Defense Systems

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth will travel to Denver, CO, to visit True Anomaly and Sierra Space. He will also administer the oath of enlistment to the next generation of American warfighters at Buckley Space Force Base. The Arsenal of Freedom tour's call to action to revitalize America's manufacturing might is aimed at ensuring the United States dominates not only on land, sea, and air, but in the future of warfare, space.

The Department of War (DoW) announces the February 19 groundbreaking on the Munitions Campus in Bloomfield, Indiana. This public-private partnership is designed to expand domestic munitions and energetics production and strengthen the resilience of the U.S. defense industrial base. The groundbreaking is an important milestone for the Munitions Campus, for which the DoW announced in September 2023 the award of $75 million in Defense Production Act Title III funds to ACMI Federal (ACMI).

The War Department is asking industry experts to help the department better work with the defense industrial base, eliminate bureaucratic bloat in the acquisition process and more quickly field weapons to warfighters. Through collaborations, they are actively accelerating acquisition speed, increasing manufacturing, optimizing production and strengthening supply chain resilience.

The warfare center's Innovation Lab strengthens readiness across the command. Employees can design, build and test ideas sooner, which helps deliver capability to the warfighter faster.

The warfare center operates two innovation labs, one at China Lake, and one at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California. Both sites offer the same equipment and training, and employees can use either location. Shared access reduces wait times and helps teams working across both installations keep projects moving

The Department of War announced today a $29.9 million a Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III award to ElementUS Minerals, LLC (ElementUSA). ElementUSA will use this award to enable the development of a demonstration facility in Gramercy, Louisiana to separate and purify gallium and scandium from existing industrial waste. The company will also conduct initial development work at their Critical Resource Accelerator in Cedar Park, Texas.

The United States and the U.S. Department of Defense, with the help of its industry and academia partners, strive to remain the leader in chip research and design, prototyping, manufacturing and production at scale. Leading this charge is the Microelectronics Commons, which has over 1,200 member organizations, having more than tripled in size, in just 12 months.

For small businesses that may not be able to meet cybersecurity requirements on their own, the Army is planning to launch a pilot program called the Next-Generation Commercial Operations in Defended Enclaves, or NCODE, which essentially provides a cyber-secure enclave in a secure environment for small businesses to participate in where they can collaborate, share information, and do their own work.

The Department of Defense announced seven awards totaling $192.5 million through the Defense Production Act Investments Program to establish domestic manufacturing capabilities for critical chemicals.