Archive: October 8, 2024

Anduril lands $250 million Pentagon contract for drone defense system

The Pentagon awarded Anduril Industries a contract worth $250 million to counter drone attacks against U.S. forces with the company’s recoverable Roadrunner interceptor.

Under the deal, which Anduril announced on Tuesday, the Defense Department will buy 500 Roadrunner all-up rounds as well as the firm’s portable Pulsar electronic-warfare capability, which can be integrated with aircraft to jam enemy systems.

“This latest contract award highlights Anduril’s commitment to investing its own research and development to support defense innovation, providing rapid, scalable solutions to safeguard U.S. forces,” the company said in a statement.

An Anduril spokesperson declined to name the firm’s DOD customer due to security concerns, but the company said the contract will serve multiple military services in “priority regions where U.S. forces face significant threats” from drones. Deliveries will begin this year and continue through the end of 2025.

The firm is already on a 10-year, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract worth up to $1 billion with U.S. Special Operations Command to supply counter-drone hardware and software, but the spokesperson would not confirm whether the new business is part of its SOCOM award.

That deal was announced in January 2022 and later that year, the command awarded Anduril $12.5 million for Roadrunner. SOCOM also requested another $19 million for the technology in its fiscal 2024 budget request.

Anduril unveiled Roadrunner last December after spending two years secretly developing it with internal funding. At the time, CEO Palmer Luckey told reporters that Roadrunner was in low-rate production with an initial U.S. customer for “hundreds of units.” He said the company plans to quickly scale to quantities in the hundreds of thousands.

The use of drones and loitering munitions on the battlefield has expanded in recent years. The department wants to learn from the ingenuity of the Ukrainian military, which has deployed small drones in response to Russia’s onslaught, but it also wants to develop a strong defense against the use of hostile drones by adversaries like Iran and its proxies.

The Pentagon created the Joint Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office to develop a coordinated, long-term response to drone threats in 2019, and in 2023, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks revealed a new DoD initiative called Replicator to field thousands of autonomous systems by next summer.

The department announced last week that Replicator’s next area of focus will be Counter-UAS.

According to Anduril, Roadrunner offers a solution for both sides of the challenge. Chris Brose, the company’s chief of strategy, told reporters last December the system — which can carry a variety of payloads — was built to adapt as DOD’s needs change.

“We’re very hopeful that the government will see in this capability what we see in it, which is a novel solution that is built to be adaptable to where those threats are going in the near future — which, by the way, has been a process that’s been playing out over the past few years, and it’s just going to get worse,” he said.

Trophy vehicle-defense system gets top-attack upgrade

JERUSALEM — Israeli defense contractor Rafael has equipped its Trophy active protection system with a top-attack defense capability, closing a vulnerability against drones and missiles that has plagued even heavily armored vehicles, according to the vendor.

Rafael officials unveiled the upgrade in a briefing here last week held ahead of the AUSA arms exhibition in Washington next week, where the company will exhibit its wares.

At the briefing marketing executive Ehud Nir showed a video of the system undergoing live-fire testing, with a countermeasure destroying a drone hurtling toward a vehicle’s turret from high above.

The company declined to specify how the upgrade works or when the capability was first introduced on Trophy, saying only the system had undergone numerous development cycles since first being fielded more than ten years ago.

The top-attack capability is available by way of a software upgrade to existing Trophy installations, according to Elbit.

Rafael inks news deal to put Trophy system on UK’s Challenger 3 tanks

Trophy is a defensive system equipped with so-called soft defense measures, such as electronic warfare, and an active defense system that includes physical interceptors destroying incoming projectiles before impact with a vehicle’s body.

It consists of a number of sensors and a radar with four antenna panels mounted around the vehicle. The interception process engages only if the system detects that a threat will damage the vehicle.

The system is in use on the Israeli Merkava Mark 3 and 4 tanks and the Israeli Namer armored personnel carrier. Trophy is also found on American Abrams tanks and has been tested on Stryker APCs and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. In February 2021 Rafael signed a deal with Germany to equip the country’s Leopard 2 tanks.

Rafael claims a 90% effectiveness rate for Trophy.

Naval Group launches robotic boat featuring lessons from Ukraine

LORIENT, France — Naval Group subsidiary Sirehna has launched an unmanned surface vessel that incorporates lessons learned from Ukraine’s deployment of robotic boats against Russian targets in the Black Sea, according to company officials.

The craft, measuring just under 10 meters in length, is named the Seaquest S and has an endurance of 24 hours. Sirehna plans to offer the vessel optimized for surveillance, electronic-warfare, strike and anti-submarine missions, executives said here during a press trip ahead of the Euronaval naval confab in Paris next month.

Speaking about some lessons Naval Group has taken from Ukraine’s widespread use of naval drones, Pierre-Antoine Fliche, head of drones and autonomous systems product lines, highlighted the speed at which these types of systems need to be upgraded.

“One of the things we’ve learned is the cycle of development in Ukraine, where they go from one version to another every six months, and it’s not only because they are super fast but also because the adversary puts up defenses,” Fliche told Defense News. “That is one of the reasons we purposely built the SeaQuest as a highly modular platform and that we want to develop machine tactics with end-users because we know they will evolve on a six- to nine-month cycle.”

USV technologies have grown increasingly sophisticated, and Ukrainian forces have used a multitude of different systems, most recently arming them with multiple-launch rocket systems, to strike a greater number of small surface, air and coastal targets.

In May, the Ukrainian intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said that the country has relied on them to a greater extent recently due to their consistent effectiveness.

“This equipment works — that’s the important thing, it gives results … a third of the destroyed combat potential of the Russian Black Sea Fleet is the most decent indicator,” Budanov said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

According to Naval Group, SeaQuest is currently the only small USV designed to be able to embark onboard frigates and warships.

While the naval drone, which is undergoing sea trials in France, does not yet possess swarming capabilities, Fliche said those could be added later.

Ukrainian officials have predicted that as these types of robotic maritime platforms undergo improvements, they are poised to dominate conventional combat vessels in the future, at least in closed or semi-closed water bodies.

Brazil’s deal for Israeli howitzers ‘frozen’ over Gaza war

SANTIAGO, Chile — Five months after the Brazilian Army announced its decision to buy howitzers from Israel’s Elbit Systems, the project remains suspended over Brazilian President Inazio “Lula” da Silva’s criticism of Israel’s actions against Hamas in Gaza.

According to military sources in Brasilia, who spoke to Defense News on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, the project remains “frozen” but not formally canceled.

“President da Silva has signed no executive order, neither to cancel the procurement of ATMOS 2000 nor for reopening the tender to select and negotiate another solution”, one source said.

The government in May picked Elbit to deliver 36 ATMOS 2000 self-propelled howitzers in a deal worth $210 million.

The sources said that both the Minister of Defense, Mr. José Múcio Monteiro, as well as the Army chief, Gen. Tomás Miguel Ribeiro Paiva, are working to unlock the project. They hope to persuade the left-wing president to proceed with the deal, which would provide two howitzer samples for testing.

Military officials believe picking another vendor would increase the delay and have a negative impact on several local companies, which have signed agreements with Elbit to participate in the production of parts and the final assembly of the weapons.

Officials at Brazil’s Ministry of Defense and the Army did not return a request for comment.

The decision to procure ATMOS 2000 capped a tender process for the service’s VBCOAP program, short for armored self-propelled howitzer in Portuguese. The other vendors competing under the tender were France’s KNDS with the Caesar, an alliance between Slovak Konštrukta Defense and the Czech Excalibur with Zuzana 2, and China’s NORINCO with the SH-15.

Meanwhile, tensions between Colombia’s government and Israel, also fueled by the Gaza war, have had no effect so far on an order for 18 Atmos 2000 worth $102 million, placed early in 2023 by the South American country.

MacDill AFB evacuates planes and people as Hurricane Milton approaches

MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, started evacuating personnel on Monday as Hurricane Milton approaches.

The emergency storm preparation comes less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded parts of the base, where U.S. Central Command’s and U.S. Special Operations Command’s headquarters and the 6th and 927th air refueling wings are located.

And it comes as Milton rapidly intensified, reaching category 5 status.

Milton formed as a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend and is heading northeast towards Florida. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts it will hit the Tampa Bay area late Wednesday or early Friday.

MacDill, which is the home of KC-135 Stratotankers, began flying aircraft to safer locations on Sunday, 6th wing commander Col. Edward Szczepanik said in a video posted on social media.

Szczepanik on Sunday issued a mandatory evacuation order for base personnel living in certain areas likely to be hit by the hurricane, including those who live in on-base housing, which was to begin at 12:30 p.m. Monday and finish by 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Personnel who are mission-essential or assigned to a hurricane recovery team are not being evacuated, the base said, and child development centers remain open to accommodate personnel who must respond to the storm.

Parts of MacDill were temporarily powerless and flooded in low-lying areas after Hurricane Helene struck Florida Sept. 26, as it passed north. MacDill said at the time that the storm surge that resulted from Helene brought near-record water levels and left debris scattered across roads, though the water soon subsided.

Romania picks Turkish armored vehicles in $940 million deal

WARSAW, Poland — Romania has selected the Turkish Cobra II four-wheel-drive armored vehicle for the country’s land forces, ordering a total of 1,059 units.

Under the plan, the first 278 vehicles will be made in Turkey by manufacturer Otokar, and the remainder at a plant operated in Romania by local companies.

The planned sale is estimated to be worth around RON 4.263 billion ($940 million), Otokar said in a statement.

Romania’s Ministry of National Defence has tasked state-run defense company Romtehnica with carrying out the procurement.

The latest development comes as Bucharest is advancing a number of major procurements for the nation’s land forces. These include the planned acquisitions of new tracked infantry fighting vehicles, tanks and wheeled self-propelled howitzers. Last June, Romania chose the K9 Thunder 155 mm tracked self-propelled howitzer for the country’s military, purchasing 54 howitzers from South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace.

Alexandru Georgescu, a Bucharest-based security and defense analyst, told Defense News that, following long-standing public criticism, the Romanian ministry attaches great importance to foreign suppliers’ offers of cooperation with local defense plants.

Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine is encouraging Bucharest to strengthen “the undersized and overall neglected Romanian defense industry,” Georgescu said.

The Cobra II has a gross weight of up to 14.5 tons (31,967 lbs) and is powered by a turbo-charged diesel engine fitted with a 360 hp capacity. The vehicle can carry a total of 11 persons, including a driver and a commander, according to data from the Turkish manufacturer.

Space Force to fly two rapid-response demonstration missions in 2026

The Space Force announced two new missions to demonstrate how highly maneuverable space vehicles can enable the service to quickly respond to real-time threats.

The service awarded Impulse Space a $34.5 million contract for two maneuverable spacecraft on Oct. 4. The company’s Mira space vehicle, which flew for the first time last year, can host multiple payloads and transport them to different orbits.

The Defense Innovation Unit and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory will provide payloads for the missions. A Space Systems Command spokesman told Defense News that the timing is still fluid, but both missions are slated for summer or fall of 2026 as part of a tactically responsive space demonstration series.

The Space Force defines tactically responsive space as the ability to react quickly to the threats that come from operating in an increasingly congested and adversarial space environment. That could mean launching satellites on short notice, maneuvering a pre-positioned, spare spacecraft to augment a degraded system or buying data from a commercial vendor during a crisis.

Since 2021, the service has conducted two tactically responsive space missions, and it’s planning a third in 2025. A demonstration last year, dubbed Victus Nox, showed that the service could work with satellite and launch companies to deliver a spacecraft in a matter of months and launch it with just 27 hours of notice.

The 2026 missions will focus less on satellite and launch vehicle delivery timelines and more on in-space operations.

The first mission, dubbed Victus Surgo, will launch into low Earth orbit on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Impulse’s Helios high-energy kick stage, which will fly for the first time on this mission, will then transfer the Mira spacecraft to geosynchronous orbit.

DIU will co-sponsor Victus Surgo, and the mission will feature one of its payloads.

The second demonstration, Victus Salo, will fly to low Earth orbit carrying an MIT-built payload. SpaceX will launch the spacecraft as part of a rideshare mission.

“Both missions will incorporate a modular interface to reduce the time and effort it takes to integrate and test new payloads to space vehicles,” Space Systems Command said in a statement. “Once on orbit, the two spacecraft will be able to quickly conduct space domain awareness missions using a precise, high thrust and high delta-V propulsion capability.”

Netherlands delivers F-16s to Ukraine, provides $440M for drones

PARIS — The Netherlands will deliver F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine over the coming months, with the Dutch defense minister acknowledging for the first time that the handover of 24 warplanes to the embattled country is underway.

The Dutch will also provide €400 million ($439 million) to jointly develop and produce advanced drones for reconnaissance, defense and attack, mainly in the air but also on land and at sea, Ruben Brekelmans said on a surprise visit to the embattled country on Sunday.

“For the first time, I can officially announce that the first Dutch F-16s have been delivered to Ukraine,” Brekelmans said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, as he traveled to Kyiv as well as the city of Kharkiv. “This is urgently needed. In Kharkiv, I saw the damage from Russian airstrikes and heard frequent air raid alarms.”

Word about F-16s reaching Ukrainian forces first came over the summer following preparations by a coalition of European governments, led by the Netherlands and Denmark, to donate aircraft. The weapons are meant to help Ukraine repel Russian attacks, which have targeted population centers and critical infrastructure.

Dutch Chief of Defence Gen. Otto Eichelsheim addressed his country’s contributions during a visit to Washington in late August, saying the F-16s were doing a “good job.” He also said Dutch leaders had placed no restrictions on how Ukrainian pilots can use them, including striking military targets in Russia, as Moscow’s forces have used their side of the border to stage assaults into Ukraine.

Dutch military support for Ukraine reached €3.76 billion end-September, up by €683 million from early June, Brekelmans said in a letter to parliament dated Sunday. Much of the new money was aimed at maintaining Ukraine’s fighting capacity, included parts and ammunition for Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers, Patriot air-defense systems and F-16 jets, as well as medical goods and combat rations. the Ministry of Defence said.

The first F-16 deliveries followed the Netherlands granting export licenses for the fighters on July 1, according to the ministry. To arm the jets and keep them flying, the Dutch are supplying Ukraine air-to-air missiles from their stockpiles, as well as €450 million to buy ammunition and €80 million for maintenance contracts and spare parts.

“We agreed to enhance cooperation within the aviation coalition, including crew training and the supply of weapons and spare parts for aircraft,” Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said in a post on X, after meeting with Brekelmans.

Brekelmans says the Dutch have previously taken a lead role in providing Ukraine with F-16s and Patriot air-defense systems, and will pursue that role with the plan for advanced drones.

The two countries will jointly develop advanced drones and accelerate production of successful prototypes, with nearly half of that taking place in the Netherlands, according to the Dutch MoD. The Netherlands is a frontrunner in developing unmanned vehicles, and will be able to contribute high-end technology, the ministry said.

For successful prototypes, more funds will be made available to scale up production, according to the ministry. Due to the importance of drones in modern warfare, the project will be a priority for the Netherlands, and Brekelmans told Dutch news agency ANP the effort doesn’t concern the types of small drone used in mass on the Ukrainian battlefield, but the most advanced drones.

“When Dutch knowledge and technology are combined with Ukrainian battlefield experience, that results in innovative and effective drones,” Brekelmans said. “Development of all kinds of drones is happening at lightning speed. We don’t have the luxury of taking a long time, it’s about moving fast. Buy prototypes, quickly test them and rapidly scale up production.”

Brekelmans said he observed the aftermath of Russia’s heavy bombardments in Kharkiv, including destroyed apartments, electricity shortages and children attending school in bunkers. He said Ukraine can only defend itself by “keeping Russia at a greater distance,” without providing details.

The U.S. has supplied Ukraine with Joint Direct Attack Munition kits to convert unguided bombs into guided munitions, and which can be launched by F-16s.

Air raid alarms also sounded during a flower-laying ceremony for fallen Ukrainian soldiers at a cemetery in Kyiv, which Brekelmans attended with Eichelsheim, the minister said in a post on X on Monday. “Ukrainians are making unparalleled sacrifices for their freedom,” Brekelmans said.

The Dutch MoD provided an updated overview of equipment supplied or pledged to Ukraine, which includes a Patriot radar system and five launchers, 353 YPR-765 infantry fighting vehicles, 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks, more than 100 Leopard 1 tanks and eight PzH 2000s.

Navy identifies three vessels impacted by faulty shipyard weld work

Editor’s note: This report has been updated to include a statement from HII.

Navy leaders this week identified an aircraft carrier and two submarines affected by faulty weld issues during work at the Newport News Shipyard in Virginia, but say that the substandard work did not take place on components that affect ship safety or operations.

In a letter to House and Senate armed services committee members Thursday, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said impacted ships include the recently-revamped aircraft carrier George Washington and the brand-new attack submarines Hyman G. Rickover and New Jersey.

Citing shipyard officials, Del Toro wrote that the issue involved “welders who did not follow welding procedures properly.”

“Importantly, the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has assessed that the welds were not on components or systems that affect ship safety or operations,” he wrote. “NAVSEA, as the technical warrant holder, has determined the ships are safe to operate.”

Del Toro wrote that he first became aware of the issue on Sept. 24.

The Navy had identified those three vessels as having been impacted as of Thursday, and Del Toro’s memo states that the sea service is examining welds on 23 ships under construction or in maintenance to see if faulty welds there may impact future operations.

Lawmakers demand answers over reports of faulty Navy ship welding

Last week, officials with HII, the company that owns Newport News Shipbuilding, acknowledged that “some welders knowingly circumvented certain welding procedures” while working on military vessels.

“Malicious intent” was ruled out as a the source of the problem, HII said in a statement.

“Upon discovery of some welders not consistently following procedures, we followed our protocol, took action to communicate with our customers and regulators in a timely manner and began working the issue with the Navy,” the company said in an additional statement Friday.

The Department of Justice is investigating the matter, lawmakers confirmed this week.

Del Toro promised to cooperate with that probe and wrote Thursday that the Navy “is evaluating all legal options, and reserving our rights accordingly.”

Congressional leaders have pushed the Navy this week for more answers on the scope of the problem and how it was allowed to happen.

“These vessels are critical to U.S. defense,” House Armed Services Committee members wrote to Del Toro this week. “We must ensure that these vessels are protected against any bad actors seeking to put U.S. national security or our service members at risk.”

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.

While the timeframe of the faulty welds has not been disclosed, George Washington left the Newport News yard in May 2023 following its midlife maintenance overhaul that began in 2017 and was originally supposed to wrap in 2021. Officials blamed the delays on extra unanticipated work during the so-called refueling and complex overhaul, or RCOH.

The carrier is currently underway in the Pacific Ocean and on its way to its new home port in Japan.

The submarine Hyman G. Rickover was commissioned in October 2023, while New Jersey was just commissioned on Sept. 14.

In the memo, Del Toro promised a full review of operations at the shipyard to ensure the welding problems do not occur again.

“The safety of our sailors and ships is of paramount importance,” he wrote. “We have given top priority to the task of defining and examining the scope of improper welds conducted on operational in-service ships, and I have directed my Navy technical experts to co-locate with the shipyard immediately to support a thorough review.”

Italian minister proposes fresh taxes on arms makers’ windfall profits

ROME — Italian defense companies whose profits have soared thanks to armed conflicts around the world could face increased taxation, Italy’s finance minister has suggested in a speech which has been challenged by his allies.

Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said the imposition of fresh taxes on Italian arms makers could be part of across-the-board revenue raising by the Italian government as it struggles to boost its finances.

“There will be a general call for everyone to contribute, not just banks,” he said on Thursday, adding, “One could say that with all these wars, those who produce arms are doing particularly well.”

Asked if he would consider upping taxation on the sector, he said, “Evidently yes.”

He added, “We will be approving a budget that will require sacrifices from everyone.”

Italy to buy 25 extra F-35 fighter jets under new budget

Shares in Italy’s largest defense firm, Leonardo, dropped after Giorgetti’s speech to 20.56 euros from 21.10 a day earlier before rising slightly to 20.87 euros on Friday.

The firm’s share price has risen dramatically in the last two years on the strength of new orders and the rise in defense spending fueled by the conflict in Ukraine.

From between six and seven euros a share just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the price of Leonardo shares reached around 24 euros in June of this year.

Announcing its half year results in July, the firm said it had a record order backlog worth €43 billion, helping it make a half year profit of €555 million, up 168% on the previous year.

Giorgetti’s announcement, which came as the Italian government works on its year-end budget, prompted surprise from allies in Italy’s right wing government who oppose new taxes.

Federico Freni, a junior finance minister who answers to Giorgetti, said, “There is no tax raise for anyone being studied. New taxes are not part of the DNA of this government.”

On Friday, Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani, said, “No new taxes, we are totally against imposing new taxes,” adding, “There have been some misinterpretations of some words said yesterday” by Minister Giorgetti.

He said, “as long as we are in government there will be no new taxes for Italians.”