Countdown

Starts for New U.S.

Rocket Engines
PAGE 24

China’s Grip on
Cobalt Threatens
Supply Chains
PAGE 28

NATIONALDEFENSEMAGAZINE.ORG

A M I K A Z E
K N E S
Revo l
Loitering
Munition
u t i o n
DRO
s
izing
Warfar3e2
PAGE

AUGUST 2022

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 CONTENTS
August 2022 | Volume CVII, Number 825 | NationalDefenseMagazine.org
NDIA’S
BUSINESS &
TECHNOLOGY
MAGA ZINE

ROCKET
ENGINE 24
• The Pentagon no
longer wants to rely on
Russian-made rocket
engines for its space
needs. As the United
States phases out the
RD-180 engine, space
companies are rising
to the occasion with COVER STORY 32
new technology. • Loitering munitions,
also known as kamikaze
drones, are proliferating
both at defense exhibi-
tions and on battlefields.
Vendors from all over the
world came to Eurosatory
to exhibit the latest tech
that is making an impact
in Ukrainian military
operations.

LOOK FOR
AUGMENTED
COVER: ND photo-illustration with Elbit Systems, iStock images TOP RIGHT: Uvision photo

REALITY
CONTENT
ON:
PAGE 10
PAGE 34

CRITICAL MINERALS 28
• Cobalt is considered essen-
tial for national security. The EXPERIENCE
Pentagon uses it in batter- THE MAGAZINE
IN AUGMENTED
ies and jet engine alloys REALITY
among other prod-
DOWNLOAD THE FREE NDIA AR APP
ucts. But China has a If previously installed, please update
stranglehold on the to the latest version by checking
global supply which the App Store or Google Play.

worries some experts.

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N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 1
 CONTENTS

STAFF
4 5 6 12 13 14 EDITOR IN CHIEF
Stew Magnuson
(703) 247-2545
SMagnuson@NDIA.org

4 NDIA PERSPECTIVE 26 AIR POWER CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Views from the association's leadership Air Force Putting Software First for Brian Taylor
Next-Gen Air Dominance (703) 247-2546
5 EDITOR’S NOTES BY MEREDITH ROATEN BTaylor@NDIA.org
From the desk of the editor in chief
BY STEW MAGNUSON 28 CRITICAL MINERALS MANAGING EDITOR
Sean Carberry
United States Seeking Alternatives to (703) 247-2542
6 DISPATCHES Chinese Cobalt BY SEAN CARBERRY SCarberry@NDIA.org
News from the U.S. and around the world
COMPILED BY STEW MAGNUSON 30 LAND FORCES STAFF WRITER
Army Tackles Arctic Challenges Alongside Meredith Roaten
12 EMERGING TECHNOLOGY HORIZONS European Allies BY MIKAYLA EASLEY (703) 247-2543
Looking toward the tech of the future MRoaten@NDIA.org
32 COVER STORY
13 ALGORITHMIC WARFARE Loitering Munitions Proliferate as Tech STAFF WRITER
Mikayla Easley
What’s coming in artificial intelligence, big Changes Battlefield BY STEW MAGNUSON
(703) 247-9469
data and cybersecurity BY MEREDITH ROATEN MEasley@NDIA.org
36 COUNTER-DRONE TECH
14 BUDGET MATTERS Loitering Munitions Create Urgency for EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Who’s funding what in Washington Counter-Drone Tech BY MIKAYLA EASLEY Josh Luckenbaugh
BY SEAN CARBERRY (703) 247-2585
37 AUTOMATION JLuckenbaugh@NDIA.org
15 VIEWPOINT The Defense Department is Learning
Russia, Belarus Sanctions Hit State To Love Bots BY SEAN CARBERRY ADVERTISING
Contractors BY PAUL DEBOLT, DISMAS LOCARIA
AND LINDSAY MEYER 39 VIEWPOINT SVP, MEETINGS & BUSINESS
U.S. Must Preserve its Quantum Advantage PARTNERSHIPS
16 COMMENTARY BY JOHN C. JOHNSON Christine M. Klein
Study Predicts BioTech’s Long-Term Impact (703) 247-2593
On Defense BY DIANE DIEULIIS, PETER EMANUEL 41 NDIA POLICY POINTS CKlein@NDIA.org
AND BRIAN FEENEY Views from the association's policy division
SALES DIRECTOR
18 INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE 42 GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING INSIGHTS Kathleen Kenney
(703) 247-2576
Layered Defense Rooted in Directed Analysis of the newest rules and regulations KKenney@NDIA.org
Energy Tech BY JOE SHEPHERD CONTRIBUTED BY COVINGTON & BURLING
SALES MANAGER
20 UNDERSEA WARFARE 43 NDIA NEWS Alex Mitchell
Shipyards Building Two Submarine Classes Happenings at the association (703) 247-2568
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NDIA PERSPECTIVE BY DR. MARK LEWIS
Emerging Technologies Institute Marks First Birthday
A
s you read this, the
one-year anniver-
sary of the official
standup of the National
Defense Industrial Associa-
tion’s Emerging Technolo-
gies Institute is upon us. And
what an eventful year it has been.
The creation of ETI signaled a bold
new chapter at NDIA: an internal,
non-partisan think tank with the goal
of providing thought leadership on
the delivery of emerging technologies
for national security. NDIA’s govern-
ing board had a vision for a research
organization that would sit at the
nexus of government, academia and
industry to help deliver critical tech-
nologies into the hands of warfighters.
And what better organization
to house such a think tank than
NDIA? With its expansive member-
ship, active divisions and chapters
and impeccable reputation, it is
the perfect parent organization.
Why did the defense enterprise
need yet one more think tank? For one
thing, I can think of no single greater
challenge to the national defense
posture than the rapid technological
advances being made by peer com-
petitors. And no other organization
previously existed that could tackle
the most critical issues associated
with a wide spectrum of emerging
defense technologies, informed by
knowledge of, and an appreciation
for, the defense industrial base.
The institute had its formal kick-
off with an all-star event at NDIA
headquarters, headlined by then-Vice
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen.
John Hyten. He offered sobering com-
ments on the challenges facing us,
including the need for fully networked
systems, rapid acquisition and con-
ducting logistics operations in contest-
ed environments. We also introduced
an impressive slate of senior advisors.
We have had a number of notable
activities since then, including the
podcast series, “Emerging Tech Hori-
zons.” As of this writing, we have
released 28 episodes, with almost
100,000 downloads on YouTube and
the association’s audio platform. We
have also begun a weekly “Technol-
ogy 101” webinar series, in which
nationally recognized experts pres-
ent a one-hour webinar covering the
4 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
basics of emerging technologies,
aimed at the educated layperson.
And our monthly column
in NDIA’s award-winning
National Defense Magazine
has also allowed us to reach
a wide audience. (See page 12)
ETI is hosting forums in which
experts can discuss topics related to
critical defense. One of the most suc-
cessful has been a workshop series
hosted by Al Shaffer, former deputy
undersecretary of defense for acqui-
sition and sustainment. This series
began with an exploration of the so-
called “Modernization Quandary”
delivering new capabilities despite
budget constraints, legacy systems,
bureaucratic hurdles and govern-
ment stovepipes. It has subsequently
included sessions on joint all-domain
command and control, joint fires and
logistics in contested environments.
We have also been working on a
long-term study on emerging technol-
ogy supply chains. Beginning with four
topic areas — hypersonics, directed
energy, quantum science and biotech-
nology — and working with a team at
the University of Maryland, this com-
prehensive analysis is exploring issues
and potential actions to shore up the
supply chain in our critical emerging
areas, especially if we wish to deliver
new capabilities at scale. Look for the
first results to be released this fall.
Within NDIA, we’ve worked with the
policy shop to provide expert input to
members of Congress and their staff
and teamed on the Vital Signs report
on the health of the defense industry.
ETI has collaborated closely with the
membership team, including recruit-
ment and support to the Women In
Defense program, and has worked
with the meetings team to build con-
tent and events. We’ve also teamed
with chapters and divisions to present
at their meetings, as well as speak and
chair sessions at regional conferences.
In addition to our partnership with
the University of Maryland, we have
built a rewarding collaboration with
Purdue University, teaming to deliver
two highly successful conferences
this year, one on hypersonics and the
other on energetic materials. The lat-
ter was highlighted on the cover of
the July issue of National Defense.
The strength of any organization
is ultimately dependent on the qual-
ity of its people, and this past year
we have done an incredible job in
building a world-class team. Camilla
Shanley was ETI’s first employee and
has had a hand in every aspect of its
stand-up, now serving as the senior
manager. We have also been incredibly
fortunate to bring Dr. Arun Seraphin
on board as deputy, following his
storied career in federal service.
Rebecca Wostenberg and Dr. Anna
Melker also joined us as research fel-
lows, and Samantha Beu and Wilson
Miles are associate research fellows.
Rounding out the team this summer
is a cohort of five interns and Wai
Chung, a biotechnology expert on loan
to ETI from the Army. The team now
occupies a beautiful, newly renovated
workspace at NDIA headquarters.
The Emerging Technologies Insti-
tute’s first year has been a rousing
success, dedicated to defining its roles
and missions, delivering valuable and
valued content and building the team.
And we’re just getting started. Watch
for more webinars, podcasts, work-
shops, reports and especially for a
future announcement of a signature
Emerging Technologies conference,
which will be the premiere event of its
type.
The United States is in a defense
technology race, and the institute is
dedicated to ensuring it is a race we do
not lose. ND
iStock illustration
Dr. Mark Lewis is the executive
director of the Emerging Technologies
Institute.
 EDITOR’S NOTES BY STEW MAGNUSON
Tips for Placing Commentaries in the Magazine
O
ne of the big parts of my
job is coordinating the
opinion pieces that appear
every month in National Defense.
These usually fall under three titles:
“Viewpoint,” “Commentary” and
sometimes “Industry Perspective.”
The umbrella term is “contrib-
uted pieces,” because the writ-
ers are not paid for the articles.
This month’s column is a bit
self-serving, as I spend a great deal
of time fielding phone calls and
emails from potential contributors,
or their public relations represen-
tatives, who are seeking to place
commentaries in the magazine.
And I do my best to walk them
through what I need and don’t need. I
point them to the “Contribute an Arti-
cle” section at nationaldefensemaga-
zine.org under “Contact Us” that has
a fairly good rundown of what we
need, but these tips are often ignored.
Recently I had a potential contribu-
tor with an interesting topic. I gave
them a standard word count — 1,500
to 1,800 — and added “please read the
writer’s guidelines.” The article was
sent to me 10 minutes later at 1,200
words with about 10 different rules
broken. That word count leaves me
in no-man’s land. Too long for one
page and too short for two pages.
It’s very competitive to place a
commentary in National Defense.
So what are we looking for in terms
of topics and contributors?
First, we are looking for topics that
are of interest to a wide swath of our
readers. Not every commentary is
of interest to everyone, but we often
receive items that are too far down
in the weeds. A recent example was
a submission about a program in the
geospatial intelligence field. Interest-
ing to some, but not to a large enough
number of our readers, I estimated.
Bread-and-butter topics that
are of interest to larger numbers
of readers would include: acquisi-
tion reform, Cybersecurity Matu-
rity Model Certification, tips for
small businesses, emerging mar-
kets and contracting insights.
As for contributors, we are look-
ing for “noted experts,” which
iStock illustration
has a broad definition, but nor-
mally doesn’t include term papers
from university students.
These experts are active
duty or retired military
officers, academics, think
tankers, association lead-
ers, attorneys, consultants
and industry executives.
Industry executives get the
most rejections because many of
them are just looking for free ads.
Sometimes the pitch — usu-
ally coming from a public rela-
tions firm — is overt.
“Military innovation leader ACME
Corp. would like to send you an article
written by our president and CEO,
retired Army Gen. Robert Revolving-
door about the innovative ways the
military can use the company’s
innovative new low-cost Illudium
Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.”
No thanks. Buy an ad. Send it as a
press release and maybe one of our
reporters will write it up as a news
brief. But that’s not a commentary.
We understand that presidents,
CEOs and other executives want
to put their name out there as
“thought leaders,” and often their
viewpoints are pitched as “vendor
neutral.” That’s fine as long as the
topic is interesting and compel-
ling to a large number of readers.
Yet these writers often can’t resist
slipping in a paragraph or two of
ad copy about how the company “is
leading the way to blah, blah, blah.”
I just edit it out because I can.
As the writer’s guidelines state:
“It is magazine policy that once a
manuscript is in the editing process,
no outside perusal is permitted.”
In other words, the article will
be transformed into our style.
Those who read National Defense
regularly may notice our phi-
losophy of “uncluttered copy.”
We don’t like bold lettering
or italics. We abhor parenthe-
sis and prefer an em-dash.
We eschew “over capitaliz-
ing.” We’re not an academic
journal, so no footnotes. And
we despise acronyms, although we
do use them — sparingly — never
more than one per paragraph.
And please: no hyperlinks in place
of citations. If something must be
cited, do it in the text. Print maga-
zines don’t have hyperlinks. Duh.
The article will appear online as
well, but we’re not posting a sec-
ond version with hyperlinks.
And listen up attorneys — we don’t
do bullet points and numbered lists.
Sometimes we receive articles that
are little more than a series of bullet
points and look more like an outline
than a commentary. The legal com-
munity loves this writing style. But
that’s not writing. That’s listing.
Now, don’t get me wrong. We
receive a lot of great, insightful com-
mentaries from attorneys. They are a
wealth of insider knowledge, especially
in the realms of acquisition, contract-
ing and new regulations. But the legal-
ese they use for writing is the worst.
For example, someone explain
this construct: “The Department of
Defense (“DoD”) recently updated the
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Cer-
tification (“CMMC”) standards…”
Why on Earth do lawyers need
quotation marks and parenthesis?
However, these style issues are
not dealbreakers. As copyeditors,
we will transform bullet points
to paragraphs, ruthlessly elimi-
nate acronyms and turn legalese
into understandable English.
Next, make sure the article has all
the necessary approvals if it’s com-
ing from the military, government
or a bureaucratic organization prior
to sending. Don’t email a draft with
a caveat “it just has to be approved
by my commanding officer.”
Finally, there are no deadlines.
The sooner I receive a commentary,
the sooner I can look for a slot for it
in the magazine. But once accepted,
understand that it may not see the
light of day for several months.
All that being said, pitches for pro-
vocative, well-reasoned and interesting
commentaries are always welcome. ND
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 5

DISPATCHES
NEWS FROM THE U.S. AND AROUND THE WORLD COMPILED BY STEW MAGNUSON
U.S., Royal Navies
Cut Ribbon at London
Innovation Hub
BY MIKAYLA EASLEY
L
ONDON — After operat-
ing virtually for more than
a year, the U.S. Navy’s tech
bridge network recently opened
its London-based office.
The London Tech Bridge is a con-
duit for innovation between the U.S.
Navy and British Royal Navy. The
partnership aims to accelerate tech-
nology development and coopera-
tion between the military, industry
and academia from both countries.
With its new facilities, the program
plans to host more in-person events
and foster more dialogue between
the two navies and potential part-
ners, U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Lorin
Selby, chief of naval research, said
in June during the office’s ribbon-
cutting ceremony in Central London.
“There is nothing like looking at
6 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
Chief of Naval Research
Rear Adm. Lorin Selby
and Rear Adm. James
Parkin CBE, of the Royal Navy,
cut a ribbon to celebrate the grand
opening of the London Tech Bridge.
my partners in industry eye to eye as
we sit down to talk about the future
and the systems we need,” he said.
“That has to be done in person, and
having a place like this where we
can all come together to talk about
our problems and talk about solu-
tions — that’s what this is all about.”
The London office is part of the
network of “tech bridges” powered
by the U.S. Naval Agility Office, or
NavalX. The program is designed
to help nontraditional acquisition
partners — like startups, small busi-
nesses, academia or nonprofits —
find a path to work with the Navy.
Of the service’s 18 tech bridges,
the London Tech Bridge is one of
two international outposts. The
other is located in Yokosuka, Japan.
Since it was initially established
in December 2020, the London Tech
Bridge has operated virtually due
to the COVID-19 pandemic. During
that time, the office built its net-
work and found areas of collabora-
tion between the two navies, said
Laurence Mallinson, the U.K. co-
director of the London Tech Bridge.
“We’re looking for opportuni-
ties that the Royal Navy and the
U.S. Navy could exploit,” he said.
“Where do we have problems that
we want to solve with technol-
ogy, and where might technology
exist that we need to bring into the
hands of the warfighters quicker?”
Rear Adm. James Parkin CBE,
Royal Navy director develop, noted the
importance of the tech bridge’s loca-
tion for attracting future collaborators.
“It’s in a global city at the heart of
[time zones geography] and the center
of a tech revolution right now,” he said.
During a tour of the office, Lon-
don Tech Bridge U.S. Co-Director
Jeff Brewer said the office’s setup
is conducive to its overall goal in
removing bureaucratic barriers
industry might experience when
working with the military.
The office is a small space
located in the same build-
ing with other London-based
startups and small compa-
nies. In addition, the room
has couches and moveable
tables that can be rear-
ranged like a conference room
or in a less formal set up.
“When you work with a small
company and bring them into a
military base, it’s a very different
field — they’re getting frisked and
going through metal detectors, and
they have to have a badge,” Brewer
said. “This is a lot different, and it’s
a lot more what they’re used to.”
The London Tech Bridge also plans
to host events at their new facility.
For example, in June they conducted
the first monthly “Tea and Tech”
session where industry from speci-
fied technology areas can pitch their
ideas to the U.S. and U.K. navies.
The London office will explore all
areas of technology, but it will take
special interest in ideas from six focus
areas: artificial intelligence, autono-
mous systems, directed energy, green
energy, advanced manufacturing
Navy photo by Michael Walls
and maintenance and sustainment.
“It’s about tech, because for the
first time in many years, people are
recognizing that the level of tech-
nological advancements … are at
a tipping point,” Parkin said. ND
 IN BRIEF Reporting by Sean Carberry, Josh Luckenbaugh and Meredith Roaten

Australia Behind GLAVY lites, communications, missiles.”

AUKUS ‘Eight Ball’
• Australia’s Defense Minister Rich-
ard Marles said budget pressures
are among the challenges facing the
nation as it looks to construct a fleet
of nuclear-powered submarines
through the AUKUS agreement.
“A series of false starts over the
last 10 years” developing a new fleet
of submarines “has really put us
behind the eight ball, and now we
find ourselves really facing a sig-
nificant potential capability
gap,” Marles, who is also the
nation’s deputy prime minis-
ter, said at a recent CSIS event.
A major challenge will be the
price tag, said Marles. “None of this
is going to come cheaply,” he said.
“We’re going to need to work out how
we build this into a budget which …
after COVID, has a significant debt
associated with it.” Nevertheless,
Marles was confident Australia —
along with its U.S. and U.K. partners
— can “meet those challenges.” ND
Marines Release
‘Information’ Doctrine
• The Marine Corps has released,
“Doctrinal Publication 8,” a big-
picture exploration of information’s
impact in modern warfare, and
how each Marine should factor the
realm into everything from battle-
field engagements to social media
posts, said Lt. Gen. Matthew Glavy,
deputy commandant, information.
“I would say, and I'm looking in
the mirror right now, that we've
been complacent in just assum-
ing information is like the air we
breathe,” Glavy told reporters. “We
just assume we will have it. It's
ubiquitous. It's always there.”
The war in Ukraine and major
network intrusions in recent years
have shown that information is
always under threat, he added. “And
when we are complacent with under-
standing of the power of informa-
tion, we will lose,” he added. ND
House Leader
Lukewarm on NGAD
• The Next Generation Air Domi-
nance platform, the Air Force’s
future jet fighter, is expected to
be a package of a sixth-generation
stealth tech, autonomous drones and
an array of weapons and sensors.
But the chair of the House Armed
Services Committee said he isn’t
ready to go all-in on the program.
“I'm always reluctant to put a
whole lot of chips in the middle of
the table when you don't know for
sure, and the NGAD seems like a
whole lot of chips going into the
middle of the table,” Rep. Adam
Smith, D-Wash, told reporters.
Fighters haven’t been a big part
of recent conflicts, he noted. “It
seems to me that the investments
we should be making are in more
survivable drone systems, satel-
Smith wants a robust discussion
about what NGAD is designed to
accomplish and what its capabili-
ties and survivability will be before
Congress makes a major investment.
“This is three-dimensional chess,
not checkers,” he continued. “What
is the capability that you're bring-
ing into the fight? We all wish
that it was as simple as it was in
the new Top Gun movie.” ND
Read more on NGAD on Page 26.
And speaking
Of Top Gun …
• The sequel to Top Gun
filled theaters every-
where this summer,
but at least one senior
defense leader didn’t
attend opening week-
end: Secretary of the Air
Force Frank Kendall.
“I'm embarrassed
now that I haven’t”
seen Top Gun: Maver-
ick, he said at a recent AFA event.
While the film centers around
the Navy’s top aviators, the movie
has no shortage of Air Force fans.
The service even debuted the film
at the movie theater on Shep-
pard Air Force Base, Texas.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen.
Charles “CQ” Brown told Kendall
that he liked the movie so much that
he was going to see it a second time.
Kendall said: ”You just con-
vinced me to go see it, for
whatever that's worth.” ND

FURTHER READING by Stew Magnuson information about risk

Defense Industrial Base: DoD Should Take Actions to Strengthen mitigation, it added.
The office has suf-
Its Risk Mitigation Approach By the Government Accountability Office
fered from “significant
• Issues surrounding the in a time of conflict. ples, such turnover of senior
defense industrial base The Defense Depart- as shipyard leadership,” it added.
are many and well known. ment’s industrial base pol- capacity and semi- The GAO recommends
Marine Corps photo, Top Gun promotion image

They include: reliance of
foreign or single-source
suppliers, obsolete parts
and the decline of U.S.
manufacturing capacity.
This has lead to supply
chain issues and serious
questions as to whether
industry has the abil-
ity to surge production
icy office was established
to tackle risk mitigation
when it comes to these
issues, but this GOA report
indicates that it doesn’t
have much visibility into
these problems despite
a great deal of funding
being applied to some of
the more notable exam-
conductor shortages.
Despite numerous exec-
utive orders and congres-
sional mandates, the office
and the services have not
established enterprise-
wide performance mea-
sures, the report noted.
Its annual capabilities
reports do not contain
that the Pentagon “develop
a consolidated and com-
prehensive strategy to mit-
igate industrial base risks.”
It also wants more
performance measures
attached to the myriad
programs the services
and the department are
implementing. ND

N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 7
Innovation Nation
Supply Tracking Software Intended for
Marines Goes Commercial BY STEW MAGNUSON

P
ARIS — A startup communicate, she said. is a bane to
working on a Marine “Frank over here has got workers in
Corps grant is look- one system. On the other the field.
ing to consolidate anti- side of the street, Betty has That sector has simi- It can also automati-
quated logistics software another, but no one knows lar problems to the cally find the best and
so it can deliver medical what’s happening,” she military, she said. most efficient means
supplies in disaster zones said, especially when it “It’s as if medical logistics of transportation avail-
in a timelier manner. comes to delivering con- were currently functioning able to deliver supplies.
14BIS Supply Tracking, a sumables like medical sup- with blinders, which means It can work as an app or
Burlington, Massachusetts- plies in a timely manner. that the right supplies aren’t a desktop. And in disaster
based company, developed The Marine Corps was delivered in good condition situations with intermit-
its Just in Time Medical looking for more pre- and on time,” she said. tent internet access, it can
Logistics software under cise deliveries based on She likened the product to send out data in bursts.
a Marine Corps Small actual needs rather than an octopus with many ten- The system’s distributed
Business Innovation and estimates, she said. tacles that can reach out and decision-making, rather
Research award, CEO The Marine Corps is run- grab the right information. than centralized planning,
and co-founder Eleanor ning a competition for the “So, any operating system, allows different sources —
Mitch, said at her booth program, and has yet to any hardware, any soft- people or organizations —
at the Eurosatory trade select a winner, so 14BIS, ware — even legacy ones to consolidate their data.
show in Paris recently. meanwhile, is marketing that are written in COBOL, “That makes it possible
The problem is wide- the system commercially for example,” she said. “It for greater local input and
spread in the military to the emergency, disaster essentially pulls in that data, influence so that less time
logistics world: legacy sys- and humanitarian world, does secure tracking and and fewer supplies are
tems that don’t connect or where centralized planning also provides data analytics.” wasted,” Mitch said. ND

Army Tests New AR The Army tested Elbit’s X-Sight —

which uses data from multiple sources
Helmet Display for to build a common operational picture
Helicopter Pilots
on the helmet’s visor — at Fort Camp-
bell, Kentucky, in summer 2021. The
BY MEREDITH ROATEN service put the system on an Apache,
while leadership from the Army
a 61-by-30-degree field of view —
compared to the 40-by-30-degree
on the Apache — including a full-
color display, said Matthew Boyer,
senior staff engineer at Elbit.
A pilot can stay “heads up, eyes out,”
Boyer explained. The system uses

C
ALIFORNIA, Maryland —
Two eyes are better than one
when it comes to helicopter
safety — at least that’s what Elbit Sys-
tems is trying to convince the Army.
The company is in discussions
with Boeing and the Army to replace
monocle display helmets used by
Apache AH-64 pilots with bin-
Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort
Rucker, Alabama, watched, Stiner said.
“The Army is trying to find some
natural upgrade point where it makes
the most sense to bring this new
display to the Apache, but really,
the Army is in a planning phase at
the moment,” Stiner told the media
during a recent demonstration of
the technology.
Meanwhile, the
company has been
“talking very exten-
sively with the
Army” about inte-
grating the system
aboard its Future
radar and other sensors mounted on
the outside of the rotorcraft in addi-
tion to data from public sources to
overlay an augmented reality of the
terrain onto the helmet’s visor.
The expanded field of view
“gives you ... more situational
awareness than a lot of the dis-
plays,” and results in less eye
strain on pilots overall, he said.
Safety in degraded visual envi-
ronments is a critical advan-
tage for the system, he noted.
For example, in bad weather, pilots
don’t have visual cues to know that
they are still moving. But because
the system uses a 3D picture instead
Marine Corps photo, Elbit America photos

Air Reconnaissance of a real-time image produced by

An Army pilots tests the X-Sight helmet mounted display in summer 2021. Aircraft, a program
that is a major com-
ocular X-Sight helmet-mounted ponent of the Army’s Future Verti-
displays, said Mark Stiner, senior cal Lift modernization project.
director of strategic business devel- The helmet-mounted display has
opment, the leader of the Elbit Sys- been in development for 10 years to
tems of America’s Army team. achieve a nearly seamless picture,
a camera, pilots can see the visual
representation of key points to know
where they are, Boyer explained.
“If you’re starting to drift in a
landing zone where you’re very
constrained, that’s how acci-
dents happen,” he said. ND

8 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
 Air Force Testing strobes or other non-physical
means of disrupting the shooter.
Counter-Shooter In 85 percent of cases, a weapon is
exposed and visible for 2 to 30 minutes
Tech on Bases prior to the first shots being fired,
BY SEAN CARBERRY Wilkins said. “So that’s ultimately
where we want to be able to get these
DISPATCHES
technology, it is not fully autono-
mous. “You know that every AI is
going to throw false positives, and
that’s why we put a human reviewer

W
ASHINGTON, D.C. — While detections out and be able to send a in there to make sure that we can
the U.S. government has robot to potentially interdict while mitigate some of that,” he said.
passed new laws in an effort we’re getting up a squad car from The reviewer will launch the
to prevent mass shootings, the Air one side of the base to the other.” robot dog or other countermea-
Force is piloting a system that com- While the system uses AI and drone sure only once they have verified
bines artificial intelligence and the threat. The system is not
drone technology to stop active designed to replace secu-
shooters on military installations. rity personnel, but be a force
The Drone-Robot Enabled multiplier, Wilkins added.
Active Shooter Deterrence sys- The pilot will continue over
tem, developed by Philadelphia- a 15-month period through a
based ZeroEyes, overlays the $750,000 direct-to-phase II
company’s existing AI gun- Small Business Innovation
detection software on the secu- Research grant from AFWERX,
rity camera system at Ellsworth the service’s technology acceler-
Air Force Base, South Dakota. ator. ZeroEyes and the Air Force
Then, it uses drones or robots are also testing the AI gun-
to contain a potential shooter. detection software — without
“The entire idea behind the robotic interdiction system
the platform is being able to — at Tyndall Air Force Base,
take a robot and ultimately Florida, through a Commercial
impede, disorient an active Solutions Opening contract.
threat on an installation before ZeroEyes has more than
they can do any more dam- 50 commercial clients, and
age,” said JT Wilkins, senior Wilkins said that the company
vice president of government expects both government and
solutions at the company. private-sector customers to
Once deployed in response adopt the robotic dog anti-
to a threat, the drone or shooter technology once it is
robotic dog would use sirens, fully developed and tested. ND

BY THE NUMBERS
China’s Projected Expenditure on Aircraft Carriers 2022-32
ZeroEyes image

Source: GlobalData, Aerospace, Security and Defense Intelligence Center

N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 9
 DISPATCHES vees are at another end of
it … but Saber is target-
ing right in the middle.”
Manufacturer AM General plans to
market Saber to U.S. allies
Marketing New-Look first, Cannon said. The
Humvees to U.S. Allies company believes that if
it does well in interna-
BY MIKAYLA EASLEY tional markets, opportu-
nities for procurement

P
ARIS — AM General is pitch-
ing its latest Humvee variant to
U.S. allies as the middle ground
between the joint light tactical vehicle
and the company’s classic Humvee.
The Humvee Saber is a light tacti-
cal vehicle developed by AM Gen-
eral independent of any program
requirements. Rather, the company
designed and built the 11,000- to
15,000-pound vehicle to fill a capabil-
ity gap it saw in the tactical market
between heavy JLTVs and the lighter
Humvees, AM General CEO Jim Can-
non said in an interview during the
Eurosatory exposition in Paris.
“There’s always a trade off when you
think about wheeled vehicles between
mobility, survivability and firepower.
How you kind of dial those one way or
the other makes a big difference,” he
said. “JLTV is at one end of it, Hum-
with the U.S. military
will follow, he added.
The vehicle features 360-degree
protection with an armored capsule
made from exotic material designed
specifically for the Saber. The unique
material keeps the vehicle light-
weight but does not sacrifice bal-
listic protection, Cannon said.
In addition, the Saber features a
W-shaped hull rather than a tradi-
tional V-shaped hull. The shape gives
the same level of under-blast protec-
tion but allows the vehicle to sit closer
to the ground for increased safety and
reduced visual signatures, he said.
The Saber’s chassis is derived
from the widely used Humvee, so
potential customers will be able
to tap into AM General’s supply
chain for any maintenance and
sustainment needs, he added.
“If you’ve got Humvees,
you can work on this SCAN
THIS
vehicle without a whole IMAGE
other set of spare parts
and a whole other train-
ing program for mechan-
ics to go work on,” he said.
For Eurosatory, AM
General integrated several SEE THE
technologies onto Saber to HUMVEE SABER
IN ACTION
demonstrate its versatil-
ity — including counter-unmanned
aircraft detection, an internal occu-
pant protection system and advanced
situational awareness technology.
“As we market it to allies — and
hopefully, eventually to the U.S.
military — we’re not just marketing
a vehicle, but we’re going to bring a
whole capability,” Cannon said. ND

Hello, Goodbye named Jonathan

• Space Force Maj. Gen.
Philip A. Garrant — cur-
rently program executive
for ground-based weapon
systems at the Missile
Defense Agency — is mov-
ing on to serve as deputy
chief of space operations
for strategy, plans, pro-
grams and requirements,
in the office of the chief
of space operations.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Don-
na D. Shipton has been
appointed military deputy
in the office of the assistant
secretary of the Air Force
for acquisition, technology
and logistics. Shipton was
deputy director at the
National Reconnais-
sance Office and
commander,
Space Force
Element, Chan-
Lord as a senior
fellow and direc-
tor of the Middle
East Security
Program.
Prior to join-
ing CNAS, Lord LORD
served as a profes-
sional staff member
for the House Armed
Services Committee.
Serco Inc. — an engi-
neering, and manage-
ment services company
— appointed Tom Watson
as chief executive officer
effective Sept. 1. Chairman
and CEO Dave Dacquino
will retire from his full-
time executive role but
remain chair of the compa-
ny’s board of directors
in North America.
Headquartered
in Herndon,
Virginia, Serco
SAIC named Hil-
ary L. Hageman
their merger. Orolia — a
specialist in positioning,
its executive navigation and timing
vice president, technologies — agreed
general coun- to join Safran Electronics
sel and corpo- and Defense, which has
rate secretary, a product line of inertial
replacing Steven navigation systems. Oro-
G. Mahon, who is lia employs more than
retiring in September. 435 workers in Europe
Hageman served at SAIC and North America and
as a senior vice president has revenues of around
and deputy general counsel 100 million euros.
until 2019, when she took a “Our shared ambition
similar role at Cubic Corp. is to become the world
BAE Systems North leader in resilient PNT
America will acquire Lock- for all conventional and
heed Martin's aerospace strategic applications,”
electronics systems busi- said Martin Sion, CEO of
ness for $1.67 billion in the Paris-based Safran.
cash. Lockheed Martin Northrop Grum-
Aerospace Electronics man Corp. will build a
Systems comprises the 113,000-square-foot mis-
Sanders, Fairchild Systems sile integration facility at
and Space Electronics and its Rocket City compound
Communications busi- in West Virginia. Once
nesses with principal facili- completed in 2024, the
AM General photo

tilly, Virginia. has some 9,000 ties in New Hampshire, facility will have the capac-
The Cen- employees and New York and Virginia. ity to support produc-
ter for a New annual revenue Two French contrac- tion of up to 600 strike
SHIPTON
American Security of $1.6 billion. tors recently announced missiles per year. ND

10 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
 Best of the Web Read NationalDefenseMagazine.org for daily updates and news the lack of the ability to
shoot and scoot,” he said.
Mobile Mortar Can Shoot, Scoot in 46 Seconds The wheeled Sherpa
BY STEW MAGNUSON Light with 215 horsepower
engine provides the abil-

P
ARIS — Answer- One operator must get nance that fits in the barrel, ity to drive in off-road
ing the call for out of the vehicle to load he added. A self-propelled conditions, plus it can
survivability in the rounds, which weigh or laser-guided round could reach 110 kilometers per
battlefields where time about 20 kilograms. extend the range, he added. hour on paved roads, he
spent lingering can result The driver and the loader But the system is really noted. It has been used as
in being an instant tar- would make up the two- about the mobility, he said. a special forces and scout
get for armed drones or person crew, although one “Even before the Ukraine vehicle since introduced
other high-tech weapons, can imagine the system war, you could have proven in 2006, according to
three European companies being operated by a lone the validity of the concept.” company information.
have partnered to create soldier if needed, he added. Russian forces staying Both the mortar the
a mobile mortar system Retracting the system still for too long have been tube and the vehicle are
that can stop, fire and takes another 20 seconds. easily spotted by drones NATO qualified technolo-
depart in under a minute. In an emergency, the that relay targeting infor- gies. The NTGS fire control
French vehicle manufac- Sherpa could take off before mation back to Ukrainians system in the back of the
turer Arquus has attached the mortar is locked back employing indirect fires. vehicle conveys informa-
a deployable mortar cre- in, but that wouldn’t be Armed drones and loiter- tion about targets and
ated by Spain’s NTGS to ideal, Tollet said. The typi- ing munitions are also part can automatically tar-
one of its Sherpa Light cal mortar used has a range of modern battlefields. get the rounds. It can be
4x4 armored vehicles. of 8.2 kilometers with a “It’s a vulnerability — switched to manual mode
The system includes five-meter accuracy. It can if needed, Tollet said. ND
a 120mm mortar rifle fire any type of Thales ord- — Posted online June 15.
barrel manufactured
by France’s Thales.
After coming to a halt,
the Sherpa A2M can auto-
matically deploy the mor-
tar in 20 seconds, Arquus
spokesman Marin Tollet
said at the company’s
booth at the Eurosatory
trade show in Paris. After
acquiring a target, a soldier
can grab a round, insert
it in the tube and fire in
about 6 seconds, he said.
The vehicle could stay
parked longer depend-
ing on how many rounds
are fired. The Sherpa can
carry up to 40 rounds.

COMING SOON ciation features its annual iFEST distributed learning and space sys-
conference on all things distrib- tems draw different crowds.
• Mid-August is busy! NDIA’s Michi- uted learning at the Mark Center in Looking ahead to September, the
gan Chapter holds its 14th Annual Alexandria, Virginia, Aug. 16-18. annual Future Force Capabilities
Ground Vehicle Systems Engineer- The association will also hold its Conference and Exhibition, scheduled
ing Technology third annual for Sept. 19-22 in Austin, Texas, will
Symposium in The 2022 Space Space Warf- be hosted by the association’s Arma-
coordination with Warfighting Inte- ighting ments, Robotics, Munitions Technol-
gration Forum
the Engineering (SWIF) will take Integration ogy Divisions and the Global Explosive
Society of Detroit place Aug. 16-18 in Forum in Colo- Ordnance Disposal community.
Colorado Springs,
in Novi, Michi- Colorado
rado Springs, Then the fall slate of big confer-
gan, Aug. 16-18. Colorado, ences starts off at the same time
Arquus Defense photo

At the same Aug. 17-19. with the Air and Space Forces
time, the National Thank- Association’s Air Space and Cyber
Training and fully, ground Conference at National Har-
Simulation Asso- vehicles, bor, Maryland, Sept. 19-21. ND

N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 11
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY HORIZONS BY WAI KWAN CHUNG
Value of Defense Department, Industry Exchanges
A
t the heart of the defense indus-
trial base is a critical work-
force of Defense Department
civilians and industry employees.
This dedicated group has commit-
ted their professional lives to ensuring
the U.S. military remains the most
advanced and capable force globally.
The National Defense Industrial
Association and its Emerging Tech-
nologies Institute believes that for
this workforce to continue to grow
and develop, members must have
opportunities to better understand
how the department and industry
maintain critical relationships and
execute daily business with each other.
In support of this concept, we are
pleased to highlight ETI’s participation
in an exciting program, the Public-
Private Talent Exchange, operated
by Defense Acquisition University’s
office of human capital initiatives.
This program gives mid-career
government and industry employ-
ees the opportunity to temporarily
join either a government agency or
an industry counterpart to learn and
share knowledge about each other’s
business practices and processes.
Specifically, the program enables
high-performing civilians to embed
with a private company to learn how
they develop and execute strate-
gies and create new capabilities to
meet requirements. This program
is also open to employees of private
companies to be placed in Defense
Department program offices. These
employees learn more about their
customers, including how the depart-
ment develops requirements and
moves through the procurement and
acquisition of goods and services.
I recently participated as a Public-
Private Talent Exchange fellow
with the NDIA’s Emerging Tech-
nologies Institute. Prior to join-
ing, most of what I knew about the
association was through National
Defense, which is widely circulated
throughout department offices.
I knew even less about NDIA’s new
institute aside from the initial inter-
views with my future team members.
I didn’t fully grasp just how the
association helps support the overall
defense community — from the plan-
ning and budgeting phase to fielding
products — until coming on board.
12 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
After my orientation, I quickly
learned that NDIA has a larger role
than just the publisher of a magazine.
I gained a better understanding of its
capabilities in bringing together aca-
demia, industry and government stake-
holders to solve defense challenges.
Throughout the next several
months, I was tasked with a vari-
ety of projects ranging from policy
guidance draft reports to supporting
their many conferences and work-
shops to supply chain studies. These
are just a few ways the association
supports the defense industry.
Back “home” within the Defense
Department, my regular job as a
program manager is to develop
medical countermeasures — a topic
I know well from years of experi-
ence in the infectious disease field.
The easy choice would be to stay in
the office and continue working on my
assigned programs, but what appealed
to me about the fellow opportunity was
the chance to experience how indus-
try supports the defense community.
I gained a greater understanding of
industry’s perspective on program
management of complex issues.
On a deeper level, I also wanted an
opportunity to learn about diverse
topics such as aircraft, artificial
intelligence and special operations
forces, none of which I was exposed
to within my biodefense world.
When applications opened for
the Public-Private Talent Exchange
program in 2021, I jumped at the
chance to apply. Unlike other profes-
sional development opportunities,
this one required an endorsement
from my organization’s command,
which set the tone for higher-than-
average expectations of the program.
A few months later, I was accepted
into the program and began inter-
views which culminated with my
placement at the association.
The length of my assignment was a
short three months, yet I immediately
saw the impact of the association’s
work. They conduct research and
collaborate with industry, academic
and government partners to produce
thought-provoking content on defense
issues, but this doesn’t capture the
massive amount of coordination that
takes place behind the scenes to get the
right people together at the right time.
This is facilitated by the networks
and collective experience that NDIA
staff bring with them from their for-
mer lives in the military or as staff-
ers, advisors and aides on Capitol
Hill and within the government.
Part of the organization’s abil-
ity to get the right people at the
table is that staffers are themselves
the “right people” at the table.
What I gained from this experience
is a greater understanding of how
recommendations and policies are
brought to the attention of decision
makers, the influence that NDIA has
in the nation’s defense policies and
greater exposure to broader defense
challenges that our nation faces.
Leaders across the Defense Depart-
ment and industry continuously
emphasize the importance of main-
taining and growing a robust and agile
workforce that can respond quickly
and effectively to the threats and the
multifaceted, complex mission envi-
ronment, making this program critical.
Participants in the program gain
invaluable insights into how their
government or industry counter-
parts operate and offer ideas for
improvement. This knowledge
transfer is essential to enhancing
the critical relationship that indus-
try and the department share.
More information can be found by
visiting https://www.hci.mil/ppte.html.
Here you will find a program over-
view, starter kit and the appropriate
documents that need to be completed
to begin the process. The program
team is available at ppte@dau.edu to
answer any questions and facilitate
an organization’s and employees’
participation in the program. ND
Wai Kwan Chung is an ETI Research
iStock photo-illustration
Fellow from JPM CBRN Medical via
the Public-Private Talent Exchange.
Sarah Bain, a Human Capital
Manager, Human Capital Initiatives,
DAU, contributed to this article.
 ALGORITHMIC WARFARE BY MEREDITH ROATEN
Lab Powers Up to Plug In Next-Gen Supercomputers
S
upercomputers help the
Department of Energy’s
National Nuclear Security
Administration maintain confidence
in the nation’s nuclear weapons.
Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory recently completed
upgrades to a facility that will pro-
vide a home for next-generation
supercomputers which in turn will
provide greater processing power to
certify and evaluate future weapons.
Lawrence Livermore — one of the
three federally funded research and
development labs that develop nuclear
weapons — completed the $100 mil-
lion “exascale computing facility mod-
ernization project” just as tensions
with Russia have renewed the focus on
nuclear capabilities, said Rob Neely,
the lab’s advanced simulation and
computing lead and program director.
Since the United States stopped
underground testing in 1992, scien-
tists have developed advanced codes
and software — which continue to
be improved — to ensure
the weapons’ capabilities.
And that’s at the heart
of the lab’s work, creating
application codes that can
simulate how the nuclear
stockpile would work with-
out physical testing. The
lab can then certify that the
weapons will perform as
required, Neely explained.
“We’re trying to make our
systems safer, more secure,
less vulnerable to threats
from adversaries,” he said.
“Every new computer we
get, we make advances to our codes,”
he said. They become more predictive,
use higher fidelity physics and the lab
learns what it is missing, he said.
Then “we get to a horizon; we
learn the limits of what we can
know with a given system,” he said.
That pushes the need for faster
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory photo
and faster computers, he added.
The project kicked the lab’s power
capacity up to nearly 1,800 watts
per square foot, totaling about 85
megawatts, said Project Manager
Anna Maria Bailey. That’s almost
enough energy to power every home
for the nearly 88,000 residents
living in Livermore, California,
where the lab is based, she said.
When construction was
first completed on the facil-
ity in 2004, “Not in my wild-
est dreams did I think we
would have that much power
in one location,” she said.
The power will be used for one
of the most advanced supercom-
puters in the world — El Capitan.
Exascale systems like El Capitan
— built by Hewlett Packard Enter-
prise and AMD — can calculate at
least one exaflop, which is a quin-
tillion calculations per second.
That kind of processing power gen-
erates a lot of heat. However, when
the new computer is installed in
2023, the upgrades to the facility will
allow the computer to run calcula-
tions without overheating, she said.
The modernization work more
than doubled the facility’s cooling
capacity. Newly installed cooling tow-
ers brought the system’s maximum
from 10,000 tons to 28,000 tons of
water, according to a press release.
The Lawrence Livermore Laboratory completed its
modernization project in June.
Other upgrades included a 115
kilovolt transmission line, air
switches, substation transformers
and 13.8 kilovolt secondary feeders.
The additional power will also be
needed to keep the current supercom-
puter at the facility — IBM’s Sierra
— up and running during the transi-
tion. In about five years, the additional
power will come in handy while the
facility transitions from El Capitan
to an even more advanced system.
“This kind of planning and execu-
tion in the modernization of our
computing facilities enables us to
move into the exascale era — and
not only El Capitan — but
bring a second exascale-
class system online in this
next decade without hav-
ing to turn off El Capitan
first,” the National Nuclear
Security Administration’s Under-
secretary for Nuclear Security Jill
Hruby said in a press release.
This huge increase in comput-
ing power and capability comes
just in time to meet the nation’s
nuclear deterrent needs.
The Pentagon is modernizing the
delivery platforms, which consist of
intercontinental ballistic missiles,
bombers and submarines known
as the Nuclear Triad. Integrat-
ing the new weapons onto the new
platforms will require new tests.
The power of supercomputing
allows the government to verify
new systems such as the Sentinel
— which will replace the Minute-
man III missile — without the use
of underground testing, Neely said.
“Twenty years ago, people
would laugh if you said we
could field a new system in
the stockpile without going
to [live] testing,” he said.
“They just didn’t believe it.”
The lab started the El
Capitan Site Infrastructure
project earlier this year, Bai-
ley said. Now that the facility
has the capacity to host the
supercomputer, scientists
can start to connect the
power, cooling and network-
ing to the system itself.
After the machine is on
site, researchers will run tests such as
multiphysics and multidomain codes,
which model the effects on the weap-
ons under different conditions such as
heat and cold and scenarios such as
detonation and explosion, Neely said.
Concerns about Russia’s nuclear
force have grown as the United
States and allies have lent sup-
port to the ongoing conflict in
Ukraine, he pointed out.
“The term ‘nuclear deterrence’ is in
the headlines now more than it has
been in the 30 years I’ve worked at
the lab because of the saber rattling
of Putin and folks like that,” he said.
“So it’s something that I think people
are starting to pay attention to.” ND
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 13
BUDGET MATTERS BY SEAN CARBERRY
Congress Increases Innovation Funding, Again
T
he cat and mouse
game between the
White House and
Congress over innova-
tion funding in the annual
defense budget continues.
Here’s the gist of it: The
administration presents its annual
defense budget proposal. It touts
the request for research, develop-
ment, test and evaluation funding,
and states it is a significant increase
over the previous year’s request.
Then, members dig into the pro-
posal and chide the administration
for requesting less science-and-
technology funding than what Con-
gress authorized and appropriated
the previous year. During a May
hearing, representatives criticized
the budget request and questioned
the administration’s commitment to
innovation in defense technology.
And as expected, the 2023 Nation-
al Defense Authorization Act the
House Armed Services Commit-
tee passed by a 57-1 vote in June
increased research, development,
test and evaluation funding above
what the administration requested.
The budget request was $130 bil-
lion — the highest amount ever
requested for innovation funding
— and the House countered with
$138 billion, a 7 percent increase.
“Patterns get set, and I think to
some degree when the president's
budget comes out you can see that
they're putting money over here
because they know the Congress
is going to plus-up over there,”
said House Armed Services Com-
mittee Chair Rep. Adam Smith,
D-Wash., during a media round-
table prior to the committee vote
on the NDAA. “I don't know that
we change that anytime soon.”
The House’s defense budget
increases innovation funding at
all levels: basic research, applied
research, advanced technology devel-
opment and on down the line. All the
services, except for the Space Force,
get significant innovation fund-
ing boosts in the House budget.
Specific areas the House increased
include additive manufacturing,
hypersonics, collaborative net-
worked armament lethality and fire
control, counter-unmanned aerial
14 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
systems technology, biotechnol-
ogy, hybrid electric vehicles and
lithium battery technology.
The HASC budget increases
the Army’s science-and-tech-
nology funding to $3.8 billion, a
40 percent jump from the requested
$2.7 billion. However, the $3.8 billion
is less than the $4.3 billion the Army
received in fiscal year 2022. So, with
inflation factored in, the 2023 funding
is a notable drop from 2022 funding.
Similarly, the 2023 HASC fund-
ing is slightly less than what the
Navy and Air Force received in 2022
science-and-technology money.
Hence, the increase to the topline
research, development, test and
evaluation budget is coming in the
later system development, prototyp-
ing and demonstration phases.
Vulnerability and survivability were
two themes that Smith hit repeat-
edly during the media discussion.
He expressed reservations about
procuring more F-35s, for example,
because technological advances by
adversaries raise questions about how
effective the fifth-generation fighter
can be in a contested environment.
“What is the mission of the F-35? I
mean originally it was contemplated it
would be a fighter that could go any-
where and do anything, and it's not
that,” he said. “Missile technology and
targeting technology has simply got-
ten so much better in the last decade
that it has limited the mission range
of the F-35 to some extent.”
Which is why he
pushed for dialing
back investments
in major platforms
and increas-
ing the focus on
innovation.
“There's a more
fundamental ques-
tion here before
we get to how we
should use that
stuff, and that is
the vulnerability of
our systems,” he said.
“We need to make a
significant investment
in upgrading our com-
munication systems and
our software so that they
can be better protected.
“We have systems that are too vul-
nerable to attack right now because
they're old, and we just haven’t
updated those systems,” he added.
The House would plus-up innova-
tion funding because it is critical to
the future fight, Smith added. “But
the other big piece again on innova-
tion is to get the Pentagon better
at buying stuff, which by the way
has kind of started to happen.”
Acquisition reforms spearheaded
by retired House Armed Ser-
vices chair Rep. Mac Thornberry,
R-Texas, have improved the ability
to upgrade and purchase innova-
tive technologies, Smith said.
“Going forward some of it is money,
some of it is just, you know, using
the systems better,” he added. “We
really want to focus on empower-
ing the purchase of commercial-off-
the-shelf technology in a quicker
way without a program of record.”
Despite his calls for restraint in
the 2023 defense budget, the HASC
passed a $37 billion increase to the
proposed $813 billion defense bud-
get — of which $773 billion was
requested for the Defense Department.
The Senate Armed Services Com-
mittee went even bigger and passed
a $45 billion increase. However, the
upper chamber did not release a
detailed breakdown of its $857 billion
defense budget, of which $817 bil-
lion would go to the Defense Depart-
ment. The summary document states
that inflation was the main
driver of the increase over
the budget request.
The summary does
not provide details
on innovation fund-
ing, so it is not clear
what differences the
chambers will have
to reconcile in that
area as they wrestle
with the $8 billion gap
between their bills.
The other pattern likely
to repeat itself is the failure
to pass a defense appropri-
ation bill before the start of
iStock photo-illustration
fiscal year 2023. The Defense
Department has started 12
of the last 13 fiscal years
under a continuing resolu-
tion. That’s on Congress. ND
 VIEWPOINT
Russia, Belarus Sanctions
Hit State Contractors
BY PAUL DEBOLT, DISMAS LOCARIA AND LINDSAY MEYER
W
hile many U.S.
contractors have
been dealing with
federal restrictions
in response to the
Ukraine invasion, many are unaware
that state governments have similar
executive orders or laws aimed at
severing business with contractors
operating in or with Russia or Belarus.
These new state measures vary
in scope and severity. Some impose
reporting or certification burdens
on state-level government contrac-
tors, particularly those with opera-
tions in Eastern Europe or Russia.
New Jersey, for example, recently
banned its state agencies from doing
business with companies closely
linked to the governments of Rus-
sia or Belarus. Executive Order 291,
issued March 2, called for a
mandatory review of state
contracts, including those
with “businesses that invest
directly in … companies [owned
or controlled by the govern-
ment of Russia, Belarus, or
their instrumentalities],
directly or as subcontractors.”
While this executive order
doesn’t directly place an onus
on the business community, a
companion New Jersey state
law, P.L.2022, c.3, does. Under
this law, state agencies are
generally prohibited from
doing business with entities
or persons determined by the state
to be “engaged in prohibited activi-
ties” in Russia or Belarus, including
those with close links to their govern-
ments or headquartered in Russia.
Importantly, an entity contracting
with the state of New Jersey must cer-
tify that neither it, nor any of its sub-
sidiaries or affiliates under common
ownership, is “engaged in prohibited
activities” in the two countries. Other-
wise, it must accurately explain such
activities. Moreover, if the contracting
company is performing any “prohib-
iStock illustration
ited activities,” it will be obliged to
terminate such activities within 90
days and certify as such to the state.
Under this law, a false certification can
result in civil penalties and suspension
or termination of contracting rights.
State governments in California,
Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts,
Minnesota, New York, North Carolina,
Ohio, Washington and others have
also recently taken various steps to
disassociate from Russian companies,
state-owned entities or their affiliates.
California Executive Order N-6-22,
issued March 4, requires contrac-
tors with projects valued at more
than $5 million to report to the
state their compliance with fed-
eral economic sanctions, as well
as any steps taken in response to
Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
In New York, Executive Order 16,
issued March 17, directs state agencies
to refrain from contracting with enti-
ties “conducting business operations
in Russia” and to request certification
from bidders regarding operations
there as part of the procurement pro-
cess. Some states have also moved to
divest themselves of any state-held
Russian assets. Others have adopted
bans prohibiting the sale of Russian-
origin vodkas in state liquor stores.
As with sanctions programs at
the federal level, the impact of
these state measures is highly fact
specific and should be assessed
on a case-by-case basis.
As with similar international trade
restrictions, there is a distinction
between the definition of “person”
and that of “offeror,” where the for-
mer was much more expansive and
included affiliated entities beyond
the contracting entity itself. Notably,
for the prohibitions against dealing
with the Maduro regime of Venezuela
under the Defense Federal Acquisi-
tion Regulation Supplement, the
Venable law firm obtained confirma-
tion from the Defense Acquisition
Regulations Council that the restric-
tions rested with the “offeror” and
did not extend to the more broadly
defined “persons” involved.
The definitions of each applicable
state executive order or law must be
carefully reviewed so that a company
is not accused of submitting a false
certification to a government author-
ity.
Additionally, it is important to recall
that these obligations do not rest solely
with the contractor. Rather, they must
also consider any flow-down require-
ments to ensure that subcontractors
remain compliant with these restric-
tions. Here, it is advisable to seek and
obtain periodic certifications of their
compliance. It is also critical to recall
that these requirements are not static.
Finally, contractors should also
be mindful of the potential
requests for additional costs
if they are added to a contract
after the award. For example,
if a state requires these pro-
visions to be flowed down
immediately to a company’s
subcontractors, there is some
risk that a subcontractor
will consider this a change
to the subcontract and seek
reimbursement for the costs
associated with this addi-
tional regulatory burden.
As a result, prime contrac-
tors should consider seeking
not only the costs associated
with its compliance with these new
provisions, but the costs claimed
by any subcontractors as well.
Just as at the federal level, the state
obligations may continue to evolve.
Therefore, it is prudent to confirm
that contractors remain compliant
with the requirements throughout
the life of the contract or pendency
of the applicable restrictions. ND
Paul Debolt is co-chair and Dismas
Locaria is a partner in Venable LLP’s
government contracts group. Lindsay
Meyer is a co-chair of the firm’s inter-
national trade group. Anna Perina
also contributed to this article.
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 15
COMMENTARY
Study Predicts BioTech’s
Long-Term Impact on Defense
BY DIANE DIEULIIS, PETER EMANUEL AND BRIAN FEENEY
T
he Biotechnology
Community of Inter-
est released a study
on the future of bio-
technology in April,
titled “Bio-Futures 2050: Defense
Impacts and Opportunities.”
Produced at the direction of the
office of the undersecretary of
defense for research and engineer-
ing, it identifies a range of biotech-
nologies likely to be part of everyone’s
lives over the next 30 years.
These are technologies that will
fundamentally change the economy
and how the nation is defended.
The study provides recommenda-
tions for the U.S. government on
how to best harness these technolo-
gies to bolster national security and
improve the lives of Americans.
While the full study isn’t publi-
cally releasable, the overarch-
ing themes can be discussed.
The big picture findings show a
convergence of biotechnology, auto-
mation and artificial intelligence that
will transform all facets of life by the
year 2050. It will also alter how the
Defense Department executes its mis-
sion. The study team that produced
the report projects that between 2025
and 2050 the ongoing biotechnology
revolution will increasingly contribute
to the nation’s defense capabilities.
Synthetic biology, additive manu-
facturing, nanotechnology and
advanced biotechnology will pro-
vide new materials, sensors and
therapeutics — many of which
will have military applications.
Biotechnology will also introduce
new demands and vulnerabilities
as it becomes accessible to more
actors — including our competitors.
In parallel with biotechnology
advances, the U.S. military will be
adapting to a planet disrupted by cli-
mate change, converging technologies
and financial crises. These disrup-
tive factors will occur globally, but
not evenly. Some regions and peoples
will suffer far more than others. Col-
lectively, these impacts will result in
a more contested and fragmented
16 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
world in which U.S. interests
are increasingly challenged.
As near-peer nations
enter the biological revolu-
tion, they will challenge U.S.
dominance in the global bio-
economy. This will be a type of
gray warfare — a sustained low inten-
sity economic conflict where the inter-
ests of multi-national corporations are
intertwined with regional politics and
the strategic rivalries of global powers.
Finally, each nation engaged in the
race to a biotechnology future will do
so in its own way according to its cul-
ture, traditions and political culture.
One example is industrial chemicals.
Synthetic biology and biomanufactur-
ing will transform the way industry
supplies the raw ingredients the U.S.
defense sector, along with the broader
economy, uses to make materials such
as textiles, plastics, lubricants and
other consumer goods. Over the next als will be able to sense, react and
35 years, bio-products will gradually respond to the environment.
displace petrochemical production As the Defense Department
as the dominant means of produc- approaches the year 2050, the study
ing industrial chemical feed stocks. team predicts the commercial intro-
As bioproduction becomes more duction of living biomaterials that
cost-competitive, adoption will fol- are composed of bio-engineered
low, supported by such government living cells that are animate, pro-
programs as the Department of grammable, interactive and can
Agriculture’s BioPreferred Program, sustain themselves to some degree.
which helps consumers identify This global transformation will pro-
products with biobased substances. foundly impact allied defense supply
The study predicts that the first chains. The study team recommends
wave of biomanufactured national that the department pursue bilat-
security materials will see economi- eral and multilateral collaborations
cally competitive replacements that with its allies and friendly nations to
are “as-is” substitutions. “As is” refers ramp up synthetic biology and bio-
to a chemical produced by the fer- manufacturing to an industrial scale.
mentation of sugars instead of the These biologically derived materials
distillation of fossil fuel. Chemically, will transform the kinds of defense
the product is identical regardless systems the nation will be able to
of the way it is produced. This will create by the mid-21st century.
include high-value defense commod- Next, the convergence of biotech-
ity chemicals such as energetics and nology and material science offers
fuels, all produced far more cleanly. the opportunity to reduce the size,
By the mid-2030s we can expect weight, power requirements and cost
to see a second wave of biotechnol- of sensing technologies while increas-
ogy development — the introduction ing their detection capabilities.
of reactive and responsive sensory For example, synthetic biology
iStock illustration
materials that cannot be produced allows for the creation of biologically
using traditional petrochemical pro- based sensors capable of recogniz-
duction technologies. These materi- ing actions in the environment,

such as the release of a chemical or
biological agent. The sensor will be
able to respond both by releasing a
countermeasure and by notifying
other warfighters on the battlefield.
Such sensors can be the basis for
reactive/responsive surfaces and
coatings that will interact with the
environment to continually sniff,
measure and watch. As with many
of the technologies described in this
report, the study team recognizes
that the path to deploying such sys-
tems will be subject to regulatory
requirements and must receive public
acceptance both at home and in other
nations in which they are deployed.
The study team recommends
that the Pentagon engage partners
and allies to develop common guid-
ance and protocols for fielding of
biologically based sensors. This
will be needed to maintain interop-
erability and ensure the smooth
adoption of next-generation, low-
cost sensors throughout the allied
forces defending the free world.
Another development will be
body-worn sensors, which will trans-
form how the military monitors its
warfighters force-wide. They will
reshape its ability to monitor and
predict warfighter health, readi-
ness and performance. They will also
lower life-cycle medical costs and
improve positive health outcomes.
The study team predicts that
before 2030, the U.S. military will
field wearable sensors that use
smartwatches, smart bandages and
rings coupled with artificial intel-
ligence and machine learning to
predict potential infection, detect
early onset of physical stressors in
real-time and limit disease spread.
Soon after, widespread adop-
tion of wearables systems by the
general populace will surge as it is
pushed by commercialization. By
2040, much of the U.S. population
will wear a medical tracking device.
Another trend will be food security.
Over the next 30 years, the planet’s
population will likely continue to grow,
and climate change will shift the loca-
tions of the planet’s grain belts. The
ability of a nation to export agricultural
products could become a powerful
geopolitical tool carrying economic,
political and military advantage. By
2040, shifting arable geographies will
alter economies and could serve as
flashpoints for military conflicts.
Food scarcity aggravated by
its uneven distribution along the
world’s north-south divide will
emerge a pressing national secu-
rity issue. Future U.S. defense
leadership must consider how to
form interagency partnerships
that will address agricultural bio-
technology as a power for peace.
Closely related is resource com-
petition. To manufacture electron-
ics, medical devices and advanced
weapons systems, the defense indus-
try is reliant upon metals such as
lithium, gallium and cobalt in addi-
tion to rare earth elements such as
lanthanide, europium and terbium.
However, foreign countries — some
of them hostile to U.S. interests
— control a large portion of the
planet’s known metal reserves.
This is cause for concern. The nation
needs future access to a reliable sup-
ply chain for these critical metals. The
United States only controls 1 percent
of global rare earth elements reserves
while China and Russia together con-
trol 48 percent. Increasing consumer
demand will accelerate their depletion
causing competition between the Unit-
ed States and these adversary nations.
Current projections are that sev-
eral commodities will reach a tip-
ping point after 2035, including the
COMMENTARY
rare earth elements, lead, tin, cobalt,
copper, zinc, manganese and phos-
phates. To accommodate demand
and provide secure supply chains,
industry will need to extract resources
from locations that were previ-
ously deemed uneconomical such as
the deep sea, and even off-world in
facilities placed into Earth orbit.
Biotechnology will provide much
of the answer by providing cost
effective and eco-friendly ways to
more efficiently extract and sepa-
rate critical minerals from bulk,
raw mined sources or reclaim
them from recycled systems.
The study team recommends that
the Defense Department assess how
biotechnologies can be used to improve
reclamation of rare earth elements
and other critical resources. This
assessment should include how indus-
trial bio-extraction might help return
mining separation operations to
domestic companies by reducing envi-
ronmental impacts. The department
will also need to assess where within
the defense enterprise biotechnology-
enhanced mining can be employed
to augment traditional supplies of
critical materials and to lower costs.
Biotechnology will also transform
medicine in future wars by removing
many of the human body’s current
limitations. Through changes such
as enhancing the human micro-
biome to creating brain-computer
interface technologies for human-
machine teaming, a warfighter’s
body will truly be transformed into
a “human weapons system.”
At the same time, the armed force’s
medical care will be vastly improved
by new medical treatments and thera-
pies. By 2035, genetically engineered
therapies will enable us to treat a
wider range of diseases and greatly
augment our body’s natural ability
to heal from injury. By 2040, off-
world medicine and biotechnology
will sustain a lucrative commercial
market that will include personalized-
tissue engineering and synthetic
organ and limb replacements. The
Defense Department will have the
ability to create synthetic organs
and deploy medical care to austere
environments. It will be an innovator
and early adopter of medical treat-
ments and trauma technologies.
Over the next three decades,
spurred by the commercialization of
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 17
 COMMENTARY
space, NASA will move from mis-
sions of discovery to embrace the
sustainment of construction and
production operations on off-world
locations. Rather than visit another
planet and taking surface samples,
NASA will be building and operating
small high-tech factories in space
or on another planet to produce
next-generation materials that can
only be made, or are more effi-
ciently made, in near-zero gravity.
The humans who are needed in
space to build and operate these
factories will need to be housed, fed,
protected from space hazards such
as radiation and, most difficult of
all, provided with medical care.
The study team recommends
that the Pentagon and NASA co-
sponsor an interagency deep-dive
study that considers micro-gravity
medicine, how medical technolo-
gies can be adapted to remote and
austere environments, how to
develop reactive and responsive sen-
sors and how to develop plans for
future bio-materials requirements.
These technological advancements
affect matters of war and peace.
Even if a biotechnology applica-
tion has no immediate apparent
strategic value to national security,
it can still serve as a flashpoint for
political and social conflict in hot
spots around the world and draw
defense agencies into the fray.
In addition, the different parties
that advance biotechnology — such
as commercial industries — will
have differing priorities. The par-
ties creating advanced bio-products
will vary, too, as the barriers to
entry continuously lower. The pros-
pect of a radical non-state orga-
nization getting this technology
will be an ever-growing possibility
that will bear ongoing scrutiny.
Culture eventually catches up
with technology. Early amateur pho-
18 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
tographers, ham radio enthusiasts
and model rocketry communities
were all met with apprehension
and ridicule in their infancy as was
in vitro fertilization when it was
introduced in the 1970s. Today, all
these technologies have become
accepted by mainstream society.
For all these reasons, the study
team recommends that intelli-
gence agencies, homeland security
and defense planners make bio-
technology a central component
of a regular technology watch,
both domestically and globally.
A strength of U.S. national security
is the willingness to look over the
horizon and plan for what the future
will bring. There is an inflection
point now with the coming biotech-
nology revolution. The convergence
of biotechnology, automation and AI
will disrupt and transform all fac-
ets of life and, by the year 2050, will
profoundly alter how the Defense
Department executes its mission.
While these changes will raise ethi-
cal and other concerns over how to
the use these technologies, we know
that our adversaries see it com-
ing, too, and they may possess an
entirely different concept of right
and wrong than the free world.
The United States needs to provide
an example for how to develop and
use these technologies ethically and
equitably. We must also have the ben-
efit of these technologies to defend
against other powers that do not.
At its deepest level, the defense
enterprise, private industry and the
public must trust, use, and appreci-
ate these profound innovations so
that they can benefit the warfighter,
secure the nation and stay ahead of
the capabilities being developed by
our potential adversaries right now.
If we develop these technolo-
gies skillfully and wisely, the
world and the life of the people
on it will be better and safer. ND
Dr. Peter A. Emanuel is Army
Futures Command’s senior research
scientist for bioengineering
and Brian Feeney is an
Army public affairs
specialist, located at
the Chemical Bio-
logical Center, Edge-
wood, Maryland.
Diane Dieuliis is a
senior research fel-
low at the National
Defense University.
INDUSTRY
PERSPECTIVE
Layered
Defense
Rooted in
Directed
Energy Tech
BY JOE SHEPHERD
T
he ongoing Ukraine-Rus-
sia war reflects the future
of warfare: a multido-
main fight across land,
sea, air, space and cyber-
space. It is a conflict blended between
physical and electronic theaters.
It also reveals a future in which
urban combat among large civil-
ian populations is the norm, and
next-generation capabilities such
as unmanned aerial vehicles and
hypersonic missiles are brought
to bear — to say nothing about
conventional infantry, ground
vehicles, artillery and aircraft.
Foundational to achieving over-
match in this warfighting con-
tinuum and defeating emerging
threats is a multi-layered defense
architecture that harnesses the full
breadth of the military and intel-
ligence infrastructure. As the tip of
this spear, warfighters and vehicles
must be equipped with a range of
electronic warfare technologies
such as artificial intelligence, edge
computing and directed energy.
The impact of directed energy,
specifically on modern day warfare,
could be profound — it is a disrup-
tive technology with the potential
to transform the battlefield. The
country that can develop and field
this technology at scale first will
have a distinct, strategic advantage
over adversaries, with the abil-
iStock illustration
ity to counter a range of emerging
threats from drone swarms to vehicle
borne improvised explosive devices

to hypersonic missiles.
Directed energy is a
uniquely versatile technology
family, with several subsets
that can be tailored to different
applications, and some that can even
be dialed to fulfill different functions.
It could be used to neutralize enemy
combatants nonlethally and avoid
material damage or civilian casual-
ties. It could fry the electronic systems
in a swarm or flotilla of hostile small
boats. A high-energy laser could be
used to disrupt and destroy a hyper-
sonic missile with pinpoint accuracy
at long range. These are the types of
scenarios, among many, where direct-
ed energy can be a game changer.
Emerging threats that cannot be
countered cost-effectively by kinetic
means are making directed energy
weapons increasingly essential. And
now, the rapidly increasing matu-
rity of the technology offers more
return on investment than ever.
Beyond their versatility, the systems
offer a slew of benefits that include
deep magazine capacity, a more
simplified resupply logistics strat-
egy, low cost per shot, speed-of-light
ND photo-illustration with iStock, Navy photos
engagement and extreme accuracy.
Their stealth-like characteristics
make them hard to detect and dif-
ficult to intercept. These proper-
ties and their electronic nature
prime them for artificial intelligence
enhancement, pulling insights like
atmospheric conditions and complex
geometric targeting calculations and
weapon-target pairing. This tech-
nology pairing maximizes
directed energy’s potential
in areas like counter- rocket,
artillery and mortar, allowing a
system to track, target and destroy
explosive ordnance mid-flight.
Directed energy has become an
operational necessity. This technol-
ogy, which has been identified as a
critical technology area by the office
of the undersecretary of defense for
research and engineering for years,
is ready to become one of the lay-
ers in the defensive architecture
needed for our national security.
How do we get these weapons
into the hands of warfighters? To
advance its current capabilities
beyond the prototype phase, the
United States must increase fund-
ing for vital research and develop-
ment, use streamlined acquisition
practices to accelerate deployment
at scale and ensure we have the
testing and training capabilities
needed to bring these weapons out
of the lab and onto the battlefield.
Directed energy weapons are not
limited by technology barriers, but
rather by the lack of funding being
allocated to support them. Congres-
sional funding for the field currently
stands at about $1 billion per year; an
increase to $2 billion to $3 billion per
year would have an enormous impact.
While Congressional leaders have
recently made the development and
experimental fielding of the weap-
ons a greater focus — including
the designation of a senior official
INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
tasked with accelerating the transi-
tion of the weapon systems into the
field — more funding is needed.
To ensure the broad adoption of
directed energy systems into a lay-
ered defense architecture, the nation
must take several other steps.
It should promote accelerated
acquisition approaches to put directed
energy capabilities into the hands
of warfighters in quantities that
have true operational significance.
It should use operational proto-
types to gather data from the field,
inform system integration efforts
with warfighter experience, deliver
near-term directed energy military
utility and produce the warfighter
confidence needed for system adop-
tion, including developing tactics,
techniques and procedures.
It must implement policy changes
and increase collaboration between
parties to make it easier to progress
toward operational use for the weap-
ons and allow their deployment.
Also, it must empower the services
to develop and implement operational
strategies for deployment and use, tai-
lored to match adversaries’ capabili-
ties across all warfighting domains.
The department should provide a
clear roadmap to industry to enable
the industrial base — including
second and third-tier suppliers —
to make needed investments and
have the capacity to deliver when
greater quantities are procured.
And finally, it should set realistic
goals for the technology by under-
standing what it is currently capable
of and what is needed operation-
ally in a layered defense architec-
ture and maintain commitment
to the technology as it matures to
take on more complex challenges.
As for industry, it must make accel-
erated efforts to meet the size, weight
and power requirements necessary
to bringing directed energy sys-
tems to the field. These investments
are best informed by the Pentagon
providing clear operational require-
ments and design reference mis-
sions that quantify the requirements
uniquely for each service application.
It’s imperative for Congress to
continue to fund these efforts. ND
Joe Shepherd is a vice president at
Booz Allen, leading its directed energy
business.
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 19
Double Duty
Shipyards Building Two Submarine
Classes Simultaneously BY NICK ADDE
T
he design and construc-
tion of the next ballis-
tic missile submarine
entails addressing a
host of unprecedented
challenges for the Navy, according
to service officials and experts.
The estimated $15.2 billion price
tag for the first boat, a lack of skilled
labor, supply chain concerns and
a tight timetable are key hurdles.
The Trident submarines it would
replace are going to be pressed
into service for years after their
initial projected life expectancy.
Still, the work has begun for the
Columbia-class submarine and
must go on, said Navy officials. The
service considers replenishment
of the nation’s undersea leg of the
nuclear triad as its highest priority.
The USS District of Columbia (SSBN
826) — the first of 12 such vessels —
is scheduled to be delivered in 2027
and ready to patrol by 2031, even as
the service has to move forward with
other projects. Any glitch in the sched-
ule could have rippling effects across
the service’s entire shipbuilding oper-
ations, senior Navy leaders have said.
“That is a must-meet requirement
for that class,” said Rear Adm. Scott
Pappano, the program executive offi-
cer for strategic submarines, during
a Hudson Institute seminar in June.
Nonetheless, both the Navy and
General Dynamics Electric Boat
— the contractor building the
Columbia class — say the project
is progressing according to plan.
The contractor is about 20 per-
cent into construction on the lead
boat and has also started advanced
construction and procurement for
the second in the class, the USS Wis-
consin SSBN827, said Pappano.
Eric Snider, vice president of
the Columbia-class program at
General Dynamics Electric Boat,
expressed confidence in the pro-
cess — even as construction of the
new boat is taking place at the same
time and shipyard where the com-
pany is building the next Virginia-
class fast-attack submarines.
20 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
The plan calls for one Columbia
and two Virginia subs to be deliv-
ered per year — a considerably
more accelerated pace than when
the fast-attack class’s namesake
— SSN-74 — was produced. The
Virginia was launched in 2003.
“Columbia is two and a half times
the size of a Virginia,” Snider told
National Defense. “We’re not complete-
ly crazy. We’ve learned a lot about the
modular-construction business. We’ve
gotten off to a good start, tracking
actually ahead of where the Virginia
was in her build-out as a lead ship.”
Eighty percent of the Columbia
class’s construction is taking place at
Electric Boat’s Quonset Point, Rhode
Island, and Groton, Connecticut,
facilities. Huntington-Ingalls New-
port News Shipbuilding in Virginia
is handling the remaining 20 per-
cent of the workload, with a focus on
construction of the bow and stern.
District of Columbia and the 11
future vessels in its class are slated
to replace the aging Ohio-class
ballistic missile submarines.
“The first Ohio class will be going
offline in fiscal year 2027, and we
will start heel-to-toe replacements
with the Columbia class coming
right behind that,” Pappano said.
Meanwhile, work to extend the
Ohios’ service life to 41 years from the
20 that were called for when they were
built is nearly complete, Pappano said.
There is a chance that service lives of
some Ohios may be extended a bit lon-
ger if necessary, he added. This would
happen only if propulsion plants and
overall condition are good enough
to make such extensions a low-risk
proposition. The idea is to ensure that
enough submarines — at least 10 ide-
ally — are on patrol at any given time.
The new boats will carry 16 mis-
siles each, representing roughly 70
percent of the nation’s nuclear deter-
rent. They also will carry Mark 48
torpedoes. Their construction will
render them the quietest subs ever
built. Each will be 560 feet long and
displace 20,810 tons, making them
the largest submarines to come out of
a U.S. shipyard. Their nuclear reac-
tors will not require refueling dur-
ing the entire planned service life.
Pappano acknowledged that chal-
lenges have put a crimp in the plan.
The contract was signed and work
began during the height of the COV-
ID-19 pandemic, making it harder
to hire the necessary workforce.
“We’ve taken some very aggressive
action to turn that tide,” Pappano said,
“There continues to be good progress.”
All the missile tubes for the
District of Columbia have been
delivered, as have those for the
Dreadnought, the British Royal
Navy’s counterpart project, he said.
“But I suggest the real risk here
is not only getting the lead ship
right. We’ve got to get [it] right for
the rest of the class,” he added.
Assuming authorization and appro-
priations come through, construc-
tion on the Wisconsin has to begin in
2024, Pappano said. Serial produc-
tion of one ship per year must begin
Navy illustration, General Dynamics Electric Boat photo
in 2026. With construction of two
Virginia-class submarines taking
place at the same time, work must
continue on each Columbia. Pappano
envisions an alignment of work and
collaboration at the industrial base.
“The priority goes to the SSBN
— the Columbia class — if there
are shortages,” Pappano said.
When the Columbia-class con-
cept was first imagined in 2007,
the idea was to incorporate “evo-
Columbia-class submarine rendering
lutionary — not revolutionary
— technologies,” Snider said.
Both the Navy and Electric Boat
leaders believe they have a work-
able plan because they are relying
upon proven techniques during the
construction process, rather than
attempting any wheel reinvention.
“The exacting and detailed require-
ments, the timelines that we have to
be on, and the need for 100-percent
success of delivering the capabil-
ity drives the need for proven things
to be employed,” Snider said.
For instance, the incorporation
of modular construction that began
with the Virginia class is being fully
implemented with the new vessels.
“Columbia will be the first stra-
tegic-deterrence submarine class
designed to be built in a modular
fashion,” Snider said. It is “the most
efficient way possible, both from a
cost and time standpoint,” he added.
The “stick building” approach that
was used years ago when Seawolf and
Los Angeles-class boats were con-
structed — assembling the hull rings,
circular cylinders and caps that make
up the pressure hull of the submarine
and then cutting holes through which
equipment and machinery would be
moved into place — is gone, Snider
said. The old way could be done effi-
ciently, but it was more dangerous.
“Now, we build those circular cyl-
inders that make up the pressure hull
of the submarine and jam them pack
Keel laying ceremony for the first Columbia-
class ballistic missile submarine, June 4, 2022.
full of equipment and everything we
can while it’s sitting there with the
biggest hole that will ever be … the
diameter of the submarine,” Snider
said. “Then we bring them all together,
weld them up and seal them in the
tube that becomes the submarine.”
The evolution that led to Colum-
bia’s emergence also takes into con-
sideration significant changes in the
Navy’s demographic. As they now
do throughout the fleet, for example,
women will serve on these ships.
Virginia-class submarines, as new as
they are, had to be refitted to accom-
modate crew members with differ-
ent shapes, sizes and privacy needs.
Not so with Columbia — the
accommodations are being built in
as a requirement specified by the
Navy from the start. Modern ship
construction has long considered
the 95th percentile of males when
designing line of sight, workspaces,
valve placements and other aspects
of routine work. The 95th percentile
of female crewmembers is now also
UNDERSEA WARFARE
factored into design, Snider said.
Future modernization should
entail easier processes as well, he
added, thanks to modular design and
a rethinking of certain placements.
“You can design a pump or some
component so that it can be very dif-
ficult to get to from a replacement
standpoint. We have decades of per-
formance data and experience on
various components,” Snider said.
“The idea [is] things that are going
to break frequently, you try to keep
that in mind. You try not to wind
up with a thing you know you’re
going to have to replace every 5 or
10 years in a space that’s nigh on
impossible [to get to] without tear-
ing the whole compartment apart.”
At present, the Columbia program
appears to be adhering to its tight pro-
duction schedule and cost projections,
said Mark Cancian, senior advisor for
the international security program at
the Washington-based Center for Stra-
tegic and International Studies. The
Navy has no other choice, he believes.
“Every strategist says the sea-based
leg of the triad is the most important
because of its survivability. And the
number of boats the Navy is plan-
ning to build — 12 — appears in
every force-structure assessment,
in every shipbuilding plan,” Cancian
said in an interview. “The good thing
is the Navy has announced a little
cost growth but nothing really big.
On the other hand, they’re just start-
ing fabrication on the first boats.”
Cancian also considers the plan
to simultaneously build a Columbia
and two Virginias as ambitious.
“I’m not an expert in shipbuilding
capacity, but that is probably beyond
what the submarine shipbuilding
capacity can support. But I know it is
a consideration. Industry always says
they can do it, and that’s great. But
very often, it turns out to be more dif-
ficult than they expected,” he said.
Snider and his team at Electric
Boat remain committed to fulfilling
the terms of the contract to which
the company and Navy agreed.
“We’ve got to underpin the nation’s
strategic nuclear deterrent and
keep it going, as the nation needs,”
Snider said. “It is the number one
priority program for the Depart-
ment of Defense, General Dynam-
ics, and Electric Boat. We’re all
completely aligned on that.” ND
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 21
Shields Up
Hypersonic Threat Spurs
Investment in Space-Based
Missile Tracking BY MEREDITH ROATEN
T
he Space Force is rac-
ing against the clock to
prepare for the rapidly
advancing Chinese and
Russian missile technol-
ogy that could evade the Pentagon’s
existing ground and space-based
missile-detection systems.
While many defense agencies
have their own ideas for warning-
and-tracking satellites and space
architecture, they need to integrate
their visions to ensure the Defense
Department has time to react to a
potential missile attack, experts said.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine
and ongoing operations in the region
reinforces that “the era of mis-
sile warfare is definitely upon us,”
said Chris Stone, the author of a
recent policy paper from the Mitch-
ell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
Weapons like the Chinese DF-17
and the Russian Avengard hyper-
sonic boost glide weapon could sneak
under the radar of the missile warn-
ing systems that were designed for
ballistic missiles, according to the
paper “Orbital Vigilance: The Need
for Enhanced Space-Based Mis-
sile Warning and Tracking.”
“These lower altitude fliers and
the others that can maneuver cre-
ate challenges to our ability to sense,”
he said during a rollout event for
the paper. That means it could be
easier for Beijing and Moscow to
strike with conventional missiles
or long-range missiles with nuclear
warheads attached, he said.
The great power competitors
“could cripple the operations of for-
eign deployed U.S. forces and their
theater bases,” said Kevin Chilton,
a former commander of Strategic
Command. Space organizations
need to team up to create a more
accurate, survivable space ecosys-
tem, he said during the event.
The current missile tracking
architecture consists of satellite
technology called Space-Based Infra-
red Systems, or SBIRS. But hyper-
22 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
sonic missiles exploit the curvature
of the Earth to go high enough to
avoid ground-based radar track-
ing and low enough to be missed by
the infrared tracking technology.
The hypersonic threat is great
enough that service leaders at the
highest levels are taking notice.
Secretary of the Air Force Frank
Kendall said space architecture is one
of the service’s funding priorities. The
Space Force submitted a $1 billion
request for the 2023 budget to fund
the resilient missile warning/missile
tracking capabilities, a constellation of
satellites designed to detect hypersonic
technology and is expected to reach
initial operating capability by 2027.
“We're also doing things in the
Space Force on the nuclear warn-
ing and missile warning side to get
to more resilient missile warning” to
support the armed forces, Kendall said
at a recent Hudson Institute event.
The service is also funding ground
and the geosynchronous orbit seg-
ments of the next-generation over-
head persistent infrared sensors
missile tracking and warning sys-
tem, the replacements for SBIRS.
The sensors are expected to be more
sensitive and accurate than their
predecessors, meaning they are able
to detect the weaker infrared sig-
natures of hypersonics missiles.
Officials are using middle-
tier acquisition authorities and
rapid prototyping to save time
and reach a 2025 launch date.
Meanwhile, the space domain
is becoming more perilous for all
satellites, undermining the United
States’ ability to track missiles.
There have been two destructive
direct-ascent anti-satellite tests in the
past three years. It may seem like only
a few instances where nations have
damaged satellites, but that data point
worries experts like Kaitlyn Johnson,
one of the authors of the Center for
Strategic and International Studies’
annual Space Threat Assessment.
The destruction of satellites is not
Next-Generation Polar
satellite rendering
necessary to test
anti-satellite technol-
ogy, she explained. The
process could be as simple as aiming
a missile at an empty point in space
and then measuring how close it
came to the target. That’s why it’s so
alarming Russia chose to test its anti-
satellite tech by destroying a system
in the widely used low-Earth orbit.
“The big worry here is just pol-
luting that low-Earth orbit and
making it unusable,” she said.
The 2021 Russian test was an
“irresponsible action” that could
have been intended to warn the Pen-
tagon that Moscow can hold satel-
lites at risk as tensions over Ukraine
were rising, Johnson noted.
The testing is now considered
so irresponsible that Vice Presi-
dent Kamala Harris announced in
April that the United States would
implement a ban on this type of
destructive experimentation.
Setting norms for space behavior is
a priority of the Space Force, said Lt.
Gen. Chance Saltzman, deputy chief
for operations, nuclear and cyber.
“We have a good solid commu-
nity of the willing now, but it's a
growing community that says we're
going to share information on the
nature of the domain,” he said dur-
ing a recent Defense Writers Group
event. “I think that's kind of progress
towards those responsible behaviors.”
The Space Warfighting Analysis
Center — a new organization that
was stood up last year — is coming
up with its own vision for an archi-
tecture that can bounce back from
space attacks and is better equipped
to locate non-ballistic missiles. Space
Force officials announced earlier this
year that the center had completed the
force design for the missile tracking
segment of the resilient architecture.
At the same time, the Mitchell
Institute’s Stone proposed a solu-
tion that combines satellite capa-
bilities in all three orbits above the
Northrop Grumman concept, Space Force photo
Earth’s surface: geosynchronous,
medium- and low-Earth orbit.
Each orbit has advantages and
disadvantages in terms of latency
and relative safety, but a multi-
orbital approach ensures every
need is covered, Stone said.
As far as low-Earth orbit, the
prototype for the Missile Defense
Agency’s hypersonic and ballistic
tracking space sensor is expected to
be delivered by 2023. The SDA’s mis-
sile tracking layer is a constellation
of infrared sensing satellites and is
also in low-Earth orbit, or LEO.
Space Systems Command is over-
seeing the Resilient Missile Warning
Missile Tracking program that would
operate in medium-Earth orbit, or
MEO. For the geosynchronous layer,
next-gen overhead persistent infra-
red systems will provide tracking.
Having satellites in multiple orbits
gives the Defense Department resil-
iency if adversaries target one constel-
lation with jammers or high-powered
microwaves, Stone explained. It
also reduces the possibility a mis-
sile can sneak past every sensor.
“If you fully integrate MEO with
LEO and Geo, you don't necessarily
need as many satellites,” he said. “It
just depends on how much fidelity you
need. How much assurance you want
and how much resiliency you need is
based on the numbers of the satellites.”
Ultimately, fielding the capabilities
as soon as possible will better pro-
tect the ability to impose cost on
adversaries, said Chilton. Build-
ing defensive technologies will not
incentivize adversaries to build
up more offensive capabilities.
“Our military has a responsi-
bility to field this capability for
the reasons we've talked about,
whether they be deterrence or actu-
ally successfully defeating attacks
should deterrence fail,” he said.
The timeline is anything but cer-
tain. The Government Accountability
Office last year raised questions about
having the system ready for the 2025
launch date given that the Space Force
is concurrently developing mission
payload engineering and flight units.
While the program office told
GAO that an October design review
demonstrated “sufficient maturity”
of the space vehicle, Future Opera-
tionally Resilient Ground Evolution
mission data processing and inter-
faces, the office still has its doubts,
according to the annual weapons
assessment report released in June.
A federally funded research and
development center completed an
independent schedule risk assess-
ment for the program in the fall of
last year. The assessment determined
that delivery “would likely be late.”
However, Lockheed Martin’s subse-
quent assessment reported the system
would be delivered ahead of schedule.
The company is “on track” for a
September 2025 launch date, said
Mike Correia, vice president for the
overhead persistent infrared mis-
sion at Lockheed. The next two
vehicles would be expected in spring
2027 and 2028, respectively.
After the critical design review was
completed at the end of last year, the
three satellites entered the production
phase, he noted. This includes build-
ing out electronics boxes and populat-
ing panels, while preparing to start
space vehicle integration next year.
For the first quarter of 2023,
researchers will make sure the com-
munication technology on the satellite
and ground equipment works just as
well as the missile tracking, he said.
“We have the infrared sensor
payload that actually does the detec-
tion of the missile launches, but we
also need to get all that data down
to the ground in a timely man-
ner to the warfighter,” he said.
The company is also working to
integrate Lockheed Martin’s software
onto Raytheon’s open architecture
framework. Tests this year and next
will evaluate how fast data can travel
through the framework, he noted.
Raytheon competed against
a Northrop Grumman and Ball
Aerospace team to provide two of
the satellite’s payload systems.
He compared the satellite to
an operating system — such as
Apple iOS — because it uses vari-
ous companies’ apps with different
capabilities to run the satellite.
“We've got requirements that I can't
talk about in terms of how quickly
we need to get the data down, so we
want to make sure that those vari-
ous apps work together and the data
is moving efficiently,” he said.
Additionally, leaders noted
more steps are needed to launch
spacecrafts more quickly.
Technology commercial space
is developing has potential for the
Space Force’s missile warning and
communications architecture, Ken-
dall added. Instead of the traditional
Defense Department approach to
innovation, commercial space compa-
nies are developing more distributed
capabilities on platforms that are not
expected to last as long, he said.
“They're doing good enough
instead of exquisite, and they're
not building things they expect
to last 15 years and that do every
function you can cram onto a very
expensive platform,” he said.
The Space Development Agency
MISSILE DEFENSE
has already leveraged that kind of
outside-the-box thinking for a resil-
ient space communications archi-
tecture, he noted. Companies like
SpaceX and Colorado-based York
Space Systems have SDA contracts
to build satellites and components.
When the organization becomes
a part of the Air Force this fall, the
service can learn from the orga-
nization as well, Kendall noted.
“We're going to try to exploit that
for the missile warning architec-
ture, which the Space Force has
already put underway,” he said.
For example, United Launch Alli-
ance is working on sending up the
Space Force’s sixth Space-Based
Infrared System into geosynchro-
nous orbit. The launch is sched-
uled for August, according to a
press release from the company.
More companies entering the space
sector will help keep costs down and
make updates faster, noted Davin
Swanson, chief engineer in space and
C2 Systems at Raytheon Intelligence
2nd Space
Warning
Squadron
and Space. This is especially impor-
tant considering satellites will have
to be updated every few years to keep
up with the changing threat, he said.
“Keeping that production line
going and a line of these sensors
rolling off the line really gives you
some cost advantages,” he said.
Officials said developing these capa-
bilities will help the newest service
stay ahead of adversaries in space.
Failure is not an option, said Col.
Miguel Cruz, commander of Delta 4,
the Space Force organization in charge
of missile warning and tracking
through overhead persistent infrared
satellites and ground-based radars.
“This is a no-fail mission. Fail-
ure in this mission area is directly
related to loss of life and property
in ways our nation and our politi-
cal leaders cannot stop. And so fail-
ure is not an option,” he said. ND
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 23
Lift Off
U.S. Kicking
Russian Rocket
Engines to
The Curb
BY MIKAYLA EASLEY
A
fter relying on Russian-
made rocket engines for
national security launches
since the early 2000s, the
United States is prepar-
ing to blast off with next-generation
engines made within its borders.
United Launch Alliance — a joint
venture between Lockheed Martin and
Boeing — and Elon Musk’s SpaceX
are gearing up for the first batch of
national security launches awarded to
the companies in 2020. More than 30
launches will be carried out between
ULA’s Vulcan Centaur and SpaceX’s
Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy from fis-
cal year 2022 through 2027 as part
of phase 2 of the National Security
Space Launch program, or NSSL.
The upcoming launches will
allow the United States to phase
out the Russian-made RD-180
— the first-stage engine used to
power ULA’s Atlas V rocket.
The RD-180 engine is a dual-
combustion chamber, dual-nozzle
engine designed and built by the
Russian company Energomash. The
engine burns a mix of kerosene and
liquid oxygen fuel to give it enough
thrust for the initial boost phase of
flight, said Chris Stone, senior fel-
low for space studies at the Mitchell
Institute for Aerospace Studies.
Using the RD-180, the Atlas V
rocket has carried out dozens of
launches to deploy U.S. national
security spacecraft — including
military, spy and GPS satellites — as
well as commercial launches. The
Atlas V was the preferred vehicle
for the Defense Department for
nearly two decades, along with
ULA’s Delta IV family of rockets.
Both rockets gave the United States
24 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
“assured access to space,” a policy
that ensures the capabilities neces-
sary to launch and insert U.S. national
security payloads into orbit, said ULA
President and CEO Tory Bruno.
“We were set up originally to have
two redundant systems at least for the
government, because we were the only
domestic launch company,” Bruno
said in an interview with National
Defense. “What if your pad fails, or
there’s a flaw in one of the rockets?
You always have to have two ways.”
Despite the Atlas V’s near perfect
launch rate, Russia’s 2014 inva-
sion of Ukraine and annexation
of Crimea sparked calls from U.S.
lawmakers to cut off the reliance on
the RD-180 by making a new engine
for the Atlas V on U.S. soil — a task
easier said than done, Stone said.
“The idea was, ‘Let’s just design
a new engine to stick in the back
end of an Atlas V,’ and that’s not
how it works,” Stone said. “It’s not
like an airplane where you can slide
out an engine and slide in a new
one. You basically build the engine
and design everything around it.”
Furthermore, the RD-180 has a
design that U.S. rocket engine mak-
ers were unable to replicate, he added.
This includes a unique metal mixture
for the walls of its combustion cham-
ber that keeps it from cracking during
the pressure of the launch, he said.
Realizing the demand for new
launch vehicles and engines, the
Space and Missile Systems Center
with the National Reconnaissance
Office released a request for propos-
als in 2019 seeking two domestic
launch service contracts as part of the
new National Security Space Launch
program, according to a Congres-
An Atlas V lifts off for the United
States Space Force-12 mission.
sional Research Service
report titled, “Defense
Primer: National Secu-
rity Space Launch.”
One year later, ULA and
SpaceX were announced
as the winners of the two
contracts, beating out
Northrop Grumman and
Blue Origin, the report
said. ULA will cover 60
percent of the missions
contracted by Space Sys-
tems Command, while
SpaceX will take the rest.
The decision to
develop a new rocket
and engine has been reaffirmed
since Russia’s full-scale invasion of
Ukraine in February, when Moscow
formally announced it would cease
all sales and support of the RD-180
to the United States in response to
sanctions placed on the country.
“We were able to say, ‘So what?
We don’t need your stinking
engines anymore,’” Stone said.
While phasing out its remain-
ing Atlas V rockets and RD-180s
already purchased, ULA will be
using its new Vulcan Centaur heavy-
lift launch vehicle for its upcoming
assignments. The rocket has been
under development since 2014, and
shifting the company’s focus from
two rockets to one has allowed it
to keep costs low, Bruno said.
The Vulcan has the same single-
core structure of the Atlas V with the
ability to add up to six solid rocket
boosters, but is built much larger so
that it has more lift capacity than a
Delta IV, he said. Solid rocket boost-
ers are used to provide thrust from
initial takeoff through the first ascent.
“The fact it is a single-core heavy
[rocket] makes that heavy mission
— that today is only flown by Delta
IV Heavy — really inexpensive. It’s
about a third, even closer to a quarter
of the cost,” Bruno said. The Delta IV
Heavy is the most powerful rocket
in ULA’s fleet, and has carried a
number of large National Reconnais-
sance Office payloads into orbit.
The Vulcan’s first-stage liftoff will
United Launch Alliance photo
be powered by a pair of Blue Origin-
built BE-4 engines. ULA partnered
with Blue Origin in 2014 to jointly
fund the development of the engine,
which will also be used in Blue Ori-
gin’s New Glenn rocket the company
 submitted for the phase 2 competition.
As the rocket booster’s main engine,
it uses liquid methane for fuel —
another departure from the kerosene-
powered RD-180, Bruno noted.
But before the Vulcan can begin
launching national security payloads,
it must complete two successful com-
mercial missions to receive certifica-
tion — a process that has been pushed
back due to BE-4 engine delays.
Bruno said some delays were
expected, given both the smaller
staff size of Blue Origin when ULA
first decided to use the BE-4 and
the complicated process it takes to
build a rocket engine from scratch.
ULA has worked closely with
Blue Origin while also rearrang-
ing the Vulcan’s development to
accommodate the BE-4, he said.
“Things we might have done
one step after the other … we do
that in parallel,” he explained. “You
might take a little bit of extra risk
on our development side in case
we would have to go backwards
and change something because the
engine turned out a little differ-
ently, but that’s a manageable risk.”
The first two BE-4 flight engines
are nearly finished. Once completed,
they will undergo certification test-
ing, he said. From what he has seen
so far in the BE-4’s performance
configurations, Bruno said he is
“very happy with the engine.”
The Vulcan will be moving right into
its certification launches, bypassing
any test flights, he noted. The rocket’s
maiden flight will carry Astrobotic
Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander
payload for NASA’s Commercial
Lunar Payload Services program
and is currently on track to launch
“by the end of this year,” he said.
In May, Space Systems Command
assigned ULA and the Vulcan its first
five national security missions as part
of National Security Space Launch
phase 2. While no specific timeline
for the launches was announced,
they are expected to occur over the
next two years, according to a Space
Systems Command news release.
SpaceX received three missions
from Space Systems Command as
its first part of the contract. The
company plans to use its Falcon
9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, both
of which are powered by the com-
pany’s own Merlin family of kero-
sene and liquid oxygen engines
NASA photo
during the first stage of launch.
One of the reasons the Falcon
family stands out is the ability for
SpaceX to recover the first stage of
the rocket — including the Merlin
engines — for reuse, Stone noted.
RD-180 engines are not able to be
used in a second launch, he added.
SpaceX did not respond to National
Defense’s requests for an interview.
Although missions contracted
under phase 2 of the National Secu-
rity Space Launch program have
not yet begun, both the Space Force
and space industry are already look-
ing toward the next phase of medi-
um- and heavy-launch contracts.
The biggest change in the launch
industry is how the Space Force is
responding to and preparing for
small- and large-scale attacks from
adversaries in space, said Doug Lov-
erro, president of Loverro Consulting,
which specializes in national security
and space guidance. Loverro previ-
ously served in leadership positions
at both NASA and the Pentagon.
As a result, the requirements for
phase 3 will likely address the need
to launch multiple smaller satel-
lites into low-Earth orbit at once
— such as those deployed by the
Space Development Agency, he said.
“You’ll still have large launch
vehicles to initially populate constel-
lations, but you’ll have small launch
vehicles to go ahead and repair them
or replenish them when those satel-
lites on orbit fail,” Loverro said.
Because of the anticipated need for
smaller payloads, companies that spe-
cialize in smaller rocket launch tech-
nology — like Relativity Space, Rocket
Lab, Virgin Orbit and Firefly Aero-
space — have a chance to compete
for future military contracts, he said.
Another trend the industry is see-
ing is more development of reus-
able engines with methane fuel
over the traditional kerosene used
in the RD-180, said Joe Lauri-
enti, founder and CEO of engine/
rocket maker Ursa Major. He noted
RD-180 engine
SPACE
that the ability to reuse a rocket
engine not only keeps costs low,
but is better for the environment.
“[Methane] burns more cleanly, so
if you’re disassembling or inspect-
ing an engine it’s typically a bet-
ter solution,” he said. “Reusing
an engine even once reduces the
carbon footprint you’re casting to
create those parts, and you’re not
dumping the parts in the ocean.”
In June, Ursa Major introduced its
own reusable methane-fueled rocket
engine called Arroway. The company
designed the engine so it can mostly be
3D printed, allowing for it to be scaled
during production and easily repaired
before being reused, Laurienti said.
Arroway will undergo testing in
2023 and is slated for initial delivery
in 2025. Laurienti said Ursa Major
will propose its engine as a replace-
ment for the RD-180, as well as a
potential upper-stage engine.
Looking forward, Bruno noted
that as U.S. adversaries like China
continue to field anti-satellite weap-
ons and assert presence in space, “it
just puts America in a much better
position to have these technologies
and an industrial capacity to build
the products here on shore.”
ULA will seek to continue
with the National Security Space
Launch program once Vulcan
completes its contracted mis-
sions under phase 2, he said.
Overall, the decision to cease
use of the RD-180 and have more
varied launch vehicles has cre-
ated a more robust rocket indus-
trial base, Loverro said.
“We see an engine development
industry that is far more pervasive
across the country into many more
shapes and sizes than we saw in
the late ‘80s, and the ‘90s and early
2000s,” Loverro added. The lack of
development was a combination of
the United States’ reliance on the Rus-
sian RD-180, a disinterest from the
Defense Department in multiple-sized
launch vehicles and the absence of a
commercial space industry, he noted.
Laurienti said: “The ability to have
a sovereign space program is really
necessary right now. … The United
States could go from a net importer of
rocket engines to an exporter, where
we’re not just avoiding a security
issue … but we’re creating a posi-
tion of strategic advantage.” ND
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 25
Aviation Trends
Air Force Putting Software First for
Next-Gen Air Dominance BY MEREDITH ROATEN
T
he Air Force already
determined that the
replacement for the F-22
Raptor will not be a single
plane, but a portfolio of
next-generation capabilities to face
warfare in a contested environment.
Now, Pentagon leaders say to
reach air dominance by the end
of the decade, the service needs
to shift focus from the hard-
ware to developing software.
The Next-Generation Air Domi-
nance program — known as NGAD
— centers around building a new
sixth-generation fighter aircraft with
an unknown number of manned and
unmanned systems among its ranks.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kend-
all recently announced the fighter
— which would be similar to the
F-22 or F-15EX Super Hornet — has
moved into the development phase.
But the manned fighter may
not be the linchpin for air domi-
nance, according to a new report
published by the Hudson Institute.
Without uncrewed systems and sen-
sors for situational awareness, a
manned fighter “would be unlikely
to deliver more than an incremen-
tally improved version of today’s
fighters,” the report posited.
“As counter-air sensors and mis-
siles are easier and less expensive to
advance than manned aircraft, what-
ever edge manned NGAD aircraft
might provide would be fleeting and
evolving them to stay ahead of adver-
saries would likely be unaffordable and
late-to-need,” according to the report.
The strength of the NGAD will come
from combining the power and flex-
ibility of the manned and unmanned
systems and their associated sen-
sors in what’s called “teaming.”
“It is the idea like a sports team,
where each individual member of
the team is born and grows up and
is developed independently of other
members of the team,” Bryan Clark,
a senior fellow at the Hudson Insti-
tute and co-author of the report, said
during a panel discussion. “They
come together in a particular forma-
tion to conduct a set of plays. They
26 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
may then come apart and either
form different formations down the
road or even join different teams.”
That partnership and cohe-
sion boils down to building and
integrating better software, said
Kendall. The autonomous capabil-
ity needed for uncrewed aircraft is
enabled by artificial intelligence.
It’s a capability race that the Air
Force doesn’t want to lose, Kendall
said.
“I'm not going to say anything that
you don’t know is true about software.
It's hard. But nevertheless, I think
we can get to a meaningful level of
initial capability,” he said during a
NGAD concept artwork
recent Air Force Association event.
Earlier this year, Kendall announced
seven “operational imperatives” for
the Air Force. The third is “defin-
ing the Next Generation Air Domi-
nance system-of-systems.”
An operational imperative team
is working on this objective to
develop new concepts for fighting
using collaborative combat aircraft
alongside a manned fighter, said
Timothy Grayson, special assistant
to the secretary of the Air Force.
“On each of these teams, there is
an operational lead as well as a capa-
bilities lead, and that's to be able to
iteratively design new warfighting
concepts at the same time we look
at new capabilities,” he said dur-
ing the Hudson Institute panel.
The road to developing and
acquiring the software needed is
going to be a long one, but it starts
with changing the service cul-
ture, said Air Force Chief of Staff
Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr.
It could be difficult for the service
to accept that certain capabilities
will never be finished, he said dur-
ing a recent Hudson Institute event.
“You don't have a ribbon cutting for
software or a ceremony like you would
for an airplane as it rolls out because
it's always being updated,” he added.
Accepting a new way of doing busi-
ness is necessary, and industry can
help. Defense companies can help
ease the culture change by partner-
ing with the Air Force to build open
systems architecture, Brown added.
“It drives competition for mission
systems that as long as it fits the
form factor, it fits the size of the black
box, you can adapt it very quickly,”
and any company can do it, he said.
Meanwhile, leadership has rec-
ognized the need for change,
but progress has been slow.
The family of systems approach that
NGAD is using was called for years
ago, said Mike Holmes, retired Air
Force general and senior advisor at
Lockheed Martin illustration, Air Force photo
the lobbying firm Roosevelt Group.
He pointed to “Air Superiority
2030,” an Air Force study published
in 2016. It warned that there would
be resistance to the traditional
approach of taking 30 years to build
one super advanced platform.
It found that approach was too
slow and too costly, he said. Another
study shortly after revealed a balance
of manned and unmanned systems
and offboard and onboard sensors
would be key to air dominance.
“The combination of those two
things left the Air Force and Air
Combatant Command with a desire
to pursue a family of systems and
sensors and connection that can
be acquired in a new and differ-
ent way in order to meet the time-
lines,” he said during the panel.
One key difference for the program
office that supports NGAD is that
personnel can start buying sensors
and payload capability independently
of the platforms, Grayson said.
The mission systems can be pur-
chased “in coordination with the
platform and what the platform
needs, but it's not all done through
one contract and one vendor. It’s one
vertically integrated thing,” he said.
The communication between sys-
tems that have to work together is
something the Air Force struggles with
maybe more than the other services,
F-22 Raptor
Grayson said. The service needs “glue
capabilities,” which includes technol-
ogy like communication relays that
help bridge the gap between platforms
and the information they need.
The program office is look-
ing at building off the work that’s
already been done on the advanced
battle management system, or
ABMS — the Air Force’s contribu-
tion to the joint all-domain com-
mand and control project that aims
to connect sensors and shooters.
“I don't want to necessarily own
every single data link in a program
like ABMS, but I need to be able to
talk to all of them, or at least most of
them,” he said. “So whereas I might
have a tactical data link being devel-
oped within a platform program
office, I need a way to first connect
and interoperate with that, as well as
build possible relays and gateways that
can go connect with other things.”
The next-generation software
needs can be boiled down to some
key fundamentals of battle manage-
ment, or software-defined nodes
of battle management, he said.
Multiple program offices can work
together to build solutions that pro-
vide those fundamentals so they will
be interoperable on the platform.
“I've got to know what my tasks
are. Know what assets I have, I
know how to prioritize those tasks,
assign them to assets and send
out commands,” he explained.
A new acquisition approach
could also change how the service
trains, said Dan Patt, senior fellow
with Hudson Institute's Center for
Defense Concepts and Technology
and co-author of the NGAD report.
In a typical program, warfighters
would train to be ready
for a specific platform
when it was delivered.
If the types of platforms
and sensors aren’t set
in stone before train-
ing, it can be difficult
to train with that vari-
ability in assets, he said
during the June panel.
To help with the uncer-
tainty, the Air Force could
create positions for a com-
bat aviation “geek squad,”
Grayson said. They could also do mis-
sion configuration support, he added.
“We have the closest thing to that
today and things like software engi-
neering groups … but it's really a new
specialty that we really need to start
thinking about developing the support
for this kind of operation,” he said.
The family of systems is a different
strategy from the system of systems,
he noted. Prominent program fail-
ures across the Defense Department
came about because the requirements
confined the program to one vendor
and one set of requirements, he said.
“You can't predict to that level of
precision that you need to define
that system of systems, so some-
where in between are models that are
maybe hybrids that get to this vision
that we're talking about,” he said.
Ultimately, the new acqui-
sition approach could pro-
mote innovation, said Patt.
AIR POWER
It’s different from the modularity
the F-35 has, he said. If the Air Force
decides it wants something new for the
aircraft, “there's a card that you can
replace,” but you still had to define the
interface of that card in detail upfront.
“What you're talking about here is
really a much more flexible model.
You keep that fluid, you keep it in
software to allow change down
the road. That seems really excit-
ing … if we can pull that off, that
seems like a powerful capability.”
These capabilities will not come
cheap. Kendall told the House
Armed Services Committee ear-
lier this year that NGAD would
cost “multiple hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars” per aircraft.
The 2023 budget request included
$1.7 billion for the program, includ-
ing $133 million in research, devel-
opment, testing and evaluation.
The service even requested cuts of
more than 30 F-22 Block 20 aircraft
to shift more funding to NGAD.
All the Air Force’s planning for the
next-generation aircraft assumes
that Congress will go along, which
is not guaranteed. Some lawmak-
ers have raised concerns about the
high costs of the program, and the
gap between fighter aircraft that it
could produce, according to a Con-
gressional Research Service report.
“Historically, programs that have
had significant developmental cost
growth, like the F-22 Raptor and the
B-2 Spirit, have seen the number
of aircraft reduced,” noted military
capabilities and programs ana-
lyst John R. Hoehn in the report.
One example of hesitancy from
the legislative branch is Rep. Adam
Smith, D-Wash., chairman of the
House Armed Services Committee.
“I'm always reluctant to put a whole
lot of chips in the middle of the table
when you don't know for sure, and the
NGAD seems like a whole lot of chips
going into the middle of the table,”
Smith told defense reporters recently.
However, Kendall said the time
for experimentation is over.
“Some of our average aircraft are
30 years old, and we have some air-
craft that are not tailored to the high
end fight at all,” he said. “The people
who manage and operate those air-
craft do a fantastic job. We're very
proud of them. But we're going to have
to get to the next generation.” ND
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 27
Critical
Mineral
United States Seeking Alternatives
To Chinese Cobalt BY SEAN CARBERRY
T
he Periodic Table is
packed with elements
of critical importance
to U.S. economic and
national security. From
lithium to iron to uranium, the nation
needs a steady diet of minerals and
metals, and few are as challenging
to source as number 27: cobalt.
The bluish-gray metal’s wid-
est use today is in the cathodes of
lithium-ion batteries, which prolif-
erate in commercial and military
devices. Cobalt also serves the Defense
Department in temperature-resis-
tant alloys for jet engines, in mag-
nets — used for things like stealth
technology and electronic warfare
— and alloys used in munitions.
And like so many materials and
commodities today, China controls
the bulk of the global cobalt supply.
“What makes this a really signifi-
cant challenge is China could use this
the same way Russia can use oil,
or in the same way that the world
is impacted because of grain sup-
ply,” said Brad Martin, director of
RAND Corp.’s institute for supply
chain security. China’s ability to deny
access to cobalt “creates a national
security vulnerability,” he added.
Studies by minerals analysts and
the U.S. government say that 70 per-
cent of mined cobalt comes from
the Democratic Republic of Congo,
a politically unstable country with a
well-documented history of poor labor
and environmental practices in its
mining sector. Almost all the cobalt
mined there — usually as a byproduct
of nickel or copper mining — heads
to China for refining and process-
ing. Currently, China processes about
80 percent of the world’s cobalt.
“The big issue is China and its influ-
ence over the DRC, and the fact that
China understands better than the
United States the need to have access
to strategic materials,” said Martin.
“China has not only been finding
28 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
sources, it’s also been stockpiling,
and that is just not something the
United States has successfully done.”
On the contrary, the United
States has sold off large amounts of
its critical materials stockpile like
cobalt over the last few decades.
According to “Revitalizing the
National Defense Stockpile for an
Era of Great-Power Competition,” a
Heritage Foundation report released
in January, the supply contained
$22 billion worth — in today’s dol-
lars — of critical materials in 1989.
It’s now down to $888 million.
Still, the stockpile isn’t designed
to be a solution. Rather, it’s a stop-
gap in case there is a conflict with
China or some other shock that
interrupts the supply chain.
However, Martin pointed out
that China doesn’t need to resort
to military means to get what it
wants because of its control over
cobalt and other critical materials.
“If China is in a position of being
able to demand political concessions,
diplomatic concessions because it has
a hammerlock over some set of com-
modities, it doesn’t need to go to war,”
he said. “It already has all the instru-
ments of influence it needs to prevail.”
In the short run, the supply chain
risk isn’t that significant unless there
is a situation where China is incen-
tivized to cut off cobalt supplies, he
added. Plus, China would lose rev-
enue if it stopped the cobalt supply.
“The main mitigation is just the
overall state of relations is such that
nobody really benefits from cut-
ting off supplies within the supply
chain, because the supply chains
are so interdependent,” he said.
However, that’s not a durable solu-
tion. Hence, during the last five years,
successive administrations have made
supply chain resilience for critical
materials a priority through execu-
tive orders and policy guidance.
Technically, the Defense Depart-
ment does not rely on Chinese cobalt.
“For many years, the ‘specialty met-
als clause’ (10 USC 4863) has required
defense contractors and their suppli-
ers to purchase cobalt-base alloys and
steel products — with greater than
0.25 percent cobalt — that is melted or
produced in the United States or other
close U.S. allies,” Pentagon spokesper-
son Jessica Maxwell said by email.
“This provides some protec-
tion for the defense industrial base
for defense-unique items, but this
clause does not apply to commer-
cial products or electronics, among
other exceptions,” she added.
And with the Defense Department
looking to transition vehicles and bases
to renewable sources, that means
growing demand for large batteries,
which do rely on Chinese cobalt.
In March, the Biden administration
invoked the Defense Production Act
to address the problem of sourcing
cobalt and other critical materials.
According to the memorandum:
“The United States depends on unreli-
able foreign sources for many of the
strategic and critical materials neces-
sary for the clean energy transition —
such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite
and manganese for large-capacity
batteries. Demand for such materials
is projected to increase exponen-
tially as the world transitions to
a clean energy economy.”
The United States shall
secure materials such
as cobalt “through envi-
ronmentally responsible
domestic mining and pro-
cessing; recycling and reuse;
and recovery from unconventional
and secondary sources, such as mine
waste,” the memorandum states.
Domestic mining will be a challenge,
according to experts and the U.S. Geo-
logical Survey. Its analysis finds that
more than 120 million tons of cobalt
have been identified on the planet. Of
that, 1 million tons reside in U.S. terri-
tory. However, the latest USGS cobalt
report estimates that only 69,000 tons
can be “economically extracted or pro-
duced,” compared to 3.5 million tons
in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Companies such as Jervois, Glencore,
Electra and U.S. Strategic Metals have
mining projects in various stages of
development in the United States, with
Idaho being an area of major focus.
The U.S. government is working to
iStock illustration
streamline the permitting process for
new mining activity. But experts are
skeptical that mining will solve much
 of the cobalt supply chain conundrum.
“There are some real challenges
with trying to bring mining back
into the United States in a big way,”
said Martin. “And for the damage
it causes, it’s not necessarily clear
it’s going to yield all that much.”
Caspar Rawles, chief data officer
with Benchmark Mineral Intel-
ligence, agreed that mining within
the United States is a low-yield
proposition. Canada and Australia
are better prospects, although right
now Indonesia looks to be the next
big source of cobalt, he added.
“That could stack up to be quite con-
siderable volume — let’s say the next
5 to 10 years,” he said. “But the chal-
lenge … through the lens of national
security is that the vast majority of
investment that’s going into Indonesia
is coming from Chinese companies.”
However, the United States
could compete for
Indonesian — or any other country’s
— cobalt by attracting “midstream”
businesses, said Rawles. “So, by that
I mean like refiners and cathode
producers, because those are com-
mercial entities that will go out into
the market, and they will secure raw
materials via commercial contracts.”
In other words, they will cut
Wiki commons photo via user Alchemist-hp
the Chinese refiners and pro-
ducers out of the loop.
“It’s not like direct control of the
raw material,” he added. “But you’re
getting access via proxy, because if
you have a refining company in your
country … that company is going to
be looking to sell its products domes-
tically and will have feedstocks and
inventories of that material in place.”
The Canadian company Electra is
constructing a refinery that is sched-
uled to open later in 2022. Next year,
they will begin refining 5,000 tons of
battery-grade cobalt per year, accord-
ing to the company’s website. How-
ever, that’s a small fraction of the
160,000 tons of cobalt mined annually.
Where analysts see greater
potential to kick the Chinese cobalt
habit is by producing the metal
through the recycling of batteries
and production scrap and waste.
“It could potentially be a very big
source of raw material in the near
term,” Rawles said. “What you’re
looking at is what we call ‘produc-
tion scrap’ or ‘batteries scrap.’ And
so that’s just either off-spec or just
off-cuts of production of battery
materials that will then get fed back
into the battery supply chain.”
Then, as batteries age and
are no longer useful in
a car or other device,
the batteries can
be recycled to
extract the
cobalt and
other miner-
Cobalt chips
als back out to create new batteries.
It will be about 10 years before
the recycling market takes off, he
added. “Then, of course, you have
big volumes, and you definitely want
to ensure that you can retain that,
regionally process it and put it back
into your own … battery supply chain.”
There are several companies
and projects ongoing to recycle
scrap and spent batteries.
Canadian company Li-Cycle has
three operational recycling facili-
ties in Kingston, Ontario, Roches-
ter, New York and Gilbert, Arizona.
CRITICAL MINERALS
According to a company spokesper-
son, those facilities are currently
processing 20,000 tons of lithium-
ion battery material per year.
The company is constructing new
facilities in Alabama, Ohio, Germany
and Norway that will increase pro-
duction to 65,000 tons by the end
of 2023, the spokesperson added.
The U.S. company Redwood
Materials has formed partner-
ships with Ford and Toyota to cre-
ate closed-loop battery recycling
and production supply chains.
Redwood expects to produce
anode and cathode components
by 2025 to power more than 1 mil-
lion electric vehicles and to expand
to 5 million vehicles by 2030,
a company statement said.
Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law, the Department of Energy is pro-
viding nearly $3 billion “to fund bat-
tery materials refining and production
plants, battery cell and pack manufac-
turing facilities, and recycling facili-
ties,” a department press release said.
Both the House and Senate ver-
sions of the 2023 National Defense
Authorization Act include provisions
requiring the Defense Depart-
ment to recycle spent batteries.
Government funding will be
essential in scaling up recycling
in the United States, said RAND’s
Martin. Establishing collection
and transportation networks to
get materials to recyclers could
be cost-prohibitive for the private
sector, he said. That’s one of the
reasons he argues for a more collab-
orative relationship between industry
and government to identify potential
supply chain vulnerabilities early on.
“As companies design products
and … supply chains are erected,
everybody needs to be much more
aware of where things come from
and account for these types of
things up front and not just stroll
into a vulnerability,” he said.
“So, a medium-term impact or
requirement is for the government
and for industry to do a better job
of working together to figure out
where their vulnerabilities are going
to be, and where that can be met
with private action and where it’s
going to require collective action,
require the government to do some-
thing over and above what individual
industries can do,” he added. ND
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 29
Cold Combat
Army Tackles Arctic Challenges
Alongside European Allies
BY MIKAYLA EASLEY
P
ARIS — After two
decades of fighting wars
in the Middle East and
South Asia, the U.S.
Army is rebuilding its
capabilities for the austere condi-
tions of the Arctic. The service is
looking to its international partners
as it seeks to regain its footing in the
revived operational environment.
Army leaders from the United
States, France and Finland gath-
ered during the Eurosatory defense
exhibition in Paris recently to dis-
cuss the importance of the Arctic
and how each country is prepar-
ing for operations in the region.
The Arctic has regained promi-
nence as a strategic environment
for the Pentagon and its allies in
recent years due to increasing lev-
els of military and economic activity
from Russia and China in the region,
according to the Army’s Arctic Strat-
egy document released in 2021.
Both countries “have developed
Arctic strategies with geopolitical
goals contrary to U.S. interests. Russia
seeks to consolidate sovereign claims
and control access to the region.
China aims to gain access to Arctic
resources and sea routes to secure
and bolster its military, economic and
scientific rise,” the document states.
Titled, “Regaining Arctic Domi-
nance,” the Army’s newest strategy
document for cold-weather opera-
tions seeks to adapt the service’s
force postures, training methods
and equipment for operations in the
region, which have greatly dimin-
ished in the last 20 years during the
post-9/11 wars, said Maj. Gen. Peter
Andrysiak, deputy commander of
U.S. Army Europe and Africa.
Now, the service wants the sol-
diers specifically trained, equipped
and sustained to deploy and fight
in extreme cold and mountain-
ous conditions anywhere in the
world at a moment’s notice.
“We have a significant gap in oper-
ating in areas of extreme cold, … in
high levels of snowfall and in moun-
30 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
tainous terrain,” he said
during the discussion,
which was hosted by
the Association of the
United States Army at
the exhibition. “It’s a
pretty lofty goal, consid-
ering where we are.”
There are several
challenges unique to the Arctic the
service will need to address as it gears
up for action in the region, accord-
ing to the document. Beyond freez-
ing cold temperatures, the Arctic’s
weather can change unexpectedly.
The region is remote, experiences
long periods of darkness and extend-
ed daylight that influence opera-
tions and has terrain that changes
drastically with the seasons.
“This is not operating off of
roads and fixed infrastructure.
This is going into very remote
locations that are pristine and
untouched,” Andrysiak said.
To understand how to deploy and
fight in these unpredictable condi-
tions, warfighters need first-hand
experience in that environment, said
Lt. Gen. Seppo Toivonen, former
commander of the Finnish army.
“When it comes to environmental
conditions, there is an age-old say-
ing that is ‘train as you fight.’ When
we speak about the Arctic, you also
have to mention — train where
you are going to fight,” he said.
As an Arctic nation, Finland
ensures almost all of its soldiers
are ready to deploy in the region
and can use the appropriate equip-
ment, Toivonen said. Twice a year,
the country’s army also runs a large
combined-fire exercise in the Lap-
land region — which is within the
Arctic Circle — to both train and test
the service’s capabilities, he added.
Alongside Sweden, Finland
is poised to become the new-
est member of NATO.
Nations outside of the Arctic can
take advantage of domestic ter-
rain with similar conditions in
order to learn how sub-zero condi-
tions will affect their equipment
and improve skills, such as moving
around using skis or snowshoes and
shooting artillery when tempera-
ture and air pressure are low.
For example, France has both
permanent and nonpermanent live-
firing ranges in the Alps mountain
range that are a unique feature to
the region, said Maj. Gen. Pierre-
Joseph Givre, head of the doctrine
directorate of the French Army.
“We have lots of big areas, and
we can fire with all the calibers,”
he said. “We can deploy a brigade-
sized unit with live fires, and it’s
outstanding for Western Europe.”
The French army also has infantry
forces that are highly specialized for
mountain-based operations, Givre
said. Because of the cold weather,
rough terrain and high altitude, the
soldiers in this brigade attain highly
specialized skills, he added. That
includes mountain climbing, skiing
and cold-weather survival skills such
as how to build igloos for shelter.
While the U.S. Army cannot give
specialized skills for the Arctic to
every one of its soldiers, it is revamp-
ing its training for operations in
Alaska and high-altitude regions
at a scale that has not been done
in more than two decades, Andry-
siak said. Then, soldiers can gain
first-hand knowledge of how the
environment affects their equip-
ment, operations and themselves.
Up until the 1990s, “they put
20,000 soldiers in the field in the
dead of winter — and you’re talk-
ing about ranges of minus 30 to
minus 60 with no issues,” he said.
“They were equipped, they were
Army photo
trained and there was an ethos that
was built into the organization.”

Soldiers conduct reconnaissance
in the Donnelly Training Area.
Before recent efforts to boost
the Army’s presence in the region,
soldiers weren’t getting trained
in the Arctic, but instead sent to
completely different environments
to learn skills, Andrysiak said.
The force structure is already mak-
ing adjustments. In June, the service
reactivated the 11th Airborne Division
in Alaska — the first time the Army
has activated an airborne division in
70 years, according to the service. Its
comeback is meant to create a single
mindset and ethos around cold-weath-
er operations — a crucial component
to soldier morale when stationed in
harsh environments, Andrysiak noted.
The 12,000-soldier unit will serve as
the Army’s experts for Arctic opera-
tions. Special emphasis will be placed
on dismounted and Arctic mobility,
as well as the capabilities needed for
sustained operations in cold weather.
“Now, they stay in Alaska and
the combat training centers come
to Alaska, which means they now
live and train in the environment
year round. There’s nothing that
pulls them out,” Andrysiak said.
The Army has also adjusted the
agenda at the Northern Warfare
Training Center at Fort Wain-
wright, Alaska — the service’s
only cold-region training facil-
ity — to cover more topics and
meet the demand of the Arctic’s
growing importance, he added.
In addition to improving domes-
tic training, the service will be
partnering with allies to conduct
joint exercises where nations
can learn from one another and
strengthen interoperability.
Andrysiak pointed to the annual
airborne operations exercise Swift
Response led by the United States.
Intended to show how soldiers can
deploy alongside European allies
at a moment’s notice, this year’s
exercise included paratroopers sta-
tioned in Alaska that flew over the
North Pole and dropped into Nor-
way, the first time an Army unit
has demonstrated the ability to
deploy from and into the Arctic.
The United States must fos-
ter partnerships not only with
Canadian members, but also
with Japan, South Korea and Arc-
tic nations in Europe to continue
these exercises, Andrysiak said.
Once basic training for the Arc-
tic conditions is done, the Army
can begin training soldiers at more
specialized skill levels for longer
durations. Live testing and experi-
mentation will allow the service to
determine the right equipment and
formations that will shape its cold-
weather operations, Andrysiak said.
The addition of the airborne divi-
sion means the Army will need to
adjust its equipment and capability
requirements, Andrysiak noted.
For example, the service announced
it is moving armored Stryker com-
bat vehicles out of the region by the
end of the summer due to their poor
performance in the snowy Arctic.
Andrysiak noted that the Stryker
“was never the platform to oper-
ate in this formation.” The Army
is working with its allies and part-
ners to understand what type
of vehicle will be needed to fill
the Strykers’ gap, he added.
In the meantime, the Army is
acquiring a cold weather, all-terrain
vehicle, or CATV, to replace the
decades-old Small Unit Support
Vehicle. The service is looking for an
amphibious vehicle that can oper-
ate in extremely cold temperatures
and across multiple terrains, and
hopes to choose one of two prototype
vehicles made by BAE Systems or
the Oshkosh Defense-ST Engineer-
ing team by the end of the summer.
Beyond mobility, the service is
looking to improve on other equip-
ment that is especially challenging
to field in extreme conditions, from
artillery to electromagnetic capabili-
ties. According to the Army’s Arctic
Strategy, all equipment for Arctic-
capable units must be able to perform
at temperatures down to minus 65
degrees Fahrenheit for multiple days.
“The problems don’t start at 32
below zero, they start at 32,” Andry-
siak said. “There’s going to be some
LAND FORCES
key design features to go after in
that particular organization.”
To succeed in the Arctic, militar-
ies need to have a controlled air
domain, long-range fire capabili-
ties and situational awareness tools
for target acquisition, Toivonen
said. He also noted personal equip-
ment like light night-vision optics
and camouflage are just as crucial.
“That makes a better combat envi-
ronment,” Toivonen said. “Everything
that keeps you alive is important.”
One of the U.S. Army’s tenets for
future Arctic operations is estab-
lishing multi-domain operations
that can support these kinds of
capabilities, Andrysiak noted. This
includes reviewing the service’s
space-based and cyberspace assets,
the service’s Arctic Strategy stated.
“The Arctic region, given the high-
latitude, poses operational challenges
given the unique electromagnetic
spectrum. These challenges pres-
ent a unique electromagnetic opera-
tional environment that requires
increased U.S. access and coverage
from space and high altitude-based
systems,” the document said.
The service will also work with its
combatant commands and partner
nations to improve its communica-
tions infrastructure and mitigate
harmful effects from solar weather
patterns, to the strategy stated.
Part of that development means the
Army must work closely with indus-
try that already has the technology
the service needs to operate, project
power and operate in harsh cold-
weather conditions, Andrysiak said.
“They already exist here with
industry. They’re out there and
it’s just a matter of procuring the
equipment and understanding
what’s the right equipment to put
into our formations,” he said.
While the Arctic region can present
a host of challenges for military opera-
tions, Givre noted that the arena gives
allies an opportunity to put pressure
on Moscow and its cold-terrain capa-
bilities. Given the difficulties it has
encountered in its invasion of Ukraine,
Russia will likely have even more
hurdles in the polar arena, he added.
“I think this is … the weak belly
of the Russians,” he said. “We con-
sider them very strong in this
area, but I think they are not as
strong as they should be.” ND
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 31
 COVER STORY
Kamikaze
Drones
Loitering Munitions Proliferate
As Tech Changes Battlefield
BY STEW MAGNUSON
P
ARIS — If there was
ever one-stop shop-
ping for anything an
army would need as
far as loitering muni-
tions, it was all the
way back in Hall 6,
aisle F at the Euro-
satory trade show in Paris in June.
There, attendees found the Uvision
booth and its complete lineup of so-called
“kamikaze drones,” ranging in six sizes
along with all the accessories, includ-
ing controllers and training systems.
A quadcopter drone also hung on
display from the booth’s ceiling.
“Is that a loitering munition, too?” a
reporter asked a company representative,
having never seen a vertical takeoff and
landing drone armed with a warhead.
“No, just for surveillance,” said the repre-
sentative.
“But it could be armed. It is possible,
right?”
“Anything is possible,” he responded.
Whether they’re called loitering muni-
tions or kamikaze drones, the weapon
system has come into its own in recent
conflicts, especially in Ukraine, where they
were likely being deployed against Russian
invaders the very week of the trade show.
Their origins are rooted in World War
II tactics. Their basic technology was
developed for hobbyists, and their evo-
lution was spurred by terrorists’ use of
improvised explosive bombs in Iraq.
32 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
National Defense spotted the first
“non-improvised” flying munition cre-
ated by an Eastern European contrac-
tor at the IDEX trade show in 2009.
More than a dozen years later, the tech-
nology is proliferating both at defense exhi-
bitions and on battlefields. Vendors from
all over the world came to Eurosatory to
exhibit the latest in loitering munitions
technology, which — as the name
suggests — can fly in pat-
terns serving as a reconnais-
sance platform until it spots a
potential target. If an operator
decides to attack, the drone can
nosedive toward the target, strik-
ing it while detonating a warhead.
Although explosives
aren’t always necessary.
Yaniv Ben-Itzhak, director of
marketing and business devel-
opment at Elbit Systems,
showed a video of one
of its medium-
sized SkyStriker
ND illustration with AeroVironment, iStock images
drones slamming
into a tactical
wheeled vehicle at
some 200 kilome-
ters per hour, basically slicing it in
half without the use of explosives.
“That was just a demonstra-
tion.” The warhead was removed
for safety reasons, he explained.
The Israeli-based company is look-
ing to create synergy between mobile
Switchblade 300
SkyStriker
rocket launchers and its SkyStriker
loitering munitions, allowing opera-
tors to select one or the other and
fire them from the same tube.
“In terms of firepower, you
have a complete offering from the
same platform,” he said. The Sky-
Striker has about a 400-kilometer
range, he said. He touted its high-
resolution target-seeker camera
and the 5-kilogram warhead.
Like all loitering munitions, it has
a dual purpose as a recon platform.
It can relay target information back
to the mobile platform if the opera-
tor wants to use a rocket instead. If
no target is selected, it autonomously
returns to its home base and para-
chutes to the ground for reuse.
Such tactics have been used in
Ukraine against Russian combat
vehicles, but military analysts truly
took notice of the hybrid weapons
during the Nagorno-Karabakh con-
flict between Armenia and Azer-
baijan in September 2021, said
Jorge De León Rivas, director of
the robotics and autonomous sys-
tems department at Madrid-based
defense contractor SDLE, which
markets Uvision’s drone in Spain.
“The battlefield changed,” said
Rivas, who is also a lieutenant colo-
nel in the Spanish army’s reserves.
Azerbaijan effectively deployed loi-
tering munitions, which destroyed
hundreds of Armenian tanks.
“That made the difference in the
war,” said Rivas. The drones were
made in Israel and Turkey, accord-
ing to numerous news outlets
reporting during the conflict.
For Rivas, the advantages of loiter-
ing munitions are obvious. A missile
is “thrown away” the moment it is
fired. Perhaps it hits its target, and
perhaps there is collateral damage that
could result in unnecessary deaths.
An operator using a loitering muni-
34 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
tion can be more selective and
even abort a strike if he sees
civilians at the last second.
“You only strike what is really
needed, and you’re not just kill-
ing people for nothing,” he said.
The smaller versions are also
said to be quiet and hard to
detect by modern air defenses.
The U.S. Marine Corps, in
Rivas’ estimation, is far ahead in
developing tactics, techniques and
procedures for loitering munitions.
U.S. forces — and now Ukraine
— have been using AeroVironment’s
Switchblade loitering munitions.
At Eurosatory, the U.S. company
marketed two models: the Switch-
blade 300, a 2.5-kilogram drone with
10-kilometer range and 15-minute
endurance and the 54-kilogram
600-model, with a 40-plus kilometer
range and 40-plus minutes of endur-
ance. Both are launched from mortar-
like tubes placed on the ground.
Turkey’s Rocketsan also used
the exhibition to introduce a new
armed drone as part of its MAM
family of “smart micro muni-
tions,” said Furkan Zeki Ayhan,
special engineer at the Ankara-
based munitions manufacturer.
The MAM-T is a new 95-kilo-
gram fixed wing drone that has a
30-plus kilometer range, he said.
The MAM-C and MAM-L — both
introduced in 2016 — have 8- and
15- kilometer ranges respectively.
Unlike the other tube-launched
systems, Rocketsan’s three mod-
els are designed to be launched
from medium-sized drones or
light attack aircraft, he said.
One potential customer at Euro-
satory said he was sold on loi-
tering munitions’ utility.
Col. Arnaud Goujon, chief of plans
at the French army headquarters,
said the service is looking to add
loitering munitions to its
SCAN inventory later in the year.
THIS “You need something that is
IMAGE different than a mortar or an
artillery shell,” Goujon said. “If
it is the same price of a mortar
round that goes about three
kilometers away and flies for 15
SEE THE minutes, then it’s interesting,”
SKYSTRIKER he said. If it costs 10 times as
IN ACTION much as a mortar or an artil-
lery round with the same range,
then it’s less interesting, he added.
If it can fly 30 or 50 kilometers away
and endure for two to four hours,
“then it’s a different animal,” he said.
Goujon indicated that the French
army would start off by acquir-
ing the smaller Switchblade.
Peter W. Singer, senior fellow
at the New America think tank,
and the author of several seminal
books on robotics and warfare, said
in the near future, the skies over
battlefields — and at sea — will
feature more drones than ever,
including loitering munitions.
What do I want to launch from
my aircraft? Is it just a singular
guided munition or hundreds, or
even thousands of loitering muni-
tions?” he said in an interview.
“The future of the battlefield is
not merely a few loitering muni-
tions, but an airspace that’s liter-
Elbit Systems photo, Stew Magnuson photo, Rocketsan illustration
ally filled with them,” he added.
Back at the Uvision booth, com-
pany chairman Yair Ramati, wasn’t
shy about calling the technology
a “battlefield game changer.”
Its series of six models ranges from
the HERO-30, which weighs 7.8 kilo-
grams with its cannister launcher
and travels 15 kilometers, to the
HERO-1250, which weighs 155 kilo-
grams, is launched from a rail, and
has a range of 200-plus kilometers.
The Tira, Israel-based firm has sold
its models on almost all the continents,
to NATO nations and to U.S. custom-
ers such as the Marine Corps, he said.
As for Ukraine, the technology is
proving its worth every day, he said.
Attacks on Russian convoys serve
as one example. Anti-tank missiles
such as the Javelin have received about
as much publicity as the Switchblade
and other loitering munitions, but
those require a soldier to approach
within the line of sight, perhaps
3 to 5 kilometers away, he said.
“Even if you know where exactly
is a convoy of 20 to 30 kilometers
long — maybe 50 — you need to be
close to it in order to hit it,” he said.
A loitering munition is a good
choice of weapons when a user knows
there is a target out there he wants to
strike, but doesn’t know the precise
location, such as when he is receiv-
ing mortar or indirect fires. The
seeker capability can find the target.
A more typical scenario is that
intelligence knows there is a convoy
somewhere on a road that extends
50 or 100 kilometers. The loiter-
ing munition can search and find
it at a safe standoff distance.
Then there is the precision: “Do you
want to hit the lead resupply vehicle?
Do you want to hit it before it reaches
a bridge, on the bridge or after it
crosses the bridge?” Ramati asked.
“That is why there is a tremen-
dous demand for these types of
weapons right now,” he added.
Training is also an issue. It
can’t take six to nine months to
learn how to fly a medium-alti-
tude, long-endurance unmanned
aerial vehicle such as Predator.
Uvision seeks to train the basics
Uvision booth at Eurosatory 2022
of flying in a few hours, Ramati
said. It offers the HERO Simula-
tor to get trainees started.
There are finer points that take
more time to learn, such as whether
to attack using a high, medium or
low angle, depending on the target
and the type of warhead, he said.
And while the company does not
yet offer a quadcopter vertical take-
off and landing loitering munition,
a Sofia, Bulgaria-based company at
the Eurosatory conference did.
Hades Defense Systems was display-
ing its “Spark vertical attack program-
able kamikaze quadcopter,” which can
ascend at 5 meters per second and fly
at 47 kph with a range of 7 kilometers.
The company touted its quiet pro-
pellers, low reflective surface to avoid
radars and anti-jam capability. It also
carries a fragmentation warhead.
“It positions itself above its tar-
get at a precise altitude, reverses
its propellers’ direction, speeds up
[as it goes] down and attacks from
above,” company literature said.
Maya Pangarova, Hades commer-
cial director, said the company has
big ambitions beyond hand-launched
loitering munitions. It is also develop-
ing a jet-powered kamikaze drone.
The “Nemesis Kamikaze Attack
Jet Drone” is still in development
using internal research and devel-
opment funds and could only be
seen on a company fact sheet.
Hades envisions it flying at 600
kph, using terrain mapping and a
variety of anti-jamming devices and
radar spotting systems to avoid detec-
tion, the company literature said.
It would be catapult-launched with
MAM-C
COVER STORY
a range of 190 kilometers, maxi-
mum altitude of 4,500 meters, and
guided remotely or run on autopilot.
Company engineers were still
working on how large of a war-
head it could carry, she said.
The company hopes to have some-
thing physical to display at the IDEX
conference in Abu Dhabi being held
in early 2023, Pangarova said.
Singer said he has little doubt
Hades, or any other company, could
convert an aircraft intended for the
commercial market to some kind of
rudimentary loitering munition.
“You’re really getting into a fuzzy
definitional line between loitering
munitions and cruise missiles,” he
said of jet-powered drones that can
convert themselves into bombs.
Along with the military util-
ity of doing so, there are ques-
tions about international laws that
prevent sales and trade of mis-
siles that could potentially deliver
weapons of mass destruction.
Meanwhile, there is much for mili-
tary strategists to ponder as loitering
munitions proliferate. There is a dis-
connect between the major military
programs the U.S. armed forces have
been fielding over the last decade
and drone warfare, Singer said.
“What does a future with mas-
sive numbers of loitering munitions
mean for major military platforms
that are the [service’s] center-
pieces? That goes for land, air and
sea. Those kinds of connections
have not been fully made yet.” ND
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 35
Loitering Munitions Create Urgency
For Counter-Drone Tech BY MIKAYLA EASLEY
P ARIS — Loitering munitions — a
marriage of small drone technol-
ogy and explosives — are becom-
ing more sophisticated and deadly,
prompting a surge in the market for
counter-unmanned aerial systems.
From the post-9/11 wars in
the Middle East to the Nagorno-
Karabakh conflict in the Caucuses,
small drones have proliferated on
battlefields as both reconnaissance
tools — and lately — as a stealthy
means to deliver munitions.
During the Eurosatory interna-
tional defense conference in Paris,
several companies showcased counter-
UAS technologies that can detect
and neutralize enemy drones.
“We have been witnessing the
growing demand for anti-drone sys-
tems and technologies,” said Meni
Deutsch, the regional director for
Europe at Skylock Anti Drone Tech-
nologies. The company is a sub-
set of the Israeli-based technology
company Avnon Group and special-
izes in counter-UAS capabilities.
“Drones in general are chang-
ing constantly,” Deutsch said at the
trade show. “They pose big threats,
because today, drones are so acces-
sible, so available, that even a 10-year-
old child can buy it on eBay.”
Counter-drone technologies are
innovating just as rapidly as the
aircraft. Common systems use jam-
mers to block radio frequencies or
spoofers to send fake GPS signals
that mimic a drone’s intended tar-
get. Systems can come in a variety of
platforms — including short-range
handheld jammers, laser neutralizers
and systems that cover large areas
to provide continuous protection.
Peter W. Singer, senior fellow at
the New America think tank, and
the author of books on robotics and
36 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
warfare, said there is a battlefield
calculus to counter-drone systems.
“There is a cost imposition,” he
said. Will a military spend millions
to shoot down an inexpensive, small
drone? And, of course, once a counter-
drone system has been deployed,
the defender has revealed his posi-
tion, which could be a bad move.
“It is a threat, but it is cheap
compared to your highly expen-
sive responses,” Singer said.
One of the technologies Skylock
has developed is the VIP Dome,
which acts as a miniature version
of Israel’s Iron Dome, Deutsch said.
The system’s 360-degree radio fre-
quency detector and internal GPS can
detect drones and send automated
commands to its jammers, which
then block communication channels
between the threat and its operator.
“Any drone that gets close, his
brain will be hijacked by this very
unique technology and then pushed
back immediately,” Deutsch said.
The dome is ideal for military bases,
ships or even moving cars, he added.
However, warfighters sometimes
need lighter options during mis-
sions on foot, said Red McClintock,
director of DroneShield.
The Australian company builds
artificial intelligence systems for
counter-UAS missions. DroneShield
showcased two of the company’s
handheld anti-drone technologies:
the lightweight short-range Drone-
Gun MKIII and the larger, lon-
ger-range DroneGun Tactical.
Once a UAS is detected, either
system can take down a drone
at ranges of 0.9 kilometers and
1.9 kilometers, respectively.
DroneGun MKIII
“Weight is everything for a dis-
mounted soldier,” McClintock
said. The DroneGun MKIII weighs
just under 2.2 kilograms and can
be operated using one hand. The
DroneGun Tactical, however, is a
bit larger at 7.25 kilograms and bet-
ter suited for short missions or as a
set-up in a fixed position, he said.
DroneShield systems are used in
countries across the world, including
the United States, McClintok said. The
company has some products being
used in Ukraine as well, he added.
As unmanned systems advance,
communicating with other companies
who make drones and sharing latest
trends help both industries keep up
with one another, McClintok said.
“We compare ideas, countermea-
sures, counter-countermeasures,”
he said. “We don’t need to wait for
the next battlefield. We don’t need
to wait for customer feedback in
that game of cat-and-mouse. We
have smart people, they have smart
people, and we can work together.”
At the exhibition, Finnish defense
company Patria debuted an alterna-
tive counter-UAS method to jam-
mers and spoofers. The prototype
solution uses an effector that deploys
a “string cloud” of materials at
small drones and loitering muni-
tions to neutralize them from close
range, said Jukka Lemola, prod-
uct manager for land at Patria.
“It will not just stick to the propel-
lers, it will actually hit the motor
while it’s running, which sucks the
material in and it will short circuit,”
Lemola said at Patria’s booth.
The strings are made up of a unique
material the company has developed
specifically for this capability, but
Lemola could not disclose specifics.
The strings are safe for civilians to
interact with once they fall, he noted.
The system can shoot materials
at swarms of up to 10 drones from
100 meters away. A prototype is cur-
rently in production. Patria plans to
develop effectors that can be used
by hand, on top of vehicles, aboard
ships and for other fixed structures.
Lemola said the proto-
type was developed to address
gaps their customers saw in
counter-UAS capabilities.
“Even though they have some sys-
tems, many of them see these as kind
of a last line of defense,” he said. “So,
DroneShield photo
if nothing else helps, then there is
still a capable solution close to the
assets you want to protect.” ND
 Automation
Affection
The Defense Department
Is Learning to Love Bots
BY SEAN CARBERRY
B
ots have a bad name in
no small part because
of their role in Rus-
sian information
warfare. However,
the Defense Department is find-
ing that when deployed for good,
bots can liberate humans from
repetitive tasks and allow people
to perform higher-level work.
To respond to the growing complex-
ity of threats and warfare, the Penta-
gon must find ways to get more out of
a finite supply of personnel. Creating
software applications — robots, or
“bots” — to perform time-consuming
and repetitive tasks is a way for-
ward, said Winston Beauchamp,
deputy chief information officer of
the Air Force, at the UiPath Together
conference in Arlington, Virginia.
“We don’t have enough people to
do the work that we’ve been doing
the way we’ve been doing it,” he said
on the sidelines of the conference.
Older workers “remember fondly
the days when we had rooms full
of clerks who processed this stuff
for us. That’s not the case any-
more. And so, they recognize the
imperative to change,” he said.
Change means the automation of
business and administrative tasks as
well as developing bots and artificial
intelligence for warfighting functions.
One example is the permanent
change of station, or PCS process, he
said. Moving from one base to another
involves volumes of papers and check-
lists to turn in equipment, sign out of
barracks and offices and sign into new
iStock illustration
ones. It can be so onerous that some
people choose to leave the military
rather than fight through it, he said.
“There’s certainly some that is
base unique, but a lot of it is com-
mon and probably should be,”
Beauchamp said. “So, trying to put
some order to that chaos is one
area,” that automation can help.
Another area ripe for automation is
military logistics. “You can imagine the
scheduling of just-in-time maintenance
on aircraft requires thousands of parts
and lots of moving parts — pieces
that have to come together at just the
right time from depot maintenance as
well as field maintenance,” he added.
Having the right testing equip-
ment and tools on hand for aircraft
maintenance, checking tools in and
out and tracking and maintaining
accountability for tools are also time-
consuming tasks for the Air Force.
“All of these together are areas
where we think we could dramati-
cally improve efficiency of manu-
ally intensive processes,” he said.
According to data presented at the
conference, the Air Force has saved
more than $20 million by letting
bots take over business processes.
The Air Force is achieving that
through a hybrid approach of part-
nering with commercial vendors like
UiPath and training and empower-
ing Air Force personnel in robotic
process automation, or RPA.
“So, the way UiPath does it, for
example, it’s a module that allows you
to generate building blocks without
someone having to necessarily code it
all from scratch,” said Beauchamp.
“You start by taking relatively low-
end tasks and automating them wher-
ever you can,” he continued. “Then you
build a workflow by stringing those
tasks together. … And you go up to the
next level, next level, and eventually
what you’ve got are higher order func-
tions that now have been automated.”
The Air Force has a license architec-
ture with UiPath that allows for quick
access and deployment of code, he said.
One of the ways the Air Force
is educating personnel about the
value of automation is through
the process of traveling to instal-
lations and meeting with them.
“We’re doing roadshow tours
so that folks can come together …
do a quick brainstorming session
and come up with ideas and then
maybe half of them will wind up
being implemented — some of them
on the spot,” Beauchamp said.
In addition, the Air Force has a
“citizen developer program” that
is training people how to do basic
bot building without having to go
through complete courses, he added.
Col. Rebecca Schultz, director of
the RPA program for the 448th Sup-
ply Chain Management Wing, is on
the front lines of the effort to train
troops to build bots. She started by
getting leadership on board with
what automation can do and the
need to spread it through the force.
Then, she sent out an appeal to
the more than 3,000 people in her
organization saying she was look-
ing for innovators. “I used that soft
skill and that word because if I said,
‘I have technology that’s going to be
really exciting and it’s a robot’ … no
one would have responded,” she said.
The response was positive, and
dozens completed the class, she said.
Many of the participants focused
on generating bots to help with
report building or feeding data into
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 37
 AUTOMATION
reports with different formats.
Leaders often want quad charts or
other specific presentations and don’t
think about all the layers of data that
feed into such products, she said. “So,
there were bots built into that kind of
process. There were bots around hir-
ing practices with HR, there were bots
with finance reporting, and how to
collate information, data and numbers.
“And then there was also even
system access,” she added. “There’s
supply system owners and supply spe-
cialists that have to go into 25 separate
systems every month and set aside
an entire day.” Now they just push a
button to activate a bot. “They can
do other work, and that bot does all
the system access for them. It saved
an entire eight hours,” she said.
One challenge is centralizing
automation information and best
practices across the Defense Depart-
ment. Erica Thomas, intelligent
automation process manager in
the Office of the Undersecretary
of Defense, Comptroller, said her
office has a shared platform that
anyone in the department can join.
“It hopefully allows RPA to pro-
mulgate faster across the depart-
ment and manage it better,” she
said during the conference.
Today, there are more than 30 ten-
ants on the platform, which is running
more than 200 automations. All of
the military departments and agen-
cies are using the platform, she said.
In addition, there is a Defense
Department robotic process automa-
tion consortium that meets monthly
to share ideas, she said. Vendors also
come to the consortium to demon-
strate their technologies occasionally.
“It’s an open forum for anybody to
bring up any topics that they want
to help better their own program
and … learn from each other.”
The more difficult challenge,
though, is applying robotic process
automation and artificial intelligence
38 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
on the tactical side. Beauchamp
said there has been some success.
“One of the areas where we’ve made
the most progress lately has been
in sense-making,” he said. Sensors
continue to proliferate and gather
more and more data. “You don’t have
enough people in the military, much
less in the Air Force, to have a person
looking at every video stream all the
time — and frankly it may not be
the best use of their time anyway.”
So, the priority is to build the right
automation that can sift through all
the video and image feeds, determine
what’s relevant, extract it and feed it to
a human analyst, he said. The goal is
to compress the time needed to find a
needle in a haystack by a factor of 100.
“It’s a very hard problem, and it’s
been out of reach for so long because
the processing capability as well as the
algorithmic sophistication necessary
to employ that processing,” he said.
“The pieces are there now from a tech-
nology standpoint,” and so now the
challenge is to pull the pieces together
and make them useful in the field.
Clarifai is one of the companies
working with the military on this
problem. Ryan Epp, account
executive for the Army and
special operations communi-
ty, said that Clarifai develops
automations to narrow the
scope and increase the preci-
sion of data that analysts and
warfighters have to process.
“We can narrow their
focus to instead of look-
ing at the entire field,
maybe just look at the 50-yard
line, 30-yard line,” he said.
It is important to convey to cus-
tomers that there is still a human
decision maker in the loop, he added.
“I think that that helps tremen-
dously with the level of comfort. We
are really supplementing, we are
enabling,” and not replacing humans.
And supplementing and enabling
warfighters is of great interest to
the Army, Raj Iyer, the service’s
chief information officer, said at
the conference. The biggest area
of potential for automation is joint
all-domain command and control,
the Pentagon’s campaign to connect
sensors and shooters, he added.
“Because if you look at JADC2, the
biggest pain point that we have is …
looking at a number of legacy systems
that have data and then … exposing
them and bringing them into a com-
mon operating picture,” he said.
The Army has 11 different legacy
systems that a commander must
monitor, he added. “That is a lot of
swivel chairing, right, and so I think
it’s time to kill the swivel chair.”
The Army is working to build
automations that replace the time-
consuming manual steps in the chain.
“We’ve already brought it down
from hours to minutes,” he said. “I
think we can go from minutes to
seconds in terms of condensing that
kill chain for sensor to shooter.”
As the Army works to modernize its
systems and deploy new technologies
— hypersonics, mobile short range air
defense, integrated visual augmenta-
tion system, the synthetic training
environment — it is looking to build
in artificial intelligence, added Iyer.
“While we have a long way to
mature to a general-purpose AI,
we’re taking baby steps right now
… starting with RPA to doing some
machine learning,” he said.
Marc Surette, UiPath’s regional
vice president for Defense Depart-
ment business, said there is AI out
there that can benefit the depart-
ment. Some of it is developed by
UiPath, but much is developed by
other entities. The challenge is mak-
ing AI tools work with Defense
Department systems and processes.
“I view UiPath as a as a mechanism
to help facilitate the integration of
those tools from those third-party
talented people,” into the depart-
ment, he said. Otherwise, those
tools are just one more thing people
have to “swivel to,” he added.
Beauchamp noted that sometimes
efficiency gains from bots and AI can
scare workers into thinking their jobs
will be eliminated. It’s critical to make
clear to people that automation isn’t
about cutting jobs, it’s freeing people
up to do higher-order work, he added.
“Everybody would like to move
up market in their job if they can
and spend more of their time on
the things that require judgment
and less of their time on the more
menial parts,” he said. For example,
finance staff say they could find
more wasted money in the budget
if they spent less time transposing
data between spreadsheets, he said.
Automating that kind of pro-
cess can allow someone to go from
spending 10 percent of their time
performing audit work to maybe
iStock illustration
60 percent. “That’s something they
want to do because they know that’s
… higher added value,” he said. ND
 VIEWPOINT
U.S. Must Preserve its
Quantum Advantage
BY JOHN C. JOHNSON
U
.S. dependence on
networks for secure
financial transactions,
communications, man-
machine interface and
unbreakable battlefield situational
awareness has grown significantly
over the years to a point where
“arms race” is now a misnomer.
Instead, the situation is best
described as “technology quest.”
Research centers around the globe
are now under pressure, pushing
state-of-the-art technologies. In the
commercial environment, first-to-
market yields higher revenue and
greater profits. In national security
vernacular, “profits” equate to safe-
guarding communications and real-
izing national security objectives.
U.S. dependence on technology has
become acute, especially with the cur-
rent maneuvering and positioning by
those willing to upset international
stability. It is now an imperative to
prevent a slow, spiraling descent
while potential adversaries ascend.
A survey of the sciences that have
the potential to shift the paradigm
yields a sole area of technical knowl-
edge with enormous implications
across the spectrum of commercial
and defense: quantum technology.
Subsequently, to prevent any
technology erosion, President Joe
Biden signed an “Executive Order on
Enhancing the National Quantum Ini-
tiative Advisory Committee” on May
4 which reports directly to the White
House. This group of independent
experts will advise the government
and its many agencies on the develop-
ment status of quantum technology.
iStock illustration
No longer a labora-
tory experiment, quan-
tum technology now yields practical
applications, but there is irrevocable
harm if wielded by contrarians to
global order. Encrypted transactions
today can be held in depositories by
others until such time as quantum
computing is able to decipher what
we today consider unbreakable code.
Intellectual property, classified data
and all personal information will be
considered “open source” information.
The danger is incomprehensible and
the very reason for the presidential
decree. To fully grasp the potentiality,
Americans must educate themselves
in the science of quantum technology.
Those not familiar with quan-
tum technology often have the fol-
lowing reactions to its mention: a
questioning look, an acknowledg-
ment of its far distant potential or
visions of the large cryogenic units
required to slow atomic particles to a
motionless state to initialize value.
Yet, a fourth group is working dili-
gently each day with the technology
to move beyond the binary bit, with
a value of 0 or 1, to the qubit, with a
value of 0 and 1. These elite individu-
als are fomenting the second quan-
tum revolution. Qubits have become
reality; dozens are now possible.
Cryogenic cooling units that can
achieve near absolute zero tem-
peratures made qubits possible, but
their enormous size makes general
applications difficult. Yet, in 1997,
Bill Phillips won the Nobel Prize in
Physics for demonstrating that atoms
are affected by laser light and can
be cooled through Doppler effects to
low temperatures — thousandths
of a degree above absolute zero —
and captured, thus eliminating the
need for large cryogenic units.
Subsequently, David Wineland and
Serge Haroche won the Noble Prize
in 2012 for controlling and measuring
quantum particles while preserving
their quantum properties. With more
than one laser, thermal equilibrium
of a quantum particle can be estab-
lished. These achievements provided
smaller laboratories and universities
an opportunity to work with some
of the smallest particles known.
One of the fundamental building
blocks in any quantum application is
the qubit, which is an expression of
the particle’s superposition proper-
ties. An atomic particle can “occupy”
several states at the same time. The
second is entanglement, when two or
more quantum particles share com-
mon unified characteristics while
physically separate. Laser cooling
applications allow for holding and
arranging the crucial qubit in a ther-
mal equilibrium lattice, but this meth-
od comes with staggering challenges.
A qubit is extremely sensitive to
temperature, vibration, noise, electro-
magnetic waves, crosstalk and so on,
causing significant errors and sub-
sequent loss of quantum coherence,
which makes it difficult to character-
ize and initialize value. The lack of
coherence is one of the serious issues
facing scientists and research engi-
neers. Without coherence, extraor-
dinarily little can be accomplished
in a fleeting quantum moment. But
even though achieving coherence for
a significant length of time may be
some years away, the level of quantum
coherence we are capable of today is
sufficient for various applications.
Two applications are impor-
tant to know: quantum comput-
ing and quantum sensing, which
have near-term potential.
In quantum computing, once a
particle is held near motionless — in
a coherence state — one can initial-
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 39
 VIEWPOINT
ize its quantum value, which resides
in a state of superposition, 0 and
1. Superposition allows for parallel
activity versus the serial computation
associated with binary. But multiple
factors degrade or consume qubits
and must be considered for quan-
tum computing. Sufficient qubits
must be available to compensate
for qubits that fall out of coher-
ence and back into a binary state.
Several companies can yield
qubits in quantity; however, the
reserve qubits may outnumber those
required for algorithm computa-
tion. Pre-error correction for noise
and other detrimental qubit char-
acteristics that cloud computational
results also consumes qubits. Nei-
ther providing supplemental qubits
nor performing pre-error correction
processes are ideal, yet the state of
the art now can provide sufficient
qubits and fidelity to perform quan-
tum computing to a limited degree,
which is a White House concern.
Operational applications with
shortened algorithms can be per-
formed before coherence is lost. This
approach, called “scalable process-
ing,” runs a traditional high-speed
computer in tandem with a quan-
tum device allocated to the narrow
and more abbreviated activity such
as encryption/decryption and can
yield answers to questions previ-
ously not able to be addressed.
Time before decoherence is the
limiting factor for the depth of com-
putational achievement. Progress
is being made to extend the coher-
ence time and subsequent applica-
tions. The administration — further
highlighted by the recent executive
order — wants all government agen-
cies, industry and commercial enti-
ties aware of the dangers, and to take
steps to prevent loss of critical data.
Another application, quantum
sensing, is available today. A quan-
40 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
tum particle’s sensitivity to any force
interacting with its mass may not
be a desired characteristic in estab-
lishing long-term coherence, but it
does yield an application of potential
interest: quantum sensing. A qubit’s
extreme sensitivity makes it an ideal
measuring instrument, one poten-
tially far more accurate than current
conventional measuring devices.
Quantum sensors can detect slight
variations in magnetic and electri-
cal fields, in acceleration/rotation,
and in many more applications. Any
improvement in inertial naviga-
tion — thus reducing dependence
on space-based GPS — is sig-
nificant and has multiple uses, for
example, in underwater navigation.
Furthermore, sensitivity to fluctua-
tions in a surrounding magnetic field
may enable detection of submerged
masses such as raw earth deposits.
The challenge is keeping the quan-
tum sensor isolated from other dis-
turbances that amount to noise in
the data. Some efforts have enabled
quantum sensing to mature into a
near-term application with a high-
technology readiness level. The
potential impact of quantum appli-
cations is so enormous the United
States must start now in pulling
forward operational applications
or find itself in a technology tail
chase with a potential adversary.
In July 2020, the White House
funded three institutions, the Uni-
versity of Colorado, the University of
Illinois and the University of Califor-
nia, as innovation centers in quantum
science. Each institute researches a
different area of quantum applica-
tion. An epic center for quantum
research and development has
quickly evolved in Boulder, Colorado,
around the University of Colorado.
The National Quantum Initiative
was not the only presidential docu-
ment signed. In addition, a National
Security Memorandum delegated the
National Institute of Standards and
Technology with the requirement to
establish quantum resistant cryp-
tographic standards. Working with
industry, research laboratories and
others, a roadmap to strengthening
encryption will be developed. Safe-
guarding classified data, intellectual
property and personal information
is the governments imperative task.
Research and development will
continue for decades, but applications
are possible now. To date, scientists
and research engineers have paced
the development, but potential vic-
tims such as financial institutions,
and defense and medical research
organizations cannot stand on the
sidelines any longer. The time is now
to get involved and contribute to the
drive for quantum applications.
So much has been achieved
in the past decade, but we are
not alone in our progress.
What is disturbing is that govern-
ments with policies contrary to inter-
national stability, such as China and
Russia, are also working on quantum
technology. Russian Deputy Prime
Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko
stated that quantum technology was
a principal factor in securing Russia’s
international leadership role. Russia’s
stated goal is a quantum computer by
2024. The push for quantum technol-
ogy applications can be seen in every
institute and government. While
most are supportive of U.S. national
security interests, others are not.
Waiting until the challenges are
overcome is not the answer. Institu-
tions, defense and industry must be
involved in moving from theorical
to practical quantum applications. It
is incumbent that the United States
build its understanding of the science
and subsequently, pull the technol-
ogy into daily lives while preserv-
ing transactional integrity. ND
Retired Air Force Col. John C.
Johnson is a former vice president
and general manager at Northrop
Grumman. He can be reached
at jcjohn1931@gmail.com.
iStock illustration
 NDIA POLICY POINTS BY KELSEY J. CANFIELD
Tech Regulations Through a National Security Lens
T
hroughout Washington, D.C.,
there has been much discus-
sion regarding the need for
regulations and antitrust enforce-
ment on large tech companies.
This has been proposed via a bill
called the “Competition and Antitrust
Law Enforcement Reform Act of 2021,”
to reduce the possibility of monopoly
formation, reduce mergers that will
lessen competition, lessen political
power concentration and exceed the
quality of product development.
The bill suggests that “when domi-
nant sellers exercise market power,
they harm buyers by overcharging
them, reducing product or service
quality, limiting their choices, and
impairing innovation.” This is not
a new story for the defense indus-
trial base, as many observers recall
various abandoned acquisitions
as a result of actions initiated by
the Federal Trade Commission.
For a long time, the government
has been a large influencer within the
industrial base, which makes sense
as it is its largest customer. But how
does this translate to the tech indus-
try? For example, Google and Amazon
are also government contractors and
operate globally much like traditional
defense contractors, competing with
foreign adversaries like China.
The difference between traditional
defense companies and tech is that
the latter also touches just about every
other industry. Tech and cyber can
be both a development tool and the
weapon itself in the world of national
security. But what are the implica-
tions of regulating big tech com-
panies on U.S. national security?
In the summer of 2021, National
Defense Industrial Association leader-
ship commented on the Federal Trade
Commission’s actions on vertical
mergers and acquisition in the defense
industry. It was suggested that “not
only does discouraging vertical merg-
ers and acquisitions stifle the innova-
tion engine of American growth, but it
also jeopardizes our national security.”
When it comes to the tech and
defense sectors, small enterprises
— or unicorns — generally have
a goal of being purchased by other
iStock illustration
companies. Sometimes the purchase
is asymmetrical, but ultimately leads
to natural innovation and techno-
logical advancements. Scale
is required for natural inno-
vation and growth, and is
especially critical if research-
and-development funding is
lacking. Furthermore, many of
the defense contracting compa-
nies use advanced cyber technology
in their military system produc-
tion and at operational capacity.
Within the 2021 Interim National
Security Strategy, the White House
laid out issues that the United States
faces pertinent to its national inter-
est. It was made clear that the most
notable threats to U.S. national secu-
rity are Russia and China, requiring
additional focus on technology and
capabilities such as cybersecurity.
The larger threat to the United
States is currently China and its
immense tech and development
ventures across the globe. One such
example is China’s Belt and Road Ini-
tiative. This plan, announced in 2013
by the Chinese government, is an eco-
nomic and political strategic endeavor
spanning across various sectors and
in nearly all regions of the world.
The issue of Chinese global influ-
ence has become so much of a prob-
lem that U.S. government agencies
have utilized students and academia
to better understand its role in various
regions through research. Recently,
the Department of State appointed
both graduate and undergraduate
students with regional and lin-
guistic expertise to conduct
open-source research on the
various initiatives that China
is pursuing throughout the
Middle East and North Africa.
Through this research, it was
found that China’s dominant ventures
in Saudi Arabia, for example, have
been via transportation infrastructural
development, with the second largest
sector of cooperation between China
and Saudi Arabia involving military
technologies. The third largest coop-
eration sector involved transportation
vehicles. This data comes from open-
source research on Chinese develop-
ments in the Middle East and North
Africa in both English and Arabic.
By placing regulations on U.S. tech
companies, the government is also
limiting their abilities to compete stra-
tegically with large Chinese tech com-
panies in various regions and sectors.
Specifically, this impacts those sectors
significant to U.S. national security.
Countries in the Middle East, such as
Saudi Arabia, have announced a 2030
Vision seeking to diversify and digitize
advance tech in their economies, with
the goal of being less dependent on oil.
In July, President Joe Biden visited
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in part
to discuss inflation and the role of oil
in nearly every sector. Regulating big
tech via antitrust hinders a potential
leverage point and instrument of com-
petition against China, and is not in
line with the Interim National Security
Strategy nor beneficial for innovation.
Furthermore, it is worth repeating
that technology plays a heavy hand in
every sector and could have an impact
beyond the scope of one’s imagination.
The proposed legislation that aims
to regulate big tech via antitrust most
certainly hinders the ability to be agile
in foreign relations and deter and miti-
gate adversarial threats. It furthermore
will impact the way both the defense
industrial base, as well as civilians,
interact with said capabilities.
These facts should be taken into
account when formulating regulatory
strategies that have significant impact
on the nation and its ability to operate
on a global scale. ND
Kelsey J. Canfield is a junior policy
fellow at NDIA.
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 41
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING INSIGHTS BY SCOTT A. FRELING, PAUL ROWLEY & EVAN R. SHERWOOD
Pentagon Releases Inflation Guidance to Industry
I
n response to industry-wide
questions about price adjust-
ments for inflation, the Defense
Department released guidance May
25 about when and how contract-
ing officers may provide financial
relief to defense contractors work-
ing on fixed-price contracts.
The department’s guidance rec-
ognizes that “inflation is impacting
several segments of our economy”
and has caused increased perfor-
mance costs for many contractors.
Those increases have eroded the
profit margin of contractors work-
ing under fixed-price contracts,
which are generally not subject
to any price adjustment based on
increased performance costs.
As an exception to that general
rule, contracting officers may make
an equitable adjustment to a fixed-
price contract in cases covered by
the standard “Changes” clause under
Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.243-
1, or similar adjustment clauses. The
Defense Department explains that it
has been “fielding questions about the
possibility of using requests for equita-
ble adjustment” under the standard
Changes clause to help contractors
“address unanticipated inflation.”
Unfortunately for fixed-price con-
tractors, the department has adopted
a narrow view of when to grant an
inflation-related adjustment. The
guidance states that “since cost
impacts due to unanticipated infla-
tion are not a result of a contracting
officer-directed change, [contracting
officers] should not agree to contrac-
tor [requests for equitable adjustment]
submitted in response to changed
economic conditions.” In other words,
this guidance discourages contract-
ing officers from granting equitable
adjustments based purely on inflation.
That said, the guidance leaves open
the possibility of inflation-related
claims when a contracting officer
has directed changes. That could
42 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
include situations where a contract-
ing officer directs a different method
of performance because of changed
economic conditions — for example,
directions to use a component other
than the one specified or to meet a
different schedule of performance.
Indeed, contractors experiencing
increased costs should think broadly
about potential changes caused by
the contracting officer, which could
open the door to adjustments.
The department’s guidance offers
a modest solution for contractors
performing under certain fixed-
price agreements. It encourages
contracting officers to provide relief
under “economic price adjustment”
clauses, often referred to as EPAs.
The FAR provides a list of stan-
dard clauses, allowing for economic
price adjustments — an increase or
decrease in contract price — upon
the occurrence of a specified trigger
event. Generally, price adjustments
are based on changes in agreed-upon
or otherwise established catalog
or market prices of specific items;
actual costs of labor or material
that the contractor experiences
during performance; or contrac-
tually specified cost indexes of
labor or material relevant to
the contractor’s performance.
Economic price adjustment
clauses can thus account for
unexpected cost increases
due to inflation and can allow
contractors to seek an adjust-
ment. However, most exist-
ing fixed-price contracts do
not include price adjustment clauses,
rendering this potential remedy
unavailable to contractors in many
cases. In addition, adjustment clauses
are not a silver bullet for contrac-
tors, because they normally cap price
adjustments at a pre-set amount.
The department’s guidance rec-
ommends that contracting officers
consider including tailored price
adjustment clauses in new solicita-
tions based on an economic index,
such as the Bureau of Labor Statis-
tics Producer Price Index series.
The guidance provides four key
suggestions for contracting officers
to consider when drafting economic
price adjustment clauses in new
solicitations and contracts: allow
both upward and downward price
adjustments; incorporate ceilings
and floors on adjustments of a simi-
lar magnitude; use carefully selected
indices that are broadly exposed to
the market, but narrow enough as to
be relevant to contract performance;
and clearly describe the events that
trigger a price adjustment, and the
mechanism through which such
price adjustment will be calculated.
The Pentagon’s willingness to use
price adjustment clauses in future
contracts to address the current
inflationary period should be a wel-
come development for the defense
contracting community. At the same
time, industry should understand
that adjustment clauses come with
special regulatory burdens, and
defense contractors should be pre-
pared to account for those burdens
before accepting a clause. There
are three key issues to consider.
First, clauses allow for a price
adjustment only when specified con-
ditions are met — for example, the
market price of a specified widget
increases. Therefore, clauses must be
drafted to provide clear and unam-
biguous conditions for when the gov-
ernment must grant an adjustment.
If a solicitation contains a confusing
or vague clause, defense contrac-
tors should consider raising the issue
with the contracting officer and may
even want to consider whether a
pre-award protest is appropriate.
Second, clauses often require con-
tractors to disclose financial or sales
information to the government.
This sharing of otherwise nonpublic
information can present unique chal-
lenges, particularly for contractors
that have not previously dealt with
cost or pricing disclosure rules.
Third, economic price adjust-
ment clauses cut both ways. A
contractor may be able to claim
an upward adjustment if costs
increase, but the government nor-
mally has a right to claim a down-
ward adjustment if costs decrease
during contract performance. ND
Scott A. Freling is a partner and
Paul Rowley and Evan R. Sher-
iStock illustration
wood are associates in the govern-
ment contracts practice group at
Covington and Burling LLP.
 NDIA NEWS
Call for Modeling and
Simulation Award
Nominations
T
he National Training and Simu-
lation Association is accepting
nominations for this year’s
Modeling and Simulation Awards.
The organization, which is an affili-
ate of the National Defense Industrial
Association, presents the awards for
outstanding achievements in the mod-
eling, simulation and training fields.
Applicants can nominate individuals
or teams for outstanding achieve-
ments in one of four categories.
First, education/human performance
includes the development and applica-
tion of instructional
strategies, methods,
theories and best
practices that
promote or
advance learn-
ing and focus
on the human
dimension.
Next, training
systems acquisi-
tion, which is related
to the acquisition of
training devices, training simula-
tions and training services. Addition-
ally, simulation/training covers the
application of innovative concepts,
methods and technologies to create
effective simulation solutions, whether
for training or non-training applica-
tions. Lastly, the lifetime achieve-
ment award recognizes a candidate’s
significant and substantial contribu-
tions to establishing modeling and
simulation as a discipline in academia,
industry and/or the government.
The awards will be presented
at the annual NTSA M&S Awards
Dinner on Nov. 29 during I/
ITSEC 2022 in Orlando, Florida.
Submissions are due Aug. 26. For
more information, including submis-
iStock illustration
sion information and schedule, please
visit NTSA.org/MSAward or contact
Carol Dwyer at cdwyer@NTSA.org. ND
NDIA MEMBERSHIP: The National Defense
Industrial Association (NDIA) is the premier asso-
ciation representing all facets of the defense and technology
WID Awards $100,000 in Scholarships
W
omen In Defense has cho-
sen 12 recipients for the
organization’s 2022 Women
In Defense Scholars. The 12 final-
ists were selected from 68 female
students who submitted bids to
become WID Scholars. Sharing
almost $100,000 between them,
they will receive funding that allows
them to pursue a variety of educa-
tion paths on the way to a career
in defense or national security.
The WID Scholars are as fol-
lows: Phyllis Alinsao, Army Capt.
Victoria Amato, Viviana Angelini,
Association Welcomes New Chair of Finance Committee
T he National Defense Indus-
trial Association has named
Tamara Jack as the new chair of
the Finance Committee and mem-
ber of the Executive Committee, the
association recently announced.
Jack has spent more than 18 years
in the defense industry. She currently
serves as the chief financial offi-
cer, corporate secretary and
treasurer for LMI, a defense
consultancy agency. In
this role, Jack plans and
executes LMI’s business
strategy and is among
leaders of its financial
strategy and planning
and corporate initia-
tives, such as mergers and
acquisitions. She was a
director and associate
industrial base and serving all military services. For more infor-
mation please call our membership department at 703-522-1820
or visit us on the web at NDIA.org/Membership
Naomie Baptiste, Kerry Candlen,
Roni Fraser, Rachel Mugalu, Navy
Ensign Hannah Prince, Navy
Ensign Skyler Schork, Aaliyah Seals,
Jiselle Thornby and Allison Tsay.
Women In Defense, an affiliate
of the National Defense Industrial
Association, partnered with Booz
Allen Hamilton, Leidos, Standard
Technology Inc., BAE Systems and
Raytheon Missiles and Defense
to award the scholarships.
Applications for the 2023-24 class of
WID Scholars will open in early 2023.
Previous WID Scholars may apply. ND
general counsel at LMI from 2005 to
2015, rejoined the company as chief
legal officer and corporate secretary
in 2017, and added chief financial
officer to her responsibilities in 2019.
Previously, she served as vice presi-
dent, general counsel and corporate
secretary of Blumont Inc. and served
on the board of directors for its
three subsidiaries. Jack currently
serves on the boards of the
Northern Virginia Cham-
ber of Commerce and the
Association for Corporate
Growth National Capital.
Jack joins in service with
other Finance Committee
members Dale Church,
Raanan Horowitz,
Terry McKearney
JACK and Rob Sues. ND
N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 43
NDIA CALENDAR 18-20
Precision Strike
• The National Defense Industrial our registrants are our highest Technology
Association continues to follow all priority, and we will continue to
developments regarding COVID-19 follow local, state and CDC guide- Symposium
and is diligently examining each lines to keep everyone safe. Secret/NOFORN
event to determine the best course Visit NDIA.org/events Laurel, MD
of action as we look forward to for more information. NDIA.org
gathering leaders in government,
industry and academia again to
solve the most challenging issues
in national security in person.
Christine M. Klein
Senior Vice President, Meetings,
November
The health and safety of all Divisions & Partnerships
1-3
2022 Aircraft
Survivability
August 26-28
Symposium
Undersea Warfare
SECRET/NOFORN
16-18 Fall Conference Monterey, CA
iFEST 2022 SECRET/NOFORN NDIA.org/AircraftSurvivability22
Alexandria, VA Groton, CT
ADLiFEST.org NDIA.org/USW 1-3
25th Annual Systems
17-19 27
& Mission Engineering
2022 Space Warfighting Women In Defense
Conference
Integration Forum National Conference Orlando, FL
(SWIF) Arlingon, VA NDIA.org/SME
Partial TS/SCI REL FVEY WomenInDefense.net/NC
Colorado Springs, CO 2
NDIA.org/SWIF 28
NTSA November
NTSA September
31 Webinar
Webinar Virtual
NTSA August Webinar Virtual NTSA.org/Nov2022WebinarServices
Virtual NTSA.org/Sept2022Webinar
NTSA.org/Aug2022Webinar
17-18
October 33rd Annual NDIA
September SO/LIC Symposium
12 Washington, DC
13-14 NTSA October Webinar NDIA.org
Integrated Program Virtual
28-Dec. 2
Management Division NTSA.org/Oct2022Webinar
I/ITSEC 2022
Meeting
Colorado Springs, CO 18-20 Orlando, FL
2022 Insensitive IITSEC.org
NDIA.org
Munitions & Energetic
19-22 Materials (IMEM)
Future Force Technology Symposium
Capabilities Indianapolis, IN
Conference and NDIA.org/imem
Exhibition
Austin, TX
NDIA.org/FutureForce22
FOR THE LATEST NDIA CALENDAR: NDIA.ORG/EVENTS

44 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
 NDIA CALENDAR
FOR THE LATEST NDIA CALENDAR: NDIA.ORG/EVENTS

2022
SPACE WARFIGHTING
I N T E G RAT I O N FO R U M
Register Today
NDIA’s Space Division and Rocky Mountain Chapter are set
to host the third annual Space Warfighting Integration Forum
(SWIF) in the stunning foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

This year, SWIF 2022 will explore the vision for space
warfighting, requirements, and emerging capabilities.

Hear keynotes from top USSPACECOM and USSF leadership

in both unclassified and classified forums, as well as
from entrepreneurs and thought leaders on partnerships,
coalitions and international engagement, new technologies,
pushing data to the tactical edge, and legislative actions.

August 17 – 19 | Colorado Springs, CO

NDIA.org/SWIF

FUTURE FORCE
CAPABILITIES
CO N F E R E N C E & EX H I B I T I O N
Register Today
NDIA’s annual event is back. Building on last year’s success,
the Joint Armaments, Robotics, and Munitions Division and
Global Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) community offers
an unparalleled opportunity to maximize your expertise and
interests across multiple focus areas. Set over the course
of four days in Austin, TX, hear top leaders in government,
industry, and academia give keynote speeches, panels,
capabilities briefings, and technical presentations. View exhibits
and a live-fire demonstration. With a wide variety of learning and
networking opportunities, you won’t want to miss this event.

September 19 – 22 | Austin, TX
NDIA.org/FutureForce22

N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 45
 NDIA CALENDAR
FOR THE LATEST NDIA CALENDAR: NDIA.ORG/EVENTS

2022
UNDERSEA WARFARE
FALL CONFE RE NCE
Register Today
In an era of escalated threats from near-peer
adversaries, join NDIA’s Undersea Warfare Division
for this year’s essential event on the theme of
“Maintaining Overmatch in the Undersea Domain.”
Gain insight into the latest developments in undersea
warfare: countering submarine and mine threats;
and power projection from the sea. Meet and hear
from operational, acquisition, and technology
professionals including leaders from the Navy,
Pentagon, academia and the defense industrial base.
This event is classified SECRET//NOFORN.

September 26 – 28 | Groton, CT
NDIA.org/USW

September 27
Arlington, VA

Renaissance Arlington
Capital View Hotel

THE PREMIER ANNUAL EVENT FOR WOMEN IN DEFENSE (WID) IS BACK!

WomenInDefense.net
Our nation is facing perhaps the widest array of security threats in our history, including critical
supply-chain issues and workforce challenges. The defense industry must continue to provide
our warfighters with capabilities and support that deliver decisive advantages across the
spectrum of conflict in all domains. This means the US must unleash the creativity, innovation
and initiative of 51 percent of our nation’s talent – our women.

Join more than 450 national security professionals at WID’s National Conference
on September 27 for networking and professional development to
help us meet the challenges we face.

Don’t miss this year’s in-person event, packed with programming

dedicated to empowering women, creating a more diverse
workforce, and strengthening American defense.

REGISTER NOW AT
WomenInDefense.net/NC

46 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
Connecting Talent with Great Opportunities – NDIA Career Center
The National Defense Industrial Association offers qualified defense and national security
professionals and employers an intuitive platform to identify the next best opportunity or candidate.

Looking for the Right Candidate?

Interested in a better way to engage with and recruit qualified defense and national security
professionals? NDIA’s new online career center will make searching for candidates easier.

Looking for the Right Job?

Looking for your next career opportunity? The NDIA Career Center is your solution.

Complete your profile today at Jobs.NDIA.org N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 47

NEXT Navy Growlers
• Despite high demand for EA-18G

MONTH Growlers from combatant com-

manders, the Navy wants to retire
five squadrons of the aircraft that
provides the joint force's only air-
borne electronic attack by 2025. ND
RIMPAC
• The annual Rim of the Pacific Coast Guard Ships
exercise held near Hawaii returned • The offshore patrol cutter is one of
this summer after a COVID hiatus, the highest priorities for the Coast
with 26 nations participating. Navy Guard as it recapitalizes aging vessels.
leaders explore takeaways and les- Next month, National Defense shares
sons learned from the event. ND the program's latest developments. ND

Marines at RIMPAC U.K. Jet Fighter

• RIMPAC 2022 was the first • It has been four years since the Unit-
large-scale international exercise ed Kingdom announced the develop-
since the release of the Marine ment of a sixth-generation jet fighter
Corps’ “Force Design 2030” mod- at the last Farnborough Air Show. Our
ernization plan, and a chance to correspondent reports on the plat-
test out its assumptions. ND form’s progress as it moves through
its concept and assessment phase. ND
JADC2
• Considered the linchpin of future French Army Modernization
military operations, joint all-domain • Key NATO ally France is in the
command and control is the Penta- throes of modernizing its land forces.
gon’s vision for future battlefields. A senior French army leader says

Navy photo
How are the services and indus- there is a lot more to come. ND
try collaborating to deliver this
capability to warfighters? ND

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS Interact with the companies whose products and services are advertised in National Defense
ADVERTISER INTERACT PAGE NO.

Aimpoint ..................................................www.aimpoint.us ................................................................................. 3

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HII .............................................................www.hii.com ........................................................................ Back cover

For information on advertising in National Defense or one of NDIA’s electronic offerings contact: NDIA MEMBERSHIP:
The National Defense
Industrial Association
(NDIA) is the premier
ADVERTISING association represent-
ing all facets of the
defense and technology
SVP, MEETINGS & SALES DIRECTOR SALES MANAGER
NDIA’S industrial base and
BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS Kathleen Kenney Alex Mitchell serving all military
BUSINESS & (703) 247-2576 (703) 247-2568 services. For more
TECHNOLOGY Christine M. Klein
information please
(703) 247-2593 KKenney@NDIA.org AMitchell@NDIA.org
MAGA ZINE call our membership
CKlein@NDIA.org department at 703-
522-1820 or visit us on
the web at NDIA.org/
National Defense | 2101 Wilson Blvd. | Suite 700 | Arlington, VA 22201 | NationalDefenseMagazine.org Membership

48 N AT I O N A L D E F E N S E | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2
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