L3Harris Technologies in Virginia.

L3Harris Technologies in Virginia. Celal Gunes / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Defense Business Brief: Space Command to stay in Colorado; House and Senate pass NDAA; Some personal news; and more.

JUST IN: The Biden administration will keep U.S. Space Command in Colorado, the Pentagon announced just a little bit ago, reversing a Trump administration decision to move it to Huntsville, Alabama. You can read our breaking news coverage here.

Despite what anyone tells you, all basing decisions, small and large, are political. They are power poker chips held by whoever occupies the White House. Remember, it’s not just the hundreds or thousands of military and civilian personnel who relocate, it’s spouses and families who ultimately put money into the local economy and spur growth.

Thinking ahead to the 2024 presidential election, Colorado voters matter more to President Biden than Republican-heavy Alabama.

And just like that, Aerojet Rocketdyne is owned by L3Harris Technologies. The deal closed quickly after we learned last Wednesday evening that the Federal Trade Commission would not challenge the deal. 

Since then, L3Harris executives have pledged to remain a merchant supplier of rocket motors to whoever wants them,—not block access as some had feared, —and to invest in Aerojet so it’s a viable supplier for years to come.

It took just 221 days from the deal’s announcement in December until its closure on July 28. By comparison, there were 400 days between Dec. 21, 2020, when Lockheed Martin said it would buy Aerojet, and Jan. 25, 2022, when the FTC said it would sue to block the deal.

It also marks the end of one of the most unique defense contractor websites. Aerojet Rocketdyne’s former website Rocket.com redirects to an L3Harris website.

Welcome

You’ve reached the Defense Business Brief by Marcus Weisgerber. Send along your tips, and feedback to mweisgerber@defenseone.com or @MarcusReports. Check out the Defense Business Brief archive here, and tell your friends to subscribe!

Programming note: The Defense Business Brief is following Congress’ lead and taking August recess, but will return on Sept. 5, which is also the day lawmakers return to Washington. I’ll be spending time with my daughter, who is now six months old and teething. I envision some visits to the National Zoo and even more to watch the planes from Gravelly Point. It goes without saying that I’m grateful to work for a company that offers parental leave to all of its employees who are new parents.

This means that between now and Thanksgiving you’ll see some different bylines on the Defense Business Brief, but you’ll still get plenty of the news, analysis and commentary that you expect. I’ll be popping in for the Air Force Association and Association of the U.S. Army annual conferences, so you’ll still be hearing from me too.

The House and Senate each passed versions of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act before the aforementioned August recess, but that doesn’t mean they will pass a unified bill before fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. The House version of the bill includes legislation on controversial social issues, while the Senate version does not.  FWIW, the White House has issues with both versions of the bill—and it has outlined its gripes with the Senate version and the House version. Despite its beef, neither of the statements of administration policy threaten a presidential veto.

Leidos entered a “strategic collaboration agreement with Microsoft aimed at leveraging each company’s unique strengths in the market to accelerate artificial intelligence transformation for new and existing customers in the public sector,” Leidos announced Monday. “A near-term priority for co-development is in the area of generative AI solutions to support organizational efficiency, enhanced productivity, and cross-domain applications.”

It’s the latest tie-up between a defense company and a commercial tech company. Last year, Lockheed Martin announced a “landmark” partnership to use Microsoft’s classified cloud.

The Defense Information Systems Agency has chosen Palantir to support coordination between federal and commercial licensees of the 3450 - 3550 MHz spectrum band, the company announced Monday. Palantir will provide its software to automate the process. More here.

Next week: The Space and Missile Defense Symposium kicks off in Huntsville.

Making Moves

  • President Biden has nominated Gen. David Allvin to be the Air Force chief of staff. Allvin, who is the vice chief, would replace Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, who has been nominated as chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
  • Biden also nominated Adm. Lisa Franchetti to be the chief of naval operations. If confirmed. Franchetti, who is the vice CNO, would be the first woman to lead a branch of the military. Vice Adm. James Kilby has been nominated to be the vice CNO.
  • Biden has also tapped Adm. Samuel Paparo, the commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, to lead U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.