Biden to nominate defense industry expert Andrew Hunter as Air Force acquisition boss. (Air Force Times) “Hunter landed the nomination because of his past work with Frank Kendall, the former Pentagon acquisition chief who is Biden’s pick for Air Force secretary, and the qualifications he has garnered in and out of government.”
Investment in space companies hit record $4.5 billion in the second quarter, report says. (CNBC) “This quarter’s surge was “driven by mega-rounds” from companies like OneWeb, which raised over $1 billion, and Relativity Space, which brought in $650 million. Two SPACs closed mergers with space companies and began trading, AST SpaceMobile and Astra, with the deals raising hundreds of millions in capital for each venture.” Note that Space Force’s FY21 budget was at roughly $15 billion total, including O&M.
Kessel Run delivers Chaos Engineering practices to Black Pearl. (Kessel Run) “Kessel Run is the first software development unit within the DoD to implement Chaos Engineering, and are employing it as part of their day 2 operations. They stood up a team, Bowcaster, to implement those practices in 2019, in order to continuously strengthen their various applications from potential attacks from adversaries. To do this, Kessel Run uses Chaos Engineering to continuously attack it’s applications to identify potential weak points within its own system.
DoD officials testify on fixed-wing tactical, training aircraft programs. (DoD) “”Simply put, we cannot determine the system’s [F-35’s] combat credibility nor thoroughly prepare our warfighters if our test and training capabilities are not kept up to date,” O’Toole said… “The digital century series business case review should be completed in August, and I expect to send it to you shortly thereafter,” [CAPE’s Nogueira] said.”
How the DoD plans to approach cloud differently outside the U.S. (Fed Scoop) “The harsh environments the military often operates in present a range of challenges for the computers that often need carefully controlled setups. One solution the DOD says it is pursuing smaller, less-power hungry machines…“The rapid pace of advances in mobile cloud compute capabilities creates the belief that a mobile cloud could be managed like any other set of forward-deployed resources, such as planes, ships, or infantry battalions.””
Riding the wave: defense revenues rise despite a dark 2020. (Defense News) “Defense revenues recorded in this year’s Defense News Top 100 list totaled $551 billion, up about 5 percent from $524 billion for fiscal 2019, recorded in last year’s list… Lockheed Martin topped the list for the 22nd year in a row, with defense revenue that represents about 11 percent of the total. Its defense revenue jumped 11 percent between FY19 and FY20, from $56.6 billion to $62.6 billion. The newly formed Raytheon Technologies trails at No. 2, with $42 billion in defense revenue for FY20… Boeing, which was caught in the commercial-side downdraft, recorded a 6 percent drop in defense revenues for the list, which combines several segments.”
CMMC assessment requirements could be changing, potentially raising costs for some. (Fed Scoop) “Two people directly familiar with the process described it as DOD throwing out ideas without fully thinking through the effects, adding that the final requirements have not been published because DOD continues to add to them. Under the changes, for an assessment at level three, Certified Third Party Assessor Organizations (C3PAOs) would need to hire four full-time provisional assessors. It was previously understood that these authorized assessment companies would only need to hire one assessor and three “registered practitioners” — entry-level assessors that do not meet the standards needed to become an assessor — to conduct a level three assessment.”
US Army triggers competition for future long-range assault aircraft. (Defense News) “The Army will choose a winner — after a faceoff between Textron’s Bell and a Sikorsky-Boeing team — in the third quarter of fiscal 2022… The Army plans to equip the first unit with FLRAA in FY30… The House Appropriations Committee was the first out of the gate to issue a draft FY22 spending bill at the end of June and would like to add an additional $388 million for both of the future vertical lift programs.”
US Navy, Pentagon to test large unmanned ships as program winds down. (Defense News) “Since late 2019, SCO and the Navy have been working to learn from testing, with their efforts culminating in the October 2020 transit of Overlord ship Ranger across the Panama Canal – the first time any unmanned ship had crossed the locks of the canal – and a subsequent second canal crossing last month of the second Ghost Fleet ship, Nomad… Small said that by the end of fiscal 2022, SCO will have turned over the original two Overlord ships to the Navy and the second pair – which are in construction now and remain on schedule for an on-time delivery – will have completed acceptance trials and be delivered to the Surface Development Squadron-1 that’s overseeing Navy USV testing and fleet integration.”
How a cheap Swedish submarine ‘ran rings’ around a US aircraft carrier and its sub-hunting escorts. (Business Insider) “… as part of a war game pitting a carrier task force including numerous antisubmarine escorts against HSMS Gotland, a small Swedish diesel-powered submarine displacing 1,600 tons. Yet despite making multiple attacks runs on the Reagan, the Gotland was never detected. This outcome was replicated time and time again over two years of war games… the 200-foot-long Swedish Gotland-class submarines, introduced in 1996, were the first to employ an Air Independent Propulsion system — in this case, the Stirling engine. A Stirling engine charges the submarine’s 75-kilowatt battery using liquid oxygen… The Stirling-powered Gotland runs more quietly than even a nuclear-powered sub, which must employ noise-producing coolant pumps in their reactors… China has two diesel submarine types using Stirling engines. Fifteen of the earlier Type 039A Yuan class have been built in four variants, with more than 20 more planned or already under construction.
Virginia class submarine to get 76% more firepower. (Naval News) “The Virginia Class submarine is already heavily armed. Each boat can carry up to 37 torpedo-sized weapons, such as Tomahawk cruise missiles. Twelve of these slots are in two vertical launch systems (VLS), known as the Virginia Payload Tubes. The new Block V (5) batch of submarines will add 28 more slots in its VLS. This is an increase of 76% of torpedo-sized weapons.”
It’s not safe (for subs) in the water: China develops military shark drone. (Drone DJ) “China has developed a two-meter-long military shark drone for deployment in intelligence gathering and anti-submarine warfare activity… The craft is outfitted with a bionic tail section that can whip it up to maximum speeds of 10 knots. That form of locomotion, meanwhile, also reduces battery drain compared to conventional underwater motors for longer missions.”
China upgrading fifth-gen fighter capabilities. (National Defense Magazine) “The PLAAF is preparing upgrades for the J-20, which may include increasing the number of [air-to-air missiles] the fighter can carry in its low-observable configuration, installing thrust-vectoring engine nozzles, and adding supercruise capability by installing higher-thrust indigenous WS-15 engines,”
Appropriators increase Air Force aircraft procurement, cut missile and ammo. (Breaking Defense) “In particular, lawmakers threw $485.8 million into the procurement pot to buy four extra C-130Js specifically earmarked for the Air Force Reserve… with regard to Air Force RTD&E was a rebuke by lawmakers of the lack of transparency and budget fluidity in the service’s hypersonic prototyping efforts. To fix that, the HAC-D created new line-items for both the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW, fully funded at $238.3 million) and the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM, funded at $190.1 million, a $10 million cut).” The HAC didn’t increase F-35 procurement request for the first time in a while.
A bunch of F-35s are just sitting around without their engines. (Popular Mechanics) 46 aircraft are grounded for lack of parts. The F135 engine requires more maintenance time, such as heat-related cracks to fan blades that must be changed more often. Turkey produced nearly 900 parts for the F-35, and alternative sources are needed. 20% of F-35 fleet could be grounded by 2025 if the supply chain issues aren’t resolved.
F-35 joint strike fighter: cost and schedule risks in modernization echo long-standing challenges. (GAO) “In the 3 years of Block 4 capability development, the total estimated cost of Block 4 increased from $10.6 billion to $14.4 billion.”
USAF conducts first warhead arena test for AGM-183A ARRW. (Janes) “The ARRW programme plans to develop an operational prototype, with a solid-fuel booster and conventional ordnance package, which will be carried on the B-52H strategic bomber… Intended to collect lethality data on developmental AGM-183A weapon, the detonation test was designed and conducted “to ensure the customer’s data requirements were met using new and improved test tools, technologies, and techniques.””
Northrop Grumman breaks ground on hypersonic missile design and production facility. (Flight Global)
DISA seeks ‘radical’ new electromagnetic battle management system. (Breaking Defense) “… will significantly advance the EMS planning capabilities, improve EMS data sharing, and enable Joint C2… “Each iteration after the MVCR will continue to add and/or refine functionality/capability to mature the solution… US military EMSO capabilities have not significantly advanced since the end of the Cold War, according to experts. This despite the imperative for EMS dominance to enable many aspects of modern warfare.”
Multidomain cloud ready for operational use, drone swarm nearly there, says British air chief. (C4ISRNET) “For the combat cloud work, Airbus and AirTanker jointly invested in upgrading the satellite communications system on a Voyager aircraft, enabling it to act as an airborne communications node while concurrently operating its air-to-air refueling tasks.”
Air Force accelerates innovation into action with Project Holodeck. (Air Force) “The platform, which leverages a Software as a Service interface, elevates ideas and avoids innovation shortfalls by properly aligning people and resources, clarifying value proposition and design, linking innovators with experts, and directing time and money efficiently throughout the innovation process.”
The US Air Force issues airworthiness approval for Kitty Hawk’s Heaviside eVTOL aircraft. (Janes) “… this will enable the company to perform government flight tests for revenue, which means the USAF can start paying Kitty Hawk to explore different operational concepts that the company perhaps did not initially envision engaging with the service about… potentially performing a type of communications relay, which could take place in austere areas where the USAF needs to connect data… Beta Technologies, Joby, and Lift Aircraft have also received airworthiness awards.
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