Defense news from March 2024

APPOINTMENTS

DCS Corp. appointed Mike Smith as executive vice president and sector manager of the Army and Marine Corps Sector. Since joining DCS in 1994, Smith has focused on expanding his division’s services beyond Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) support to include field service, rapid prototyping, and manufacturing. Smith brings more than 36 years of engineering and management experience for the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC), located at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan. At GVSC, Smith supported the development and advancement of several Army Research and Development and Production programs, leveraging his expertise in systems engineering, C5ISR integration, developmental and operational test, and field service support.

For more: https://www.dcscorp.com

Reveal Technology acquires DFL Technology

Reveal Technology Inc. acquired DFL Technology. DFL Technology’s IDENTIFI comprehensive identity and biometrics capture suite complements Reveal’s geospatial and terrain modeling technologies to provide more thorough situational awareness. Former DFL CEO Isaac Riddle will lead Reveal’s Identity and Biometrics Business Unit, delivering IDENTIFI and other future products to U.S. DOD, foreign military, and other public safety customers. This acquisition advances Reveal’s mission to deliver artificial intelligence (AI) tools to its military users, enhancing survivability and lethality while accelerating high-quality decision-making and autonomy.

For more: https://www.revealtech.ai

For more: https://www.dfltechnology.com

CONTRACTS

Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, Colorado, is awarded a $193,791,834 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification to a previously awarded contract for the design, development, build, and integration of equipment for missile flight test demonstrations and fielding. Work will be performed in Denver, Colorado; Huntsville, Alabama; Sunnyvale, California; and other locations. Work is expected to be completed by Feb. 25, 2025.

For more: https://www.lockheedmartin.com

Global Military Products, Tampa, Florida, and Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Radford, Virginia, will compete for each order of the $133,900,000 firm-fixed-price contract for special ammunition and weapons systems requirements. Bids were solicited via the Internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 19, 2024.

For more: https://www.globalmilitaryproducts.com

For more: https://www.northropgrumman.com

General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona, was awarded an $82,809,017 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the continued procurement, manufacturing, testing, and delivery of AN/USC-61(C) Digital Modular Radio (DMR) systems and High Frequency Distribution Amplifier Group components, with spares for both systems and engineering services to support their continued fielding and maintenance plans. Work will be performed in Scottsdale and is expected to be completed by January 2029.

For more: https://gdmissionsystems.com

Lithion Battery Inc., Henderson, Nevada, was awarded a $8,034,490 firm-fixed-price contract for research and development activities associated with advancement and improvement in current and future shipboard electric power and energy systems. Work will be performed in Henderson and is expected to be completed by January 2025.

For more: https://www.lithionbattery.com

Military drone market

The military drone market is anticipated to grow from $13.0 billion in 2023 to $18.2 billion by 2028 with a compound annual growth rate of 7.0% according to MarketsandMarkets. This growth is driven by increased investments in advanced military solutions to enhance defense forces’ capabilities. The rise in piracy and territorial encroachments in regions such as Central Asia, South America, East Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and West Africa has led to heightened maritime patrolling and anti-piracy operations. There’s a growing reliance on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for maritime patrolling and identifying potential hotspots.

For more: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com

Baylor University launches SMART Hub, partnering with DOD

Baylor University launched the Spectrum Management with Adaptive and Reconfigurable Technology Hub (SMART Hub), a Department of Defense (DOD) Spectrum Innovation Center to conduct multifaceted spectrum research to meet national defense needs. Directed by Charles Baylis, Ph.D., professor of electrical and computer engineering at Baylor’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, SMART Hub will organize research efforts from 17 institutions to revolutionize the increasingly crowded communication spectrum used by U.S. defense efforts and the population at large.

SMART Hub was possible through a $5 million congressional appropriation championed by Rep. Pete Sessions (TX-17) and institutional support from Baylor University.

Wireless transmission

Cellphone users rely on the spectrum for communication, along with a variety of other wireless methods. Baylis describes the spectrum as the “real estate” of wireless transmission.

“When I send or receive a phone call, I must use some type of bandwidth on the spectrum to transmit. It’s the same for anyone,” Baylis says. “Now, when you factor in the increase in wireless devices, you can imagine the spectrum has become crowded to the point that there’s really no spectrum left.”

Military and corporate organizations recognize that dwindling space will soon impact their users. The need has led researchers to pursue entirely new approaches to spectrum communication, the focus of SMART Hub.

A multi-institution approach, housed at Baylor

SMART Hub is comprised of a multidisciplinary team of 29 researchers at 17 institutions. A complete list is available on the SMART Hub website.

For more: https://smarthub.research.baylor.edu/about-us

“We’ll be working on groundbreaking technology that’ll revolutionize how we use the spectrum,” Baylis says. “Rather than fixed systems using the same frequency and staying there, we’re designing systems that adapt to their surroundings and determine how to successfully transmit and receive. It’s a true paradigm shift requiring the collaboration we’ll have in SMART Hub.”

That shift would require new algorithms and hardware adjustments capable of responsive shifts from one band to another. This is a key SMART Hub focus: the development of technologies to build and support adaptive and reconfigurable technologies for wireless communication, radar systems, and passive sensing.

Protecting the U.S. Armed Forces

Reliable wireless communication is critically important to the DOD in peacetime and war, and the military must be able to adapt and work around interference. Radars are a good example, Baylis says, as they’re vitally important to detect threats. However, complications arise when cellphones are brought into the radar band.

“You must have a solution that can sense despite the presence of these other wireless devices,” he says. “You must recognize interfering devices and shift your band of operation to avoid them. Our military needs new policies and technologies to make this possible.”

Growth in devices has jammed the bandwidth available to a point that the U.S. Armed Forces need new options. Their partnership with SMART Hub will pursue these new adaptive technologies for military use, with the likelihood of future benefits to civilian communication as well.

For more: https://smarthub.research.baylor.edu