The business of defense, November 5

Shield AI announced a definitive agreement Nov. 5 to acquire radar maker Echodyne in a transaction valued at $5.3 billion. The terms call for $4.8 billion to be paid and issued at closing, with up to $500 million contingent on Echodyne meeting agreed performance targets.¹

The acquisition would add counter-drone radar to Shield's Mission Systems business, expanding a company that also builds Hivemind autonomy software and V-BAT and X-BAT autonomous systems. Shield says Echodyne's radars are built into hundreds of counter-drone and security systems in more than 40 countries. They are integrated onto remote weapon stations, high-energy lasers and high-power microwave systems, and cue interceptors toward incoming drones.¹

Shield is raising financing that includes $1 billion in structured equity from funds managed by Blackstone and $500 million in debt led by JPMorgan Chase Bank. A $1 billion Series H round is also part of the package.¹

The Series H carries a $28.8 billion post-money valuation, with proceeds principally intended to fund the acquisition. Shield expects the deal to close in early 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.¹

In September, Echodyne received a contract with a $250 million ceiling from Joint Interagency Task Force 401 to supply counter-drone radar to U.S. and allied forces. The Kirkland, Washington, company recently opened a manufacturing facility that Shield says will be able to produce about 30,000 radars annually.¹

Karman Space & Defense reported nearly $465 million in third-quarter bookings on Nov. 5, 2026. Bookings included a seven-year Lockheed Martin contract supporting the THAAD program.¹

Textron raised its 2026 adjusted earnings and manufacturing cash flow forecasts Oct. 29.¹

The company said the outlook reflects congressional approval of the Army’s Above Threshold Reprogramming request for the MV-75 Cheyenne program, plus associated contract modifications obligating the funding. The approval and contract modifications address a funding risk Textron identified in July.^1–2

Its July outlook had already assumed receipt of that additional fiscal year 2026 funding. The company had warned that absent additional funding, and including other outlook assumptions, adjusted earnings per share could be reduced by $0.20 to $0.30. Under those assumptions, it said cash flow could also be negatively affected by $150 million to $250 million.²

Textron now expects full-year adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations of $6.55 to $6.65. Its forecast for manufacturing cash flow before pension contributions, a non-GAAP measure, rose to $800 million to $900 million.¹

Curtiss-Wright booked $1.1 billion in new orders in the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026, up 15% from a year earlier, while sales rose 10% to $953 million. Reported and organic sales growth were both 10%, with acquisitions contributing 0% to the quarter's sales growth.¹

The company reported a 1.1x book-to-bill ratio, with backlog reaching $4.6 billion, up 12% from year-end 2025.¹

Chair and CEO Lynn M. Bamford attributed the order growth primarily to continued strong demand in defense electronics and growth across all of Curtiss-Wright's aerospace and defense markets. The release gives no orders by segment, so it does not show which segments drove the increase.¹

The Defense Electronics segment's sales grew more slowly than those of the company's other two segments. Sales rose 2% to $259 million. The segment's operating margin fell to 27.0% from 29.2% a year earlier. Curtiss-Wright attributed the margin decline to unfavorable product mix and higher research and development investment, which more than offset favorable absorption on higher revenues.¹

The Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) announced a $150 million conditional loan commitment to LeoLabs. The company provides space domain awareness and space traffic management services.¹

OSC says the financing would scale production and deployment of multi-mission phased array radars. It would support LeoLabs' global expansion and accelerate production and deployment of sensor hardware, including its mobile Scout radar units.¹

The conditional loan is matched dollar-for-dollar with co-investment, which OSC says would result in a $300 million capital infusion. LeoLabs must satisfy financial, legal, technical, investment, due diligence and other requirements before financial close.¹

6K announced a conditional loan commitment of up to $250 million from the Department of War on Nov. 5. The financing would support construction and development of a cathode materials production facility in Jackson, Tennessee.² The department's Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) intends the financing to scale domestic production of nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cathode active material.¹

OSC says the financing would catalyze an additional $250 million in private capital. The office says the U.S. produces less than 1% of its NMC cathode needs domestically.¹

The company says government authorizations, availability of appropriations, due diligence and other financial, legal, technical and regulatory conditions must be satisfied before financing is finalized and any funds are disbursed.² Neither release quantifies production capacity or gives a construction schedule for the proposed expansion.^1–2

6K's UniMelt microwave plasma process synthesizes finished, single-crystal NMC cathode powders in one step, bypassing the precursor processing stage. OSC says that reduces production cycle times by up to tenfold.¹

The Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) announced a $75 million conditional loan commitment to Halo Industries to expand production of silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor wafers. OSC says the investment brings in an additional $75 million in private capital and supports Halo’s domestic manufacturing expansion.¹

The office expects its conditional financing to help Halo expand U.S. manufacturing and approach cost parity with foreign competitors. OSC says heavy state subsidies to foreign competitors have pressured domestic SiC wafer producers and increased reliance on overseas supply.¹

Halo uses lasers to slice SiC ingots into wafers in place of mechanical diamond saws. OSC says the process reduces material waste, improves throughput up to tenfold and lowers production costs.¹

The loan commitment still requires Halo to satisfy financial, legal, technical, investment, due diligence and other requirements before financial close.¹

Swift Ascent announced Nov. 5 that it has acquired MMAX, a firm specializing in space technologies and acquisition. Private equity firm Bluestone Investment Partners invested in Swift Ascent to support the purchase.¹

The combination forms the foundation of a new platform focused on intelligence community (IC) customers. The announcement disclosed neither the purchase price nor the size of Bluestone's investment.¹

Swift Ascent started in 2025; the combined company will operate under the name of MMAX, founded in 2014. MMAX supports the IC with business, strategy and engineering management services. Swift Ascent CEO Mike DeFede will remain CEO of the combined company, while MMAX CEO Matt Gaughan and his leadership team will join in various leadership roles.¹

Hensoldt raised its 2026 revenue forecast to around €2.8 billion from around €2.75 billion.¹ Reaching the annual forecast implies roughly €937 million in the fourth quarter, about 35% above the third quarter.

Hensoldt says deliveries and acceptances are concentrated in the fourth quarter, making its full-year adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin usually higher than the nine-month figure.¹

Hensoldt now expects full-year book-to-bill, the ratio of orders to revenue, at the upper end of its previous range of around 1.5x to 2.0x. It expects that outcome even if a pending contract it calls PEGASUS is not awarded until early 2027. It expects further fourth-quarter orders, including in electromagnetic warfare, the naval and land domains and the Eurofighter program, to contribute. A PEGASUS award in 2026 would bring the ratio to around 2.3x, the company forecasts.¹

BlackSky reported record third-quarter revenue of $42.8 million on Nov. 5. Revenue rose 29% from the second quarter.¹ Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, rose to $12.8 million from $4.7 million over the same period.^1–2

Operating cash covered only part of the quarter's capital spending.¹ The six- and nine-month cash flow statements imply third-quarter operating cash inflow of about $3.6 million, against $15.4 million in capital expenditures.^1–2 In the first six months, operating activities used $5.9 million.²

Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments totaled $231.1 million at Sept. 30.¹ That was down $13.0 million from June 30.^1–2 BlackSky had raised $150 million through its at-the-market equity program in the second quarter.²

In its second-quarter filing, BlackSky said it expected cash, short-term investments and operating cash to cover working capital and capital spending needs for the foreseeable future.⁴

BlackSky raised the lower end of its 2026 revenue outlook.^1–2 It now expects $140 million to $150 million. It maintained its capital expenditure forecast at $50 million to $60 million.¹

Also announced

BlackSky reported its selection as exclusive provider of very-high resolution optical satellites for an initial 50-satellite constellation. The constellation falls under a $1 billion investment through a consortium including France and the UAE.¹

The Navy intends to solicit Boeing for a follow-on contract to design, develop, integrate and test the Growler Block II Phase 2 Beowulf system for U.S. and Australian EA-18G aircraft.¹

A sources-sought notice posted Nov. 5, 2026, seeks capable small and other-than-small businesses before the Navy determines its acquisition method. The notice is market research ahead of any request for proposals, and the government is under no obligation to award a contract.¹

The planned effort covers non-recurring engineering, eight Beowulf prototype inboard leading-edge flaps, sensor control units and power control units for U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Air Force cooperative EA-18G aircraft. Its scope also includes flight software and firmware, flight qualification and test support, aircraft integration, laboratory test assets, a validated technical data package and logistics products.¹

The Naval Air Systems Command's PMA-265 program office plans a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract with a firm-fixed-price hardware option. Performance is anticipated from March 2028 through March 2033. The planned effort includes an option for long-lead material in fiscal 2030.¹

Beacon Interactive Systems' MISSILE software is operational at the Navy's Surface Combat Systems Center at Wallops Island, the company announced Nov. 5. The platform manages operations and sustainment for land-based test facilities.¹

Beacon adapted commercial products to the Navy's requirements during a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II effort. The system went live during its prototype phase and operates under an Interim Authority to Connect, with a follow-on multi-year licensing contract in process.¹

MISSILE stands for Multiple Systems Status Information Logistics & Equipment. Beacon says the software digitizes daily facility operations and provides visibility into an enterprise-wide schedule of test events. It also consolidates asset configurations and overlapping test cycles, according to the company.¹

Eurofighter identified opportunities to sell more than 200 fighters in an infographic presented at this week's International Fighter Conference in Munich, Breaking Defense reported Nov. 5. That potential export tally has increased from 134 aircraft presented at the 2025 conference.¹

The figure represents prospective sales. Potential second-batch orders for Turkey and Saudi Arabia account for 78 aircraft, while closing an Austrian order would add 36. The consortium provided no customer-and-quantity breakdown for 86 or more aircraft in the projection.¹

The consortium has long expressed interest in exporting to countries like Portugal, Poland and Bangladesh. In Portugal, Airbus leads Eurofighter’s campaign to replace the country’s aging F-16s, competing with the F-35, Gripen and Rafale. An Airbus spokesperson told Breaking Defense that the proposal would be formally submitted by the end of this year.¹

Poland is considering a contract for 32 additional fighters. It could buy more F-35s after securing a $4 billion U.S. Foreign Military Financing loan in September, the outlet reported.¹

Existing production commitments provide a separate measure of Eurofighter’s business. Conference figures showed 60 aircraft in production under contracts with Spain, Germany and Kuwait. Recent orders, including Turkey’s, account for another 89 aircraft set for future production.¹

Fairbanks Morse Defense is discussing maintenance on the Navy's three Seawolf-class submarines with the service, CEO George Whittier told Breaking Defense at the Euronaval defense exposition in Paris.¹

The Seawolf discussions offer a potential extension of Fairbanks Morse's Navy submarine maintenance business beyond its Los Angeles- and Ohio-class generator work, if the talks produce an agreement.¹

In October, Naval Sea Systems Command awarded the company an approximately $100 million follow-on contract for emergency diesel generator overhauls on six Los Angeles- and Ohio-class submarines, Breaking Defense reported. That follow-on contract builds on an earlier award under which the company completed generator overhauls on two Ohio-class submarines and one Los Angeles-class submarine.¹

The Army plans to release a call for commercially available standalone non-radio-frequency positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) systems on Nov. 10, 2026, through the VULCAN portal.¹

A SAM.gov special notice posted Nov. 5 lists Dec. 10 as its response date; under the Army Open Solicitation, each call includes its own response time.^1–2

German Army Chief Christian Freuding will become chief of defense in February 2027, Defense News reported in a Reuters story Nov. 5, citing a defense ministry statement. He will succeed Chief of Defense Carsten Breuer, who was chosen as the next head of NATO's military committee.¹

Freuding oversaw Berlin's arms supplies to Kyiv, pushed to implement technology tested in Ukraine and initiated a German Army drone regiment, the report said.¹

His experience also includes planning at the ministry level: when his Army appointment was announced in July 2025, he led the defense ministry's Planning and Leadership Staff and its Special Staff Ukraine.²

Tobyhanna Army Depot is seeking suppliers of cells, electrical interconnects and insulation for small-drone battery pack assembly lines through an Army Contracting Command sources-sought notice posted Nov. 4, 2026.^1–2

The depot says it is ramping up production, assembly and depot-level maintenance operations while shifting its sourcing focus from spot-buys and broker networks toward direct partnerships with original manufacturers and authorized Tier-1 suppliers.²

The request for information (RFI) lists seven parts, including fish paper insulation, nickel tabs and cable assemblies. It also lists two models of 21700 lithium-ion cells. Each cell model carries a baseline quantity of 180,012, but the document does not specify the quantities’ unit or period.²

The RFI bars materials, chemical elements, cell-level components, metals and cable assemblies sourced, refined or manufactured in China, Russia, Iran or North Korea, citing 10 U.S.C. 4872. It also requires delivered metallic components, including nickel sheet and tab material, to meet what it describes as Berry Amendment specialty metals requirements.²

Responses are due Nov. 11, 2026, but the documents give conflicting times.^1–2 The SAM.gov listing specifies 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, while the attached RFI specifies noon Eastern Daylight Time.^1–2

Navy and Marine Corps leaders have drawn up a plan to expand the amphibious fleet while accepting a lower readiness level, Defense One reported Nov. 5. The Marine Corps thinks it needs 40 ships to keep three Amphibious Ready Groups with embarked Marine Expeditionary Units deployed at all times.¹

On average, amphibious ships are out of service more often than not, Defense One reported. Shon Brodie, the Marine Corps’ deputy director of Maritime Expeditionary Warfare, told reporters Wednesday that increasing inventory requires building new ships and extending the service life of some existing ones.¹

The vice chief of naval operations and the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps developed the plan, Brodie said. The proposed fleet would include 13 big-deck amphibious assault ships and 27 smaller dock ships. The services are to meet lawmakers this month to discuss how to fund it.¹

The expense of operating and maintaining 40 amphibious ships may make the target unrealistic, Hudson Institute senior fellow Bryan Clark said, according to Defense One. He said rising maintenance costs force work to be deferred, leaving ships in deteriorating condition.¹

Brodie said maintenance had improved marginally and that he expected further improvement over the next couple of maintenance cycles. Extended deployments add wear and increase the burden on already delayed maintenance periods, Defense One reported.¹

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has approved rules allowing companies in its experimental private air defense project to protect other companies’ facilities under contract, the Ministry of Defence announced Nov. 4.¹

Authorized companies may also transfer air defense assets to one another for use, based on a joint decision with the Air Force Command.¹

The changes allow manned aircraft in company air defense groups. They also expand opportunities to use interceptor drones by regulating companies’ use of warheads and electric detonators.¹

New participation criteria include Defence City resident status, designation by the Ministry of Defence as a critically important company, or both. The minimum age for members of company air defense groups falls from 21 to 18.¹

The ministry said the groups began combat missions in spring 2026 and nearly 100 companies had joined the initiative by mid-October.¹

Gastops and Anschütz have signed a memorandum of understanding on integration, testing, diagnostics and sustainment for the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP). Announced Nov. 4 at EURONAVAL 2026, the agreement establishes a framework for supporting Anschütz submarine systems in Canada over the long term.¹

Gastops sees the agreement and its earlier partnership with TKMS as steps toward building a Canadian-led submarine sustainment and serviceability enterprise. The Nov. 4 announcement discloses no order or Canadian government decision.¹

The Anschütz collaboration would extend from integration and testing to training, simulator and stimulation environments, advanced troubleshooting and in-field sustainment. Plans also include establishing Canadian-based infrastructure aligned with the program’s full lifecycle.¹

Gastops’ teaming agreement with TKMS, announced March 19, calls for an Automation System In-Service Support Center of Excellence in Canada. The planned center would support the installed submarine Automation/Platform Management System and Steering & Driving Control/Autopilot systems throughout their life cycle.²

The MBDA-led Hydis consortium plans to fly a full-systems demonstrator of its European hypersonic interceptor by the end of 2029, Defense News reported from the company's briefing at the Euronaval exhibition.¹

Hydis is competing with Hydef, coordinated by Spain's Sistemas de Misiles, for €100 million in European funding for its second development phase. The European Defence Fund plans to finance only one proposal. MBDA vice president for program incubators Lionel Mazenq said Nov. 4 that a decision was due at month's end.¹

Mazenq said the next phase would run from mid-2027 to mid-2029 and include full-scale flight trials. Hydis aims to reach technology readiness levels between 3 and 6 for all functions by the end of that phase. Production is scheduled to begin in the first half of the 2030s, he said.¹

MBDA said 11 member states would contribute a combined €133 million alongside the European funding. Mazenq put company contributions at more than €10 million. Germany is dropping out as a partner country for phase two, the briefing documents said. The consortium is developing fallback options if the European Commission chooses Hydef, Mazenq said.¹

The hit-to-kill concept draws on MBDA's Aster missile technology for flight control, with Italy's Avio providing solid rocket motors. Mazenq said Hydis aims for a unit cost below a third of an SM-3's, without specifying which version.¹

Ukraine is working on a new Starshield deal with the United States before its current contract expires in mid-2027, Breaking Defense reported Nov. 5. Kyiv is also considering possible stopgap measures.¹

Ukraine has relied on Starshield, the U.S. military variant of SpaceX's Starlink satellite network, for drone operations. Ukraine's chargé d'affaires, Denys Sienik, said the country needs the new contract because it has “no effective alternative” to the low-Earth orbit satellite system.¹

Sienik told a Defense Writers Group breakfast that day that Kyiv was “in the process of starting” negotiations with leaders at the Department of War. He expressed hope that a contract would be signed, terms of reference negotiated and funding secured.¹

In October, Ukrainian officials claimed a sudden network change caused failures of drones and defenses that led to military and civilian deaths.¹

Sienik said the problem had been resolved and the network was working again, but Ukraine still had no explanation from the Pentagon or SpaceX about what happened.¹