Archive: September 30, 2024

Marines to receive new system for zapping drone swarms out of the sky

A defense company making high-powered microwave systems that melt drones announced a new iteration of its product last week.

Developed by Eprius, the long-pulse, high-power microwave technology known as Leonidas Expeditionary can drop swarms of drones with massive and pointed walls of electromagnetic energy.

Epirus has already delivered high-powered microwave systems to the Army as part of a $66 million contract last year.

It developed its latest Leonidas capability in partnership with the Office of Naval Research, Joint Counter-Small UAS Office, the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab and the Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office (JCO).

The company unveiled the system on Sept. 23 and is expected to deliver the completed system to the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab by the end of this year.

So far there are four iterations of the Leonidas system including the newest, which is formally known as the Expeditionary Directed Energy Counter-Swarm, or ExDECS.

Earlier Leonidas offerings have included systems that can be attached to vehicles or air drones.

Army gets first high-power microwave prototype to counter drone swarms

Leonidas ExDECS is another systems entry on the smaller side, capable of “swarm defeat,” with a transportable profile that’s highly mobile and provides a low physical signature, according to Andrew Wargofchik, a spokesperson for Epirus.

The crown jewel of the Epirus system, aside from its microwave system, is a technology called Line Replaceable Amplifier Module, or LRAM. It’s an architecture that allows the company to scale systems up or down.

“We like to think of them as sort of very scalable Lego blocks,” Wargofchik said.

The announcement of the Leonidas Expeditionary comes on the heels of the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference, where AI’s role in the defense industry was the talk of the town.

But as the future of warfare arrives, Wargofchik said Epirus doesn’t buy into the concept that killer robots are on the horizon.

He noted projects like the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or unmanned fighter jets, as a better embodiment of what lies ahead.

Half-man, half-AI is the defense landscape the company envisioned – manned systems existing harmoniously alongside unmanned ones.

“Our CEO, Andy Lowery, likes to call it centaur warfare,” Wargofchik said.

While some in the industry criticize the Defense Department for not adopting existing and emerging AI and machine learning technologies quickly enough, Epirus is more optimistic.

Epirus directed energy to face off against vessels in US Navy testing

One of the main challenges involves bridging the gap between research and development to mass production, Wargofchik said.

Though the company began with the explicit goal of providing high-powered microwave systems for counter-drone missions, it’s expanding the development of the same systems as a counter for any-and-all electronics.

In April, Epirus demonstrated its capability to effectively take out certain vessel motors at sea during a Navy event.

“We’re kind of arriving at the shores of a whole new beach of maritime applications,” Wargofchik said.

Air Force awards Lockheed $3.2B multiyear missile contract

The Air Force on Friday awarded Lockheed Martin a $3.2 billion multiyear contract for air-to-ground and anti-ship missiles, as part of a Pentagon effort to maximize weapons production through multiyear procurements.

The sole-source contract is for AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) and AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) and will include foreign military sales to Japan, the Netherlands, Finland and Poland.

The Pentagon in 2023 proposed using multiyear procurement authorities — which are usually used for buying ships or aircraft — to buy munitions, which it hoped would allow industry to expand its production capacity. Defense officials said at the time this was intended to deter China and strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base, but arming Ukraine against its invasion by Russia has also taxed U.S. weapons stockpiles.

The plan included a strategy called a large lot procurement pilot program. This contract will allow Lockheed to increase the number of JASSMs and LRASMs it can produce each year, Lockheed said in a statement

“Multi-year procurements of critical munition systems like JASSM and LRASM are a key anti-fragility measure to increase industry resilience and ensure operations can be ramped more quickly going forward,” Lockheed said.

Lockheed will build the missiles in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to finish the work by the end of July 2032. The Air Force is providing $1.5 billion in missile procurement funds and $2 million in operations and maintenance funds at the time of the award, and the Navy is providing $176 million in its own weapon procurement funds. The Pentagon is also obligating another $752 million of FMS funds for the contract.

The JASSM is a cruise missile designed to allow aircraft to strike ground targets while keeping a safe distance away from enemy air defenses or other hostile aircraft. The LRASM, based on the JASSM’s design, is intended to penetrate enemy air defense targets to take out ships from standoff range.

Also on Friday, the State Department approved a possible $405 million sale of up to 100 Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missiles-Extended Range and related equipment to Australia. Selling these missiles to Australia, a key ally in the Pacific, would help support the U.S.’s foreign policy and national security objectives, the State Department said.

Australia would be able to suppress or destroy land- or sea-based radars used by enemy air defenses with those Northrop Grumman-made missiles and improve allied aircraft’s ability to survive a conflict, according to the State Department.

Small-drone defense is next in Pentagon’s Replicator buying push

The second iteration of the Pentagon’s Replicator rapid-fielding initiative will focus on countering small drones, with plans to request funds for the initiative in the fiscal 2026 budget, according to Defense Department leaders.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced “counter small uncrewed aerial systems,” or C-SUAS, as the Replicator 2 focus area in a memo last week to senior Pentagon leaders. His decision follows a monthslong review that considered what capability gaps could be best addressed through the rapid fielding initiative.

“Replicator 2 will tackle the warfighter priority of countering the threat posed by small uncrewed aerial systems to our most critical installations and force concentrations,” he said in the memo, which was released publicly on Monday. “My expectation is that Replicator 2 will field meaningfully improved C-sUAS protection to critical assets within 24 months of Congress approving funding.”

Championed by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, Replicator’s goal is to create a new pathway for the Pentagon to buy and scale high-need capabilities on faster timelines.

The first test of that pathway, Replicator 1, centers on delivering thousands of low-cost drones by next summer. The department plans to spend a total of $1 billion on the effort in fiscal years 2024 and 2025, with funds drawn from various sources including prior-year appropriations, a reprogramming request, a national security supplemental approved in August, and the Pentagon’s yet-to-be approved FY25 budget proposal.

As DOD leaders began deliberating this summer on what to pursue in Replicator 2, they focused on capabilities that would address a near-term operational imperative and would benefit from senior leader backing, Hicks told Defense News in June. According to Austin’s memo, the need to protect against growing threats posed by enemy drones fits the bill.

Hostile drones pose a major challenge to the U.S. and its allies and have featured heavily in conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. Since last fall, Iran-backed groups have used drones, uncrewed surface vessels and anti-ship ballistic vehicles to launch dozens of attacks on U.S., allied and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea. The incidents have disrupted global trade in key waterways and killed three merchant sailors.

According to a June 13 report from the Defense Intelligence Agency, 65 countries and 29 major energy and shipping companies have been affected or have had to alter their routes in response to these aggressions.

DOD officials have said the department is taking a layered approach to defending against enemy drones, meaning the U.S. will pursue a range of capabilities to disable these systems, from electronic warfare to kinetic weapons. The military services have a number of ongoing programs to develop these systems.

Led by the Defense Innovation Unit, Replicator 2 will leverage those existing efforts to help the services field counter-UAS capabilities more quickly and in larger numbers. According to Austin, DIU will work closely with the military services, the Counter Uncrewed Systems Warfighter Senior Integration Group and Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante, who serves as DOD’s C-sUAS principal staff assistant.

“I am confident the Replicator initiative will complement and advance the significant C-sUAS work already underway in the DOD,” Austin said. “The expectation is that Replicator 2 will assist with overcoming challenges we face in the areas of production capacity, technology innovation, authorities, policies, open system architecture and system integration, and force structure.”

EU opens defense innovation hub in Kyiv to boost industry outreach

PARIS — The European Union officially opened its defense-innovation office in Kyiv earlier this month, as the bloc seeks to boost cooperation between the Ukrainian and European defense industries.

The office is part of Europe’s defense industrial strategy adopted in March, and one role will be connecting the bloc’s startups and innovators with Ukraine’s defense industry and armed forces, the European Commission said in a statement on Friday. The office also aims to strengthen Ukraine’s integration into the European defense-equipment market.

The office may help Ukrainian defense firms and startups gain access to EU funding as they develop military technology to help the country fight off Russia’s invasion, with financing one of the main hurdles to ramping up Ukraine’s weapon production. For EU defense firms and startups, the hub in Kyiv may help them tap into Ukraine’s battlefield experience and find partners in a country at the cutting edge of military drone development.

Ukraine has become a world leader in drone technology, with annual production capacity of up to 3 million drones, the country’s Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov said in a Sept. 20 post on Facebook, on the occasion of the innovation office opening.

European drone makers haven’t waited for the EU office to establish their footprint in Ukraine, with Latvia’s Atlas Aerospace setting up an R&D office in Kyiv last year and Germany’s Quantum Systems opening a factory and a development hub in the country in April.

Ukraine has more than 1,100 innovators in defense technology, including more than 500 working on unmanned aerial vehicles, more than 160 developers of robots, at least 150 firms working on AI applications and more than 110 on electronic-warfare tools, according to Brave1, a defense-tech collaboration platform set up by the Ukrainian government.

The country is holding a defense-tech investment summit in Kyiv later this week to court international investors, bringing together officials, military and manufacturers. The summit is probably one of the few such events to advertise the availability of “safe and fully equipped shelters” available across the city to ensure the well-being of attendees, as the Ukrainian capital continues to face a threat of Russian missile attacks.

The EU in December already opened an office in Kyiv for its research and innovation program Horizon Europe, which at that time had been funding more than 120 projects in Ukraine.

Separately, Denmark on Monday announced plans to set up a defense-industry hub in Kyiv, saying that will strengthen the opportunity for Danish companies to cooperate more directly with Ukraine’s defense firms. The hub is expected to be up and running before the end of the year, the Danish Defence Ministry said in a statement.

“The situation in Ukraine clearly shows that wars are not only won on the battlefield, but to a large extent also in industry,” Danish Minister for Industry and Business Morten Bødskov was quoted as saying in the statement. “With the new hub, we are laying the stepping stones for new development cooperation and increased trade, so that Denmark can continue to contribute to Ukraine’s fight for freedom.”

Meanwhile, Denmark placed an order with Rheinmetall for 16 of the company’s Skyranger 30 mobile air-defense turrets and ammunition for more than €100 million ($112 million). The turrets are scheduled for delivery in 2027 and 2028, with additional vehicle equipment for an 8-wheeled platform that will be used by the Danish armed forces, the company said in a statement on Monday.

The Skyranger turret with its 30mm revolver cannon and airburst munitions is “particularly suitable” to counter drones, according to Rheinmetall. The Danish order follows a first purchase by Austria, with Germany’s Bundeswehr also buying the system, the company said. For the Bundeswehr, the Skyranger will take the role previously filled by the Gepard air-defense systems, which had already been taken out of the Germany inventory before being sent to Ukraine.

The case for giving Ukraine long-range striking power in Russia

Ukraine’s innovative drones are damaging forces and war-supporting industry across western and southern Russia. In a visit to the White House on Sept. 26, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked for more help for long-range strikes. He received modest assistance. President Joe Biden said the U.S. would provide the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW), an unpowered glide bomb with a range of over 60 miles.

Ukraine had wanted more. It has repeatedly sought permission to use U.S.-built Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles for long-range strikes deep in Russia. They have a range of up to 190 miles and, with their speed, are better able to hit mobile targets. Prior to Zelenskyy’s visit, there were hints the U.S. might provide Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM). Unlike ATACMS missiles, these missiles are abundant in the U.S. arsenal, and their stealth capability make them more effective at hitting defended targets.

White House announces billions in new Ukraine aid, new F-16 training

Sentiment in NATO is growing to give Ukraine more scope for action. This month the European Parliament asked European Union members to “immediately” lift deep strike restrictions, and so have top U.S. House Republicans and several leading congressional Democrats. Nonetheless, the U.S. approach remains hesitant.

There may be risks. On Sept. 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned an attack on Russia by a state backed by a nuclear power could lead to a nuclear response. He often cries nuclear wolf, but this time, his timing suggested worry that Biden might cave to pressures and unleash Ukraine to conduct more deep attacks.

A Russian nuclear response, however, seems unlikely and would probably bring little, if any, military gain. Russian troops are not trained to fight on a nuclear battlefield, as in the Cold War. Ukraine has few, if any, concentrated, high-value military targets. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have warned Putin not to go nuclear, while Biden has warned of “catastrophic consequences” if he does.

There is also a risk that some JASSMs might miss their targets or not be fully destroyed. Russia — and China — could analyze the debris to try to learn more about their stealth capability and sensitive electronics.

Time and again when Ukrainian forces have surprised or shocked Russia — from destroying or damaging one-third of its Black Sea fleet to seizing territory in Russia’s Kursk region — the Kremlin’s response has been weak. Suffering steep manpower losses and needing arms from Iran and North Korea, Russian forces may face limitations.

To its credit, Ukraine is doing a lot on its own to strike deep inside Russia. On Sept. 18, it carried out a stunning attack in Russia’s Tver region, blowing up a huge weapons depot in a blast akin to an earthquake. To overwhelm air defenses, Ukraine used over 100 slow-flying drones. The depot was 300 miles away from Ukraine, well beyond the 190-mile range of ATACMS missiles.

A welcome surprise has been Ukraine’s high-tech drone innovation. Former CIA Director General David Petraeus called it “unprecedented” in scale and pace. Even more is coming. Last month, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had deployed its first high-speed missile-drone, the Palianytsia.

But Ukraine needs more long-range strike power than its own aviation sector can provide. U.S. arms may be a valuable complement, despite their higher cost.

Last spring the U.S. began sending the long-range variant of ground-to-ground ATACMS missiles to Ukraine for use inside its territory. In occupied Crimea, they have ravaged Russia’s navy and air defenses and supporting infrastructure. ATACMS missiles are responsive and can hit mobile targets that elude drones. In June, the U.S. allowed Ukraine some added flexibility — to strike across the border inside Russia with ATACMS missiles wherever enemy forces were engaged in attacks.

On Sept. 26, Biden also promised to send hundreds more Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM). Armed with them, Ukraine’s F-16s could shoot down some Russian combat aircraft in flight before they release devastating glide bombs.

The long-range strike mission is important for Ukraine, but so are other factors. It faces challenges in several areas, including a soldier shortage, inadequate defensive fortifications and uncertainties about future Western aid.

Nonetheless, the U.S. could benefit Ukraine by doing more to help it to conduct long-range strikes in Russia. Neither U.S. weapons nor Ukraine’s, by themselves, are enough. Together, they could raise the cost to Russia of its perfidy and help strengthen European security.

William Courtney is an adjunct senior fellow at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND research institution and was U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, Georgia, and a U.S.-Soviet commission to implement the Threshold Test Ban Treaty.

John Hoehn is an associate policy researcher at RAND and a former military analyst with the Congressional Research Service.

Chinese nuclear attack submarine sank during construction, US says

Satellite imagery showed that China’s newest nuclear-powered attack submarine sank alongside a pier while under construction, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.

The sinking of China’s first Zhou-class submarine represents a setback for Beijing as it continues to build out the world’s largest navy. Beijing has become increasingly assertive in pursuing its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea, which is crucial to international trade.

Meanwhile, China faces longtime territorial disputes involving others in the region including Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. The United States has sought to strengthen ties to its allies in the region and regularly sails through those waters in operations it says maintain the freedom of navigation for vessels there, angering Beijing.

The submarine likely sank between May and June, when satellite images showed cranes that would be necessary to lift it off the bottom of the river, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details about the submarine loss.

China has been building up its naval fleet at a breakneck pace, and the U.S. considers China’s rise one of its main future security concerns.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday he was not familiar with the topic and did not provide any information when asked about it at a Beijing press conference.

The U.S. official said it was “not surprising” that China’s navy would conceal it. The submarine’s current status is unknown.

The identification of the sunken nuclear submarine was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Thomas Shugart, a former U.S. Navy submariner and an analyst at the Center for a New American Security, first noticed the incident involving the submarine in July, though it wasn’t publicly known at the time that it involved the new Zhou-class vessel.

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press show what appears to be a submarine docked at the Shuangliu shipyard on the Yangtze River before the incident.

An image taken June 15 appears to show the submarine either fully or partially submerged just under the river’s surface, with rescue equipment and cranes surrounding it. Booms surround it to prevent any oil or other leaks from the vessel.

A satellite image taken Aug. 25 shows a submarine back at the same dock as the submerged vessel. It’s not clear if it was the same one.

It remains unclear if the affected submarine had been loaded with nuclear fuel or if its reactor was operating at the time of the incident. However, there has been no reported release of radiation in the area in the time since.

China as of last year operated six nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines and 48 diesel-powered attack submarines, according to a U.S. military report.

News of the submarine’s sinking comes as China this week conducted a rare launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile into international waters in the Pacific Ocean. Experts say it marked the first time Beijing had conducted such a test since 1980.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Hezbollah confirms leader Hassan Nasrallah killed in Israeli airstrike

Lebanon’s Hezbollah group confirmed on Saturday that its leader and one of its founders, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut the previous day.

A statement said Nasrallah “has joined his fellow martyrs.” Hezbollah vowed to “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine.”

Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades, is by far the most powerful target to be killed by Israel in weeks of intensified fighting with Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it carried out a precise airstrike on Friday while Hezbollah leadership were meeting at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes, which leveled six apartment buildings. Ali Karki, the commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and other commanders were also killed, the Israeli military said.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesperson, said the airstrike was based on years of tracking Nasrallah along with “real time information” that made it viable. He declined to say what munitions were used in the strike or provide an estimate on civilian deaths, only saying that Israel takes measures to avoid civilians whenever possible and clears strikes ahead of time with intelligence and legal experts.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas in a statement issued condolences to its ally, Hezbollah. Nasrallah frequently described launching rockets against northern Israel as a “support front” for Hamas and Palestinians in Gaza.

“History has proven that the resistance … whenever its leaders die as martyrs, will be succeeded on the same path by a generation of leaders who are more valiant, stronger and more determined to continue the confrontation,” the Hamas statement said.

It added that “assassinations will only increase the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine in determination and resolve.”

Immediately after the official confirmation from Hezbollah, people starting firing in the air in Beirut and other areas of the country, to mourn Nasrallah’s death. Some were protesting that he was killed because of his support for the war in Gaza.

“Wish it was our kids, not you, Sayyid!” said one woman, using an honorific title for Nasrallah, as she clutched her baby in the western city of Baabda.

Israel vows to keep up attacks on Hezbollah

Israel Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Saturday that the elimination of Nasrallah was “not the end of our toolbox,” indicating that more strikes were planned.

Israel has vowed to step up pressure on Hezbollah until it halts its attacks that have displaced tens of thousands of Israelis from communities near the Lebanese border. The recent fighting has also displaced more than 200,000 Lebanese in the past week, according to the United Nations.

The military said Saturday it was mobilizing additional reserve soldiers as tensions escalate with Lebanon, activating three battalions of reserve soldiers to serve across the country. It sent two brigades to northern Israel earlier in the week to train for a possible ground invasion.

Shoshani, the army spokesperson, said that Israel has inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah’s capabilities over the past week by targeting a combination of immediate threats and strategic weapons, such as larger, guided missiles. But he said much of Hezbollah’s arsenal still remains intact and that Israel would continue to target the group. The Israeli military updated guidelines for Israeli citizens, canceling gatherings of more than 1,000 people due to the ongoing threat.

Approximately 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from their homes along the Lebanese border for almost a year. Earlier this month, Israel’s government said halting Hezbollah’s attacks in the country’s north to allow residents to return to their homes is an official war goal.

Iran, Iraq call for support for Hezbollah

Iranian state television read the announcement from Hezbollah confirming Nasrallah’s death live, but there was no other immediate comment.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a Saturday message said “the resistance movement, heading by Hezbollah, will decide the fate of the region,” in a statement read on state TV.

Iran is the main supporter of Lebanese Hezbollah and other militant groups in the region.

Also on Saturday, Iran’s influential parliamentary committee of national security demanded “strong” response to Israel following a meeting of the committee. State TV also said people staged anti-Israeli rallies in support of Hezbollah in major cities and towns across the country.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani of declared a three-day period of mourning in his country. Sudani came to power with the backing of a coalition of Iran-backed political factions, many of which have armed wings that are allied with Hezbollah.

A year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah

Hezbollah started firing rockets on Israel in support of Gaza on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting another 250.

Since then, the two sides have been engaged in cross-border strikes that have gradually escalated and displaced tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border.

Hostilities escalated dramatically last week when thousands of explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah detonated, killing dozens of people and leaving thousands, including many civilians, with severe injuries to the eyes, face and limbs.

Israel is widely believed to be behind the attack. Israel has also killed several top Hezbollah commanders in Beirut, especially in the past two weeks, in addition to the attack that killed Nasrallah.

A window of opportunity for Israel, Lebanon

Orna Mizrahi, a senior researcher at the Tel Aviv-based think tank Institute for National Security Studies and former intelligence analyst for the Israeli military and prime minister’s office, noted that Nasrallah was sometimes a “voice of reason” interested in engaging Israel in a war of attrition and holding the militant group back from using the full force of their formidable arsenal against Israel.

Nasrallah’s death could prompt some less senior members of Hezbollah to unleash much stronger weapons than have been used in the nearly yearlong exchange of hostilities between Hezbollah and Lebanon, she said.

The biggest question mark right now, though, is how Iran will respond, said Mizrahi.

She added that Nasrallah’s death could provide a window of opportunity, while the organization is significantly weakened, for Lebanon to dilute Hezbollah’s far-reaching influence, especially in the south, that threatens to drag Lebanon into a full-scale war with Israel.

Continuing strikes on both sides of the border

On Saturday morning, the Israeli military carried out more than 140 airstrikes in southern Beirut and eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, including targeting a storage facility for anti-ship missiles in Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh.

Israel said the missiles were stored underground beneath civilian apartment buildings. Hezbollah launched dozens of projectiles across northern and central Israel and deep into the Israel-occupied West Bank, damaging some buildings in the northern town of Safed.

In Beirut’s southern suburbs, smoke rose and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes.

Shelters set up in the city center for displaced people were overflowing. Many families slept in public squares and beaches or in their cars. On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, hundreds of people could be seen making an exodus on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry.

At least 720 people have been killed in Lebanon over the past week by Israeli airstrikes, according to the Health Ministry.

Lawmakers demand answers over reports of faulty Navy ship welding

Lawmakers demanded answers from the U.S. Navy on Friday over news reports that faulty welds may have been knowingly made to American submarines and aircraft carriers under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia.

The revelations were first reported by U.S. Naval Institute News.

Few details about the matter were made public Friday, including the potential risks to sailors serving aboard the impacted ships, or whether those ships would become unavailable for operations due to the bad welds.

But in a joint statement, the Republican and Democrat heads of the House Armed Services Committee called reports of the faulty welds “deeply concerning.”

“The Department of Defense needs to immediately provide our committee with answers and a plan for how they will protect U.S. Navy vessels against tampering,” the statement by committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and ranking member Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., states. “Absolute transparency with Congress is essential.”

The ranking member of the committee’s Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee said in a statement that members were “already in close contact with Navy leadership to ascertain the scope and severity of the weld quality issue.”

“Anytime there is a weld defect on Navy ships and submarines, the safety of the crews that serve aboard are put at risk, and the availability of these platforms are impeded,” subcommittee ranking member Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., said. “It is imperative that Navy leadership disclose its investigation in a timely manner in the coming weeks.”

The Navy said Friday that it was “aware of the issue and a thorough evaluation is underway to determine the scope.”

“The safety of our Sailors and our ships is of paramount importance,” the sea service said. “We are working closely with industry partners to address this situation and will provide additional information when available.”

Owned by Huntington Ingalls Industries, or HII, the Newport News yard is one of two in the United States focused on the nuclear fleet.

The yard constructs parts of several submarine classes, as well as Ford-class aircraft carriers.

HII did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Military Times, but USNI News reported that the company had reported the matter to the U.S. Department of Justice.

US-led task force to fight ISIS in Iraq to end by 2026, officials say

After 10 years, the military coalition of countries working to defeat ISIS in Iraq is coming to an end.

The American and Iraqi governments announced Friday a phasing down of Combined Joint Task Force — Operation Inherent Resolve, a U.S.-led military operation to counter the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Previewed for months after U.S. President Joe Biden met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani in April, the decision will close the task force by 2026. The U.S., which has 2,500 troops in Iraq, will then negotiate directly with the government in Baghdad on its military presence inside the country.

Since the war started in Gaza last October, American military personnel around the Middle East have been increasingly under threat. Militia groups sponsored by Iran have targeted U.S. ships and bases, including a strike that killed three troops just across the Syrian border in Jordan this January. The attacks, along with America’s support for Israel, have continued to shift America’s military footprint in the region.

There are now 40,000 U.S. personnel in Central Command, 6,000 higher than normal.

In a call previewing the announcement with reporters, a senior U.S. administration and defense official wouldn’t comment on how many troops would remain in Iraq or where they would operate — other than to say there would not be a full withdrawal.

What will the surge of US forces to the Middle East cost the military?

“It’s time to do that transition. But that doesn’t mean every detail has been worked out,” the defense official said.

The task force itself will end in two phases. The first will arrive next September, when the coalition’s military mission inside Iraq will close. Because ISIS remains a threat nearby, the officials said, Iraq will allow the coalition to keep using its territory for missions across the border into Syria at least until September 2026.

Launched in 2014, when the Islamic State seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, the task force includes more than 30 countries and eventually secured 42,000 square miles once controlled by ISIS, the defense official said. The terrorist group lost its ability to hold territory in Iraq in 2017, and in Syria two years later.

Ending the international mission now, the official continued, reflects two changes: a weakened ISIS and an empowered Iraqi military. The coalition has given local security forces more than $4 billion in military equipment and trained around 225,000 personnel.

America has also supported the Iraqi military directly. This week, the U.S. State Department approved a $65 million foreign military sale to Iraq for ship repair and maintenance.

“During these past years, we’ve seen very significant improvement in the Iraqi Security Force’s capability,” the defense official said.

In late August, U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted an operation in western Iraq that killed 14 ISIS operatives, including four leaders, as announced by CENTCOM. Seven American personnel were injured in the raid.

Space Development Agency studying options for satellite tow services

In the coming years, the Space Development Agency plans to launch hundreds of satellites to low Earth orbit to track missiles and support targeting missions. But what happens when those spacecraft, each built to last about five years, are no longer operational?

The satellites are designed to comply with U.S. government standards that require operators to remove spacecraft once their missions have ended. But SDA wants to have a backup plan and this week brought on six companies to study commercial options for dealing with defunct satellites in a sustainable way.

“SDA believes industry has concepts and business models to support commercial on-orbit servicing, to include assisted disposal operations, but that no such product or service yet exists,” the agency said in a statement Thursday.

SDA chose Arkisys, Impulse Space, Quantum Space, Sierra Space, SpaceWorks Enterprises and Starfish Space, awarding them a total of $1.9 million to study the issue. The firms will conduct 90-day feasibility assessments, considering the technical trades and engineering requirements for on-demand satellite de-orbit services.

The companies are all developing solutions for debris removal. For example, Maryland-based Quantum Space is designing a platform called Ranger that, among other services, can move a satellite to an inactive orbit. Arkisys, based in California, is building a commercial “port,” which it envisions as a space-based business platform to build satellites in orbit. The port, the firm says, could host orbital transfer vehicles used to de-orbit or dispose of inactive satellites.

SDA Director Derek Tournear said in March that while a commercial service designed to deal with defunct satellites isn’t available today, SDA is interested in the prospect and wants to better understand the business models these companies are proposing.

Not only could the capability serve as a tow service for SDA, but it could allow the agency to shift to lower-cost designs for its satellites and eliminate requirements for certain backup systems that take up space and increase a spacecraft’s weight.

“I want to be able to take more risks on my satellite, not have redundant propulsion, things like that,” Tournear said. “There’s several companies that are working on that, and I hope they’re successful.”