The business of defense, October 26

Lockheed Martin completed its acquisition of Ultra Maritime on Oct. 26, bringing a supplier of undersea warfare and anti-submarine warfare capabilities for allied naval forces into the company.¹ The definitive agreement announced July 6 valued the acquisition at $3.45 billion.²

$3.45BPrice announced July 6, 2026

Oct. 26, 2026Acquisition completed

Source: Lockheed Martin releases, July 6 and Oct. 26, 2026. As of Oct. 26, 2026.

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Ultra Maritime now sits within Lockheed's Rotary and Mission Systems business area. Alongside sonar technologies and sonobuoys, Ultra Maritime develops and delivers torpedo defense systems, radar solutions, electronic warfare and autonomous maritime sensing platforms.¹

The Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) announced a $150 million conditional loan commitment to Stoke Space Technologies. Alongside private capital, the proposed loan would support a second launchpad at the company's existing complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.¹

conditional loan commitment$150 millioncontingent

conditional loan commitment with Stoke Space Technologies

Cape Canaveral Space Force Stationsecond launchpadplanned

The proposed loan from OSC, alongside private capital, would support the buildout of the company's second launchpad

The conditional loan commitment specifies additional steps Stoke Space must complete before financial close, including satisfying various financial, legal, technical, investment, due diligence, and other requirements.

Source: Department of War, Office of Strategic Capital. As of Oct. 26, 2026.

Sources

• www.war.gov ↗

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OSC Senior Managing Director (Investments) Jordan Sebold said the new pad would support systems and facilities for the larger Nova Block 2 rocket, which remains in development. The existing complex infrastructure supports Stoke's Nova Pathfinder medium-lift rocket, he said.¹

Stoke must satisfy financial, legal, technical, investment, due diligence and other requirements before the OSC loan reaches financial close.¹

Stoke announced on Sept. 8, 2026, that it had completed an initial closing of its billion-dollar Series E financing round. That brought total capital raised to $2.3 billion. Stoke said that funding would support preparations for its first orbital launch, expanded production and launch capacity, and Nova Block 2 development.²

Perpetua Resources announced an Army award of up to $40 million on Oct. 26 for tungsten exploration at Idaho’s Stibnite Mining District.¹

U.S. Army FundingUp to $40 Millioncontingent

approval will be required for each incremental phase of additional funding

initial 18-month phaseapproximately $18 millionplanned

The initial 18-month phase is expected to cost approximately $18 million and be shared equally between Perpetua and the U.S. Army.

only the first phase of funding has been committed

Source: Perpetua Resources release, Oct. 26, 2026

Sources

• www.prnewswire.com ↗

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Perpetua will design and implement the project and says it will match the Army’s contribution. Perpetua expects the initial 18-month phase to cost approximately $18 million, shared equally with the Army. Only the first phase of funding has been committed, and each additional phase requires approval. The timing, scope and cost of later phases depend on exploration, testing, engineering and permitting results.¹

Funding will support drilling to define a potential tungsten mineral resource, collection of material for laboratory and bench-scale metallurgical testing, and permitting and engineering of an exploration decline. The proposed program includes metallurgical testing of an existing 550-kilogram sample collected during prior exploration.¹

The award comes through the Army’s Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium from the Portfolio Acquisition Executive Agile Sustainment & Ammunition at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. It brings total U.S. government awards to Perpetua for critical minerals to $126 million since 2022, the company says.¹

The Partner Companies (TPC) announced the acquisition of F&B MFG, a Phoenix specialty metal manufacturer, on Oct. 26. F&B has experience producing engine and auxiliary power unit components for aircraft ranging from helicopters and fighter jets to passenger aircraft.¹

Approximately 100,000 square feetF&B MFG's Phoenix facility

F&B's hydroforming process uses pressurized fluid to shape metal into complex geometries with tight tolerances.

Source: The Partner Companies release via PR Newswire. As of Oct. 26, 2026.

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TPC says the acquisition strengthens its aerospace and defense manufacturing capabilities while expanding access to specialized fabrication processes, including hydroforming. That process uses pressurized fluid to shape metal into complex geometries with tight tolerances.¹

F&B combines hydroforming with engineering, in-house tooling, heat treating and brazing, welding, machining and assembly. It serves aerospace and defense, technology and transportation customers from an approximately 100,000-square-foot Phoenix facility. Its Nadcap accreditations cover heat treating, welding, nonconventional machining and nondestructive testing.¹

The manufacturer's products also serve semiconductor customers.⁴ It recently expanded its machining capabilities to support information technology hardware and broader electronics customers.¹

The announcement disclosed no purchase price.¹

AAR added $550 million to its revolving credit commitments on Oct. 23.^1–2 The facility now totals $1.375 billion. Announcing the amendment Oct. 26, the company said the unsecured facility would help finance its pending MRO Holdings acquisition.²

$550 millionIncrease in commitments

$1,375.0 millionTotal after the increase

October 2031New maturity (was Dec. 2027)

The 8-K and release do not specify how much of the revolver would fund the pending MRO Holdings acquisition.

Source: AAR Form 8-K and press release. As of October 26, 2026.

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The amendment also relaxed financial covenants, raising the maximum permitted leverage ratio to 5.50 to 1.00, subject to step-downs over time. It lowered the minimum interest coverage ratio to 2.00 to 1.00.¹ The facility's maturity moves from December 2027 to October 2031.²

AAR agreed Sept. 28 to acquire a 65% controlling interest in MRO Holdings. The deal carries an implied enterprise value of $4.0 billion. The aircraft maintenance and modifications provider gets about 90% of its revenue from U.S. customers.³

In September, AAR outlined financing for the transaction, including related expenses: about $2.1 billion of new debt and about $780 million of equity issued to existing MRO Holdings shareholders. It also expected about $230 million in private-placement proceeds. The new debt is backed by a fully committed bridge facility that AAR intends to replace with permanent debt before closing.³ Neither the 8-K's description of the amendment nor the release specifies how much of the revolver would be used for the acquisition.¹

AAR expects the acquisition to close in its fiscal third quarter ending February 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.⁴

Carpenter Technology spent $77.7 million on capital expenditures in its fiscal 2027 first quarter, up 82% from a year earlier. In results released October 22, 2026, Carpenter attributed higher spending to its brownfield expansion.¹

Q1 FY2026$42.6M

Q1 FY2027$77.7M

Source: Carpenter Technology fiscal Q1 2027 results release, SEC Exhibit 99.1. As of October 22, 2026.

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Carpenter maintained its fiscal 2027 operating income outlook of $850 million to $880 million.¹ Together with its second-quarter outlook, that implies higher average quarterly operating income in the second half than in the first, before the expansion's expected early-fiscal-2028 start.^1–2

Aerospace and defense sales reached $425.4 million, up 9.6% year over year, excluding raw material surcharges and sales through Carpenter's distribution businesses. That combined market figure does not isolate defense sales and fell 5% from the preceding quarter.^1–2

Carpenter attributed Specialty Alloys Operations' year-over-year growth in sales excluding surcharges to higher aerospace and defense sales.² The segment posted a non-GAAP adjusted operating margin excluding surcharges of 37.7%, up from 32.0% a year earlier.¹

For the second quarter, Carpenter expects operating income of $192 million to $197 million. That compares with first-quarter operating income of $196.4 million.¹ Its Specialty Alloys outlook anticipates further demand acceleration alongside holiday-related limits on available capacity uptime. The company says the brownfield expansion remains on schedule and on budget.²

The Army plans to expand its Strategic Capital Initiative across its installations over the next three to five years, Federal News Network reported. Launched earlier in 2026, the program seeks industry co-investment in Army infrastructure, the industrial base and supply chains.¹

three to five yearsPlanned expansion across Army installations

sixStrategic pillars organizing the initiative

Reported by Federal News Network, October 23, 2026. As of October 26, 2026.

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Jordan Gillis, assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment, said industry should expect another round of requests for information (RFIs).¹

Former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who launched the initiative among other efforts, resigned last month. Marc Andersen, the Army's assistant secretary for financial management and comptroller, said the initiative was not slowing under new leadership.¹

The program's six pillars include energy resilience and dominance, modernizing the organic industrial base, and critical minerals and resource development. Earlier selections show the kinds of projects involved: Carlyle and its portfolio company CyrusOne were selected to build data centers at Fort Bliss, Texas, and Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.¹

In September, the Army also announced conditional awards of long-term leases to three companies to finance, build and operate commercial power generation at six installations.¹

Israel signed a deal on Oct. 26 to supply Cyprus with a new offshore patrol vessel built by Israel Shipyards and equipped with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems naval systems, Breaking Defense reported.¹

new patrol vesselIsrael Shipyardsplanned

fitted with a range of Rafael naval systems

existing vesselCommodore Andreas Ioannidesplanned

The Ioannides will be upgraded

The statement did not specify the Ioannides upgrades

Reported by Breaking Defense

Sources

• breakingdefense.com ↗

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The agreement combines new construction with work on a vessel already in service: the Commodore Andreas Ioannides, a 62-meter patrol vessel Israel delivered to Cyprus in 2018. Israel's Ministry of Defense said systems aboard that ship would also be upgraded under the deal, the outlet reported.¹

The Rafael systems for the new vessel were unspecified, and the ministry's statement did not detail the Ioannides upgrades.¹

Ukraine's Ministry of Defence signed a letter of intent with ICEYE and Nokia on 22 October to explore space cooperation, with the aim of building sovereign satellite communications.¹ An ICEYE spokesperson told Breaking Defense that the letter expresses intent and does not imply an order for any system for Ukraine.³

Jointly developed satellite communications systemsOwnership and controlplanned

Will give nations ownership and control of the satellites, ground segment and terminals.

First communications satellites2028planned

The first communications satellites are expected to be launched in 2028.

An ICEYE spokesperson told Breaking Defense the LOI is an expression of intent and does not imply an ordering of any system for Ukraine

Sources: Nokia, 22 October 2026; ICEYE, 1 October 2026. Reported by Breaking Defense, 23 October 2026.

Sources

• breakingdefense.com ↗
• www.iceye.com ↗
• www.nokia.com ↗

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The proposed cooperation brings Ukraine into discussions about the satellite communications partnership ICEYE and Nokia announced on 1 October.^1–2 The companies plan to develop broadband systems in low Earth orbit that would give government customers ownership and control of the satellites, ground segment and terminals.²

“We must all rely on capabilities that we can control,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Nokia's 22 October release.¹

ICEYE and Nokia plan to integrate satellites, ground infrastructure and ruggedized end-user terminals, extending ICEYE's sovereign space intelligence business model to satellite communications.²

The United Kingdom and Canada announced on Oct. 25 an agreement to develop a framework for cooperation between two distinct but complementary institutions. The planned partnership links the Multilateral Defence Mechanism and the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB).¹

guaranteesaffordable capitalplanned

It will provide guarantees that increase the availability of affordable capital

loans to member countriespriority investmentsplanned

offering loans to member countries for priority investments

shared objective of making the DSRB operational in 2027

Prime Minister of Canada, July 7, 2026

Sources

• www.pm.gc.ca ↗

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The governments intend the institutions to support each other on emerging industrial priorities, investment opportunities and strategic financing challenges as they become operational. The Multilateral Defence Mechanism's design, capital and lending amounts, membership terms and any UK participation in the DSRB remain unspecified in the joint statement.¹

Canada intends the Canada-led DSRB to mobilize and deploy private capital. Its planned tools include guarantees to increase the availability of affordable capital and loans to member countries for priority investments.²

Canada and its partners agreed to the bank's founding Articles of Agreement in April 2026. In July, Canada invited partner countries to undertake their domestic treaty processes, with the shared objective of making the bank operational in 2027.²

On Oct. 26, the Air Force announced an Advanced Propulsion Division industry day, linking the event to its Fighter Engine Re-competition request for information (RFI). The announcement is directed at defense propulsion industry partners.¹

Over 180 engines per yearTargeted peak demand by FY2034

The request for information sought industry feedback on production scalability. The peak-demand target does not establish engine orders.

Source: SAM.gov, Fighter Engine Re-competition RFI. As of Oct. 26, 2026.

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The request for information put the ability to sustain fighter engines alongside the ability to manufacture them. It sought partners for a competitive, long-term engine production and sustainment strategy covering U.S. Air Force and Foreign Military Sales fighter aircraft.²

It asked about scaling production to a targeted peak demand of over 180 engines a year by FY2034 and strengthening defense supply chain resiliency. The RFI describes the effort as market research; its peak-demand target does not establish engine orders. Responses were due Aug. 28.²

The industry day notice lists a Nov. 2 response date.¹