The business of defense, October 9

Gecko Robotics' technology will be deployed at Anduril's 160,000-square-foot protofactory in Orange County, Calif., where submarine components will be made.¹ Gecko will use its inspection technology and AI-powered software for nondestructive testing (NDT) of those components, Breaking Defense reported. Gecko President Troy Demmer told the outlet the robots inspect what is happening beneath the surface of a weld.² The partnership, announced Oct. 8, will also support Arsenal-2, the Baltimore County shipyard Anduril announced Oct. 6.^{1, 4}

"We are already embedding Gecko's NDT technology into real production workflows at our Orange County protofactory," said Bill Noderer, Anduril's vice president and general manager for shipbuilding. He said the aim is shorter inspection waits and quality processes Anduril can take to Arsenal-2 "from day one."¹ That puts Gecko inside Anduril's validation phase: Anduril's release, as quoted by Breaking Defense, calls the Orange County site a head start to develop and validate production workflows and quality systems before Arsenal-2 comes online.^{1, 3}

In March, the Navy awarded Gecko a five-year contract worth up to $71 million to use hull-scaling robots and AI to identify possible repairs on ships, including destroyers, Breaking Defense reported.^{2, 5} That work looks for repairs on ships in service.² At Anduril, Gecko will test new-build submarine components, and the outlet reported it will also establish a "digital thread" of data to assist maintenance planning.^1–2

The Department of War and Lockheed Martin are discussing an F-35 deal that could span up to a decade and cover both production and sustainment, Breaking Defense reported Friday, citing people familiar with the negotiations. Lockheed told the outlet it "continues to advocate for a multi-year contracting approach," and the F-35 Joint Program Office and the Pentagon declined to comment.¹

Matt Milas, president of Honeywell Aerospace's defense division, told Breaking Defense in September the "big benefit" would largely be on the sustainment side, since production is expected to stay at 156 jets a year. He said the deal could include "bulk buys" of spare parts, with more components flowing from around the 21st production lot, expected in roughly three years. Sustainment is the half neither chamber's bill explicitly authorizes, Breaking Defense reported.¹

The Senate Armed Services Committee's bill and the House version would permit F-35 multiyear procurement contracts, Breaking Defense reported. The House adds conditions: certification that the contract includes "the full complement of initial spare parts and alternate mission equipment" for each jet, and a demonstration of cost savings of at least 5%.¹

Lockheed previously pushed for a larger sustainment deal, a five-year performance-based logistics (PBL) contract. Lawmakers required the Pentagon to certify such a deal would cut maintenance costs or raise readiness, a hurdle officials couldn't clear, Breaking Defense reported. One source familiar with the negotiations called the sustainment proposal "PBL by another name." Dina Halvorsen, Lockheed's vice president of F-35 global sustainment, told reporters Sept. 14 that a multiyear performance-based contract "is still in discussion," adding, "I wouldn't necessarily call it a PBL."¹

Antenna Research Associates (ARA), an OceanSound Partners portfolio company based in Laurel, Md., announced a merger on Thursday, Oct. 8, with Empower RF Systems, a developer and manufacturer of high-power solid-state RF and microwave amplifiers. ARA specializes in antennas and apertures engineered for size-, weight-, power- and cost-constrained environments. Empower RF's amplifier modules and systems cover HF through X-band for electronic warfare, counter-UAS, SATCOM, threat simulation and radar missions.¹

The deal arrived 16 days after ARA named Bill Gattle president and chief executive.^1–2 On Sept. 22, Gattle said ARA would add capability "such as the power and networking content that surrounds the antenna." The goal, he said, was "a single partner that can take a customer from antenna to amplifier to network."² Announcing the merger, Gattle said that in contested spectrum, "power and aperture cannot be engineered in isolation."¹

Gattle spent 35 years at Harris and its successor, L3Harris Technologies, most recently as president of Space and Intelligence Systems. As chief executive of LightRidge, he led the 2025 sale of its Geost business to Rocket Lab.²

OceanSound invested in ARA in 2024 and set out to build "a more complete, more integrated RF portfolio," partner Ted Shanahan said in September.² On Oct. 5, three days before the merger announcement, IMSAR, a separate company outside the merger, announced it had completed a strategic investment from OceanSound.^{1, 3} The Springville, Utah, company makes low size, weight and power synthetic aperture radar payloads for unmanned and manned aircraft. It intends to broaden from radar toward multi-mission RF sensing, partly through acquisitions.³

Fortastra, a Torrance, Calif., developer of maneuverable spacecraft for on-orbit security, said Thursday, Oct. 8, that it had closed a $30 million Series A. First In led the round.¹ Upfront Ventures, which led Fortastra's seed round of more than $8 million announced last December, came back alongside Space Capital, Rsquared, Side Door Ventures and ATX Ventures, among others, and existing investors.^1–2

Fortastra is expanding manufacturing infrastructure for a modular spacecraft bus optimized for high-rate production. Chief Executive Mike Smayda said the raise lets the company move from its "initial operational success with Watchdog V0" to "an operational capability we can take into full-rate production." The company points to the launch of Watchdog V0 among its recent milestones and says it has secured initial government contracts. Thursday's announcement names no agency, contract vehicle or value for those contracts, and gives no date for the Watchdog V0 launch or for when the next spacecraft will fly.¹

The spacecraft are designed to hold position near critical assets, evaluate surrounding activity and respond to potential threats in real time. The round also pays for engineers in flight software, autonomy and guidance, navigation and control. Proximity operations "gate every capability we are building," Chief Technology Officer Josh Jetter said. Smayda said the company went "from seed funding to on-orbit in about a year."¹

The round follows a memorandum of understanding with manufacturer Hadrian to apply precision machining and additive manufacturing to national security spacecraft programs. Fortastra has also appointed Scott Klempner, formerly deputy program executive officer for Space Combat Power at Space Systems Command, as director of product for national security.¹

General Dynamics Land Systems and Primordial Labs announced a master teaming agreement on Wednesday, Oct. 7, to bring natural language command and control to ground combat vehicles.¹ Primordial's Anura software, which Breaking Defense described as AI voice control, lets crews direct sensors, displays, communications and uncrewed systems by stating what they want done, instead of working through menus and dedicated operator stations.^1–2

Land Systems ties the software to smaller crews. Keith Barclay, its general manager of U.S. operations, called natural-language control "a critical enabler of greater lethality with a smaller crew size."¹ Breaking Defense reported the XM30 program, which Land Systems is competing for against American Rheinmetall, calls for two soldiers in the crew instead of the three on today's M2 Bradley. Anura isn't on the XM30 prototypes now in Army testing, but Land Systems aims to offer it on future upgrades to XM30, the M1 and Stryker, strategy director Geoff Norman told the outlet.²

The software won't be able to fire a vehicle's weapons, the companies told Breaking Defense. Norman said the chosen tasks, such as switching radio nets, sending reports and adjusting camera views, are "easy to verify and validate for a safety case."² Anura doesn't use generative AI, Primordial chief executive Lee Ritholtz told the outlet.^1–2 The startup, best known for small-drone demonstrations, is also working on AI assistance for Army helicopter crews, according to Breaking Defense.²

AeroVironment has made NIOA its local partner for the Switchblade family of loitering munitions and the rest of its portfolio, covering distribution, customer engagement, support and long-term capability development. The partnership is meant to support the introduction into service, sustainment and growth of loitering munitions across Australia and New Zealand. The companies signed it at the Land Forces exposition in Perth.¹

The customer is already there. Australia announced in July 2024 that its soldiers would be equipped with the Switchblade 300. Defence expected to introduce it into service in 2025.³ Ben James, NIOA's executive vice president for Australia and New Zealand, said Australia's Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Plan "identified the acquisition and introduction into service of Switchblade as a key objective."¹

Breaking Defense reported that Australia plans to set aside A$26 billion to A$36 billion for the GWEO effort, though the 2026 National Defence Strategy gives few details on where that money will go.⁴ NIOA's release names no new contract, order, quantity or value for the partnership.¹

The family-owned group calls itself the largest privately owned supplier of munitions to Australian and New Zealand defence, law enforcement and commercial markets. Its Australian Missile Corporation was selected as an enterprise partner to help the government establish a sovereign guided weapons manufacturing industry.²

Industrial work is an option the companies have left open. They will "explore opportunities to expand support and industrial capability in Australia."¹