Joby Aviation

Defense Business Brief: Shutdown watch; New F-35 missile; ‘Unsustainable’ repair scheme; and more...

The U.S. government is barreling towards its first shutdown since 2018. 

Last week, the House failed to advance its spending bill for fiscal year 2024, putting the U.S. government on path toward a shutdown unless Congress passes a stopgap spending bill by Sept. 30. While the House is gridlocked, the Senate seems poised to move forward with a continuing resolution. 

If they don’t reach an agreement in time, many troops will have to report to work without pay—and about half of the Defense Department’s civilian workers will be furloughed. A shutdown could also mean military training delays and disruptions in supplying weapons and equipment to Ukraine. 

Defense contractors could see delayed payments, or no pay at all, depending on their contract funding. And government contractors are not guaranteed back pay. But the Pentagon may enter new contracts or ask for work to be done on existing contracts to fill mission needs where a delay in contracting would be an “imminent risk” to human life or national security, per recent guidance. 

Aerospace and defense companies boast more than 2 million employees, and the industry’s lead trade group, AIA, wants Congress to “act now to fund the federal government…especially for the Department of Defense, as well as the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA” in the name of national security and aviation safety. 

The National Defense Industrial Association, which represents nearly 2,000 companies and 65,000 members, urged Congress and the White House to work on “sufficient, stable, and on-time funding” to prevent “disruption and costly delays in the defense industrial base” in a statement.

“Our warfighters deserve stability and predictability, as do workers and companies spread across the entire country working hard to support them,” said David Norquist, the association’s president and Pentagon’s former deputy secretary of defense.

Welcome

You’ve reached the Defense Business Brief. Audrey Decker and Lauren C. Williams are filling in for Marcus Weisgerber this week. Send along your tips and feedback to adecker@defenseone.com or lwilliams@defenseone.com. Check out the Defense Business Brief archive here, and tell your friends to subscribe!

Northrop gets $705M for new F-35 missile

The Air Force has picked Northrop Grumman to build the Stand-in Attack Weapon, or SiAW, a new air-to-ground weapon for the F-35. Last year, the service awarded Northrop, Lockheed Martin, and L3Harris three short-term prototyping contracts. Up to two of the primes could have continued into this next phase of development, but Northrop confirmed that it is the sole winner of the $705 million contract.

“The SiAW is an advanced air-to-surface missile providing stand-in platforms the ability to rapidly strike a wide variety of targets,” the Air Force said Monday. The service wants the missile to reach initial operational capability by 2026.

Air Force’s new electric taxi

Edwards Air Force Base has received its first electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft from Joby Aviation. The service will use it to test how battery-powered planes might transport cargo and personnel. Typical missions for the plane will remain around 25 to 50 miles, but it can fly up to 100 miles on a single charge. The Joby aircraft could be useful to travel short distances in some of the island clusters in the Pacific, Col. Tom Meagher, AFWERX Prime Division Chief, told Defense One. This delivery is part of the company’s $131 million contract with AFWERX.

DOD: Current F-35 repair scheme is “unsustainable.” The Pentagon has been buying new F-35 parts in lieu of repairs—a system that has become unsustainable, defense officials tell the Government Accountability Office. And the extra money spent on those new parts could further hobble plans to build up a service depot that can alleviate the repair backlog. D1’s Audrey Decker has more, here

Army to spend $8 billion on tactical IT. Leidos snagged the indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract which aims to provide the Army a “one-stop shop” for IT hardware over the course of four years with two three-year option periods.

Pentagon to pay GlobalFoundries $3.1 billion for chips. The 10-year contract will give DOD and other federal agencies access to the latest microelectronics and processes.

3D-printed submarine parts. General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division are using additive manufacturing, or 3D-printing technology, to produce deck drains made from a copper-nickel alloy for nuclear-powered submarines. “We are aggressively looking for opportunities to find ways to incorporate this technology into mainstream shipbuilding,” Dave Bolcar, Newport News’ vice president of engineering and design, said in a statement. “This collaborative project leverages authorizations made by the Navy that streamline requirements for low-risk additive manufacturing parts.”

Making moves

  • Julie Berry is General Dynamics Bath Iron Works’ newest vice president and chief information officer, the company announced Monday. Berry, who previously worked for healthcare organizations, will oversee Bath’s IT, “cybersecurity, and associated vendors.”
  • The Senate Armed Services Committee will consider two key Pentagon nominations this week: Derek H. Chollet to be defense undersecretary for policy and Cara L. Abercrombie to be assistant defense secretary for acquisition. But their nominations may get hung up by a GOP senator’s hold.
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.