Strategic Basing process.

• The EW centers can operate offensively or defensively and assist joint service across the electromagnetic spectrum by protecting satellite communications.

• The first SEWTOC at Peterson uses a signal jamming system called Remote Modular Terminal, made by Northstrat with CACI, and Bounty Hunter, a ground-based system that protects U.S. and allied satellite communications links.

• Bounty Hunter works as a kind of “celestial detective” and has been deployed to both U.S. Central Command and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to “detect, characterize, geolocate and report” sources of electromagnetic interference.

• L3Harris delivered two Meadowlands systems to Space Force in April 2025

• Meadowlands is a lighter and more compact version of CCS, which allows one operator to control 300% more simultaneous missions from remote locations.

Space Force Announces Launch Deal with Blue Origin After Rocket Mishap

BLUF: The Space Force awarded a task order to Blue Origin for its first National Security Space Launch mission the same day the company’s New Glenn rocket exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base. However, the Space Force says it remains committed to its contract.

• Blue Origin is one of three companies approved to compete for launch contracts under Phase 3 of the Space Force’s dual-lane NSSL program.

• Its recent award is for “Lane 1,” which covers the U.S. military’s more risk-tolerant, commercial-like missions.

• The company is also in the midst of qualifying New Glenn to fly more risk-averse “Lane 2” launches that involve the Pentagon’s most exquisite, sensitive satellites.

• While Lane 1 companies can receive launch contracts after their vehicles have flown at least once, firms must complete a rigorous, individualized certification process to compete for Lane 2 awards.

Our Take: The Space Force needs Blue Origin to be successful to build resiliency into its launch program and for other critical missions. At the same time, it needs Blue Origin to show that it can rapidly recover from this setback and get back on-track the way that SpaceX has after its series of failed launches on its rocket lines.

Northrop Grumman Partners with Apex on Space-Based Interceptors for Golden Dome

BLUF: Northrop Grumman has partnered with satellite manufacturing startup Apex to develop space-based interceptors for the Golden Dome missile defense program.

• Northrop Grumman is one of 12 firms selected by the Space Force to develop concepts for space-based interceptors.

• Apex manufactures standardized satellite buses designed to be produced more quickly and at lower cost than traditional government spacecraft.

• Raytheon has disclosed a partnership with Rocket Lab, while Anduril Industries has assembled a team that includes several commercial space companies.

• NGC says it has completed key ground tests this year and is on track to demonstrate an on-orbit capability in 2027.

Rebuilding Europe’s Armored Advantage

BLUF: The resurgence of tensions, particularly in Eastern Europe, is accelerating modernization efforts aimed at enhancing the operational readiness and effectiveness of military land vehicles.

• The alliance’s emphasis on standardization ensures that military vehicles across different nations can operate seamlessly together, improving collective operational effectiveness.

• This standardization is particularly crucial in the context of joint operations, where interoperability can be the difference between success and failure.

• The conflict in Ukraine has further accelerated modernization efforts, with the war highlighting vulnerabilities of outdated military equipment and a pressing need for upgrades to counter heavily armored and mechanized formations.

• There is a marked shift towards heavier platforms driven by the need for increased armor and sophisticated digital systems.

• To support these enhancements, more powerful engines are required to offset the increased weight from additional armor and equipment.

• This is not only an issue of operational efficiency but of strategic importance, as maintaining high mobility and speed is a critical combat advantage.

• The integration of hybrid and electric systems is also becoming increasingly important for future proofing military vehicles.

• As well as the potential to enhance fuel efficiency, they provide a quieter operation, which can be advantageous in stealth missions.

• According to GlobalData, the global military land vehicles market – valued at $20.8B in 2023 – is expected to reach a value of $31.3B by 2033

Poland Spends $16.5B in EU-Backed Loans on Heavy Army Weapons

BLUF: The Polish Ministry of National Defence has awarded contracts worth around $16.5B to buy infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled howitzers, military vehicles, and self-propelled wheeled mortars to a group of local defense companies.

• The purchases will be bankrolled by the European Union’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) low-cost loan program.

• The contracts were awarded to a group of companies led by state-run defense giant PGZ.

• In September 2025, PGZ selected the U.K.’s BAE Systems as its technology partner for the ongoing ramp-up of local artillery ammunition production.

• In addition to procuring the necessary equipment for the Polish military, the contracts are to enable Poland’s defense industry to boost its production capacities for export sales.

AUKUS Virginia-Class Switch Is a Fix, Not a Failure

Jennifer Parker

BLUF: The announcement this week changed the mix of submarines Australia will receive – it did not change the program’s purpose, or its prospects.

• Much of the reaction to this week’s AUKUS announcement that Australia will acquire three in-service Virginia-class submarines and forgo buying a new U.S.-built boat has missed the point.

• While some have portrayed the decision as a fundamental change to the deal, in reality, it is a relatively minor adjustment to a program that will run for 30+ years.

• The practical effect is that all three Virginia-class submarines Australia acquires in the 2030s will be of the same configuration.

• Operating three of the same submarines simplifies workforce, training, maintenance and sustainment requirements.

• The downside is that an in-service submarine has less life remaining than a newly built boat but that was already true of the first two submarines Australia was due to receive.

Cutting-Edge Uncrewed Underwater Vessels with Advanced Weapons to Boost Warfighting Readiness

BLUF: AUKUS (Australia, U.K. and U.S) partners are set to develop, produce and deploy cutting-edge technologies carried by uncrewed underwater vessels (UUVs).

• AUKUS partners are collaborating to rapidly develop these maritime capabilities to boost warfighting readiness.

• The first capabilities are expected to be in service by 2027 and will help drive the Royal Navy’s transition to a Hybrid Navy.

• The payloads will allow the Royal Navy to detect underwater threats to the UK and allies’ critical undersea infrastructure.

• The Royal Navy will be able to integrate payloads from the US and Australia, meaning a more effective and lethal force.

• The tech will be used to reinforce the future SSN-AUKUS attack submarine fleet.

• The joint development of transformational tech is the first signature project to be announced under Pillar 2 of the partnership.

Our Take: It will be interesting to see how this impacts the Navy’s ongoing UUV work. Do all those projects get converted to a joint project or do UK and Australia get a chance to compete on U.S. efforts? Lots to watch here.

Full P-8A Fleet to Strengthen Australia’s ASW Readiness

BLUF: Boeing P-8A Poseidon is modified for military missions such as anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, and maritime and overland ISR.

• Boeing delivered the 14^th and final P-8A Poseidon aircraft to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) last week, concluding the procurement programme.

• The fleet enables the RAAF to conduct ongoing ISR and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations across Australia’s maritime borders.

• Boeing noted that with a full complement of P-8A Poseidons, the air force gains operational elasticity by supporting a cycle in which aircraft can be distributed among immediate missions, preparation, training, and maintenance requirements without reducing long-term readiness.

• The key benefit is not only the fleet’s relatively young age, but also the capacity to maintain operational readiness without putting excessive strain on a limited number of aircraft.

Lockheed Martin UK-led Consortium Unveils GBAD Concept for NATO

BLUF: A Lockheed Martin UK-led consortium has unveiled a Ground-Based Air Defense (GBAD) concept for NATO, envisioned as a plug-and-play network that enables agnostic data sharing and interoperability among national assets dispersed across the alliance.

• This is part of the second phase of NATO’s Modular GBAD program to counter aerial threats at very short- to medium-range.

• The overall project, led by the alliance Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), was launched in 2023 with a value of roughly €20 million ($23.3 million).

• The envisioned common architecture capability would enable continuous coordination and integration of member states’ legacy systems and future assets.

• There is a need to build a mesh of high- and low-end sensors and effectors, similar to that proposed under the US’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative.

• Lockheed Martin UK stated that the aim of joint collaboration is to use the team’s collective experience to provide the Modular GBAD participating Nations with proven and innovative solutions and technologies in support of NATO Modular GBAD capabilities. A third stage will follow, in which the most promising proposal will be chosen to advance to the integration of emerging technologies.

• A similar software system, dubbed Delta, is already employed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It has been described as the “digital brain” of the country’s military, integrating multi-domain equipment and data from drones, satellites, and launchers into a common network that serves as an interactive map for commanders.

Warships to Detect, Track Quiet Submarines Over Long Ranges with New High‑Performance Sonar

BLUF: The Canadian Navy’s some of the new destroyers are set to get new Sonar 2087 towed array sonar systems. Thales Canada will supply these systems for the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) future River-class destroyers.

• The S2087 is a proven, high‑performance towed array sonar designed to detect and track quiet submarines over long ranges in complex littoral and open‑ocean environments.

• Its integration into the River-Class destroyers supports the goal of achieving 75% fleet serviceability by contributing to high operational maturity and long-term supportability.

• The S2087 adds a critical layer of capability to the River‑class destroyers, ensuring Canada’s surface combatants are equipped to operate effectively in contested maritime environments.

• Currently deployed by the British Royal Navy and selected for Australia’s Hunter‑class frigates, the S2087 strengthens interoperability among Five Eyes and NATO allies.

Other International News:

• Elbit marks $30B backlog, announces $1.4 billion deal with mystery European customer

HASC Adopts FY27 Defense Policy Bill, Adds Right to Repair Language

Over the 14-hour markup, HASC members debated more than 900 amendments on topics spanning the war with Iran, the official name of the DoD, and Kid Rock.

• The Right to Repair measure would enable the DoD to obtain government purpose rights by default for any technical data, computer software, or computer software unless the contractor provides evidence that it needs to retain more restrictive intellectual property rights.

• Other provisions buried in the en bloc amendment packages included:

  • A requirement for the Pentagon to provide a quarterly report on munitions inventories;

  • Authorization for the Missile Defense Agency “to develop and demonstrate an exoatmospheric interceptor capability to strengthen ballistic missile defense capacity and improve homeland defense architecture;”

  • A prohibition from using funds authorized in the NDAA to purchase a warship from a foreign shipyard;

  • A prohibition on retiring the E/A-18G Growler;

  • A report on the Navy’s strategy to design and construct the BBG(X) battleship without interfering with existing nuclear-powered shipbuilding plans, specifically that of the Ford-class carrier;

  • Briefings on low-cost air-to-air munitions for CCAs and transitioning F-35 sustainment to the military services by 2027;

  • A brief by the Air Force on the feasibility, cost, timeline, and alternatives associated with restarting the C-17 production line; and

  • A briefing on UH-60 modernization for the Army.

The HASC adopted the FY27 National Defense Authorization Act in a 44-12 vote.

HASC Seeks Insight into Air Force, DOD Plans for Cargo Drones

BLUF: The HASC wants to know more about how the Air Force and Pentagon might employ autonomous cargo drones to resupply troops in remote locations in the future

• The Air Force’s agile combat employment concept for operating in contested areas entails small teams of Airmen dispersing to remote locations in the Pacific, then operating from ad hoc airfields in a bid to make it harder for adversaries to locate and target them.

• Resupplying small, spread-out airfields so they can continue to generate airpower won’t be easy.

• Several companies are working on the challenge.

  • Grid Aero unveiled its “Lifter Lite” drone last August, a “flying pickup truck” that could carry up to 8,000 pounds of cargo for distances up to about 1,500 miles.

  • Joby Aviation, which acquired Xwing in June 2024. It announced a partnership with L3Harris to develop an autonomous vertical takeoff-and-landing aircraft for defense missions like contested logistics

  • Reliable Robotics, another autonomy startup, has outfitted Cessnas of its own that are capable of conducting resupply missions.

• The tactical air and land forces subcommittee wants the Pentagon to develop a strategy for the use of “low-cost and attritable Group 4 and 5 unmanned aircraft systems in contested logistics operations.

• The strategy would include an assessment of current and projected airlift capabilities for contested environments, comms challenges during contested logistics missions, and whether unmanned airlift could solve such a challenge.

Insights Into FY27 HASC NDAA

America Has a Manufacturing and Learning Rate Problem | Bryon Hargis
Generalist

The Rise of Hyperscaler Infrastructure at the Edge | Dan Wright
Atoms Not Bits

The Defense Modernization Caucus | Rep Pat Ryan and Rep Rob Wittman
2F Offset Symposium

Scaling Autonomy That Survives Reality
2F Offset Symposium

How SOFWERX Became Fast Lane for Defense Innovation | Leslie Babbage
Fed Gov Today

SOCOM’s Secret Weapon Isn’t Technology, It’s Humans | Frank Wakeham
Fed Gov Today

AI For Decision Advantage
2F Offset Symposium

Business Breakdown: Anduril
The Merge

Integrating Drone and Unmanned Systems into the Future of US Warfare
Emerging Tech Horizons

How Nominate Turned the Pentagon Into a Growth Engine | Cameron McCord
Crossing the Valley

Bridging the Public-Private Tech Talent Divide | Arun Gupta
CSIS AI Policy Podcast

Confronting Defense Vendors on Waste | LTG (Ret) Tony Hale
Defense Disrupted

Accelerating Spacecraft Development w/AI, Digital Twins, and Simulation
Aerospace & Defense Technology

Comms is the Backbone of National Security | Omar Javaid
Drone Wars

MIL SATCOM USA
Jun 8-10 • Arlington, VA

Future Force Capabilities
NDIA • Jun 8-10 • Las Vegas, NV

Rearm Europe Summit
Mission 2044 • Jun 10 • Berlin, Germany

Growing the DIB: A Conversation w/DASW James Mismash
Hudson • Jun 11 • Washington DC/Virtual

Solid Rocket Motors for Missile Defense
CSIS • Jun 12 • Virtual

Eurosatory
Jun 15-19 • Paris, France

Congressional M&S Leadership Summit
NTSA • Jun 16 • Orlando, FL

Army Summit
Potomac Officers Club • Jun 18 • Reston, VA

Federal Acquisition Conference
PSC • Jun 25 • Arlington, VA

Capital Hill Modeling and Sim Expo
NTSA • Jul 9 • Washington • DC

Training & Simulation Industry Symposium
NTSA • Jun 17-18 • Orlando • FL

See our Events Page for all the other events over the next year.

The House released their first volley of marks for the FY27 NDAA last week and will debate them tomorrow. Given the massive changes made in the FY26 NDAA, along with many executive orders, and the Acquisition Transformation Strategy, this year’s bill is not as ambitious. We support a constrained FY27 bill to allow the Department to focus on incorporating the major changes from FY26 to include training the acquisition workforce. However, there are several complex provisions in this bill.

HASC Chairman's Mark

Cyber, IT, and Innovation | Intel and Special Ops | Military Personnel | Readiness | Seapower and Projection Forces | Strategic Forces | Tactical Air and Land Forces

High Impact Provisions

These are the provisions we believe will have the greatest impact to the Department by addressing a core issue, expanding authorities/roles, and enabling the acquisition transformation.

Sec. 818. Transfer Authority for Rapid Transition of Other Transaction Authority Prototypes

• Authorize a PAE to transfer 10% of total RDT&E to a procurement program to accelerate production.

• Transfers can only be made within the same PAE portfolio and can only be used for mature technologies that were executed under an OT.

• Requires written notification to Congress and DoW 15 days before the transfer.

• These amounts are excluded from General Transfer Authority (which means it can’t be capped by Above Threshold Reprogramming activities).

Our Take: This could be highly impactful to prevent the typical 2-3 year wait to get procurement funds programmed for a successful prototype. To date, the only recourse has been to petition for APFIT funds which we have been big fans of as a way to get at least initial production underway. To show a scenario of how this could work:

• A PAE collectively has $500M in RDT&E funds across her portfolio (say in 20 different budget line items).

• She has 10 different prototypes for different capabilities being executed under OT agreements at differing levels of maturity.

• Two of the 10 projects hit some key milestones (and presumably satisfy their completion criteria on the OT contract) that can justifiably be characterized at a TRL 8 level of maturity (see details below).

• If funds are not already committed to projects that are high priority, she could commit up to $50M to the one or both projects to get production underway as long as she can justify that the operational timing requires it.

Sec. 1511. Software Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution Reform

Requires DoD to revise Financial Management Regulations to allow any of the Department’s primary appropriation funds to be used flexibly across the full lifecycle of software capabilities, regardless of appropriation category.

Our Take: This should have been done years ago. Software is different from hardware. Attempting to plan and budget for software 2-3 years in advance between development, production, and operations & maintenance is foolish. The SECWAR Acquisition Transformation memo (7 Nov) directed cutting regulations and guidance to enable speed within 150 days and specifically called out the 7,324 page FMR.

Sec. 813. Amendment to Other Transaction Authority

Expands the justification for using OT authority to include when:

• Innovative business arrangements or structures would not be practical or feasible under a FAR contract.

• An innovative or novel product, service, or business practice is offered that is more practicable to acquire under an OT.

• It is expected to accelerate delivery of capability compared to other procurement methods.

• It works to expand or strengthen the defense industrial base in a manner not practicable under a FAR contract.

• It would expand participation by one or more nontraditional defense contractors or small business.

• It would reduce technical, schedule, or performance risk, or accelerate transition to production

• It would permit fielding through use of non-federal cost sharing arrangements

Our Take: OTs are already used for these purposes today. This provision further reinforces scaling their use and eliminating any barriers to using them for crafting novel business models and expanding the industrial base. We do recognize that there are limitations in expanding their use given the limited number of Agreement Officers. New training approaches are needed to rapidly train new AOs with shadowing by expert deal-makers to accelerate their proficiency.

Read more

• SVDG Released Latest NatSec100 with Surprisingly Low Obligations.

• Hermeus Goes Supersonic Less Than a Year After First Flight & Wins Big

• Dell Consolidates MS Buys and Rune Advances New Product

• Requirements Start with Users at the Edge, Private Capital Needs Gov Help

• Army Exercises with UGVs, Realizing Broad Range of Mission Applications.

• Navy Names the 7 Companies Selected to Produce MUSVs

• Air Force Has EW Capabilities & B-1 Bombers Gets Prepped for Hypersonics

• Space Force Still Working PAE Allocations & Accelerates AMTI Delivery to 2028.

• Poland Leads the Way in Europe and China Maps Route to Quantum Advantage

SVDG Releases NatSec100 Report

BLUF: The Silicon Valley Defense Group published their fourth annual NatSec100.

The NatSec100 is designed to identify where real momentum is building, surface which companies are translating innovation into impact, and illuminate where the system is beginning to work and where it is not.

They captured six seismic shifts that define the operating landscape for the 2026.

1. Washington Rewired the Rules. Executive orders, the Acquisition Transformation Strategy, DRPMs, OSC, EDU, Reconciliation, and the Innovation Adoption Kit.

2. The Battlefield Imperative. Lessons from Ukraine and Iran resulted in increase in AI and autonomy experimentation to central DoW modernization priority and reshaped capital flows, procurement priorities, and operational doctrine.

3. Production as the Bottleneck. Drones, counter-drone systems, munitions, advanced manufacturing, and shipbuilding are all facing the same constraint: production capacity has not kept pace with demand signals or private investment.

4. The Capital Stack is Being Rebuilt. OSC, EDU, equity stakes, DPA-backed financing, leasing arrangements, and large IDIQs represent a new theory of how public and private capital should work together in national security.

5. The Primes Are Adapting. Corporate venture capital funds are expanding significantly. Prime CapEx investment is up roughly 35% for 2026. Compensation ceiling tensions, subcontracting relationships, and M&A activity are all shifting.

6. The Exit Landscape is Maturing. Approximately 20 companies have graduated from the NatSec100 through acquisition or public offering since 2023. These exits represent the clearest evidence yet that defense tech is producing real liquidity events and that the asset class is becoming durable.

The Air Force was such an outlier in 2025 due to 5 major contract obligations:

Sierra Space ($175M) for Tranche 2 Tracking Layer | X-Bow Launch Systems ($129M) for Advanced Integrated Motor Manufacturing | JetZero ($81M) for Blended Wing Body Prototype | DataMinr ($70M) for PADELS | Castelion ($40M) for Low-Cost, Highly Manufacturable Weapon Production

NatSec 100 Top 10

Anduril | Saronic | Sierra Space | Scale AI | Shield AI | Databricks | Axiom Space | Forterra | Castelion | CesiumAstro

Top NatSec 100 Investors (# of investments)

In-Q-Tel 33 | Gaingels 30 | Alumni Ventures 25 | IPO Club 18 | Mana Ventures 16 | Washington Harbor 16 | a16z 15 | Lockheed Martin Ventures 14 | Balerion Space Ventures 13 | Founders Fund 13 | General Catalyst 13 | YCombinator 13

NatSec 100 Company Count by DoW Critical Technology Area

Applied AI 40 | Quantum and BID 27 | Contested Logistics 25 | Hypersonics 4 | Biomanufacturing 3 | Directed Energy 1

Share of Private Capital Raised by DoW Critical Technology Area

Applied AI 75% | Quantum and BID 11% | Contested Logistics 11% | Hypersonics 2% | Biomanufacturing 1% | Directed Energy 1%

Contract Types by NatSec100 Companies

Prime Contracts 43% | OTAs 31% | SBIR/STTR 17% | Subcontracts 9%

They closed with four solid recommendations

1. Measure Adoption, Not Activity

2. Rebuild the Acquisition Workforce as a Warfighting Priority

3. Deploy OSC and EDU Capital into the Hardest Problems

4. Publish What the DoW Actually Plans to Invest In

Our Take: This is outstanding analysis by SVDG and their partners. Our topline takeaway is that the NatSec100 companies still only received a pittance (0.5%) of DoW contract obligations last year.

The possibly more important measure is the signal that DoW has been sending to the investment community thus far - which is that we are not taking advantage of this largesse to field new technologies and capabilities at scale.

We are hopeful there is a bow wave in the next few years with some large programs like CCA and MUSVs getting real production funding and large multi-year munition efforts being approved that is likely to benefit the non-traditional defense community.

As more of these companies and their solutions mature - and get greater visibility as differentiated offerings from what is already fielded - we expect to see increased transitions to scaled production.

This should be enabled by continued acquisition reforms like improved use of OTs, commercial preference, and more competitive approaches.

The big question will be if the volume of orders equals an ROI that satisfies the billions invested to date and if the patience of the capital markets is sufficient to wait for their returns.

it will be interesting to see if the patient investments pay dividends, especially in delivering mission-impactful warfighting capabilities, the ultimate ROI.

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Hermeus Achieves Its First Unmanned Supersonic Flight

BLUF: Hermeus Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 successfully completed its first supersonic flight, reaching a top speed of Mach 1.21. The flight was executed on just its third test flight out of Spaceport America over White Sands Missile Range air space.

• Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 flew supersonic less than three months after its first flight, and 364 days after the maiden flight of Hermeus’ first aircraft, Mk 1.

• Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 is the first of three F-16-scale supersonic aircraft in a development roadmap built on a foundation of rapid iteration.

• The company is already building and testing its next aircraft, Quarterhorse Mk 2.2, with Mk 2.3 soon to follow.

“Our customers at the DoW are paying close attention to how fast this program is moving. This flight demonstrates a pace of execution that is extremely rare in modern aviation. Our country’s ability to deliver new asymmetric military capability at scale depends on teams that can solve hard technical challenges quickly. That’s exactly what we’re proving with each test flight we conduct and each new aircraft we build at Hermeus.” AJ Piplica, CEO and Co-founder of Hermeus.

Related Hermeus tests America’s FASTEST unmanned aircraft and The Speed Advantage, with Zach Shore (CEO of Hermeus)

Our Take: Congrats to our friends at Hermeus for this rapid iteration and flight. Full speed ahead!!

Closed Systems Are Now a Liability

BLUF: SOCOM will not tolerate closed, proprietary systems and is actively working to reopen legacy platforms that have become locked to single vendors.

• Three non-negotiable technical requirements that apply across the entire portfolio: Open APIs, Flexible payloads, and Rapid software refreshes.

• Companies seeking to work with the command must have a robust supply chain in place before engaging.

• USSOCOM's technology priorities under three headings, each underscored by a command-wide emphasis on AI-enabled, interoperable, and integrated solutions.

  • Provide Operational Reach and Effects: Seeking autonomous systems, kinetic and non-kinetic effects, alternative logistics, and increased survivability.

  • Command, Control, and Communications: Includes resilient comms, alternate PNT, and battlespace awareness.

  • Operator Readiness and Resilience covers preservation of the force and family, brain health, and blast exposure monitoring.

• 37% of contract awards directed to small businesses and 487 active CRADAs

• 10% of contracting obligations going to private capital-backed companies.

• Vulcan platform now counts 25,000 commercial users and 15,000 government users, with 1,143 eSOF submissions and 23 open calls currently active.

• Five technical experimentation events have drawn 2,107 participants and generated 1,149 government assessments of 308 technologies.

"Bring us things that can fit within an open architecture, they're modular, and they're upgradable/ Closed systems are now a liability, and for the legacy systems, we have to open those back up, and some might think that's impossible -- I think it's possible." Melissa Johnson, SOCOM Acquisition Executive

DoW Announces Second Round of Appointments to the Newly Established Science, Technology and Innovation Board

BLUF: SECWAR approved a second round of appointments to the Science, Technology and Innovation Board (STIB). This latest round brings the board to a total of 33 appointments. The STIB was established through a merger of the DoW's Defense Innovation Board and the Defense Science Board to create one voice for innovation, replacing competing recommendations with fast, coherent guidance for the Joint Force.

Dr. Mark Albrecht | Dr. Michael Anastasio | Dr. John Betz | Mr. Alec Bierbauer | COL (Ret.) Gregory Bowman | Dr. Gary D. Butler | Dr. Victoria Coleman | Mr. Angus Davis | Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier | CDR (Ret.) James Galambos | Honorable James Geurts | Honorable James Gfrerer | Mr. Kellen Giuda | CAPT (Ret.) James Gosier | Mr. John Hering | Dr. Alicia Jackson | Mr. Alex Jacobson | Col (Ret) Daniel Javorsek | Dr. Bruce Jette | LtCol (Ret.) Robert Lehman | Mr. Thomas Lehrman | Mr. Shaun Maguire | Honorable Christopher Miller | Mr. Thomas Mooney | Dr. Milan Nikolich | Honorable David Norquist | Mr. Vayl Oxford | Mr. John Robusto | Mr. Joshua Steinman | LTC (Ret.) Bradford Tousley | Dr. James Trebes | Dr. Steven Walker | Capt (Ret.) Bryant Wysocki

Avoidable Surprises

Dominic Ventimiglia and Jarrett Lane

BLUF: The ultimate lesson is about a system that struggles to recognize, prioritize, and act on emerging threats before they scale.

• Feedback loops from rigorous exercises and red teaming can help the Department foresee threats and proactively develop solutions.

• Translating learning from partners and technical experts into action will be critical to stay ahead of future threats.

• Drones abroad are just the start. The U.S. is vulnerable at home and new threats are rapidly emerging.

• The Department should learn from its drone failures to avoid future surprises.

• Fixing that system, not just fielding the next countermeasure, is what will determine whether the U.S. can compete in an era defined by rapid, asymmetric innovation.

• Re-investing in teams and programs to forecast future threats and, most importantly, listening to and acting on the expertise of others, can go a long way toward making sure the Department isn’t caught flat-footed by the next threat.

DOD Wants More Than $2B in FY27 to Move Beyond Fragmented CJADC2 Deployments

BLUF: The Pentagon’s FY27 budget requests more than $2B for CJADC2 capabilities, with over $1.5B going toward Palantir’s Maven Smart System to transition joint C2 from fragmented deployments to Joint enterprise tooling.

• The budget documents indicate that the department is looking to swiftly consolidate software-centric C2 onto a single pane of glass over the next FY.3

• Funding will expand enterprise access to Joint C2 capabilities to Services across echelon and provide deliberate, sustained development and enterprise-wide integration. Funding will streamline acquisition, establish rigorous testing and evaluation standards, and create clear lines of accountability for performance and management.

• Finally, funding will advance [a] globally interconnected environment for operations, planning, and intelligence workflows supported by shared access to real time data on the battlespace.

Services Honing in on Joint Part of Pentagon’s CJADC2 Vision

BLUF: The Services have primarily worked independently to develop their individual pieces of the CJADC2 concept, but they are now working more collaboratively to execute the vision of linking sensors and shooters across every warfighting domain.

• DoD established CJADC2 in 2019, with different services launching their own programs to support the concept: the Army’s Project Convergence, the Navy’s Project Overmatch and the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System, which was later folded into the Department of the Air Force Battle Network.

• The Marine Corps established its own CJADC2 contribution called Project Dynamis. To drive joint capability development and interoperability, Project Dynamis since December has been running a series of software development sprints called serials to bring together reps from across the services so that we’re learning at the same time and taking best of breed from each other.

• The Army’s 4th Infantry Division is also running a series of exercises known as Ivy Sting to advance their Next Generation Command and Control program.

• Project Dynamis is also doing a lot of work with the Air Force’s Joint Fires Network (JFN) integrated program office. JFN is interested in these small form factor systems that we have and how those could potentially operate as classified data nodes for the information being pushed out of the JFN ecosystem.

Pentagon Eyes Drone Testing Ground in Mississippi

BLUF: SOCOM is looking to build a new testing ground for drones in Mississippi as the Pentagon grapples with ever-evolving autonomous technology that has come to define modern warfare.

• The project would expand existing test ranges at NASA’s Stennis Space Center to facilitate air, sea and ground-based drones.

• Seeking industry, academic and national laboratories to build an Autonomous Warfare Proving Ground, that includes electromagnetic capabilities and could eventually prepare the military for operations stretching from seabed to low earth orbit.

• Located near the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the Stennis Space Center already supports rocket testing and military research thanks to a large restricted airspace, access to waterways and relative isolation.

• SOCOM and the defense innovation group SOFWERX will host a collaboration event in July for military officials, companies and researchers to collaborate.

DIU MCM Modernization Prize Challenge

BLUF: DIU, in partnership with the Navy, is running a Mine Countermeasures Modernization Prize Challenge and up to $3M per track in prize funding.

• Navy requires the ability to neutralize diverse maritime mine threats in high-current chokepoints to ensure freedom of navigation.

• Current Mine Countermeasure (MCM) operations are resource-intensive and place personnel and high-value assets at risk.

• Mine threats are divided into two primary categories: Near Surface and Volume/Moored Mines along with Bottom Mines.

• A solution will:

  • Increase the speed at which MCM mission can be accomplished, whether fully autonomous or tethered with operator-in-the-loop

  • Decrease the cost to neutralize

  • Remove warfighters and manned assets from the threat zone with low operator burden

• Submissions are due June 10

The Indispensable Interceptor: Air Defense and the Problem of Cost-Exchange Logic

Peter Mitchell

BLUF: Air and missile defense is a reliability problem, not merely a cost issue. Layered systems built around high-end interceptors are essential to guarantee defeat of the most dangerous threats, where any single failure carries strategic consequences. Lower-tier defenses handle volume and efficiency, but depend on upper-tier capabilities; scaling both, while prioritizing effectiveness over pure cost-exchange, is critical.

• While often thought of as a cost problem, air and missile defense is better understood as a reliability problem under conditions of zero tolerance for failure.

• Modern interceptors are the only systems capable of guaranteeing the defeat of the most dangerous weapons on the battlefield.

• A cost-exchange critique misunderstands both what these systems are built to do and what happens when they are absent. Air defense is not only about matching the material cost of a threat. It is about guaranteeing its defeat every time in an environment where a single failure can have strategic consequences.

• Air defense is not a menu of interchangeable options. It is a layered architecture built around dependency.

• Lower-cost systems are essential for handling large volumes of cheaper threats, as they improve efficiency and preserve magazine depth. But such weapons rely on the upper tier for detection, tracking, and engagement of high-end threats.

• The answer to the drone cost problem is to accelerate the procurement of lower tiers like Coyote in order to strengthen the foundation and build interceptors at scale and provide long-term demand to the supply chain to drive down costs.

• Efficiency ≠ effectiveness. A layered system does not fail when it is inefficient. It fails when missiles strike critical defended assets.

• Modern sensors extend detection ranges outward, allowing threats to be engaged at distance—by aircraft or forward-positioned systems—before they close on defended targets.

• Strategic air defense reshapes the battlespace by its mere presence, compelling adversaries toward standoff weapons, costlier platforms, and reduced ISR.

• You don’t buy air defense for the drone it hits today. You buy it for the aircraft it prevents from ever coming near.

• Flipping the cost curve on drones is sound; doing so on systems defending against ballistic missiles and aircraft that no lower-tier killer can handle would be a grave error. The costliest interceptor is the one absent when needed.

DARPA Renamed and Reshaped Two Key Technology Offices

BLUF: DARPA renamed and restructured two, well-established technical offices, in a move that officials said is meant to expand the defense innovation hub’s research scope to better confront contemporary technology challenges.

• The Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) becomes the Multi X Office (MXO)

  • Expands scope beyond microscale tech and microsystems to integrate them to get after increasingly complicated critical national security gaps.

• The Information Innovation Office (I2O) reverts to its historical name, the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO).

  • Reconsider and innovative upon the AI, computer networking, and cybersecurity foundations.

DARPA is broadening its focus from exploratory, long-term R&D projects, to also accelerating operational deployments of AI, modular robotics and other tech.

The Death of the Business System

Greg Little and Aaron Jaffe

BLUF: Business systems are warfighting systems.

• For years, we’ve operated under a convenient mental model that separates the enterprise into two distinct worlds.

  • Warfighting systems: the ones that find, fix, track, target, engage, and assess.

  • Business systems: the machinery that keeps the institution running (think sustainment, supply chain, finance, HR, procurement, and acquisition).

• Because Epic Fury was distributed across domains and coordinated through multiple commands, systems were forced to function as one war machine.

• Over the past decade, the DoW has integrated the kill chain to make the soldiers working in targeting cells one hundred times more effective.

• Operation Epic Fury showed us that the systems that support critical functions—managing personnel, equipment, and munitions—cannot live on a back-office island; they are a subset of warfighting systems that are inextricably linked to the Department’s core mission.

• Business systems must be tied directly to mission outcomes, fully integrated into warfighting platforms, and exercised in conditions that resemble real operations. They must be designed to operate at the speed of the fight, not the speed of administrative process.

Pentagon Looks to Reinvent the Bunker-Buster Bomb

BLUF: DARPA published a RFI on May 27 seeking disruptive approaches to penetration mechanics and shock propagation control, moving beyond the mass-velocity model that defines current bunker-buster technology.

• DARPA wants to pivot away from the traditional bunker busters and instead manipulate shock waves to destroy targets.

• Seeking mechanisms that deliberately shape, steer, amplify, or suppress stress waves within homogeneous and heterogeneous materials.

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Hermeus Scales DIU Contract to $219M to Demonstrate High-Mach Flight

BLUF: Hermeus has secured a $159M contract modification with DIU. This increases the total contract ceiling to $219M to demonstrate high-Mach flight and high-speed payload release. The contract is one of the largest ever awarded by the DIU.

• Building on earlier technical milestones, Hermeus is partnering with the Air Force and Navy to execute this expanded scope.

• The program aims to prove that uncrewed aircraft can reliably reach high-Mach speeds and release payloads in flight, establishing the technical foundation for future military use cases.

• Under the new agreement, Hermeus will conduct a series of intensive flight tests in 2026 and 2027.

• These tests will prove the aircraft can maintain high speeds and expand its performance limits while carrying and releasing payloads at high velocity.

“This program is about moving high-Mach capability out of the lab and into an operationally relevant environment. By delivering flight-ready aircraft and demonstrating payload release at speed, we will prove this technology can create a decisive military advantage on a timeline that matters. Our focus is on providing the Air Force and Navy with the validated data they need to transition these platforms into the future force.” AJ Piplica, CEO and Co-founder of Hermeus

Related Article: Hermeus Scores $159M DIU Contract Extension

Our Take: The future of hypersonic flight for military operations (and commercial travel) is getting closer! Huge props to the Hermeus team!

Rune Rolls Out Autonomous Vehicle Logistics Kit

BLUF: Rune unveiled its Autonomy Development Kit (ADK), designed to collate all of the logistics for autonomous vehicles—from vehicle telemetry data like fuel or battery level, faults, and readiness, to vehicle class, cargo capacity, and demand—and optimize their operability through its flagship TyrOS logistics AI platform.

• By getting that info into an AI platform that can handle and process logistics and sustainment for a wide range of mission sets, Rune’s goal is to make the burden of managing and tasking autonomous vehicles as unmanned as the systems.

• The ADK is a well-defined set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), documentation, sample code, and optional software libraries.

• An autonomous vehicle operator can register a vehicle—ground, air, sea, or sub-sea—on the ADK, which plugs the characteristics and telemetry into TyrOS so it can be integrated into the broader logistics picture and tasked more efficiently.

• It also plugs into Palantir’s Maven Smart System—the C2 backbone for much of the Marine Corps and Army’s battle management.

“All of these autonomy providers have made incredible autonomous systems, and some of them are quite frankly mind-blowing. What they have not built is the sustainment orchestration layer to tie them all together to operate as a holistic system. The ADK is the natural progression of TyrOS, making it the sustainment orchestration layer that everybody should tie into.” Kyle Haire

Our Take: We’re very bullish on Rune because they have taken a methodical and focused approach to solving a less sexy but critically important problem - managing the parts, supplies, and weapons that will be needed to sustain the fight once it starts.

Pentagon Awards Dell $9.7B Contract to Consolidate Software Licenses

BLUF: DoW awarded Dell Federal Systems a five-year, $9.7B BPA to consolidate Microsoft licenses across the DoW, IC, and Coast Guard saving $422M annually.

• The agreement is not new funding but rather consolidates existing IT budgets from the services and agencies into a single contract vehicle that is managed by the Navy and can be accessed by all organizations within the DoD.

• The Core Enterprise Technology Agreement (CETA) allows the DoD to rapidly acquire and deploy software and cloud capabilities while reducing delays with what officials described as fragmented procurement processes.

Related Article: DoW Awards $9.7B Microsoft Enterprise Agreement

Our Take: Wow to save $400M annually is a big deal and shows the power of consolidating commoditized capabilities. As we’ll post about in the near future, this approach works significantly less well with capabilities that are more tailorable.

Deloitte and Touche Wins $249M Army OIB Modernization Contract

BLUF: Deloitte and Touche won a $249M contract to support the Army’s Organic Industrial Base modernization implementation plan, covering enterprise solutions development, systems integration, and innovation acceleration through May 2031.

• The Army’s OIB modernization strategy is part of a 15-year plan to transform the service’s depots, arsenals and ammunition plants into more advanced, digitally connected manufacturing environments.

• The Army Materiel Command has invested almost $100M in facility and equipment upgrades across its sites.

• This includes McAlester Army Ammunition Plant’s new Multi-Purpose Load Facility which the Army claims increases production capacity for munitions by 400%.

Picogrid Raises $45M Series A

BLUF: Picogrid, a hardware and software integration startup that provides the connective tissue between drones, radars, sensors, and C2 platforms, raised a $45M Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

• Picogrid has partnered with everyone from primes like Northrop Grumman to startups like CHAOS Industries, CX2, radar-maker Echodyne, Skydio, and Palantir.

• Picogrid’s integrations have been tested in a whole bunch of exercises—including with the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps to quickly set up and demonstrate a full sensor-to-shoot counter-drone kill chain.

• The company’s products include:

  • Legion: Picogrid’s flagship data platform that fuses information fed from different systems to integrate physical assets, streamline data, and connect to operational tools, like ATAK, Palantir’s Maven Smart System, and others.

  • Helios: A portable “Expeditionary C2 Node” that provides the physical hardware infrastructure and edge compute to connect different assets in the field to each other and Legion.

  • Portal: A smaller edge compute and networking node that fits into a backpack for dismounted operations.

Our Take: We’re also very bullish on Picogrid for their “no frills” and highly focused approach to solving the integration problem.

AV Scores $20M AFRL Contract for Ceramic Materials

BLUF: AeroVironment was awarded a $20M, 39-month Ceramics Advanced Materials and Processes (CAMP) contract by AFRL to develop next-generation ceramic and ceramic matrix composite materials for extreme aerospace and defense applications.

• Over the course of 39 months, AV’s team will work with AFRL and use additive manufacturing to spin out “lightweight, thermally resilient structures,” including vehicles, engines, rocket propulsion systems, and transparent armor.

• UES (recently acquired by AV) has long supported AFRL in the development of advanced materials, including advanced metallic alloys, composite materials, high-temperature structures.

The Drone War Is Moving at the Speed of Conversation. The Pentagon Isn’t.

Pete Newell

BLUF: Drones cobbled together in the heat of combat are rewriting the rules of warfare faster than the Pentagon can write a requirement. DoW does not just need a faster acquisition system. It needs a faster learning system.

• In Ukraine and across the Middle East, small teams are testing commercial drones, modifying them, destroying them, learning from them, and sharing what worked across informal networks in hours or days.

• That learning cycle moves at the speed of conversation.

• Speeding up procurement helps only if the military is asking the right questions.

• The first mistake is believing the requirement should come first.

• In drone warfare, the problem can change before the paperwork clears staffing.

  • Frequencies shift. Payloads change. Tactics spread.

  • A countermeasure that worked last month may be useless in the next fight.

• Requirements reform has to begin at the operational edge. The DoW needs better mechanisms to pull real problems from the people experiencing them.

• The Innovation Targeting Cycle is a framework that gets problems from the operational edge to the field with a feedback loop to help industry prepare for the next cycle.

• Congress has to help. PAEs cannot adapt quickly if funding cannot move as threats change, solutions evolve, and operational needs shift.

Our Take: Pete nails the problem that we will face going forward. Requirements for large capital systems can take a bit more time but for the majority of the rest of the systems, requirements cannot go through a consensus process at the highest levels of the military services and DoW without paying a stiff penalty. The ironic part is that if a conflict kicks off, all of that bureaucratic infrastructure would go out the window (some of us have witnessed that multiple times). We need to act as if we are already in the throes of defending Taiwan and our Pacific allies and execute processes under that paradigm.

Soldiers Do Not Care About Your Milestones. Build Accordingly.

COL Matthew Paul

BLUF: The Army is transforming how it develops software by moving away from bespoke, waterfall-developed legacy systems and toward commercial, cloud-enabled platforms built on Agile principles. The real challenge lies in building the culture required to sustain modern software development over time.

• That effort begins with an honest understanding of what software programs actually require to succeed.

• The following nine principles distinguish programs that deliver lasting capability from those that slowly drift off course.

  • Software is never done. Modern software exists in a state of continuous evolution. When an Army program treats delivery as an endpoint rather than a beginning, it immediately begins to fall behind.

  • Requirements that take six months to write describe a world that no longer exists. Programs that succeed build requirements iteratively, work closely with users and treat change as an expected feature of progress.

  • The user is the requirement. Programs that engage users continuously build systems that are adopted rather than avoided.

  • Agile is a culture, not a checkbox. True Agile adoption requires changes in incentives, decision-making authority and approaches to risk.

  • Data is the product. The application is the interface. Programs that invest early in data architecture, governance and interoperability create systems that remain useful over time.

  • Integration is where complexity concentrates. Successful programs plan realistic integration timelines, invest in dedicated integration expertise and engage early with adjacent system owners.

  • Vendor dependency is a strategic risk. Programs that plan for portability, secure data rights early and retain architectural oversight maintain strategic flexibility.

  • The talent gap is real, and it is costly to ignore. The strongest programs invest in government product managers, engineers and architects who can hold contractors accountable, make informed technical decisions and preserve long-term control over program direction.

  • Modernize the business process, not only the technology. Successful programs pair technology modernization with process reform by working closely with functional partners to redesign workflows, streamline approvals and eliminate legacy procedures

Our Take: We agree with the majority of these principles, especially around agile principles and modernizing business processes. We still think (through years of being in the mix with software programs) that DoW will never have the expertise to operate at parity with industry. While architectural decisions are fundamental and every PM should have a clear understanding of the modularity of what they are buying and the switching costs from a dominant product, however focusing on data rights and trying to have the government make every technical decision may work in a few well-staffed (and lucky) organizations but in our experience is not scalable.

The Pentagon Wants Scale. Defense M&A Is Catching Up.

BLUF: In the past, investors assumed that if the technology was right, production would follow. But in a new age of countering dynamic threats and fielding timely responses, that assumption is changing to whether the suppliers, production lines, and manufacturing infrastructure is ready to support warfighter needs.

• Traditional primes are increasingly targeting firms not just for what they’ve built, but also for their ability to build more of it, faster.

• Supply chain vulnerability is a parallel driver, with acquiring companies wanting to bring critical suppliers inside their own walls to avoid dependence on single-source or foreign-controlled components.

• Strategic acquirers are using M&A to reduce concentration risk and absorb critical production capacity to secure the supply line.

• This shift comes with a tradeoff. The same acquisition reforms driving the Pentagon’s push to expand capacity, allow the Pentagon to buy in smaller increments, adjust based on what’s working, and shift resources faster.

• From a warfighting and budgeting perspective, that flexibility is genuinely valuable. But investors underwrite deals based on predictable future cash flows.

• The record M&A pace of 2026 reflects genuine strategic logic—acquirers have figured out that capacity and supply chain resilience matter as much as capability.

• But two risks underpin that activity.

  1. Valuation Discipline: defense tech companies attracting capital on the basis of commercial-style TAM projections face a structural ceiling that commercial markets don’t. There is only one customer, on a fixed budget, and there isn’t enough addressable market to sustain those valuations over time.

  2. Legibility, an issue we discussed more fully in our recent post: the acquisition reforms giving the Pentagon more flexibility are also stripping away the contractual visibility investors need to underwrite deals with confidence.

• The market is moving in the right direction. Keeping it there will only happen if investors price defense like the monopsony it is, and the Pentagon gives capital a clearer way to read where demand is durable and investment is profitable.

Our Take: This is a great perspective for acquisition professionals to bear in mind if they are diluting the building of an industrial base by doling out piecemeal contracts to too many vendors and sending inconsistent demand signals for where they need private investment to help offset government funding. This is partially the fear we hold with the use of too many government marketplaces.

GSA is Preparing an AI-Specific Acquisition Reform Rule

BLUF: GSA is developing changes to AI acquisition provisions within its general rules that will prioritize an FFP procurement model and reduce hurdles to agency adoption.

• The new rule is part of GSA’s effort to balance implementing AI procurement rules that encourage market growth and foster competition while benefitting government buyers and taxpayers.

• To do so, the rule will focus on removing bureaucratic rules and hurdles to commercial item acquisition, including AI and IT software.

• New Federal Acquisition Regulation rule updates are also underway and are set to continue overhauling the government procurement process.

Our Take: Generally this sounds right but the devil will be in the details. More to come here.

Tech Force Set Out to Hire 1,000 Technologists — it’s Onboarded 10

BLUF: Late last year, the WH began an effort to recruit early-career software and data engineers after losing almost 20,000 technology employees from RIFs and DRP. It has hired 180-200 employees but only onboarded 10 so far.

• The goal of that new effort, called the U.S. Tech Force, was to hire a 1,000-strong cohort — potentially as soon as the end of March.

• OPM is managing the program centrally, working with agencies across the federal government to place fellows into two-year stints.

• OPM is also partnering with about 40 companies, like Amazon Web Services and Nvidia, to train the new hires.

• OPM’s updated goal is to hire 300 to 500 fellows by the end of the summer.

• Tech Force is bringing employees into the government at a GS-14 level on the government’s pay and classification system.

“I would love to have everybody here yesterday. But I’m learning the government hiring process does take time.” Scott Kupor, OPM Director

Autonomous Ground Vehicles and the Sustainment Problem

Marc Dibernardo and Dave Rowland

BLUF: The Army deployed AGVs during Panther Avalanche to demonstrate combat applications. Soldiers loaded an autonomous ground vehicle, entered a grid, and watched it depart on its own. No one stood behind it with a controller. No one drove it like a toy. It took a basic task that normally consumes soldiers’ time and attention and executed it autonomously. That was the moment the capability became real.

• Autonomous ground vehicles can support reconnaissance, weapons integration, breaching, and other combat applications.

• More importantly, these systems can also take on the routine, unglamorous tasks that consume manpower, strain formations, and expose soldiers to risk.

• Sustainment was the mission that most clearly demonstrated immediate operational value.

• Trust came from soldiers and leaders watching the systems perform simple tasks reliably enough that they began to treat them less as a novelty and more as a useful tool.

• The Army should stop treating autonomous ground vehicles as an interesting future concept and start treating them as a real sustainment capability that can be employed now, improved through use, and integrated across formations over time.

• One of the clearest indicators came when repeated use of the ULTRA, an autonomous ground vehicle developed by Overland AI, for team sustainment reduced distribution time on the drop zone by 52%.

• Autonomous ground vehicles do not need to replace every legacy platform to matter. They only need to take enough of the right tasks off soldiers and leaders to create meaningful gains in speed, flexibility, and exposure reduction.

• Army still tends to treat autonomous ground vehicles as an experiment outside normal formations rather than as a capability that could reshape how brigades distribute sustainment capacity.

• Employ autonomous ground vehicles immediately for sustainment, beginning with brigade support battalions and logistics support battalions, while expanding use across tactical formations that face recurring distribution and resupply demands.

Our Take: The Army has wasted years of missed opportunities by failing to aggressively adopt AGVs for diverse missions. Among the services, it has seen the most stalled progress, with labs and organizations favoring internal competition over empowering industry to develop and mass-produce capable systems.

Fortunately, capable companies stand ready today to deliver mission-impactful AGVs immediately and iterate rapidly. By shifting to true industry partnership, the Army can quickly field manned-unmanned teams that deliver greater lethality, survivability, and effectiveness. The window is open, but it demands bold leadership to seize it.

Operation Jailbreak: The Army’s Massive Push to Hack Its Own Systems and Make Them Talk to Each Other

BLUF: Operation Jailbreak, the Army’s 30-day hackathon to force interoperability across its legacy and modern equipment, engaged more than 50 defense companies, produced an API marketplace, and already deployed jailbroken systems to the Middle East.

• No business developers, keen on growing their company’s margins, were allowed. Only engineers keen on solving code. A company’s ticket to entry amounted to a willingness to expose its own interfaces, not only to the Army, but to its competitors.

• Operation Jailbreak, an initial swarm of engineers from roughly 20 defense companies descended on Fort Carson earlier this month with the overall goal of getting the Army’s vast stable of disparate military systems to talk to each other.

• Modern conflict has shown that barriers to quick, accessible information across sensors, drones, and units could define success or failure.

• The Army needed to change the way it did business, so the vendors selling the Army those systems could change too. So, Right to Integrate (R2I) was born.

• While some of the solutions from Jailbreak have already gone to the Middle East, the goal is to push most updates from the hackathon to CENTCOM within 30 days.

• Defense heavyweights old and new sent representatives — voluntarily and on their companies’ dime — to dig through code alongside smaller vendors in growing numbers.

• Both Army and industry understanding that participation did not mean sharing IP. The Army asked industry to standardize how systems talk to each other, not necessarily expose how the system’s proprietary IP works.

• The initial companies included Anduril, Boeing, General Dynamics, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Palantir, Perennial Autonomy, and RTX responded to Driscoll’s calls in a way he did not expect, offering to quickly dispatch software engineers and ship equipment.

Related: Army Sent Jailbroken Tech to Middle East as Part of Ongoing Hackathon

Army’s New Data Operations Center May Stay Lean, Expecting Automation to Help Pick Up Growing Workload

BLUF: The Army Data Operations Center (ADOC), a 25-person hub launched in April to help units connect disparate systems, has received 68 data help tickets since launch and is betting on AI tools to scale without growing headcount.

• The ADOC a new, centralized hub to help the service manage data flows will employ minimal human staffing and require automation to keep up with growing force-wide demands.

• ADOC is housed under Army Cyber Command, a higher echelon meant to help fill a gap between the service’s operational units and the data connectivity issues they face.

• Division-level data staff and above can now tap the ADOC to help latent targeting processes, access weather data, onboard new communication equipment and get enterprise systems to reach tactical units.

• Amid all of this work, Michael Kaloostian, ADOC DIrector envisions a world where the ADOC may not exist at all. Given the acceleration of AI, its function may be fully automated. He said that younger members of the force are largely self-taught, but expertise to self-handle data issues across the Army will grow.

Army Receives First Lightweight Javelin Launchers

BLUF: RTX in collaboration with Lockheed Martin delivered the first Lightweight Command Launch Units to the U.S. Army, replacing the legacy CLU with a unit that is 30% smaller, 25% lighter, and doubles target detection range.

• The Lightweight Command Launch Unit, LWCLU, will replace the older, heavier command units and offer improved target detection range.

• They can be particularly useful against enemy vehicles and strongholds, making them valuable for Ukraine’s defense against Russia.

• RTX also said that it had invested $22M to upgrade the production factory to increase output.

New Top Navy Acquisition Official Named

BLUF: William Mahan, who joined the department as former Secretary of the Navy John Phelan’s chief of staff, will now oversee the DoN’s acquisition as PTDO of ASN/RDA. Jason Potter will return to his role as Principal Civilian Deputy.

Navy Announces Seven Companies Selected for MUSV Marketplace At-Sea Demonstrations

BLUF: The Navy’s PAE Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) selected seven companies from more than two dozen MUSV marketplace submissions to advance to at-sea prototype testing, with demonstrations required by October and vessels available for Navy leasing or procurement in FY27.

Sea Machines | Leidos | Saronic Technologies | Galliano Marine Services | PacMar Technologies | Birdon | Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII)

• Companies whose MUSV successfully completes the at-sea test will receive $15M and will be eligible for follow-on production. At-sea testing will begin next month and should be complete by October 2026.

• The MUSV marketplace creates new opportunities for smaller, non-traditional shipyards to build our future fleet. This initiative represents a strategic shift in naval acquisition, designed to rapidly field unmanned technologies by leveraging mature, existing commercial solutions.

Related: HII, Saronic Included in First MUSV Navy Prototype Tests

• Sea Machines has publicly offered up a MUSV concept called STEAM RACER

• Leidos developed the Sea Hawk and Sea Hunter USVs used by DARPA and Navy.

• Saronic pitched its Marauder USV

• Galliano Marine Services was tapped for two different MUSVs concepts. Anduril had announced a MUSV bid with them in April, yet was not on the Navy’s list.

• PacMar has been building smaller USVs. The company has been working with HavocAI to develop USVs.

• Birdon America signed an agreement with Mythos AI last month to work on an MUSV bid.

• HII pitched its Romulus MUSV

Saronic Launches First Marauder MUSV

BLUF: Saronic launched the first Marauder MUSV hull from its Franklin, LA shipyard moving from initial design to on-water trials in under a year, a production pace not seen in American shipbuilding since WWII.

• The Marauder is designed to deliver dual-use autonomous capability far from shore across the full range of defense and commercial applications.

• Marauder is built for the kinds of sustained, long-range missions that place the greatest demands on any maritime vessel and present the greatest risks to any crew.

• Operating fully autonomously or under remote human supervision, Marauder is designed to operate far from shore, for extended periods, without the additional stresses and complexities of supporting a full crew or putting them in harm’s way.

• With a top speed of 25+ knots and a range of up to 5,400 nautical miles, Marauder can reposition rapidly and sustain operations across vast ocean distances.

• Its 150-metric-ton payload capacity, configurable to accommodate up to four 40-foot or eight 20-foot ISO containers, gives operators the flexibility to tailor the vessel’s mission load to meet their varied needs, including logistics, research, maritime domain awareness, persistent ISR, or other payloads without modifying the platform itself.

• Alongside development of Marauder’s hardware, Saronic has developed a software-based fleet intelligence platform that gives operators human-on-the-loop visibility into the ship’s internal autonomous operations in real time.

HII Showcased ROMULUS 151 at Combined Naval Event 2026

BLUF: HII showcased the ROMULUS 151 MUSV and the REMUS family of UUVs at CNE 2026, positioning itself as a global leader in autonomous maritime systems alongside its traditional shipbuilding role.

Drone Swarm vs. Navy Frigate

BLUF: The Navy used an autonomous drone swarm launched from a single littoral combat ship to sink the decommissioned USS Simpson. This is the first time a U.S. warship was sunk by autonomous systems.

1. Distributed command architecture. Shore-based Maritime Operations Centers, not shipboard personnel, coordinated the engagement. This decoupling of command from platform suggests a structural shift in how crew requirements and ship design will be conceptualized going forward.

2. AI-enabled targeting at scale. Onboard deployable data centers processed multi-vessel imagery across more than twenty ship classes simultaneously, compressing the training timelines for AI targeting models in operationally realistic, high-density maritime environments.

3. Autonomous systems integration doctrine. The exercise exposed a persistent organizational gap: the absence of dedicated robotics coordination personnel at the platform level. The Navy’s acknowledgment of this deficiency signals imminent doctrinal codification around robotics officer roles aboard unmanned-system motherships.

Lockheed Martin Delivers First Integrated Combat System Enabled Baseline for the Navy

BLUF: Lockheed Martin delivered the first Integrated Combat System (ICS)-enabled baseline to the Navy, launching a six-month update cadence that will refresh Aegis combat system capabilities across the surface fleet.

• The Aegis BL9.C3.0 Package: This is the first baseline compiled from the Forge development environment. It introduces the re-architected display component, Tactical PaaS (Platform as a Service), which establishes the foundation for containerized software, and a suite of new operational capabilities.

• Accelerated Capability Fielding: Each follow-on delivery will incrementally integrate new capabilities, sensors, effectors, and software. Driving towards a single ICS-enabled baseline cuts cost and ensures that every surface combatant can field the latest combat capabilities on a predictable schedule.

• The six-month cadence keeps the ICS adaptable and continuously refreshed with cutting edge capabilities, ensuring the surface fleet stays at the forefront of naval warfare.

The U.S. Navy Is Going to Shrink at the Same Moment China’s Navy Is the Largest on Earth

Robert Peters

BLUF: The Navy’s shipbuilding plan projects the manned fleet will shrink to a low of 288 warships in 2027 — just as China’s navy surpasses 400 ships and the 355-ship congressional mandate recedes to the mid-2040s.

• The Navy’s latest shipbuilding plan would retire 46 ships from 2027 to 2031 including 2 aircraft carriers, 10 destroyers and cruisers, and 16 submarines of various classes and replacing them with 47 USVs and 16 XLUUVs.

• China’s Department of War assessment calls for 9 Chinese aircraft carriers by 2035 and Beijing is now building its first nuclear-powered supercarrier.

• The American Navy has been shrinking in size for years (fewer destroyers, submarines, cruisers, oilers, and tenders).

• Worse, this would occur as our naval requirements are growing.

• China has the world’s largest Navy, a massive concentration of missiles, an enormous Air Force, and is the fastest-growing nuclear power on the planet.

• USVs and UUVs should be seen as additive to the manned surface fleet of destroyers, frigates, and aircraft carriers, not replacements.

• An optimal naval plan would be one that ordered three Virginia-class submarines per year as well as at least two destroyers per year to meet fleet needs.

• A balanced fleet requires sustained or increased orders of manned warships such as submarines, frigates, destroyers, and aircraft carriers just as much or more than any unmanned system.

SAIC Awarded $112M Contract Modification for MK 48 Torpedo

BLUF: The Navy awarded SAIC a $112.3M contract modification to continue supporting the MK 48 MOD 7 Heavyweight Torpedo program.

US Marine Corps Awards New MRZR Alpha ULTVs Contract to Polaris

BLUF: The Marine Corps awarded Polaris Government and Defense a sole-source IDIQ contract valued at up to $98M to continue production and delivery of the MRZR Alpha Ultra-Light Tactical Vehicle, including the new 5kW exportable power variant.

• Intended for enhanced payload capacity, tactical air transport and off-road performance, the MRZR Alpha enables rapid unit deployment and maneuverability across difficult terrain while reducing logistical demand due to the vehicle’s superior durability.

• The vehicle is designed for rapid transport and deployment, offering off-road mobility for infantry, reconnaissance, and logistics units.

• Its size allows it to be carried internally by MV-22 and CH-53 helicopters, enabling Marine Expeditionary Units to operate effectively in contested or denied environments.

How the Air Force Is Rebuilding the Air War Around Electronic Warfare

BLUF: One question often asked is why the Air Force has no equivalent to the E-18G Growler (which could be provided by a dedicated F-15EX or F-35). The answer could be that it expects F-35 Block 4 to provide a more capable distributed EW presence that will be further augmented with the F-47 capabilities.

• A core requirement of the F-47 was “spectral dominance.”

• A new EW development line is a program to operationalize high-altitude balloons as attritable electronic attack platforms.

• This all goes to support the Long Range Kill Chain which is the Air Force’s operating concept for striking targets at strategic and operational depth in a contested environment. In the beyond-visual-range.

• The weapons being developed for the next generation of air combat operate at ranges that exceed what any single airborne sensor can cover on its own.

• Northrop Grumman’s SpaceMADL proposal is designed to extend the F-35’s Multifunction Advanced Data Link to LEO and MEO satellites, connecting that modernized fleet to a resilient, low-latency space-based transport and cross-link architecture which could be included in F-35’s Block 4 upgrade.

• Electronic warfare payloads designed to plug into CCA-class aircraft are entering the market - which will make the CCA an increasingly EW-capable aircraft as well.

• The Air Force does have a dedicated airborne EW platform. It is just not a fighter.

• The EA-37B is the re-hosted successor to the EC-130H Compass Call, which has served as the joint force’s primary tool for wide-area electromagnetic attack against adversary command and control.

• The FY2027 budget procures three EA-37Bs at $660M, bringing the program of record to fifteen aircraft - and may expand to 22.

Our Take: Overall, the Air Force has a healthy way-ahead on EW with its collection of platforms and pods. The harder challenge is reprogramming which is still not able to keep pace with the threats. DoW desperately needs Cognitive EW capabilities and reprogramming at the edge. The Air Force knows this and it’s not an easy solve.

Air Force Looks to Accelerate F-15 EW Upgrades at New Speedline

BLUF: AFLCMC opened a dedicated EPAWSS Speedline at Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex to install the Eagle Passive/Active Warning Survivability System on F-15E Strike Eagles outside their normal maintenance schedule.

• EPAWSS provides full-spectrum EW capabilities including radar warning, geolocation, situational awareness and self-protection to protect the F-15E as it flies deeper into contested battlespaces.

• The first aircraft is expected to arrive at the facility for installation in June.

• In early 2025, the Air Force cleared EPAWSS for full-rate production and awarded a $615.8M contract to Boeing to cover installation.

• The system is integrated onto the F-15E during the jet’s routine depot maintenance to limit upgrades to an aircraft’s standard maintenance schedule.

• The newly established Speedline operates entirely independent of the standard programmed depot maintenance line, providing flexibility to complete installs on aircraft that may not be due for PDM for another five to seven years.

Draft NDAA Would Authorize Multiyear Buys for F-35, F-15EX

BLUF: The HASC FY27 NDAA draft includes multiyear procurement authority for the F-35 and F-15EX, additional money for spare parts, and new reporting requirements on the F-35 program.

• Currently, the Pentagon buys these fighters in lots on a year-by-year basis.

• Multiyear procurement deals allow officials to sign purchasing agreements covering as much as five years, which they say drive down costs by giving manufacturers more predictability.

• DoW would not be able to enter such a contract before certifying to the congressional defense committees that the deal will provide the full complement of initial spare parts and alternate mission equipment.

• F-15EX multiyear procurement agreements would also have to include conformal fuel tanks for the jets.

• The draft bill proposes authorizing an extra $300M for F-35A spare parts which would double its current request.

F-35 and MQ-20 Display Manned-Unmanned Teaming

BLUF: GA-ASI, the F-35 Joint Program Office, Lockheed Martin, and Autonodyne demonstrated advanced manned-unmanned teaming by pairing an airborne MQ-20 Avenger with an F-35 on the ground, using a proliferated low Earth orbit data link to send tactical autonomy commands from the cockpit via tablet.

• The MQ-20 was equipped with GA-ASI’s TacACE (Tactical Autonomy Ecosystem) software, which is based on the latest GRA software architecture.

• The demonstration further proved the CCA surrogate and F-35’s ability to use a tactical proliferated low-Earth-orbit data link to accomplish seamless coordination.

• The demonstration utilized Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) communications between an airborne MQ-20 and an F-35 on the ground.

B-1B Bomber Could Soon Get Hypersonic Missiles

BLUF: Boeing completed the preliminary design review for the Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylon program, which will restore and upgrade six dormant external hardpoints on the B-1B Lancer to carry hypersonic weapons and other large munitions.

• The project will be a milestone as it aims to increase the mission flexibility for the bomber with external payload options, including the potential to integrate advanced munitions.

• The Air Force intends to upgrade its bomber fleet over the next five years.

MQ-28 Ghost Bat Now Flying Over the Pacific from U.S. Navy Base

BLUF: Boeing completed three operational flights of the MQ-28 Ghost Bat at the Point Mugu Sea Range — the aircraft’s first flights outside Australia — to demonstrate autonomous operations and validate deployment from allied facilities.

• The main goals for the flights were to demonstrate the maturity of the design, originally developed for Australia, and promote export sales.

• The specific choice of testing location also seems notable given Boeing’s involvement in the Navy’s still-evolving carrier-based CCA plans.

• The expansive range is routinely used for a wide array of research and development and test and evaluation activities, as well as training.

• The MQ-28 has been flying in Australia since 2021.

Related Article: The MQ-28 Ghost Bat Is Now Flying in the U.S.

Air Force Still Working to Sort Space Programs into Acquisition Portfolios

BLUF: The acting space acquisition czar Thomas Ainsworth said that work is not yet finished to sort Space Force programs into the new PAE structure. One decision pending is who to assign programs exploring space debris mitigation.

• The DAF, which oversees Space Force acquisition via Ainsworth’s shop, has officially announced six PAEs:

  • Space Access

  • Space Based Sensing and Targeting; Infrastructure

  • Battle Management, C3 & Space Intelligence (BMC3I)

  • Satellite Communication and Positioning, Navigation & Timing

  • Missile Warning and Tracking

• Ainsworth indicated that there would be at least three other PAEs set up to cover space control; electronic, cyber and orbital warfare; and integration.

• Shannon Pallone, who previously served as PEO at SSC’s BMC3I office, now is the permanent PAE for that mission.

• Col. Corey Klopstein, former SSC PEO for Operational Test & Training Infrastructure, has been named permanent PAE for Infrastructure.

• He based the approach to setting up the offices on “a couple of models,” including the “towers” of excellence structure used by the NRO, SDA and SpRCO.

• On contracting, we lowered every single thing we possibly could under statute all the way down to the chief of contracts for every PAE.

• Each of the new PAE heads also will chair a “capability trade council” for their portfolio that will include “warfighters in the room” representing the operations, intelligence and testing communities.”

Our Take: Space Force would benefit from making these decisions sooner rather than later as there is a cultural component to these changes that takes time and can’t be rushed. The ATS memo was launched in early Nov and its June now (7 months).

Pentagon’s Plans to Track Aircraft from Orbit Accelerated with New $4B SpaceX Deal

BLUF: Space Force has awarded SpaceX a $4.16B deal to accelerate work on a space-based air moving-target indicator (AMTI) sensor network which is expected to have an “early capability” in orbit by 2028, years ahead of past timelines.

• The OT agreement came via the office of the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Space-Based Sensing & Targeting: Col Ryan Frazier.

• Some degree of on-orbit prototype AMTI sensor testing has already been ongoing for at least a year, if not much longer, but this work has been heavily classified.

• Unlike having to rely on a single plane in a single surveillance place, a space-based sensor network made up of a very large number of individual satellites would also be highly resilient to attacks, as well as other attrition just due to technical breakdowns or other factors.

“To complement traditional airborne sensing, the requirement for a layered, highly resilient tracking architecture is evident. SB-AMTI aims to enhance the Space Force’s capabilities to the Joint Force through the establishment of a persistent, global capability to sense and track airborne targets from space.” Space Force Announcement

“The [AMTI] data the Intelligence Community and warfighter need presents a multi-phenomenology challenge that requires automated orchestration of the NRO’s collectors, low-latency data transport, and rapid data fusion by the NRO’s unmatched space communications and ground architecture capabilities.” NRO Spokesperson

Related Articles: SpaceX Wins $4.16B Space Force Contract to Detect Airborne Moving Targets , SpaceX Wins $4B Deal to Accelerate Deployment of Aircraft-Tracking Satellites and USSF Gives SpaceX $2.29B for New Data Network Backbone

Space Force Plans Nationwide Network of Resilient Operations Centers

BLUF: The Space Force FY27 budget includes $1B to build four space operations centers at Kirtland AFB, Redstone Arsenal, Schriever SFB, and Grand Forks AFB — a resilience-through-distribution strategy driven in part by the loss of space capabilities during Operation Epic Fury.

• Those facilities are intended to ensure military space missions can continue during wartime when command-and-control sites become targets.

• Military planners worry that adversaries will seek to disrupt space operations through missile strikes, cyberattacks and electronic warfare aimed at ground networks rather than satellites alone.

• Space operations centers have already emerged as targets during the conflict with Iran, reinforcing concerns that centralized command centers could become critical points of failure.

• The 200,000 sq ft Consolidated Space Operations Facility under development at Schriever Space Force Base is a model for the future operations centers.

• The Space Force envisions building as many as 10 such centers across the U.S., creating a distributed architecture capable of supporting combatant commands while preserving continuity of operations if individual sites are disrupted.

• The new facilities would create more permanent Space Force presence at installations that currently have limited space operations infrastructure.

Related Article: Epic Fury Highlighted Space Force Needs for Distributed Ops, EW Sites

Nvidia IGX Thor Space AI Supercomputer

BLUF: Aitech announced it will integrate NVIDIA’s IGX Thor platform into its S-A2300 COTS AI Supercomputer, bringing up to 5,581 FP4 TFLOPS of on-orbit AI compute to LEO satellites operating in harsh environments.

• The upgrade is aimed at Low Earth Orbit missions involving autonomous navigation, image analysis, climate monitoring, and space debris tracking.

• Aitech, which develops rugged embedded computing systems for aerospace and defense applications, said it already has access to IGX Thor evaluation hardware for testing and integration.

• The company plans to use the platform in future deployable AI systems built for space and autonomous operations.

• The S-A2300 AI supercomputer currently runs on NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin Industrial modules and was designed specifically for orbital missions where hardware must survive radiation exposure and extreme environmental conditions.

Poland’s Defense Spending Poised to Skyrocket

BLUF: Poland is already the NATO alliance’s biggest spender on defense when it comes to percentage of GDP, and its expenditures on weapon systems are poised to grow even higher with a huge influx of funding courtesy of the European Union.

• Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk inked a deal with EU officials to receive 43.7B euros in loans to spend on defense.

• The nation was the first to receive loans under the Security Action for Europe, or SAFE, program, which aims to bolster Europe as a bulwark against Russian aggression and to increase capacity to manufacture its own weapons.

• The program requires that 65 percent of the value of the components of the weapons acquired with the loans be sourced from EU or Ukraine companies.

• Poland donated most of its Soviet-era weapon systems to Ukraine starting in 2022 and has been on a buying spree ever since.

• Poland with its industrial might is emerging as one of the world’s biggest economies.

“We are saying clearly … if you want to be our partner, if you want to sell here, you need to invest in Poland. You need to transfer the technology. You need to build partnership — a real partnership.” Konrad Golota, undersecretary of state at Poland’s Ministry of State Assets

Davie and Kraken Set to Join Forces on the Production of USV in Canada

BLUF: Quebec-based Davie Shipbuilding and UK-based Kraken Technology Group announced a strategic collaboration to establish Canadian production, integration, and development of Kraken’s autonomous surface vessel and maritime systems.

• Davie will provide Canadian capacity and capability to produce, integrate and develop Kraken’s advanced uncrewed surface vessels, and next-generation autonomous maritime systems.

“This collaboration represents a leap in our evolution as a next-generation maritime industrial leader. The future of maritime security will see crewed and autonomous vessels operating seamlessly across vast distances in the world’s most contested environments. Kraken brings world-class autonomous vessel technologies. Davie brings scale, advanced shipbuilding infrastructure and a record of delivering mission-critical vessels on time and on budget.” Philip Burns-O’Brien, Senior Vice-President Commercial Development, Davie Shipbuilding

Taking a Look at China’s Quantum Ecosystem

BLUF: China’s quantum dominance ambitions are written in national plans, but they are built through ordinary purchases: lab space, wiring, components, instruments, and consumables. Aggregating hundreds of entries shows how China’s state-backed quantum ecosystem actually functions.

• China’s quantum market is sustained by buyers with state resources before many firms become commercially competitive. Datenna records more than $18M in private-sector deals that show state-affiliated telecom giants, with China Telecom at the center, channeling funds to a network of quantum startups.

• China is creating demand before the market can sustain itself. This pattern resembles earlier Chinese industrial strategies in electric vehicles, solar panels, and 5G, in which subsidies and state-backed customers helped domestic firms scale up before competing internationally.

• China Telecom is not just a customer in China’s quantum ecosystem, but an organizer of the market - appearing as a buyer in 19 contracts worth nearly $4B, signaling sustained strategic intent rather than experimental interest.

• This role as a primary market organizer was formalized in 2023 with the creation of China Telecom Quantum Information Technology Group (CTQG). Across 30 contracts worth roughly $3.65B, CTQG acts as both buyer and orchestrator.

• China’s quantum communications network is controlled by a layered state-linked stack spanning planning, capital allocation, hardware production, deployment, and operations. China Telecom sits at the top of the system.

Our Take: If you’re interested in quantum, we recommend you take a look at SCSP’s quantum network map. This report shows the challenges that U.S companies face where free money, government backing and stater-owned enterprise assistance results in unfair advantages. It’s on U.S. companies to make up that slack in faster innovation cycles and leveraging the power of a freer market.

Quad Nations Step Up Indo-Pacific Push with New Initiatives

BLUF: The Quad foreign ministers announced new maritime surveillance cooperation and the group’s first joint regional infrastructure project, a port upgrades in Fiji as a direct counter to China’s growing influence in the South Pacific.

• India, the U.S., Australia and Japan have announced new initiatives on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific.

• The move to boost cooperation comes amid concerns about China’s growing influence in this region.

• The aim is to integrate the four countries’ capabilities to help partner countries in the region access new maritime technologies for tracking activity in their waters.

• The Quad will also upgrade port infrastructure in Fiji, a South Pacific island nation, marking the group’s first joint regional infrastructure project.

“The maritime surveillance agreement is going to leverage each of our country’s maritime surveillance capabilities in the Indo-Pacific to enhance information sharing.” Marco Rubio, Secretary of State

China’s Autonomous Drone Swarm System Claims to Hunt Targets Despite Network Jamming, Chaos

BLUF: A Chinese research team claims to have developed a new AI algorithm capable of allowing drone swarms to autonomously hunt and eliminate targets even when communications are jammed and visibility is severely degraded.

• The algorithm, called Heterogeneous Graph Spatio-Temporal Reasoning (HG-STR), was detailed in a paper published in China’s leading aviation journal, Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica, earlier this month.

• According to the researchers, it is the first known system capable of achieving a “100% kill rate” while operating quickly enough to keep pace with modern combat conditions.

• A perfect kill rate in simulation is very different from real battlefield performance.

• Modern warfare introduces weather, deception, civilian presence, damaged sensors, electronic warfare, and countless unpredictable variables that can rapidly degrade even highly advanced systems.

HASC $1.15T Defense Policy Bill Takes Aim at Industrial Base Challenges

BLUF: The House Armed Services Committee has unveiled its $1.15T defense policy bill for FY27, with lawmakers putting their legislative muscle into boosting weapons production for critical munitions, fighter jets and warships.

Stay turned for our analysis of the HASC bill this week.

Inside the Navy’s Push for Tech Dominance | Mike Frank
Threat Status

Threats, Autonomy, and the Future of American Power | Palmer Luckey
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The Cyber Fight Needs An Industrial Base
Offset Symposium 2026

FY27 Budget, Space Force Launch, and the Future of Airpower
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Inside the Army’s Secret Innovation Engine: How Soldiers Are Rewriting Procurement in Real Time | COL Tom Managhan
Fed Gov Today

Rewriting the Code Behind National Security | Peter Morales
Mission Matters

What Gets Funded in Defense Tech | Paige Craig
Second Front Systems

The Unglamorous Tech Powering the Drone Revolution | Rob Sladen
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Military Infrastructure Resilience Against Cyberattacks | BGen (Ret) Guy Walsh and Daryl Haegley
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Around a decade ago, there was a big push by some acquisition leaders to Own the Technical Baseline (OTB). OTB was the process of maintaining deep, independent understanding and control of a system’s design, performance, interfaces, risks, and evolution so informed decisions can be made throughout its lifecycle. The goal was noble and understandably reactionary after the disastrous TSPR period. The problem was that the prescription is wrong in light of expanded opportunities from new industry players and improved digital processes to ease complex integration activities. A better approach today is to Own the Supply Chain (OSC).

Problem

The overall problem with the OTB concept was that it placed way too much emphasis on the government understanding every intricate design detail that it drove PMs to become too focused on the process (endless design reviews and CDRL monitoring) and less on the outcomes. In essence, they started missing the forest for the trees. The results showed too as program outcomes did not improve following the period that OTB was implemented. PMs were also on a doomed mission with OTB because most acquisition teams do not have equitable knowledge with industry to challenge them on detailed engineering points especially not in emerging tech areas.

New Approach

The good news is that PMs today don’t need to own the baseline, they just need to understand their options for the piece parts that comprise a capability. When paired with an intelligently applied MOSA framework, this approach can relax some of the focus that PMs and Chief Engineers had placed on laborious design reviews and instead focus on technology scouting to identify the next candidates for an upgrade. This can include major subsystems or even components that add new functionality or resiliency to an existing system.

Collectively, the OSC mindset and supporting processes helps move the acquisition process from being a siloed program (single capability) viewpoint to a broader horizon of supply chain opportunities that can drive the fielding of faster capabilities.

This also gets us closer to an adaptive acquisition system that can handle the dynamic threat changes like we’ve seen in Ukraine and that we will likely face against a peer adversary. It provides the structure to stay ahead of the technology curve that DoD has in the past usually been at least a generation behind on. It also gives DoW a rare opportunity to start leveraging the talent of small businesses who do not have the resources to build an entire system but might be able to revolutionize a piece of it.

To implement this approach, there are a few key concepts that have to be recognized.

1. Understanding the System as a Supply Chain

Modern defense systems are really not a specific product, rather a supply chain. Primes, from legacy to non-traditionals, rely on components from a range of different sub-tier vendors. They oftentimes pull from many of the same suppliers.

Sensors, compute, software, power systems, communications, materials all evolve on their own timelines, often driven by commercial markets outside the defense ecosystem. The system itself is just a temporary integration of those parts.

2. Control Comes from Substitution

The real question is not who owns the system design, but rather how quickly any part of it can be replaced. If a component cannot be swapped without triggering a major integration effort, then the system is not adaptive and new strategy is needed. For legacy systems, this can be challenging but not impossible. The problem in the past was incentives (both industry and the government have a bias for stability). This is why Collaborative Capability Development strategies can provide greater flexibility to the government even in leanly manned offices and why the transition to open architectures needs to happen even for older systems.

Control under OSC comes from knowing what can be swapped, knowing what should be swapped and having the right mechanisms to do it.

While the initial phases of adoption will be challenging given the incentives, once key components are mapped and the government gains insight on the technology cycles for those capabilities, it will build the muscle memory to become more adaptive.

3. Program Manager as Portfolio Orchestrator

This shift changes the role of the program manager. Instead of managing a single system, they begin managing a portfolio of components.

Their job shifts from tracking EVM details and holding dozens of status reviews (although some of that is still needed of course) to:

• tracking the state of the art across each subsystem

• informing vendors looking for guidance on new needs

• identifying when a better, mature option becomes available

• planning upgrades for integrating new components

This is closer to how leading commercial companies (and F1 teams) operate. They don’t redesign entire systems every cycle, they upgrade pieces and parts continuously.

4. Tech Scouting as a Core Program Function

If there is a lack of clarity about the progress of the underlying technology, a program will be unable to make good upgrade decisions. That makes tech scouting a core program function. PAEs should make sure there are focused teams working to gather and refine this information…as an expanded version of market research. These teams should ask questions like:

• What is the next iteration of a key sensor that can add more functionality?

• Who is building a better autonomy stack? What are the differentiators and when will it be available for experimentation?

• What C2 improvements are being pursued and how are the different companies progressing?

The goal is not to chase every new concept pitched by a SBIR company but to gather enough intel from multiple sources to compile a clear view of where the technology and component maturity for the respective portfolio is heading so upgrades can be timed deliberately. Providing key vendors with insights on the government’s needs can help serve as a demand signal to accelerate the availability of certain upgrades.

5. Improve System Resilience

Understanding the supply chain is not just about capability but also readiness. Single-source suppliers, fragile sub-tier dependencies, and long-lead materials present operational risks both to production scaling (or mobilization) and to maintaining the system. In the past, PMs rarely focused on this problem as part of initial development or upgrade modifications but with OSC it becomes a central consideration.

Having a better understanding of the supply chain allows PMs to characterize potential supply chain bottlenecks, understand the health of different suppliers (and where they need help), recognize the scaling capacity of new components, assess any FOCI issues and proactively address concerns.

6. Next Increment Starts with Components

The future acquisition system is characterized by steady incremental improvements that provide warfighters with new capability on a reliable cadence in peacetime and that has the flexibility to move even faster in a conflict. This is why future upgrades should not start with a blank sheet but be driven by the state of the supply chain.

It should start with a clear view of how each component or subsystem is evolving and using those trends to design the next increment. In the past, more massive redesigns were usually planned that took too long to execute and install. With OSC, the goal is a series of targeted upgrades to ensure systems keep pace with change.

Foundational Elements

To effectively execute OSC, program managers need to build a map of their system by understanding the following:

• components

• suppliers

• dependencies

• tech roadmaps

As part of building this map, PMs will also need to:

• Leverage modular architectures. Having a government reference architecture, commercial standard or common data layer/broker (depending on the system) is key to executing OSC since integration processes should well understood to ease that part of the upgrade process. This will require involvement and verification by government engineers initially, but OSC will give greater opportunity to validate those enduring architectures given the envisioned faster upgrade cycles.

• Address legacy system constraints. Programs should establish a roadmap for breaking apart legacy systems (if the lifecycle justifies it) to begin executing OSC even if there are constraints (maybe only sensors can be upgraded initially) that must be accepted during the interim.

• Gain access to BOMs on their existing systems. This might require some negotiation and cajoling with many vendors, but it is key insights that is needed to successfully own the supply chain. In the past, program offices usually had little visibility into the supply chain. This lack of transparency was due to primes not being incentivized to share and contracts not requiring it. With the push for supply chain risk management, this has become easier to obtain and now can be used for other purposes.

• Build the infrastructure and tools to manage the data. This data will include inputs from vendors, tech assessments, performance in exercises and other informative details from multiple sources. At the most mature stage, mission engineering analysis should be incorporated to articulate the impacts of a change specifically against certain mission threads / kill chains.

• Assemble a team. It might need to be a mix of military, civilians, contractors and consultants to get the right composition depending on the complexity of the system, but this team is critical to being able to have the conversations at the various conferences and working level sessions with industry.

• Have strong user feedback loops. While the supply chain will drive the available upgrade decisions, with strong user feedback loops, PMs will be better positioned to advise industry that is looking for a demand signal to ensure that investments made are focused on the highest operational priorities.

These foundational elements are key to plan tech-driven upgrades, adapt to new threats, and scale production.

Early Use Cases

—The Army and Interceptors—

The Army is launching a new program to develop affordable interceptors by building one from scratch by identifying the best subsystems to construct one (using contract manufacturers) that meets its different performance parameters.

“If you took what a PAC-3 does and divide it into like, five or six subsegments, what do you actually need? One of the sub segments is a seeker, one is propulsion. We’re breaking apart this problem. We want you to bring us all of the solutions.” Secretary Driscoll

—The Air Force and CCA—

The Air Force has instituted different government reference architectures in its Collaborative Combat Aircraft program that allowed different autonomy stacks to be substituted mid-flight. That is an extreme version of OSC that shows the potential for all systems.

—Drone Dominance—

Drone Dominance’s Supply Chain Framework has 13 different component breakdowns from comms to GNSS modules to imaging sensors. The program is adopting a cycle of continuous design, manufacturing and updates to stay operationally relevant.

Next Steps

PMs should assess their programs and build a plan for implementing OSC where it makes sense. If the user only requires an update every 3 years on a low volume, highly specialized system then OSC might not be a right fit. If however, you have users with a backlog of additional capabilities they think are important for a platform fielded in large quantities, then this approach should be considered.

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• DoW May Finally Get a Confirmed Comptroller Soon

• SOF Week in Tampa: SOCOM Wants Integrated, Repairable Capabilities

• ITAR Improvements Could Recharge Exports & Acquisition Needs More Action

• Perennial Autonomy Wins Large IDIQ & Regent Shows Recharging at the Edge

• Army Seeks Cheap Interceptors and Integrated C2 for Warfighters

• Navy Selects 7 for MUSVs, Advances Undersea Drones and Extends Amphibs

• Air Force Needs to Improve Flexibility in Ops & Has CAS Covered w/o A-10

• Space Confirms New PAE, Works Third Launch Site & Tests Refueling/Logistics

• Golden Dome C2 Has Multiple Challenges & a Pragmatic Approach is Key

• New Eurofighter Jet Underway, UK Backing Unicorns & UKR Using Drone Balloons

• Congress Hosts DoW Officials for More Budget Deliberations

Jay Hurst Nominated as Full Pentagon Comptroller

BLUF: The White House nominated Jules “Jay” Hurst to officially assume the DoD Comptroller role.

• As PTDO Comptroller since August 2025, he oversees the $1.5T FY27 budget request and testifying w/SECWAR,CJCS during recent budget hearings.

• He previously was PTDO of USW(Personnel and Readiness) and nominated to be ASA (Manpower and Reserve Affairs).

• Hurst previously was Legislative Director to Speaker Mike Johnson.

• As an Army Officer and Civilian he served on Army staff, JSOC, and deployed to Afghanistan four times.

A CEO’s Guide to the FY2027 Defense Budget

John Ferrari

BLUF: CEOs and the Boards of Directors seeking to absorb this massive influx of capital today while ensuring your firm remains lean, profitable, and indispensable when the surge eventually normalizes must focus on three strategic pillars.

1. Prioritize Throughput over Novelty

   1. The FY2027 budget is unapologetically production centric.

   2. Identify bottlenecks. Winners are positioned inside the tightest bottlenecks.

   3. Focus CapEx on expanding capacity for weapons the DoD cannot afford to delay.

   4. Maintain quality under pressure, especially when ramping up production.

2. Use New Tools to Stabilize the Supply Chain

   1. OSC ($20.2B), the DPA($30.4B), and Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment ($41.8B) to help firms pass traditional bureaucratic friction.

   2. Savvy CEOs should view these as tactical tools to strengthen their own business models. Look to assist your Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers gain access to these new government funds.

   3. Treat the new Direct Reporting Program Managers working directly for the Deputy Secretary as fast lanes for acquisition.

   4. More firms need to emerge as the integration layer. Position your firm as the bridge, the entity that hardens, qualifies, and integrates new technology into existing platforms.

3. Planning for the Reversion

   1. As the $350B in reconciliation funding tapers off, the industry will face a familiar cycle of overbuilt capacity and margin compression.

   2. Examine CapEx against demand, pricing vs volume, top supply chain risks, indispensability, switching costs, strategic positioning, and implementation speed.

FY27 Defense Budget Materials

U.S. Defense Needs More Competition, Not More Money

Peter Devine and Sam Slocum

BLUF: The U.S. is burning through missiles faster than industry can replace them. Multi-year procurements have the right intention but won’t work well because the issue isn’t capital, it’s the lack of a competitive market.

• The Pentagon’s response to the weapons shortfall has been to splash out money: multiyear procurement agreements, equity stakes, long-term supply deals to signal committed demand and unlock private investment.

• The constraint isn’t insufficient capital or demand; it’s a lack of competition.

• Three suppliers — RTX, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman — control 90% of U.S. missile supply and don’t compete with each other.

• Conventional wisdom in Washington holds that inconsistent demand has kept suppliers like RTX from investing in production capacity.

• The remedy is to throw them cheap financing, government investment and multiyear procurement guarantees. But this belies the facts. RTX has seen demand surge from the Ukraine war, Asian deterrence and the Middle East.

• Yet the company entered 2026 with a $75B missile backlog and has raised its 2026 guidance: Revenue is up 10%, while adjusted operating profit is up 25%.

• High profits and unnecessary scarcity are hallmarks of monopolies; giving these firms bigger contracts makes them more profitable, not more productive.

• The Pentagon should create a more competitive market structure. It should design emergency variants, or E-models, of its most critical systems.

• The E-models should be easy to manufacture, with government-owned IP, and be backed by engineers who can certify new producers (e.g. car companies, auto suppliers and pleasure-craft fabricators) in months rather than years.

• E-models aren’t as fine-tuned as their standard counterparts. But they don’t need to replace Patriots, only to make RTX and Lockheed know they could.

• And if push comes to shove, hundreds of thousands of 90% solutions are preferable to perfection that never arrives.

• The presence of qualified alternative producers, waiting in the wings is the only path to scalable production.

• Give the primes competition and they’ll compete. That’s the free market.

Our Take: This is a great piece that gets at something we’ve been pushing which is to have a hedge against every sole source contract across DoD. While the E-model idea is interesting and should be pursued, we also see a roadmap for every missile today that is not scalable or reasonably priced where the government initiates a new program on an accelerated timeline that replaces each of them in 3-5 years. Modernly designed weapons can leverage new manufacturing processes and materials that inherently make them more scalable and cost-effective. While some supply chain components can still present bottlenecks, new designs also allow for improved use of commercial components. We should simultaneously be preparing for mobilization (with the E-Model) while also looking to move to Version 2 of weapons that were designed 20-30 years ago.

Scaling Patriot Production: The Industrial Base Crisis Explained

BLUF: DoW needs to incorporate efficiency into its munitions planning by only using exquisite munitions for exquisite missions and taking other key industrial base actions (such as continuing multi-year demand and investing in sub-tier supply chains).

• After coalition forces had fired at least 1,700 Patriots in just five weeks, the Pentagon announced a $4.76B contract to accelerate production.

• While a seemingly forceful response, the move only highlighted the core problem. At the current build rate of 600 missiles per year, it would take three years to replace what was used in a little over a month.

• Patriot missile expenditure by the United States and its allies in the 2026 Iran War is the clearest case study in command of the reload.

• The problem is not simply how to fire more missiles, but how to sustain missile defense once the opening magazine is gone. That requires three things:

  1. Buying time through multiyear demand that gives industry room to invest;

  2. Buying redundancy across the sub-tier bottlenecks that pace production

  3. Buying efficiency through defensive doctrines that preserve premium interceptors for premium threats.

• Constraints exist at multiple points within the defense-industrial base ecosystem (e.g., sub-tier suppliers, specialized test infrastructure, long qualification cycles).

• Every PAC-3 MSE interceptor carries a production lead time of 24 months for the missile and 30 months for the solid rocket motor.

• Such timelines are due to physical industrial constraints, such as the lengthy curing time required for solid rocket motors and the complex, multi-year process of qualifying any new component supplier.

• Modern missile production moves at the speed of its weakest critical supplier.

• Lockheed Martin assembles the final PAC-3 MSE interceptor, but throughput depends on a fragile network of producers for seekers, rocket motors, energetics, and specialized test infrastructure.

• During the first four days of the Iran war, coalition forces expended Patriots at a rate of 225 per day, while Lockheed’s Camden facility produced just 1.7 per day.

• The primary bottleneck sits one level below the prime contractor. Boeing produces the active radar seeker for every PAC-3 MSE from a single facility in Huntsville, Alabama, and in 2025 it delivered only around 650 to 700 seekers.

• The same logic applies to the missile’s solid rocket motor, manufactured by L3Harris’s Aerojet Rocketdyne which also supplies SRMs for THAAD & SMs.

• Cheaper threats, such as one-way attack drones, must be pushed down to more sustainable layers, including guns, short-range missiles, and “anti-drone” drones.

• A layered defense architecture does more than improve tactical performance; it stretches finite magazines and buys the industrial base time to replenish what combat consumes.

• To achieve industrial resilience, Washington must pursue three interconnected policy reforms. It is doing some key things with recent actions such as issuing multi-year deals to multiple vendors and bulking up sub-tier suppliers.

• There is more work to be done on equalizing the cost ratio of defense with a more layered approach that brings other effectors into the mix.

Mach Industries Snaps Up Rocket Motor-Maker Exquadrum

BLUF: Mach Industries revealed that it acquired 24-year-old propulsion system and solid rocket motor-maker Exquadrum in a $50M deal to gain access to technology such as energetics, space launch, munitions, and hypergolic propellants.

Their products in work include:

• Stratos: A high-altitude “pseudo-satellite” that deploys communications tech, sensors, and effects from the stratosphere.

• Viper: A turbojet-powered vertical takeoff one-way attack UAS.

• Venom: A small plane-like drone designed in collaboration with Divergent.

• Dart: A low-cost kinetic drone interceptor.

• Glide: A high-altitude glider with a strike system capable of long-range, low-signature delivery.

• Pike: A long-range munition designed for decentralized modular deployment.

Our Take: $50M for an acquisition of a company that was valued at almost $500M last year doesn’t quite sound right so this might be more of a restructure orchestrated by the investor leads. Tectonic did report that Exquadrum would become Mach Energetics, a dedicated energetics division. We can expect that most of the company will stay intact and move into that new division likely with some level of independent controls.

Related Article: Mach Industries just spent $50M to solve a major defense tech problem

Pentagon Awards $500M Contract to Perennial Autonomy for Counter-Drone Systems

BLUF: Perennial Autonomy was awarded a $500M 3-year IDIQ contract to deliver AI-enabled counter-UAS systems such as the Bumblebee quadcopter, Hornet midrange strike drone and the Merops interceptor.

• The Army bought 13,000 Merops interceptors in the early days of the conflict at roughly $15K per unit, which helped rectify the cost imbalance of drone defense.

• In a press release, the company touted the “battle-tested and proven at scale in Ukraine” equipment. It said the systems include computer vision, radio frequency-based detection, jam-resistant communications, and next-generation autonomy.

Our Take: Given their success In Ukraine, which has been a particularly demanding environment for many U.S. drone companies, this company is one to watch.

REGENT Seaglider Test Shows Charging Far from Harbor Networks

BLUF: A new test by the maritime startup REGENT Craft has shown that its electric Seagliders can recharge away from traditional ports. This could make it possible to operate in remote coastal areas and military zones.

• The test, conducted with Schneider Electric and World4Solar, showed that the vessels could use a mobile off-grid charging system rather than relying on existing electrical networks.

• The trial combined three main technologies into one charging system: modular battery storage units, robust high-power charging equipment, and a direct current-coupled system.

• According to REGENT, bypassing those extra conversion steps improved charging efficiency and reliability in remote maritime settings.

• The firm believes this could help operators use electric vessels in places where building full charging stations would cost too much or not make sense.

Our Take: Solving the recharging challenge is a big part of the deployment viability story so this is a huge step forward.

Startup Furientis Aims to Revolutionize Defense

We wanted to see what it would take for the two of us to start a company that could significantly move the needle in America’s critical munitions shortage, starting with producing ship-side interceptor missiles

The first question was whether we could obtain a solid rocket motor cheaply and quickly with chemistry that would outperform traditional blends in processing speed without significant performance loss.

We put together a bill of materials and split the cost down the middle, sourcing precursors from wherever we could find them, including larger industrial chemical suppliers, fireworks supply stores and hobbyist sites.

Within just three weeks of work, we set out to the desert to fire the motor we had built and with that initial success we set out to invert the logic that missiles had to be exquisite to be effective, and that a few hundred units a year was the best that we could do.

Manufacturing Startup Amca Closes $300M Series B

BLUF: The Advanced Manufacturing Company of America, better known as Amca, got a $300M Series B at an over $1B valuation. The 18-month-old company also revealed the acquisition of BC Systems, a power electronics supplier “supporting multiple growing classified defense programs.”

• The company now operates six critical component factories with a combined 123,000 square feet of online production capacity in California, Iowa, and New York, where the newest member of the Amca fam, BC Systems, is based.

• Those facilities churn out critical components like hydraulics, power electronics, avionics, and more.

• They are bringing their flagship product development platform RAPID to legacy critical component manufacturing which reduces the time “required to move production-grade hardware from development into deployment by over 67% compared to industry-standard lead times.”

Inside Anduril and Meta’s Quest to Make Smart Glasses for Warfare

BLUF: Anduril and Meta have a vision for drones and soldiers to see together, share information seamlessly, and make decisions as one including ordering drone strikes via eye-tracking and voice commands.

• The glasses will overlay certain information onto a soldier’s field of view.

• This might be as simple as a compass or as complex as an entire map of the area, information about where nearby drones are flying, or AI-driven recognition of a target like a truck.

• The soldier would then speak to the interface in plain language—for example, to order an evacuation for someone who’s been injured or to plan a route taking into account which areas are off limits.

• LLMs will be used to help translate a soldier’s speech into commands the software can follow. And the engine for it all will be Anduril’s software Lattice, which incorporates data from lots of different military hardware into one picture.

• If all goes to plan, commands might not even require speech; the soldier could instead communicate through tracked eye movements and subtle taps.

• The company is testing a new system for digital night vision, which uses electronic sensors and algorithms to boost low levels of light.

• Anduril is not the only one competing to develop smart goggles for combat. Rivet, which specializes in wearable sensors for the military, received a $195M prototyping contract the same time, and in March the Israeli company Elbit received its own $120M contract.

• One big challenge for all companies is that the technology has to work in environments without ubiquitous 5G cell connections meaning that powerful computer vision and AI models will need to run locally on the device.

• The Army isn’t expected to move its top choice for the Soldier Born Mission Command program into production until 2028, if it moves forward.

L3Harris Achieves Major Milestones With Latest Series of Rotating Detonation Engine Tests

BLUF: L3Harris has announced a major milestone in propulsion innovation with the successful self-funded testing of two advanced Rotating Detonation Engines (RDEs), demonstrating a significant step toward flight-ready systems

• The first test focused on long-duration runs to validate the fundamental physics that determine operability - where and how RDE technology performs optimally.

• The second test featured a full-scale RDE, demonstrating the ability to operate across the entire flight range of a relevant mission.

• Rotating Detonation Engines represent a state-of-the-art propulsion solution, enabling air-breathing missiles to achieve greater range and efficiency compared to traditional systems.

• Air-breathing propulsion systems offer a high-performance, low-cost solution capable of meeting the most demanding mission requirements.

Red Cat Closes Acquisition of Quaze Technologies

BLUF: Red Cat, a provider of advanced all-domain drone and robotic solutions for defense and national security, announced it has acquired Quaze Technologies Inc, a Québec-based developer of wireless power transfer technology for unmanned systems, drones and autonomous machines.

• Quaze will operate as an independent business unit, developing and scaling its wireless power architecture for integration across Red Cat’s Family of Systems.

• The acquisition addresses one of the most significant remaining barriers to true robotic autonomy: power.

• Most drones today still rely on manual battery swaps or precise, connector-based charging systems that are difficult to deploy reliably in harsh environments.

• Quaze’s technology can be deployed across a wide range of environments and platforms, including vehicle-mounted systems, drone-in-a-box solutions, uncrewed surface vessels, fixed infrastructure and underwater charging stations.

Other Defense Industry News:

• Anduril Introduces Voyager Gateway 1: Rugged Edge Compute for the Dismounted Operator

• Booz Allen and Anduril Partner to Deploy C2, Cyber, and Zero Trust Capabilities on Menace and Lattice

• Scout AI raises $100M to build military AI models through real-world training at U.S. base

• Datashapes AI partners with L3Harris to provide AI-enabled Radios that can Sense and Respond to Drones

Shield AI Tapped for LUCAS Autonomy

BLUF: USW(R&E) tapped Shield AI to build its Hivemind autonomy software onto the Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS).

• Hivemind will play AI pilot for the Shahed-like attack drone, enabling groups of drones to coordinate, maneuver, and adapt together to changing conditions in real time, based on warfighter input.

• Shield AI plans to do a demo controlling a swarm of LUCAS this fall.

• Shiled was tapped to provide the autonomy brains for the CCA program.

• Hivemind has been integrated into Anduril’s YFQ-44A CCA, GA’s MQ-20 Avenger, Kratos MQM-178 Firejet, Navy BQM-177 test aircraft, and Airbus UH-72 Lakota helicopter.

• With Hivemind, LUCAS operators will pretty much only have to worry about strike. The software will take care of the rest.

“LUCAS is about delivering affordable mass, but mass without coordination is limited in value. Hivemind is the AI pilot that makes that mass intelligent.” Brandon Tseng, Shield AI President

Related: Pentagon taps US firm for coordinated attack by intelligent, low-cost drone swarms. See also our #1 post on the Defense Tech and Acquisition Substack…

LUCAS: Rapid Acquisition in Action

Five Companies win DoD’s Drone Dominance Small Drone Lethality Prize Challenge

BLUF: As part of its Drone Dominance initiative, the Pentagon has named five winners of a lethality challenge, a title that could place them ahead of other vendors in the race to snag deals to arm small drones.

WINNERS

Bravo Ordnance
Kela Defense
Kraken Kinetics
Mountain Horse
Northrop Grumman

• In April, the DoW announced the Lethality Prize Challenge on Sam.gov, hoping to find payloads for Group 1 drones, those weighing 20 lbs. or less.

• Solutions must be scalable to match the rapid growth of Drone Dominance platforms and cost-effective to enable mass production and fielding. At this point, the lethal payload system represents a significant portion of the total system cost; therefore, affordability and manufacturability are critical design considerations.

“We’re an 18-month old hardware startup. This is our first scaled product. The Lethality Challenge selection gives us a rail-locked pathway to thousands or tens of thousands of unit orders for this product, which has absolutely changed the caliber of discussion we’re having with investors, suppliers, other customers/partners, etc." Kevin Landtroop, Bravo Ordnance CSO

Our Take: We continue to be excited about the Drone Dominance program fueling rapid, iterative competitions among established traditional and new non-traditional defense companies. With the goal of rapidly producing hundreds of thousands of drones from many vendors, backed by billions in the defense budget, this is an exciting time for a crowded, growing defense sector.

Southern Border is a Sandbox for Counter-Drone Tech

BLUF: The U.S. Southern Border is a breeding ground for counter drone innovation. JIATF 401 invites industry partners to the border to show off their tech aimed at taking down adversary drones.

• NORTHCOM is learning a lot from CENTCOM and attempting to apply those lessons to the southern border.

• NORTHCOM has a lot of fixed and movable counter-UAS capabilities, but not anything that would follow a patrolling soldier.

“We tell all of the vendors, if you’re willing to bring it down to the southern border, we’ll put it to use. We’ll tell you if it works; if it does, we’ll probably buy it. If it doesn’t, we’ll tell you exactly what you need to work on, so we can buy it potentially at scale, and therefore we have hundreds of systems down there or components of systems that are the beneficiaries of lessons learned from other regions.” Gen Gregory Guillot, NORTHCOM/NORAD Commander

DIU Robotic Operation for Autonomous Delivery and Sustainment (ROADS) Prize Challenge

BLUF: DIU issued a new $30M prize challenge to integrate commercially proven ground autonomous capabilities to scale a modern fleet of vehicles.

• The DoW manages 150,000 non-tactical vehicles, most are idle, analog, and human dependent.

• The private sector s rapidly adopting digitally coordinated autonomous vehicle business models to increase utilization and improve safety.

• DoW lacks a scalable pathway to integrate these commercially proven capabilities into its fleet operations—particularly in a way that aligns autonomy, dispatch, and real-time fleet coordination to deliver measurable operational impact.

• The Department is seeking scalable, commercially derived solutions that integrate modern fleet management and SAE Levels 2+ to 4 autonomous vehicle tech to:

  • Increase NTV vehicle utilization through dynamic access and tasking

  • Lower overall accident exposure and improve safety outcomes

  • Reduce total NTV fleet size and cost per mile

  • Free service members from routine tasks to focus on higher-value missions

Communication Key as Microelectronics Program Enters Second Year

BLUF: DoW selected 26 projects from the Microelectronics Commons program’s first cohort to advance to year two, and getting the technologies across the valley of death depends on effective communication between the innovators and Pentagon leadership.

• The program consists of eight regional hubs across the U.S. meant to expand the nation’s global leadership in microelectronics, accelerate domestic prototyping and grow the U.S.-based semiconductor talent pipeline.

• The 26 projects selected for year two span six critical technology focus areas — EW; 5G/6G; AI hardware; secure edge/internet of things computing; quantum; and commercial leap-ahead systems — and represent all eight hubs.

“A point of emphasis for the program as it heads into year two is bridging the communication gap. The technologists and the innovation hubs working on these projects must be able to communicate their technological breakthroughs and their very dense technological understanding to DoW leadership in a way that can be exemplary and ingestible. There is a large understanding and language disconnect when it comes to low-level microelectronics, so the communication requirement, going from innovation to the DoW side and the DIB side, is key.” Eric Makara, Microelectronics PM in OUSW(R&E).

New EW Tech Can Help Unmanned Systems Operate in Anti-Access Areas

BLUF: Rafael Advanced Defense Systems unveiled STORM SHIELD, a miniature EW system for unmanned aerial platforms.

• The powerful, lightweight EW system transforms unmanned operations, enabling self-protection, and against a wide range of threats.

• The system continuously monitors the electromagnetic spectrum, detecting, analyzing, generating, and transmitting signals autonomously.

• STORM SHIELD is built around an AESA transmitter architecture using solid-state R/T modules, paired with advanced DRFM-based technique generation and Digital RF Memory.

• The system’s modularity also allows customers to customize configurations according to operational requirements. Whether installed on a manned fighter aircraft or an unmanned combat drone, Storm Shield can be tailored to support various mission profiles and threat environments.

DOD Wants ~$30B in FY27 to Modernize its AI Supercomputing Arsenal

BLUF: DoD is requesting $29.5B in FY27 for next-generation AI supercomputers and modernize the military’s computing infrastructure to power them.

• The Pentagon aims to build out its portfolio of highly secure data centers, and ultimately centralize and scale supercomputing assets across the joint force through its new AI Arsenal initiative.

• The department’s AI Arsenal initiative is an investment in foundational, government-owned AI infrastructure to maximize federal buying power and build the strategic advantage we need.

• Though brief, the mentions of this new initiative signal potentially substantial upcoming procurement opportunities from DOD for AI hardware, cybersecurity, sensors and other associated military technologies.

• The initiative includes the concurrent construction of a full portfolio of hardened, SCIF-accredited data center facilities across multiple sites and the procurement and installation of the initial fleet of state-of-the-art GPUs and AI supercomputers within the newly built data centers.

Draft Executive Order Would Set Deadlines for Digital Signature and Key Quantum Encryption

BLUF: The White House is preparing a new executive order aiming to spur federal agency migration to a post-quantum cryptographic standard under particular deadlines, as well as requiring covered contractors to take similar steps within the same window.

• The developing order on post-quantum cryptography sets rigid deadlines for quantum-resistant cryptography updates, underscoring that contractors need to migrate to certain standards by 2030.

• OMB would be tasked with issuing guidance and deadlines for transitioning high-impact systems to encryption standards intended to withstand code-breaking powered by an eventual fully operational quantum computer.

• All agencies must migrate their high-value assets, apart from national security systems.

• The draft would require all agencies to transition their digital signatures for high-impact systems and high-value assets to a PQC standard by Dec 2031, and to use post-quantum cryptography for key establishment by Dec. 2030.

Defense Manufacturing That Meets the Moment

BGen (ret) John Teichert

• During the 1940s, FDR called for the U.S. to become an arsenal of democracy. The nation delivered! American industrial output during the war was staggering.

• Fast forward eight decades, and our manufacturing output and armament stockpiles are not so marvelous. China, first exceeded U.S. industrial output in 2009 and is now in a position to quadruple the output of the U.S. by 2030.

• Pete Hegseth embarked on an Arsenal of Freedom tour, seeking to prompt a renaissance in the defense industrial base by revitalizing America’s manufacturing might and re-energizing the nation’s workforce.

• He visited Divergent which invented a next-generation digital manufacturing platform where the same factory line makes supercars in the morning and cruise missiles in the evening. He said without companies like them, our warfighters won’t have the advantage in the next conflict.

• The key to Divergent’s platform is a combination of AI-powered design optimization tools, industrial-sized 3D printers, and robotic assembly processes that drive output and preserve flexibility.

• An easily reconfigurable process allows for maximum, modular output.

• Digital manufacturing slashes part count, hacks away at development and production timelines, and minimizes component mass.

• Capabilities like Divergent’s can’t just exist in a single factory in a single location. They need to scale up, and scale fast. Digital production lines need to be situated alongside weapons hubs, aircraft manufacturing centers, and depot maintenance facilities. They also need to be prepositioned to mitigate supply chain risks in key locations in Europe, the Indo-Pacific, and the Middle East.

• Agile combat manufacturing, using digital design and manufacturing tech, can be built with small footprints to meet limited production requirements, either on an aircraft carrier, a forward operating base, or a supply convoy.

Our Take: We fully agree. Companies like Divergent are critical to rebuilding and modernizing the defense industrial base to produce at speed and scale. They can also address critical parts shortages that drive horrific readiness levels across many major weapon systems. DoD acquisition professionals must aggressively integrate digital engineering into most weapon systems to optimize designs, production, and integration. PAEs and SAEs must work closely with operational commands and industry to shape agile combat manufacturing strategies. This will ensure critical parts are distributed where needed and a robust, resilient industrial base competes to provide new warfighting systems while keeping operational ones running.

Pentagon CTO Wants to Give Vendors Fast Decisions on Buying Tech

“The way I’ve approached this, knowing how smaller companies work, is fast yeses and fast nos. The worst thing for a small company is to be dragged through a multi-year process. Entrepreneurs, frankly, will appreciate that, because either they’ll double down on something else, or they’ll fix what they’ve got to meet your need. I think that kind of honesty is really important for the industry.” Emil Michael, DoW CTO

• On the topic of what the Pentagon is looking for from industry, interoperability is something he’s trying to build into almost all future requirements.

• He pointed to drone swarms as an exciting end result of interoperability, something he said he wants to achieve as he’s seen adversaries achieve such capabilities.

T-REX 26-3

Matt Limeberry

In 90 days, R&E is back full-sprint into another TREX operationally relevant environment.

• Primary Joint Operational Problem: Contested Logistics

• Secondary Joint Operational Problem: L-SHORAD

• Location: North Dakota

• When: Late August

• Need submissions in the next 2-3 weeks - First IPR is early June!

• R&E needs tech that will enable sustainment in disrupted or denied environments.

• Think unmanned delivery systems (multi-domain), advanced power solutions, manufacturing at the edge, and innovative ideas to increase Warfighter self-sufficiency.

• This will be a small-scale event with only 12-15 technologies receiving an USW(R&E) Task Force RAPTR Warfighter Observation Reports, with another 12-15 technologies included for operational support.

The Senate confirmed Brian Birdwell as the new ASW(Sustainment) in USW(A&S).

Regulatory Friendly Fire: How ITAR Undermines the Alliance It Was Built to Protect

BLUF: The system that once anchored partner access to U.S. weaponry is now an obstacle. Modern statecraft — the interplay of industry, diplomacy, and defense — requires a fresh approach to regulating defense trade.

• While the American arsenal accounts for more than 40% of global arms transfers, that share largely comprises exquisite systems for which the U.S. is unable to meet its own demand, let alone the needs of other nations.

• U.S. regulations governing defense exports mute international demand and exacerbate the consequences of the Pentagon’s monopsony.

• American companies are disincentivized from entering the defense market or from manufacturing to meet global requirements, taxpayers pay higher costs, the industrial base stagnates, and warfighters are left with fewer choices.

• International Traffic in Arms Regulations and Export Administration Regulations are a maze of rules originally developed when existential concern about Soviet exploitation of American military capability dictated national policy.

• That logic no longer applies. Those rules were designed for technologies the government initiated and funded for military use.

• Recommendations

  • Consolidate regulations. The new rule would still comply with statute but would protect cutting-edge technology and remove ambiguous language along with onerous compliance mandates for allies.

  • Merge oversight under one interagency task force. This merger would eliminate duplicative functions, facilitate interagency collaboration, and reap cost savings.

  • Sharpen license applications. The current system is a bureaucratic nightmare, with six distinct agencies. A new system would feature mandatory response times, have standardized conditions for technology transfers, ensure consistency and simplify compliance.

  • Eliminate unnecessary obstacles to allied burden-sharing. Consolidate license requests for high-trust allies into a general license authorization.

  • Modernize DoW directives to reflect advances in technology. Consolidate oversight of disparate processes, while rewriting instructions controlling technology security to refocus on protecting the highest-end capabilities.

• America has a unique opportunity to replace the ITAR with an optimized and secure system to provide military exports to its allies.

Less Talking. More Doing

Col. Matthew Paul

BLUF: In my experience, the single biggest obstacle to faster Army software development is not technology, not budget and not talent. It is time spent doing everything except building and delivering software.

• Stop defining everything before you build anything.

• Push decisions down — and mean it.

• Kill the compliance theater.

• Build badgeless teams.

• Use what exists.

• Use AI to give time back to developers.

• Talk to users — before, during and after.

• Get out of the building.

• The speed is already here.

Our Take: We recommend reading the entire article. It’s important thinking from a leader who is executing at scale and appreciates the nitty gritty challenges.

“If companies are looking to sell their tech to SOCOM, they need to have interoperability built in and the tech must be enabled by AI. It should be reducing the cognitive workload on mundane tasks. The more complicated that operational scenario is, the more complicated and complex the environment gets to be. That means there’s more software, there’s more tasks for the operator. Those mundane tasks have to be reduced, so that he or she can focus on the most important decisions.” Melissa Johnson, SOCOM’s Acquisition Executive

Special Operations Leaders Frustrated by Inability to Modify Their Own Equipment

BLUF: SOF leaders expressed frustration about manufacturers’ proprietary agreements that block them from making quick upgrades to military equipment.

• The problem is especially acute for unmanned systems, they said, as technology is evolving far faster than the ability of SOCOM to modify its drones.

“The biggest challenge that that we face, at least within the majority of our formations, is the inability of the operator at the edge to have the authority to tinker. Specifically, I’m thinking of unmanned systems, mainly unmanned aerial systems. We are bound right now to the actual vendor of that system that has the proprietary capability. And so what we are looking for is an ability for our people at the edge to have the right to repair.” LTG Lawrence Ferguson, ARSOC Commander

“To add a small, long-range cruise missile to an aerial platform, I want to be able to iterate quickly on the software. Often working with the large vendors, there’s proprietary information to get into the mission computers we hit. We hit walls that small vendors that are trying to move fast and give us those capabilities, sometimes get outmuscled by the bigger vendors and they can’t break through.” Lt. Gen. Michael Conley, AFSOC Commander

Collaborative Autonomy Development Not Moving Fast Enough for SOCOM

BLUF: SOCOM seeks a network that doesn’t rely on equipment specific software to be developed quickly to enable rapid transfer of information across domains and systems.

• The Army announced a hackathon alongside major defense companies meant to connect decades-old equipment they still uses with new, incoming technology under a common software architecture.

• Collaborative autonomy, is a concept that tasks multiple autonomous or semi-autonomous systems to work in tandem to achieve a shared goal.

• It requires a good mix of different systems to be able to operate and talk to each other and share data, share information so they can both benefit from that shared understanding of the environment, and then act on that information that they’re receiving from the environment.

• While several government organizations, including SOCOM, are working out how to build a connected architecture, they’re still moving very slowly in that area.

“The ability to quickly integrate autonomous behaviors on multiple different platforms in multiple different domains, without it having to be specifically built for that platform, is something that I'd like to see move faster than we are right now.” David Breede, SOCOM Deputy Director of Acquisition

SOCOM Wants to Move Fast on New Tech

BLUF: Speed is one part of SOCOM’s strategy for fielding new technology. SOCOM has to be focused on ensuring it is giving special operators what they need. That can involve taking a more deliberate approach and spending months to years to develop the right capability when time has permitted.

• Iterating fast needs to be done with a purpose, and if you have the time and space to do it deliberately and do it right, take the time and space to do it deliberately and do it right.

• SOCOM needs autonomous technologies which can operate independently with a human in or on the loop to be able to share information with each other.

Special Ops Head Calls for Combat AI Reality Check

• AI is changing and impacting and making SOF more efficient in many ways.

• Of all the systems being employed on the battlefield today, very few if any, are actually using true AI at the edge. We have to be very careful about how we come to its employment and integration into the delivery of the battlefield.

• Current trials and standards to validate emerging technologies will remain consistent and critical in the employment of AI in the future.

• Bradley also demanded USSOCOM be filled with operators able to handle emerging technology types including AI. Echoing an old characterization of special operators, he said SOCOM needs “PhDs’ who can win a bar fight.”

Loitering Munitions, Launched Effects at SOF Week 2026

BLUF: Armed drones, loitering munitions and launched effects were all center stage at this year’s SOF Week expo here, with companies like Teledyne FLIR and AV showing off their latest systems.

• Teledyne FLIR displayed Block 2 of its electrically propelled, quadrotor Rogue 1 lethal unmanned aerial system, which also recently went under contract for the Army’s Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO) program.

• AV and BlueHalo showcased their wares under a unified banner. They had on display its Mayhem 10 launched effect, capable of conducting ISR or precision strike missions. Mayhem 10 can carry a range of EW sensors as well as the Javelin Multi-Purpose warhead.

To Train for Contested Environments, SOCOM and SOUTHCOM Want More Ranges

“We have to develop ranges and places where we can test and evaluate, rehearse those highly choreographed maneuvers and projections in these new, contested environments. That’s not easy to do. We’ve got all kinds of regulations here in the U.S., and frankly, every nation does, to be able to control their electromagnetic spectrums and the interference that occurs.” ADM Frank Bradley, SOCOM Commander

“It’s remarkable that I think of a certain base, I know that there’s a civilian road in between, and anytime we want to fly, like a drone, like across the civilian road to the training area, we have to shut traffic down. We got to get special approval. We’re just struggling with that, especially when we want to train in that comms denied environment.” GEN Frank Donovan

Special Forces Joins Army’s Next-gen C2 Prototype Experiments

BLUF: SOF seeks to take advantage of NGC2 and integrate into operations.

Three areas of focus for SOF to fit into ongoing NGC2 efforts:

1. Sharing position location information with conventional forces.

2. Helping to evolve and inform the targeting cycle, spurred by changes in new tech and processes.

3. Looking at apps being developed and trying to help inform them.

“This is going to change everything. This is really big. I could see the digital kill chain already, just from the way MG Ellis was briefing on NGC2 and I knew that we needed to do something to get involved and understand how we fit into this new architecture.” MAJ Jaysin Williams, 10th Group SOF NGC2 Integration Director

Green Berets Tested Glider Drones That Can Slip Undetected Past Enemy Electronic Sensors and Resupply Troops

BLUF: As the US military grapples with the challenge of moving, communicating, and resupplying forces without giving away their positions through electronic emissions, glider drones are emerging as a potential option.

• During Trojan Footprint in Romania and Macedonia, Romanian aircraft carrying a handful of US troops released two Grasshopper glider drones loaded with construction materials, food, and medical supplies in support of American Green Berets on the ground.

• When roads, rivers, or railways aren't an option for delivering supplies to US troops in combat zones, or when troops are deployed in areas where aircraft can't land, a glider is a possible alternative.

• Able to land within 10 meters of its intended target area, it deploys a parachute just before making a controlled nose-first impact.

• Electronic equipment such as radios and communications systems emits signals able to be detected within the spectrum, and those emissions can reveal a military unit's location to enemy sensors and expose troops to harm.

• Dzyne describes the Grasshopper as an expendable aerial resupply system purpose-built for contested and denied environments. The glider and long-range variants can carry up to 500 pounds of cargo.

Army Seeks Cheap Patriot Interceptor Costing <$1M

BLUF: The Army is pressing defense contractors to come up with proposals for a new interceptor for the Patriot surface-to-air missile system with a unit cost under $1M.

• This is far cheaper (about 1/5th) than what the Army is paying for current-generation Patriot PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptors now.

• As a supplement to existing interceptors, a lower-cost alternative would improve Patriot’s cost-per-intercept ratio, especially against lower-tier threats like drones and cruise missiles. The design could also be easier to produce at scale, helping address increasingly worrisome strains on stockpiles and supply chains.

• Army’s CPE for Defensive Fires quietly put out a call for information about prospective new low-cost interceptor designs for Patriot.

• The contracting notice itself breaks the $1M unit price target into four component groups, each of which the Army wants to cost no more than $250,000.

  • Low-Cost Interceptor All-Up Round (AUR) and Fire Control

  • Low-Cost Rocket Motor

  • Low-Cost Seeker

  • Fire Control and Flight Guidance Implementation

• The Army is also seeking information about a potential contractor to serve as the central integrator for all of those best of breed elements, which could come from different sources.

“We are running a very aggressive Low Cost Interceptor (LCI) missile and missile sub-system competition. We will be holding an Industry Day in DC in the very near future. We are looking to generate the greatest amount of interest and participation across the entirety of the missile technology industrial base as possible! This effort is intended to result in multiple awards that can lead to multiple different capable yet affordable missile interceptor solutions!” MG Frank Lozano, PAE Fires

Army Integrates Tactical Drones into NextGen C2 Network

BLUF: Soldiers from the 4th ID used the C-100 UAS during Exercise Ivy Mass at Colorado’s Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, demonstrating how tactical drones are being woven into the Army’s emerging Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) network to accelerate battlefield decision-making and strike coordination.

• The exercise underscored the growing importance of sensor-linked combat systems that can shorten the time between target detection and engagement during large-scale warfare.

• The C-100 enabled units to identify targets, transmit real-time battlefield intelligence, and coordinate fires across dispersed formations, reinforcing the Army’s push toward faster and more connected combat operations.

• The integration of tactical drones into NGC2 reflects a broader shift toward networked warfare, where survivability and combat effectiveness increasingly depend on rapid data sharing and sensor-to-shooter integration.

JIATF 401 Drone Defense Marketplace Broadens Allied Access to Counter-Drone Capabilities

BLUF: Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and key leaders from Australia, Poland and South Korea recently signed agreements enabling each country to procure counter-small UAS technologies through the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 drone defense marketplace.

• International agreements with key allies are expanding access to counter-unmanned aerial system capabilities.

• JIATF 401 is helping allies and partners rapidly acquire state-of-the-art counter-small UAS capability to respond to the evolving threat of drones.

• The drone defense marketplace connects diverse solutions with an expanding network of users who need scalable, effective and interoperable technologies.

• The initiative aligns with the Army secretary’s goal of providing partner nations with timely access to essential capabilities and highlights JIATF 401’s central role in advancing that mission.

“This partnership gives our allies and partners direct access to proven counter-drone technologies as we continue to expand the marketplace. Our mission includes working with international partners to aggregate demand for counter-drone capabilities.” MAJ Matt Mellor, JIATF 401 Lead Acquisitions Specialist

“We are continuing to expand the market for [counter-small UAS],” We understand that our allies and partners want to purchase American-made counter-drone technologies. The JIATF 401 marketplace helps aggregate that demand, ensuring our defense industrial base is ready to scale production and meet the growing needs of our coalition.” BG Matt Ross, JIATF 401 Director

Related: Army Plans to Launch Marketplace to Streamline US Weapons Exports to Allies

• Army Acquisition Executive Brent Ingraham said Trump’s executive order prompted the service to take a look at its own FMS structure which he described as the most complex among the military services.

• The new FMS marketplace will include systems that have already been approved for weapons exports and be designed in a way that participating countries can log on and quickly order capabilities.

• The website will build off of and function similarly to the Army’s drone marketplace launched in March

“If there’s a $2,000 drone out there that they want to buy, we should not spend six months or a year going to an FMS process to figure out how to do that. There are certain things that we should be working through.” Brent Ingraham

Army Awards Northrop $325M Contract for RangeHawk Hypersonic Missile Testing Drone

BLUF: Northrop Grumman has secured a $325.5M Army contract to develop the RangeHawk high-altitude uncrewed aircraft, a specialized airborne platform designed to track and collect data from hypersonic and long-range weapon tests.

• The program addresses a critical weakness in U.S. hypersonic weapons development by giving the Army a persistent airborne sensor platform capable of following missiles traveling at extreme speeds beyond the effective coverage of fixed or ship-based test infrastructure.

• RangeHawk is derived from the RQ-4 Global Hawk family, whose baseline characteristics explain why the airframe was selected.

• The universal payload architecture is the most significant element of the new Army award because it addresses integration speed rather than only aircraft availability.

• A conventional sensor installation can require aircraft-specific mounts, wiring, power conversion, cooling changes, software interfaces, electromagnetic compatibility work, and flight safety certification.

• A modular architecture should allow the Army and the Test Resource Management Center to change telemetry receivers, antennas, processors, or optical sensors as test requirements evolve, without redesigning the aircraft for every missile program.

• For U.S. hypersonic testing, that flexibility matters because Dark Eagle, Conventional Prompt Strike, air-breathing hypersonic missiles, rocket-boosted test vehicles, and thermal-protection experiments may all require different viewing angles, frequencies, bandwidths, and data formats.

Army Awards SBIR Phase 3 $248.5M IDIQ for AN/APX-128: Advancing Aviation Safety and Warfighting Capability

BLUF: CPE Aviation and ACC-APB awarded a 10-year, $248M IDIQ contract to Sagetech Avionics to produce the new AN/APX-128 Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) transponder for Army Aircraft.

• The APX-128 improves airspace awareness for pilots and air traffic control by broadcasting position location information through Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) OUT. It can also receive and display similar data from other aircraft via ADS-B IN.

Army Aviation’s Wasted Decade: Lessons for the Next Generation of Drone Integration

Jake Steckler

BLUF: Two decades after initial helicopter-drone teaming, Army Aviation has made little progress, and in 2025 ended a failed ten-year effort to advance interoperability between AH-64 Apache helicopters and RQ-7 Shadow drones.

• The DoW seeks to unleash drone dominance and accelerate AI integration.

• Army Aviation’s failure to modernize shows that the bottlenecks to adopting and diffusing emerging technologies go well beyond production, procurement, and Pentagon-level policy.

• Real transformation demands a cultural shift away from the familiar, highly skilled, and empowered soldiers, and the willingness to experiment, fail, and say so.

• Three dynamics explain the Army’s failure to advance manned-unmanned teaming, offering insights into the challenges the U.S. military faces in adopting unmanned and autonomous systems at scale.

  • Cultural inertia led Army Aviation to frame unmanned systems as accessories to manned aviation rather than a new form of combat power.

  • The Army underestimated the on-the-ground integration complexities of drone and helicopter platoons fighting together and the talent needed to make it work

  • The spirit of stubbornness throughout the ranks — encouraged and incentivized by the institution itself — offered few paths for honest reflection and actionable feedback.

• Today’s acquisitions overhaul may deliver better drones, but the failure to institute meaningful organizational change is fundamentally a people problem.

  • The disparity between helicopter and drone crews showed the inextricable link between expertise and mission effectiveness.

  • The availability of agile, technically capable tactical-level soldiers will dictate the edge on the battlefield, especially as unmanned systems evolve.

  • With the Shadow, the Army viewed drone operators and maintainers as inferior to their manned counterparts, a mistake it cannot afford to continue making as it fields increasingly advanced systems.

• The Army is cutting 6,500 aviation positions over the next two years. The Pentagon should financially incentivize downsized aviators, along with the many promising officers to move into drone billets rather than walk out the door.

• Units need the freedom to discard obsolete tactics and shape future doctrine.

• Money can buy better drones, but it can’t convince an institution to use them effectively. Only changes in how the force thinks, trains, and listens can do that.

New Army NVGs Promise Clearer Sight in Total Darkness

BLUF: More than two decades after the AN/PVS-14 changed modern warfare by giving ordinary infantry the ability to fight at night, the Army has chosen three defense companies to develop the new Binocular Night Observation Device (BiNOD).

• The contracts were awarded to Elbit Systems of America, L3Harris, and Photonis Defense as part of the Army’s effort to modernize nighttime combat equipment while maintaining multiple production sources for future needs.

• The new BiNOD systems are designed to fix many of these problems by using binocular designs instead of monocular ones. Having two tubes improves depth perception, gives a wider field of view, and helps soldiers stay more aware during night operations.

• All three systems use white phosphor displays instead of the old green ones, creating black-and-white images. This change helps reduce eye strain and makes it easier for soldiers to see clearly during long missions.

Other Army News:

• Army Integrates AEVEX Disruptor During Exercise Arcane Thunder 26

• SRC Selected as Winner in Army xTech|Live Competition at eMerge Americas 2026

• Army hosts Defense Critical Infrastructure summit to boost installation crisis response

Navy Selects 7 MUSV Designs to Enter Prototype Phase

BLUF: The Navy tapped seven companies to develop Medium USV prototypes.

• Out of about two dozen options submitted for the MUSV marketplace, the unspecified shipbuilders will develop vessels that will be tested against Navy requirements for the robotic craft.

• Selected industry partners must successfully complete at-sea demonstrations to prove the maturity of their systems. After successful at-sea demonstrations prior to October 2026, the Navy plans to work with industry to have vessels available for Navy leasing or procurement in FY27.

• The basic requirements include the vessel having the ability to travel 2,500 nautical miles at 25 knots in sea state 4 carrying a payload of up to 25 metric tons.

• The payload needs to accommodate at least two 40-foot shipping containers and operate autonomously with the shipbuilder able to field an operational vessel by FY27.

• Shipbuilders able to meet the requirements during the prototype phase will receive $15M and be eligible for follow-on production.

• The Navy did not identify the companies. Companies ranging from Saronic, HII and Blue Water Autonomy have offered up models for MUSV work and made deals with shipyards to produce the hulls.

The Navy Needs Precise Mass and Here Is How to Get There

Michael Horowitz

BLUF: Maintaining deterrence in the Indo-Pacific and around the world requires the Navy to change what it builds and how it fights. The current model of naval power cannot scale at the speed modern war demands. To build a larger and more capable fleet by 2030, the Navy should double down on investing in, fielding, and sustaining smaller attritable autonomous systems to support Indo-Pacific Command’s Hellscape concept, which will increase short-term deterrence and warfighting capabilities.

• High-end ships are being consumed in sustained operations, munitions inventories are thinning, and replacement timelines for exquisite weapons stretch into years. America’s advanced surface ships are now profoundly vulnerable.

• To complement the existing arsenal, the Navy should aggressively procure lower-cost, long-range munitions. For example, the Navy should follow the example of the Air Force by rapidly moving a low-cost cruise missile into production.

• The Navy should maximize funding to develop and produce MUSVs.

• Medium autonomous warships should be purpose-built to lower costs and increase efficiency, constructed in yacht yards, smaller shipyards where large speedboats or yachts are constructed, instead of larger shipyards, and made capable of installing vertical launch tubes for missiles or surveillance equipment.

• Medium autonomous warships should become the Navy’s Collaborative Combat Surface Vessels, the surface fleet version of CCA in the air.

• The Navy has 291 ships, well below the 355 mandated by the 2017 NDAA and even further below the 381 ships the Navy told Congress it needed in 2024.

• Efforts to produce more ships through traditional shipyards and to repair the ones already deployed are struggling. Nearly every single U.S. Navy shipbuilding project is behind schedule by years and over budget.

• There are 60 additional inactive facilities that once produced Navy ships, submarines, or oceangoing cargo vessels, 86 active smaller shipyards, and eight active yards capable of producing megayachts in the U.S.

• The top priority should be scaling a medium autonomous warship as a new ship for the Navy.

• The U.S. Navy is confronting a structural mismatch between the character of modern warfare and the force it has built to fight those wars. The era of precise mass is altering the economics and operational logic of naval power.

• A naval fleet built exclusively around a small number of exquisite, capital-intensive platforms and weapons is increasingly brittle.

• Investing in medium autonomous warships, lower-cost long-range munitions, and surface drones is not about affordably generating the volume and diversity of effects necessary to survive and fight in a contested environment. The Navy should treat these capabilities not as adjuncts to the existing fleet but as central components of future maritime power.

Navy SEALs In Mini-Submarines Teamed With Underwater Drones In The Works

BLUF: The Navy sees a future in which uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUV) work together with submersibles loaded with SEALs.

• The Navy has already been conducting tests to explore how crewed-uncrewed teaming under the waves might work. UUVs could help extend the operational reach of operators riding in Seal Delivery Vehicles (SDVs) and reduce their vulnerability, but there are comms and other challenges still to overcome.

• The main workhorse of the Navy’s SDV force is the Mk 11, which is just under 22 and a half feet long. It is operated by a crew of two and can carry six passengers.

• The Mk 11, like its predecessors, can be launched and recovered from submerged submarines with specialized Dry Deck Shelters (DDS) attached to their hulls.

“In terms of the potential benefits of UUV-SDV teams, underwater systems like the SDV and UUVs afford reach underwater. So, if you can get somewhere in an SDV and then launch a UUV to go do something, then that would make you more capable.” CAPT Mike Linn, PMS 340

Navy Transforming How it Arms Fleet Amid Stockpile Concerns

BLUF: The Navy is on a mission to replenish its munitions supply in more affordable and more timely ways amid looming threats of future conflict.

• Surface-to-air missiles are some of the biggest concern right now.

• The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, a long-range munition fired from sea at ground targets, is also perennially a concern, as it is the only proven missile strike weapon the Navy currently has with decent range and known performance.

• The Navy is rolling out a new munitions strategy built on two pillars — maximizing production of capabilities the Navy currently employs, and rapidly expanding capacity by welcoming new industry partners.

• The strategy’s first target is to stabilize the foundation of its industrial base through stable, multi-year demand signals, but in return, will demand that they invest their own capital to expand capacity.

• The Navy is also making targeted investments in critical supply chain nodes to mitigate bottlenecks, particularly in energetics and solid rocket motors.

• Indian Head is part of the Navy’s munitions organic industrial base — three sites within the DoN that produce either research-and-development products, prototypes or full-on munitions production capability.

• The targeted investment is an infrastructure modernization effort called the Energetics Comprehensive Modernization Plan. The multi-billion dollar, three-phase plan stretches beyond 2030 and is a “historic investment going into the organic industrial base” to improve capability and capacity for solid rocket motors.

• One approach the Navy is exploring is standardization. For example, the Navy is modifying its Mark 41 vertical launching system to support the Patriot missile, with the thought being bulk buys could achieve cost savings.

“The Navy is executing a fundamental shift in how we arm the fleet. To compete and win in an era of strategic competition, we must supplement our exquisite, high-cost weapons with affordable mass. We need deeper magazines, and we need them now.

The Navy’s strategy is how we build a deeper, more lethal magazine and a healthier industrial base to support it. It is a deliberate, multi-faceted and actionable plan designed to create an industrial ecosystem that is stable, diverse and optimized for the challenges of today and tomorrow.” VADM Seiko Okano, PMD to Navy SAE

MQ-25A Stingray Certified to Enter Low-Rate Initial Production

BLUF: The MQ-25A Stingray achieved Milestone C approval to enter the Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) phase.

• An LRIP Lot 1 contract for three aircraft is expected to be awarded this summer and include priced options for Lot 2 (3 aircraft) and Lot 3 (5 aircraft).

• The MQ-25A program is expected to total $15.9 billion and cost about $209 million per aircraft.

• Boeing did a pre-planned test flight of an MQ-25A engineering development model (EDM) last month.

• The MQ-25A won’t deploy on aircraft carriers until FY29, three years later than previously projected.

Related: Navy’s MQ-25A Stingray secures Milestone C approval

Navy, Marine Corps Back Longer Amphib Readiness Cycles, Request More Ships

BLUF: The Navy is recommending a modification to the force generation model it uses for amphibious ships, following a report from the new Amphibious Force Readiness Board (AFRB) that aims to improve the ships’ readiness.

• The Navy currently uses a 36-month plan for maintenance, training, and seven-month long deployments for amphibious vessels.

• Acting SECNAV Hung Cao is on board with a new 56-month model. Two workup cycles, two integrated training cycles, and two deployments for every ship.

• The proposal also includes increasing the number of amphibious ships to 40, up from the congressionally mandated 31 ships.

Navy Awards Raytheon Contract to Develop Next-gen Naval Radar Software

BLUF: Raytheon’s Advanced Technology team will develop software that enables each building block within a radar to operate independently, allowing a single radar to perform multiple missions simultaneously.

• By treating each building block as its own software-defined aperture, the radar can rapidly adapt to changing operational needs and better share crowded frequency bands with commercial networks such as 5G.

• Once the software development is complete, Raytheon will conduct a series of demonstrations to validate independent control of radar modules and associated capabilities such as multi-mission operation and spectrum sharing.

New PAE Strategic Systems Programs (SSP)

The Senate confirmed the promotion of RADM Douglas Williams to VADM and will become PAE SSP in June. VADM Johnny Wolfe will retire after 37 years in the Navy.

USS Nimitz Becomes the longest-serving Navy aircraft carrier

Commissioned in May 1975, the Old Salt claims the title after 51 years.

Marine Corps Tests Using Helicopter as Mobile Drone Command Center

BLUF: The Marine Corps is testing new ways to combine low-cost drones with traditional aircraft, having recently paired a UH-1Y Venom helicopter with an attack drone in a recent exercise.

• Marines launched a Neros Archer FPV, drone from the ground before transferring control to operators aboard a helicopter orbiting miles away.

• The move was a step towards integrating inexpensive drones into aviation ops.

• The goal, according to the release, was to see if aircraft like the UH-1Y Venom and AH-1Z Viper could extend the reach of FPV drones, which let operators watch a live feed of UAS from a screen or goggles.

• The Marines quickly expanded its FPV attack drone inventory, fielding more than 3,500 after officials greenlit integration of the new tech.

Our Take: While we applaud more manned-unmanned teaming, the Marines need to be cautious to not constrain unmanned CONOPS by tying it to vulnerable manned platforms. Extending range and options is great. Leveraging unmanned systems to avoid deploying Marines on the ground, sea, or air is even better.

Marine Corps Taps Rune for Project Dynamis

BLUF: The Marine Corps awarded Rune a contract for Project Dynamis, to accelerate modernization of C2 contributions to CJADC2 in the Navy’s Project Overmatch.

Dynamis is broken up into three core pillars: Assured C2, Battlespace Awareness, and C-C5ISRT.

Rune’s TyrOS predictive logistics is emerging as a pretty handy tool to bring that paper-and-pencil work into the AI era.

• TyrOS, built to operate on everything from low-connectivity edge devices to the command level, uses predictive AI and tons of data to track and move gear, fuel, food, and parts around more quickly across domains than legacy sustainment systems.

• Rune recently rolled out a frontline AI agent inside TyrOS called Saga, designed around sustaining and restoring a force to combat effectiveness (reconstitution), which the Marine Corps is also getting its hands on through Dynamis.

Amphibious Combat Vehicles Equipped With Cannons

BLUF: ACV-30 boasts the largest weapon in the Marine Corps’ ground combat vehicle fleet.

• Completing the first of the cannon-equipped vehicles is a big milestone for BAE Systems as it continues to develop and deliver variants of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle.

• Designed as an adaptable platform, the ACV-30 can receive software upgrades or minor hardware modifications, such as adding a sensor to become a mobile drone killer and otherwise stay relevant on the evolving battlefield.

• They were able to shoot 30mm rounds at drones coming about 10 meters per second and about 800 meters away, with a three-round burst of proximity rounds.

Our Take: Hopefully everyone involved in defining the requirements, budget, and designs has seen The Pentagon Wars to avoid repeating past mistakes.

MQ-9 Reaper Most Valuable Player of Iran War Despite Losses’

BLUF: Nearly every type of fighter and bomber in the Air Force’s inventory has been employed against Iran—F-15Es, F-16s, F-22s, F-35s, A-10s, B-52s, B-1s, and B-2s but it is the stalwart Reaper that the CSAF said has been an unsung hero of the conflict.

• The aircraft’s heavy use against Iran has come at a cost. Nearly 30 MQ-9 Reapers have been lost in operations against Iran.

• MQ-9s are active around the Strait of Hormuz to enforce the ongoing U.S. military blockade against Iranian ports.

• In the heat of the air war, Reapers flew around a dozen orbits over Iran at a time, focused on striking or providing intelligence to other platforms to hit “dynamic targets,” such as missile and drone launchers, aircraft, and mobile systems.

• The roughly 13,000 targets struck in Iran by the U.S. included more than 4,000 dynamic targets that were identified during operations on the battlefield.

• MQ-9s also protected the weapons system officer of a downed F-15E Strike Eagle last month by securing the area.

Our Take: This just shows the fill potential of unmanned systems and why new platforms like the CCA should be scaled near-term to bring these types of effects that would be much more dangerous and unachievable with manned assets.

YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft Returns to Flight with Software Fix After Crash

BLUF: General Atomics YFQ-42A CCA has resumed flight testing after a six-week pause that began when one of the drones crashed in early April.

• A safety review conducted by the Air Force and GA determined the crash was caused by an “autopilot miscalculation for the weight and center of gravity of the aircraft.”

• The aircraft was destroyed in the crash near an airport in the California desert.

• The firm updated the drone’s software, and flights have resumed.

Air Force Wants Special Ops Plane That Can Be Built On the Fly

BLUF: AFSOC is testing whether it can take its new OA-1K Skyraider II apart, pack it inside a cargo jet and put it back together in the field

• The single-engine, prop-driven OA-1K, a militarized version of the Air Tractor AT-802 crop duster, is built to give isolated special operations teams eyes overhead and firepower on call from rough dirt strips with little support.

• Rapid disassembly and reassembly means, in a matter of hours, the aircraft can be loaded into mobility aircraft like a C-5 or C-17 for worldwide deployment.

• AFSOC has pitched the modular Skyraider II as a cheaper airframe that can do the work of many.

• The program of record is 75 a/c, but the Pentagon has cut the funded total to 53.

Related Article: Plan To Test OA-1K Skyraider II’s Rapid Deployability Outlined By Air Force Special Ops Command

Maximizing Airpower: Flexibility in Weapons and Platforms

Maj Megan Hainline

BLUF: The Joint Force is not maximizing airpower combat options due to insufficient prioritization of weapons interoperability, flawed incentive structures and shortsighted resourcing decisions. There are some clear actions it can take to reverse course.

• To realize maximum flexibility, the armed forces must rework incentives surrounding weapons compatibility and foster a cultural shift to prioritize effects for the Joint Force over singular platforms.

• While moving to portfolios is a positive step, three further changes are proposed:

  • the current approach to platform prioritization when equipping new weapons on aircraft

  • fully fund and enforce modular open system compliance

  • increase aircraft-store compatibility engineering resources.

• Both Iran and Ukraine conflicts have proven that dispersal and regular relocation of assets are necessary to counter rapid adversary targeting cycles.

• Weapons flexibility also forces the adversary to make difficult operational and tactical choices, enhancing friendly force survivability.

• New weapons integration usually prioritizes the newest platforms leaving legacy aircraft behind the power curve - even though platforms like the F-16 are usually cheaper, faster and easier to upgrade.

• Recommendations

  • PAEs should remove threshold versus objective platform designations and instead set general priorities, restructure funding and offer organizational accolades to incentivize weapons programs to field on any platform.

  • DoW go beyond requiring “maximum” use of modular open system approaches in memorandums to actual enforcement.

  • Fully fund standardized weapons integration systems, such as the Universal Armament Interface with mandatory weapon standard compliance.

  • Weapons programs should fully resource aircraft-store compatibility engineering with sufficient testing hardware and immediately seek emerging AI-enabled modeling solutions to speed timelines and reduce cost.

Our Take: These are great recommendations to accelerate adaptability.

Air Force’s Next-Gen Combat Drones to Get GE426 Engines for Enhanced Performance

BLUF: GE Aerospace has a new Air Force contract to continue development of its GE426 engine, a propulsion system designed for autonomous combat aircraft that could fly alongside crewed fighter jets in future military operations.

• The award moves the GE426 program into the PDR stage as part of the Air Force’s medium-thrust-class Autonomous Collaborative Platform initiative.

• The company has already worked with Kratos Defense & Security Solutions to develop the GEK800 and GEK1500 propulsion systems.

Valkyrie Redux: Supercruising Bombers Could Viably Replace B-52s

BLUF: The Air Force just revealed that it was launching a study of a new heavy bomber that might replace the Boeing B-52 as part of an FY27 AoA.

• 76 B-52Js, will continue to carry nuclear-armed cruise missiles – the new Raytheon AGM-181 – as part of the U.S. deterrent triad.

• If the adversary’s anti-access capabilities can push the B-52s 2,500 nautical miles back, sortie cycle times will be more than 12 hours.

• This would impair the Air Force’s ability to deliver hypersonic standoff weapons in large numbers in reasonable mission timeframes.

• A bomber burning ordinary jet fuel and built from familiar materials can cruise at Mach 2.4, three times faster than a B-52.

Air Force Wants to Develop Follow-on to ARRW Hypersonic Missile

BLUF: The Air Force is planning to kickstart two programs in FY27 aimed at developing more hypersonic missiles, including a follow-on to the AGM-183A ARRW and the new Air-Launched Ballistic Missile (ALBM) effort.

• The ALBM program will focus on developing a new air-launched, long-range capability that complement the Air Force’s rapid-strike portfolio — which includes the baseline AGM-183A and upcoming HACM.

• The Air Force said the weapon will feature “unique trajectory profiles to address distinct target sets.”

Air Force Asking for $1.5B to Fund E-7 in 2027

BLUF: The Air Force is working on a $1.5B budget amendment to restore funding for the E-7A Wedgetail in FY27.

“The request is working its way through the system right now. Our plan is to submit a budget adjustment to fund the FY 27 and, as we do the FY28 budget to lay in the production of the seven aircraft [which would include five production jets plus two rapid prototypes].” Secretary Meink

No Gap in USAF’s Close Air Support After A-10s Retire

BLUF: Lawmakers were told by Air Force officials that there will be no gap in the service’s close air support capabilities under its latest plan to retire the venerable A-10 Thunderbolt II at the start of the next decade.

• The plan is for modern, survivable, multirole fighters like the F-35 Lightning II and the F-15EX Eagle II to replace the A-10 in providing close air support.

• At least some lawmakers questioned whether these fighters are properly equipped to deliver sustained close air support as effectively as the A-10.

• One congressional argument was that the A-10 is considerably less expensive to fly and can loiter above ground troops in need of support longer than an F-35.

Long-Range Nuclear Cruise Missile Going Well Entering Critical Phase

BLUF: The AGM-181 Long Range Stand-off Weapon passed its critical design review in 2023, and the Air Force said its performing “very well” in both cost and schedule.

• The AGM-181 will transport the W80-4 warhead, which has a yield of up to 150 kilotons. It has a subsonic top speed, which is 530 to 690 mph.

• LRSOs will also give B-2s and B-21s the ability to strike targets without overflying defenses surrounding targets.

Other Air Force News:

• A-10 Warthog’s New Aerial Refueling Probe Is Now Operational in the Middle East

SDA Director Drops ‘Acting’ Label and Adds All Missile Warning to Portfolio

BLUF: Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo was named SDA’s permanent leader and given a second hat as the Space Force’s PAE for missile warning and tracking programs.

• As head of SDA, Sandhoo will continue to guide the transition of the agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture from the demonstration phase to an operational constellation of hundreds of satellites in low-Earth orbit.

• As PAE for all of the Space Force’s missile warning and tracking programs, Sandhoo now oversees a multi-orbit architecture of sensor satellites.

• This includes SDA’s satellites, plus the Resilient Missile Warning and Tracking constellation in MEO and the Next-Generation OPIR program.

Related Article: SDA Director and PAE for Missile Warning and Tracking Announced

Our Take: With the PAE establishment, it would seem that SDA could be stood down and the PAE shop could be matured to move into a portfolio with a broader than SDA’s focus on proliferated LEO capabilities.

Space Force Study Recommends Third Heavy Launch Site

BLUF: A recent study of the Space Force’s launch infrastructure found that the service needs a third launch site to manage surging government and commercial launch demand.

• The Space Force operates the nation’s busiest spaceports at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Space Force Station, Calif.—both of which are running out of room.

• Together, both the Cape and Vandenberg supported 175 launches in 2025 and are projecting that number to jump to upwards of 700 missions by 2036—a 300 percent increase over 10 years.

• That forecast is based on projections from each of the major launch companies who have pads at the spaceport—including SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and Blue Origin—as well as newcomers like Firefly, Stoke, and Relativity.

• The two ranges have been working to optimize the space they have by reconfiguring their ranges, making their processes more efficient, and upgrading ports and roads to enable more activity.

“At a high level, what it says is we probably need another site that’s capable of heavy and super heavy launch capability, both from a resiliency perspective and just, even at the Cape, limitations on how much space we’ve got.” Secretary Meink

Space Force Testing Dual-Use Logistics Capabilities

BLUF: SSC is partnering with commercial industry to test dual-use refueling and augmented maneuver capabilities.

• The refueling demo is with Astroscale U.S., and the augmented maneuver demonstration is via a contract with Starfish Space using its Otter space vehicle.

• The companies will both own and operate the systems used in the two test runs

• Starfish Space will mate a commercial service satellite with a government-owned asset, and doing the attitude control and doing the movement and maneuver of those space vehicles.

Related Article: Space Force accelerating work to operationalize on-orbit logistics tech

Space Force Awards $90M Contract to Rocket Lab for Two GEO Satellites

BLUF: Space Force has awarded a $90M contract to Rocket Lab for satellites to host payloads that tracks objects in geosynchronous orbit.

• The satellites will carry a small optical sensor called Heimdall.

• The two satellites will be built on the company’s Lightning bus, which has been adapted for the strain of the GEO environment.

• The new contract covers up to five years of on-orbit operations, launch integration, and manufacturing.

Related Article: Rocket Lab wins first GEO satellite production contract from Space Force

DARPA’s Robotic Servicing Spacecraft to Finally Fly This Summer

BLUF: Northrop Grumman plans to launch its robotic servicing spacecraft designed in partnership with DARPA/

• The Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program has weathered a rough road since initiated by DARPA in 2017.

• The RSGS’s two highly dexterous robotic arms were developed by the Naval Research Laboratory and handed over to Northrop Grumman for integration.

• The MRV, which sports a series of “ports” that can stow tools, or provide power and/or data, has been designed to undertake at least four types of on-orbit servicing missions:

  • inspect anomalies that appear in a satellite’s operations

  • assist with adjustments to a satellite’s orbit

  • correct mechanical problems

  • help install new payloads to upgrade capabilities.

• The RSGS demonstration will get underway about a year after launch, as it will take the spacecraft’s electric propulsion system 10 months or so to get to GEO.

• The Mission Extension Pods will provide propulsion to extend the life of the client satellites that have run out of their own power.

• The pods are capable of powering birds weighing 4,400lbs for up to eight years.

Related Article: DARPA`s orbital robotic servicing satellite set for 2026 launch

SpaceX Launches First Starship V3

BLUF: SpaceX launched the newest version of its Starship vehicle for the first time May 22, completing most of the test objectives planned for the suborbital flight.

• The Super Heavy booster fired 33 Raptor 3 engines for the initial ascent, although one of the engines shut down about one minute and 40 seconds after liftoff.

• Two and a half minutes after liftoff, the Starship upper stage ignited its six engines and separated from Super Heavy.

• Super Heavy was then scheduled to perform a “boostback” burn to prepare for a targeted splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

• However, only a handful of engines ignited, and those that did shut down less than 20 seconds into the minute-long burn.

• SpaceX made significant changes to both the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage and also built a new launch pad for the vehicle at Starbase. The upgrades are designed to improve the performance and reliability of Starship V3.

Space Force Expands Protected Tactical Satellite Communications

BLUF: The PAE for Satellite Communications and Positioning, Navigation, and Timing awarded a $398M fixed-price contract to Northrop Grumman to develop and build the Enhanced Protected Tactical Satellite Communications – Prototype, or Enhanced PTS-P. The prototype is projected for launch no earlier than fiscal year 2030.

• Enhanced PTS-P is designed to improve satellite communications performance in the presence of jamming through advanced antennas and space-based processing of the Protected Tactical Waveform, or PTW.

• It accelerates capability to the warfighter by utilizing an additional middle-tier acquisition period to iteratively deliver improved PTW satellite communications for earlier operational use on the path to full requirement satisfaction.

Every Country Should Understand Space as a Warfighting Domain

BLUF: Space power has achieved the decisiveness of air power, and space, like the air, should be regarded as a warfighting domain.

• Classifying the domain as a warfighting one furthers a nation’s ability to coordinate its capabilities, resource these efforts and requirements, and signal sufficient resolve – paving the way for credible deterrence.

• A warfighting designation serves to elevate the domain to that of air, sea, and land, recognizing it as an environment in which conflict is occurring already, not merely an enabler for other domains.

• This in turn supports doctrinal legitimacy and helps justify space capability acquisition.

• While enhanced cooperation is a critical step towards establishing credible deterrence, it is equally important to have language that matches.

• The ambiguity of the ‘operational domain’ label is no longer fit for purpose. It plays down the reality of what is occurring today.

Our Take: This is well overdue. There needs to be a more serious discussion between peer adversaries on the rules of space with clear redlines and a deescalation regime. That discussion might not be possible until the reality is acknowledged about the dangerous path that both countries are on given that certain actions could ruin the space domain for future generations.

Pragmatic Solutions for Golden Dome C2

Pete Fessler

BLUF: The influx in funding and increased focus for Golden Dome has led many to naturally look to future, cutting-edge solutions. To move quickly, a pragmatic approach using a combination of existing and new technologies, augmented by AI is needed to build a defensive capability particularly when it comes to C2.

• Less flashy than new radars or missiles, command-and-control systems are often overlooked and underfunded. That is not the case with Golden Dome.

• While efforts are underway, the Golden Dome team faces significant challenges associated with developing a C2 system.

  • The first is uncertainty over the eventual Golden Dome architecture.

  • The second challenge is organizational given it drives changes to existing homeland multi-command, department, and agency, air and missile defense authority structures.

  • The third challenge associated with Golden Dome C2 is time. The administration has mandated very short timelines for fielding a capability, and the clock is ticking.

  • The fourth major challenge is geography.

    • The Pacific theater is often associated with the tyranny of distance but is only around 2,000 miles.

    • The defended front for North America is far longer stretching a vast distance of over 11,000 miles.

• Given these challenges, delivering capability at the speed of relevance requires a pragmatic approach to Golden Dome C2.

• Rather than building a system from scratch, the team should leverage existing air and missile defense programs of record.

• Rather than invent a new, one-off structure, General Guetlein and his team should, to as great an extent as is possible, fall back on existing doctrinal command relationships and structures.

Our Take: We generally agree with this approach given the timelines but many of the current structures are not optimized for hypersonic threats and drone swarms so Gen Guetlein still needs to advance areas both in tech and CONOPS to ensure that Golden Dome progresses on the needed path.

Preparing CJADC2 Operations Through LVC Training and AI-Enabled Analysis

Tammy Schmidt

BLUF: CJADC2 is not limited by access to data. It is constrained by the ability to align, interpret and act on that data at operational speed.

• As connectivity expands across services and partners, misalignment across systems, timelines and classification increases, raising cognitive load and execution risk.

• As CJADC2 interactions scale across domains and organizations, the number of required training interactions exceeds what live assets can replicate.

• Training environments must match this shift. Live, virtual and constructive environments address this gap by integrating simulated systems and entities with live operations, while AI enables decision-making at the speed CJADC2 requires.

• LVC introduces synthetic tracks, threats and effects that are not available in live exercises.

• The environment supports multi-domain and multi-partner participation without requiring co-location of assets.

• AI enhances LVC environments through real-time decision support and post-event analysis.

• Together, these capabilities allow organizations to train decision timelines, evaluate data exchange and measure performance across repeated events.

Lack of Counter-Drone Tech to Cover Troops Patrolling the Southern Border a ‘Concern’ for NORTHCOM Commander

BLUF: While U.S. forces deployed to the southern border employ several fixed and mobile counter-drone systems, the top general in charge of stateside defense said troops lack adequate technology for patrols.

• While he did not specify if he meant hand-held devices, wearable jammers, or literal systems that would track drone threats this is not the first time that issues have been highlighted with patrol-oriented counter-UAS tech.

• Troops had employed other individualized counter-drone systems, including portable devices, such as the Wingman and Pitbull systems, as well as Smart Shooter, a rifle-mounted optic meant to track and down UAS.

“It presents us a different challenge. We have a lot of fixed and movable counter-UAS capabilities, but not really anything that would follow a patrolling soldier, and that’s a concern of mine.” Gen Guillot

Sweden Chooses Unusual French Design for Its New Frigates

BLUF: Sweden has chosen its future surface combatant, the Luleå class, its largest in decades, in the shape of the French FDI frigate. The unusual design, with its inverted bow, won out against rival warships from the UK and Spain.

• Sweden’s defense procurement organization, chose the French design primarily based on its advanced integrated combat systems and the maturity of the design.

• Sweden factored the speed of delivery into the equation.

• Sweden expects to receive one vessel per year starting in 2030.

• Despite choosing an off-the-shelf foreign design, there will be industrial benefits for Sweden, with local defense contractors, in particular, Saab, involved in kitting out the warships.

Ukraine Tests Hornet Strike Drone Launched from Aerostat

BLUF: Ukrainian forces have tested an unusual tactic that could significantly extend the reach of the Hornet strike drone: launching it from a tethered aerostat at high altitude rather than from a ground-based catapult.

• The test involved a Hornet manufactured by Perennial Autonomy being dropped from a balloon at approximately 8 kilometers altitude after the aerostat carried the drone 42 kilometers from its launch point.

• Ukrainian sources reported that the drone consumed only 5 percent of its battery capacity during the aerostat transit, leaving almost its full energy reserve available for the powered strike mission.

• Ukrainian operators claim the tactic could extend the Hornet’s operational reach from approximately 150 kilometers to around 300 kilometers.

Government Backing Future British ‘Defence Unicorns’ as New Contracts Awarded to Drive Innovation

BLUF: Thirteen British tech companies sign contracts to develop cutting-edge systems. They are set to receive contracts worth up to £4 million for quantum sensing and autonomous systems to secure communications, space manufacturing and synthetic training.

• The new scheme gives accelerated contracts to small, innovative British companies who have done limited or no previous business with the Ministry of Defence.

• The contracts underline the Government’s focus on moving at pace, getting contracts to innovative British businesses faster than traditional procurement routes allow, and getting innovative new kit into the hands of UK Armed Forces.

New Eurofighter Jet with Advanced Radar, More Upgrades Showcased, Flight Testing Soon

BLUF: Airbus showcased the Tranche 4-standard Eurofighter for the German Air Force.

• German Air Force is expected to receive 38 Tranche 4-standard Eurofighters

• The Tranche 4 Eurofighter incorporates the installation of a modern AESA radar system, which significantly improves target tracking, surveillance range, and electronic warfare performance.

• Beyond radar improvements, the aircraft features updated avionics, enhanced mission systems, and a more advanced digital infrastructure.

• Reports revealed that the new version of the fighter jet is yet to be flown for the first time so still some progress needed to see if timeline is credible.

Australia Kicks Off $11B Upgrade Program for Ageing Collins-Class Subs

BLUF: The government has formally kicked off the Collins-class submarine life-of-type extension program, marking the start of a major effort to sustain Australia’s undersea warfare capability as the country transitions toward a future fleet of nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS partnership.

• HMAS Farncomb will enter the first phase of extension work at the end of the month, becoming the first of the Royal Australian Navy’s six Collins-class submarines to undergo the process.

• Under the plan, Defence and ASC, Australia’s submarine sustainment partner, will retain and restore core components while continuing to upgrade key combat systems, weapons, and other critical capabilities.

• Australia plans to invest up to A$11 billion over the next decade in Collins-class sustainment.

Redwire Awarded a Multi-Year Contract to Deliver Next Generation Penguin Mk3 Tactical UAS to NATO Country

BLUF: Redwire Corporation announced that it has been awarded a multi-million, multi-year contract by an undisclosed NATO country ally to deliver its Penguin Mk3 UAS as part of a modernization program for the country’s tactical UAS capabilities.

Other International News:

• Army Accelerates Hornet One-Way Attack Drone Integration for Future NATO Combat Operations

Recent Hearings

SASC Hearing DoD S&T Priorities | May 19
Emil Michael, USW(R&E) • Chris Manning, ASA/R&T • Dave Tremper, DASN RDT&E • Dr. Janet Wolfson, ASAF/E&PS

SASC Hearing FY27 Navy Budget | May 19
Hung Cao, Acting SECNAV • ADM Daryl Caudle, CNO • Gen Eric Smith, USMC

HASC Hearing National Security Challenges in Middle East | May 19
Daniel Zimmerman, ASD(ISA) • ADM Brad Cooper, CENTCOM • Gen Dagvin Anderson AFRICOM

HASC Hearing FY27 Air Force Budget | May 20
Troy Meink, SECAF • Gen Kenneth Wilsbach, CSAF • Gen B. Chance Saltzman, CSO

SASC Hearing FY27 Air Force Budget | May 21
Troy Meink, SECAF • Gen Kenneth Wilsbach, CSAF • Gen B. Chance Saltzman, CSO

How AI is Changing Modern Warfare | Lockheed Martin’s Jim Taiclet
Fox Business

Deal Team Six Exposed: Pentagon’s Wall Street Ninja Squad
Last Week in D.C.

Connecting the Factory to the Fights | Dr. Jen Gebhardt
Emerging Tech Horizons

America is Rebuilding the Arsenal of Freedom
Department of War

Military Human Spaceflight | Col (ret) Kyle “Puma” Pumroy
Aerospace Nation

The Warfighter is the Ultimate Innovator | Adam Fife
Drone Wars

America's LUCAS attack drones get HIVEMIND AI injection
Sandboxx

Inside the Pentagon’s Innovation Engine | Doug Beck
The Defense Brief

Drones, Deterrence, and the Future of Asymmetric Defense
Irregular Warfare

Navy’s AI-Powered Readiness Revolution Is Changing How Wars Will Be Fought
Fed Gov Today

SCSP XChange

Building AI-Ready Warfighters | Cameron Stanley, CDAO

Future of Autonomous Warfare: Drone Dominance | Maj Gen Kunkel

Defense Industrial Base | Mike Cadenazzi, ASW(IBP)

Air Force and Space Force at 300 | Matthew Lohmeier

Army at 300 | Michael Obadal

U.S. Military at 300 | Congressman Rob Wittman

Defense Acquisition at 300 | Michael Duffey, USW(A&S)

American Military Technologies of the Future | Dr. Joseph Jewell, Chip Usher

Disruptive Capabilities in Defense | Jay Dryer, SCO Director

Why Machines Fail at Teaming | Dr. Eric Davis (DARPA)

Sources of Innovation at 300 | Steve Bowsher, In-Q-Tel

2026 NatSec100 Launch
SVDG • May 26 • New York, NY - We’ll see you there!

TechNetCyber
AFECA • Jun 2-4 • Baltimore, MD

MIL SATCOM USA
Jun 8-10 • Arlington, VA

Future Force Capabilities
NDIA • Jun 8-10 • Las Vegas, NV

Eurosatory
Jun 15-19 • Paris, France

Congressional M&S Leadership Summit
NTSA • Jun 16 • Orlando, FL

Army Summit
Potomac Officers Club • Jun 18 • Reston, VA

Federal Acquisition Conference
PSC • Jun 25 • Arlington, VA

Capital Hill Modeling and Sim Expo
NTSA • Jul 9 • Washington • DC

Training & Simulation Industry Symposium
NTSA • Jun 17-18 • Orlando • FL

See our Events Page for all the other events over the next year.

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• DoW awards contracts to many non-traditionals for low-cost munitions

• DoW and Service leaders have many FY27 budget hearings on the Hill

• In…

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• Bold changes are needed to achieve Commercial Acquisition objectives.

• Operation Epic Fury transitions to Project Freedom.

• DoW deploying A…

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• A New Executive Order Defaults to Fixed Price Contracting

• Tough Questions and Insightful Answers on the Future of Drone Warfare

• Army acqui…

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• OMB Puts the Screws on Agencies to Buy Commercial, ATOs Still Take Too Long

• DoW and Industry introduce many new munitions including low-c…

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• The SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Signed into Law After Long Fight

• DIU and CIO Get New Leadership Teams

• DoW Explores Full Potential of Contain…

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On 3 April, OMB submitted the topline defense budget to Congress with the expectation that detailed budget justification books would be delivered by the end of the month. While there are some details we just won’t know without those details, we try to provide the best breakdown possible in understanding what is changing.

FY27 Presidents Budget

Rebuilding Our Military Fact Sheet

Outline

This post will focus on the investment accounts in the defense budget while recognizing that O&M provides a substantial contribution to the modification and maintenance of systems and procurement of capability.

• Overall Grade

• Top Line Takeaways

• Reconciliation Overview

• RDT&E Deltas

  • Service Breakdown

  • Budget Authority Breakdown

• Procurement Deltas

  • Capability Breakdown

  • Service Breakdown

  • PPBE Reforms

Overall Grade: A-

• (+) Topline much more commensurate with the security challenges.

• (+) Takes munitions seriously with real funding to replenish inventories

• (+) The huge DAWG funding line has the potential to scale unmanned assets.

• (+) Focuses serious resources towards an AI-enabled future.

• (-) Many hedge capabilities heavily reliant on reconciliation success.

• (-) Still missing a clear demand signal for new major systems.

• (-) Overly favors centralization of resource allocation.

Top Line Takeaways

• The $1.5T request represents a 42% increase from FY26 (+$445B).

• The total $1.5T request is broken into $1.1T Discretionary and $350B Mandatory.

  • The Discretionary process goes through normal appropriations process and requires 60 votes in the Senate.

  • The Mandatory (reconciliation) process goes through a special process and only requires a majority vote in both chambers.

• Procurement funding exceeds O&M (last year O&M was $360B or 38%, while Procurement was $205B or 22%). The last time this was the case was the 1970s.

• S&T was gutted by any historical measure with ~30% cuts across most services.

• This budget represents a push to consolidate more decision-making at the OSW level with a 4X increase in prototyping and a 10-20X in some procurement lines.

• Space Force is the biggest winner by percentage increase (certainly not by totals) with a 77% increase (2X RDT&E and 3.4X Procurement)

• Munitions was a huge focus area with a 2.8X increase.

As longtime readers know, we analyze budget RDT&E vs Procurement ratios and have critiqued the past imbalances that prioritized keeping efforts in the prototyping or development phase rather than scaling to prepare for the conflicts ahead. While the ratio in this budget is only slightly better, the massive increase compensates for that minimal shift. The proposed increase in procurement is direly needed to produce many new weapon systems and increase lethality against a mass producing near peer. It will also hopefully enable retirement of dated legacy systems to build for the future.

The Defense-Wide accounts (which includes Golden Dome) are the largest at 29% which reflects an administration that prioritizes more top-down management. The Department of the Air Force (AF + Space Force) still fared well at 28%, although that reflects significant pass-through funds to non-DoD orgs. The Department of Navy (Navy and Marine Corps) is at 27%, with the Army a tier below the others at 17%.

Budget Breakdown with Base + Reconciliation

While the Space Force did gain substantial budget increases, it should still be noted that its percentage of the budget only increased from 3% to 5% - so still represents a fraction of the total defense budget.

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• The new defense budget and private capital must invest in new tech.

• Epic Fury SITREP with new insights and potential new phase of conflic…

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• NASA Launches Artemis II to Go Further than any Human Ever!

• The FY27 Budget Topline and Initial Defense Docs are Released.

• SpaceX IPO Wil…

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Executive orders, trillion-five budget toplines, conflicts on two continents, and a flurry of bold new deals have all converged to accelerate production, secure fragile supply chains, and urgently rebuild America’s defense industrial base.

This is the inaugural edition of our new Defense Industry Quarterly—a premium briefing crafted exclusively for paid subscribers and defense professionals. Expect sharp, actionable insights and clear-eyed analysis to help you navigate the shifts, spot the opportunities, and shape smarter strategies in this rapidly evolving landscape.

In this post we cover:

• Executive Orders, Policies, and Budget Factors

• CapEx Spending by Primes

• Stock Performance of the Largest Defense Companies

• Defense Prime Financials

• Defense Tech Fundraising

• Major Contract Awards

• Conflicts and Initiatives

• Mergers and Acquisitions

• Industry Engagements

• Congressional Hearings

• Industry Opportunities and Strategy Considerations

Executive Order

The January 7 executive order Prioritizing the Warfighter in Defense Contracting directing the Secretary of Defense to include performance conditions in future contracts was the most significant structural intervention in the defense industrial base in decades. The order bars stock buybacks, large dividends, and CEO compensation above $5M during periods of contractor underperformance, non-compliance, or insufficient production speed.

The EO establishes a formal review-and-remediation framework: Within 30 days, the Secretary must identify underperforming contractors; within 60 days, new FAR/DFARS clauses must be drafted for all future contracts (including renewals) tying executive incentive compensation to delivery metrics and prohibiting capital distributions during underperformance. Enforcement tools include the Defense Production Act, contract termination authorities, and other contract mechanisms.

The net result three months in: Defense primes are directing more capital toward factories and R&D while maintaining existing dividends and signaling investor confidence. Every major prime increased 2026 CapEx guidance, in several cases dramatically. No prime has been formally identified as "underperforming" under the EO's review process. The legal community is watching closely for the implementing contract clauses, which were due by early March. Several law firms published detailed analyses advising contractors to prepare administrative and litigation strategies in parallel with remediation plans.

Read more

1. Prime Integrator: Award to a prime who selects the key suppliers and with government oversight del…

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One key fact stood out when looking at that list: These systems are ancient.

The KC-46 was designed 15 years ago, based on Boeing’s 1970s-era commercial 767s. The next two most recently designed systems are the early/mid 2000s E-2D and EA-18G. They are based on the 1950s E-2 and 1970s F/A-18.

The 80-year old B-52 Stratofortress is leading this phase of the bombing campaign still dropping payloads at scale. The Air Force is pouring billions into new engines and radars them to keep them flying for decades more. The U-2, instrumental during the Cuban Missile Crisis, has been trying and failing to retire for the last 20 years.

An Optimist Perspective

America’s engineering ingenuity turned Cold War relics into enduring powerhouses through relentless modernization. Many of these weapon systems have received major upgrades over the decades. The F-15 for example had/has an A, B, C, D, E, and EX model, along with multiple FMS variants. The F-22 has had major improvements to its stealth characteristics, radar capabilities, electronic warfare suite, defensive systems and infrared targeting. Aegis has gone through multiple advanced capability blocks to keep maritime forces relevant. Modern avionics, sensors, and weapons keep the legacy fleets lethal. The list above doesn’t include key software, space systems and classified assets, some of which are more modern.

A Realist Perspective

Relying on platforms designed 40 to 80 years ago, that can only survive in relatively permissive environments against second-tier adversaries, is not a long-term strategy. It is a massive bet that peer competitors will grant us the same conditions.

Every dollar re-engining an elderly B-52 or patching an older F-15 C/D is a dollar not supporting fielding systems with more modern, modular and survivable designs. The department cannot keep tolerating three-to-five-decade gaps between new weapon concepts and keep pretending the math works against China.

The B-21 Raider will be extraordinary and will earn its keep in contested environments until a new technology or better integration of existing tech allows them to be more easily detected and targeted. However, even with production acceleration, we can only expect to see a full fleet that can replace the B-2s and B-1s in the late 2030s.

The LUCAS story shows the potential for building a better high-medium-low mix today. Using a rapid design to production timeline along with the ability to be mass produced across multiple vendors from day one. This is the new acquisition model. A focus on speed plus constrained requirements can help drive a pipeline of innovation that provides optionality to acquirers and operators alike to field new and constantly iterating capabilities to stay ahead of the threats…and provide desperately needed capacity for a highly distributed fight..

Scaling the Pipeline

There is no shortage of innovative ideas or funded prototypes. Across the military program offices and labs, DIU, SCO, DARPA and privately-funded projects, there is a tremendous backlog of potential solutions that could be matured and scaled to serve as a balance to the exquisite and (mostly) aging force.

After two decades of Middle East operations, we had every opportunity to build out one-way attack capability across air, sea, and ground domains. We mostly didn’t. It has been a great disappointment to those of us who saw this problem but watched as excuses were made for why the technology wasn’t ready and why it wouldn’t work for whatever reason. It was almost as if we saw ourselves as being passengers in the tech evolution and adoption process, and not part of the solution.

There has however been some progress in recent years. The NOMARS program proved that it was possible to deploy autonomous ships. The GVAP program showed that there is significant technological advancement to support autonomous ground vehicle operations. Companies like Merlin have shown that it is possible to deploy fully autonomous aircraft as it moves to install self-flying functions on C-130 aircraft.

The technology is here. The private capital is here. The mission demands are here. The programs are even in-place. What’s missing is the willpower to scale.

As we wrote in Stop Funding Duct Tape, we don’t have a funding problem, we have a prioritization problem. LUCAS shows how fast we can move when all the pieces align. Now is the time to solve the high-low mix problem so the joint force has maximum flexibility and capacity. We need it solved across every domain — at scale!

• Maritime Underwater: It’s time to scale the CAMP program if the demonstrations prove successful. Allow the XL-UUV program to continue delivering Boeing Orca’s at the rate of 3-4 a year while Anduril delivers 20 lower-cost vessels a year. There is a good funding start in reconciliation. Build on that in the FY27 budget.

• Maritime Surface: It’s time to scale the MASC program across all vessel sizes. There is a good funding start in reconciliation. Build on that in the FY27 budget. The Navy has three Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadrons. Let’s keep pushing them to advance the CONOPS for how USVs can be deployed and managed across the fleet while continuing deep experimentation with operational commanders as part of exercises and long-duration deployments.

• Air Front: It’s time to scale the CCA program. Award production contracts for Increment 1 to both General Atomics and Anduril and plan to purchase 500 of each to get a real fleet fielded ASAP. Continue work on Increment 2 to populate that pipeline with additional vendors with different capabilities.

• One-Way Attack: It’s time to scale the Drone Dominance program. $1.1B is a great start but this should be 10X heading into FY27. This would provide the capital needed to scale across multiple drone classes and really boost the supply chains that are needed to compete with our adversaries.

• Ground Combat Vehicle: It’s time to scale the Unmanned Ground Commercial Robotic Vehicles program. The price point is on target. Let industry go to work while the Army works on the CONOPs and architectures for deploying and controlling mass robotic systems across the Army echelons.

• Missiles: It’s time to scale lower cost interceptor programs, low-cost cruise and air to air missiles and hypersonics. There are all active programs for these efforts (FAMM, ERAM, MDA LCI, MACE). There are enough industry players and expanding supply chains to support acceleration to significant procurement levels. There is a good funding start in reconciliation. Build on that in the FY27 budget.

As Arthur Herman and Shyam Sankar have written, our generation needs its own Kelly Johnsons, Hyman Rickovers, and John Boyds. People who design new things, not better versions of old things. The good news is that these people exist today (just attend any conference to see the level of innovation), now they need to be celebrated and rewarded with well-funded programs and contracts.

As we pivot toward portfolio approaches, commercial integration, and rebuilding the industrial base, the goal has to be rapid iteration and production of new systems, not endlessly modernizing the ones we already have. Legacy modernization buys time. New designs win the future. Operation Epic Fury is proving both in real time.

It’s time to Mobilize!

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The biggest barrier to deploying new defense tech is attempting to integrate it with many systems and services that were designed, developed, and produced last century.

As the pace of change in operations, threats, and technologies continue to increase, we are burdened with decades old systems, infrastructure, and contracts. A significant portion of defense budgets, resources, and personnel go towards duct taping solutions.

The Department will spend more in the next two years modernizing the 1970s-era F-15C/Ds than it will on some of its most promising autonomous programs. The F-15C/Ds lack a clear mission. No stealth for its air-to-air role and is overkill for homeland defense. In the Iranian conflict, we saw three (superior F-15Es) shot down rather easily by friendly forces. It is unclear if it was a mix of air and ground defense or if they were destroyed by a single F-18 which calls into question their ability to support any role (i.e. weapons carrier) close to the fight.

DoD makes valiant efforts to divest of legacy platforms by retiring hundreds of aircraft for billions in O&S savings or decommissioning dozens of legacy ships in recent budget requests. Retiring old F-15s can save over a billion dollars over five years. Redirecting $5B of legacy IT enterprise equipment to AI and JADC2 would yield far greater mission impact. DOGE may have found >$10B in DoD savings.

As the Department develops and deploys new unmanned systems across the air, surface, undersea, and ground domains, one of the greatest limiting factors is integration with existing legacy systems and force structures. Should the Navy retrofit legacy ships to interoperate with and carry drones, or design new platforms and force structures that leverage the asymmetric advantages these new systems offer?

We don’t have a funding problem, we have a prioritization problem. Every dollar spent patching 1990s-era platforms, updating clunky systems, or sustaining low-value weapon systems is a dollar not going to autonomous systems, new major platforms, or key joint force enablers. It’s time to retire acquisition debt and ruthlessly prioritize.

The Hidden Tax of Legacy Systems

Most of these legacy systems don’t even show up on modernization roadmaps. They hide in the Operations & Maintenance lines, quietly renewed every year by pure bureaucratic inertia. The cost isn’t just money, it’s people. Entire teams exist whose main job is babysitting software that vendors stopped supporting years ago. Analysts burn hours on manual workarounds instead of feeding actual decisions. And trying to shove a modern data pipeline into a system designed before the internet? It’s like running fiber into a rotary phone.

Meanwhile China and other adversaries have an advantage that isn’t just new hardware, it’s the fact that they don’t carry the same decades of dead weight.

Horizon Zero: The Navy Points the Way

The Navy’s CTO Justin Fanelli and PEO Digital have been doing something refreshingly honest. Their Investment Horizons framework doesn’t treat technology like sacred infrastructure. They treat it like what it actually is: a lifecycle. Horizon 0 is decommission. Retire. Turn it off. Not because it failed, but because its time is up and the cost of keeping it breathing exceeds any value it still delivers.

They even gave the effort a name that sticks: the Cattle Drive. Rounding up obsolete enterprise services and herding them toward the exit. It’s half technical, half cultural, and 100% necessary. Program managers now have a real framework and a mandate. You want money for something new? Show me what you’re killing first. That single forcing function is rarer in the Department than you’d think.

The principle underneath it is simple and powerful: savings from divestment should actually fund what comes next. This isn’t slash-and-burn austerity. It’s grown-up portfolio management.

The Interoperability Trap

Legacy doesn’t just cost money. It quietly chokes everything new. Modern tools to include AI pipelines, cloud-native apps, and zero-trust architectures are built for loose coupling and APIs. Legacy was built for the opposite: monolithic, proprietary, tightly coupled. Every new capability therefore turns into a bespoke integration nightmare that’s expensive, fragile, and piles on its own technical debt.

Davies made this point in her confirmation testimony: we don’t just need to ask for interoperability standards, we need to enforce them through acquisition. There’s a world of difference. Nice guidance is a suggestion. Contract language is law. We’ve spent years choosing the former and then acting shocked when nothing talks to anything else.

There’s the cyber piece nobody likes to say out loud: unsupported legacy systems are basically open doors for adversaries. No patches. Ancient protocols. Well-known exploits. Keeping them alive is expensive and risky.

The future Joint Force will be built around integration, not platforms. Dynamic kill webs demand capabilities from across the vendor landscape to integrate with one another and deliver effects on demand. That’s an opportunity for innovative companies to disrupt those living for decades off legacy contracts.

Three Things That Need to Happen Now

1. Make retirement a funded, measured activity, not an afterthought.

Decommissioning isn’t free. Data migration, transition support, contract wind-down, workforce retraining all cost real money and require real planning. The DoW should create explicit, decommissioning funding within portfolio budgets, tied to measurable retirement milestones. Ms. Davies intends to use budget certification authority to drive risk-informed IT investments; that lever should explicitly include decommissioning criteria. If a program cannot present a credible sunset plan, its sustainment funding should be subject to escalating scrutiny.

The newly established Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAEs) are uniquely positioned to drive this discipline. With responsibility spanning both modernization and sustainment across entire capability portfolios, PAEs have the mandate and the vantage point to surface what legacy costs in dollars, in manpower, and in opportunity, and to make the retirement case where program managers rarely will. PAE dashboards should track divestment progress as part of broader ROI analysis for mission impact.

2. Adopt a department-wide Investment Horizons framework, especially Horizon 0.

PEO Digital’s model works because it builds retirement into the same strategic planning process as capability investment. It’s not a separate sunset review, it’s part of how technology is categorized and managed from day one. DoW should mandate an equivalent framework across all major IT and digital portfolios. Every program should be required to place its systems on a horizon map, updated annually, with clear criteria for advancement or decommissioning.

PAEs should own this mapping function at the portfolio level, analyzing the full inventory of systems, monitoring lifecycle status, and reporting to senior leadership with strategies that treat retirement not as institutional failure but as deliberate portfolio hygiene. New PAE portfolio roadmaps and analytical tools should examine the full suite of legacy and modern capabilities to optimize investments, timing, and mission impact.

3. Tie modernization funding to demonstrated divestment and let industry help.

The most powerful policy lever available is a simple one: condition new capability funding on the retirement of a legacy equivalent. Before a new enterprise service gets programmed, show the system it replaces and the plan to turn it off. PAEs are the right mechanism to operationalize this at scale. They can identify where legacy sustainment costs are crowding out modernization investment, develop strategies to redirect those resources, and build the business case that connects retirement decisions to funded capability outcomes.

As we explored in Commercial Competition, DoW leaders can structure solicitations and incentives that explicitly invite industry to propose how commercial solutions could replace new development programs or legacy systems faster and at lower cost. A vendor proposing a modern, cloud-native capability should be able to make the case: here is what you’re currently running, here is what we estimate it costs you to sustain it, here is how we replace it, and here is the retirement plan. It changes the incentive structure to drive behavior in large bureaucracies.

The department does not lack innovative vendors, emerging tech, or talented people who want to build something better. What it lacks is the institutional discipline to clear the field. You cannot plant a new crop without turning the old one under.

Legacy modernization is not a technology problem. It is a leadership, governance, and prioritization problem, and the tools to solve it already exist. Use them.

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