US Defence related thread

[F-22Raptor]

U.S. Navy, RTX Strengthen Munitions Production Through SM-6 Award​

WASHINGTON — Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao announced today that the Department of the Navy awarded Raytheon, an RTX business, a five-year contract, with two additional option years, valued at up to $24.4 billion to accelerate production of the Department’s critical anti-air and anti-surface warfare munition, Standard Missile-6 (SM-6).

“Maritime strength demands weapons at speed and scale,” said Cao. “This investment expands production and delivers the firepower our warfighters need to fight, win, and come home safe.”

The award is part of the Department’s broader effort to increase weapons production and strengthen the industrial base needed to sustain the Fleet.

“Combat credibility depends on having enough weapons, produced at the speed and scale the Fleet requires,” said Adm. Daryl Caudle, Chief of Naval Operations. “This SM-6 award gives industry the demand signal and stability to expand production, strengthen the munitions industrial base, and build the magazine depth our Fleet needs. That is the Foundry delivering for the Fleet - and ensuring our Sailors have the combat power to fight and win.”

The SM-6 contract establishes a multi-year procurement commitment that provides industry with the stability and predictability needed to expand production capacity while delivering cost savings through a negotiated, long-term agreement. The investment will support increased manufacturing throughput and strengthen the industrial base supporting this critical capability.

“This award demonstrates what is possible when the Department leverages innovative acquisition approaches to deliver capability at the speed of relevance,” said Ms. Van Hendrey, Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Munitions. “Through PAE Munitions, we are bringing together the authorities, resources, and partnerships needed to accelerate production, reduce costs, and strengthen the industrial base that supports our warfighters.”

Following the recent Tomahawk award, this action is part of a broader effort across PAE Munitions to accelerate the production and delivery of critical weapons. Under the strategic direction of PAE Munitions, the Navy is improving enterprise-level integration, strengthening partnerships with industry, and advancing a more agile approach to delivering weapons capabilities.

By providing industry with greater stability and predictability, these actions enable expanded workforce capacity, increased manufacturing throughput, and stronger supply chains. Together, they reinforce the Department’s commitment to rebuilding the defense industrial base and ensuring Navy and Marine Corps forces remain equipped with the advanced weapons required to maintain maritime superiority.

Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) Munitions is a Department of the Navy organization responsible for the development, procurement, and delivery of naval munitions and strike capabilities. By unifying key weapons programs and aligning the weapons industrial base, PAE Munitions provides enterprise-level integration to accelerate production, increase capacity, and ensure the Fleet is equipped with the munitions needed to project power and win.

https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/Press-Releases/display-pressreleases/Article/4617054/us-navy-rtx-strengthen-munitions-production-through-sm-6-award/

$24.4B awarded for SM-6 production

 

[SolarWarden]

This is just Hegseth's vindictiveness and revenge that he was never promoted beyond Major.

Sleepy Joe did a lot of damage to DOD allowing degenerate ideology to infiltrate the US military. There are also Generals and Admirals like Milley who went behind Trump and made contact with China. I think Hegseth in cleaning house of high-ranking officers that may have stench of the likes of Milley.

 

[KAL-EL]

If you consider it is Hegseth leading from the front on the hiring or firing, i suspect the changes are more ideologically driven than a practical clinical reassessment of what is required in the future and how the existing force structure of leadership can make it there.

He's invoking more and more religion into his speeches. That's extremely worrying.

Imagine if a Muslim Secretary of defense red versus from the Quran.

Right wingers would be going crazy over that.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Going to post this article here due to the close relationship between Geissele and a number of US law enforcement and military agencies:

Geissele wins $20 million contract for new Secret Service rifles

Geissele started out by making high-quality triggers. Now portions of the military use its rifles. The Secret Service wants them, too.

www.wearethemighty.com

It's interesting how Geissele has grown from a trigger manufacturer to a full-blown weapons supplier to the US govt and a number of state and local police agencies as well as the civilian market.

From a personal perspective, I have a few of their triggers. They are nice and crisp and well-suited for the applications I am using them.

Bill and Amy have come a long ways.

 

[Ali_Baba]

Congress never funded the Iran war. The Pentagon is paying anyway

https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_cb52cdeb-0339-4a4f-8b53-396538115d7e.html

So, it seems that the ask to increase the Pentagon budget by 50% is so that the Pentagon can have a permanent budget to fight wars without having to ask each war to be paid for by congress. It is not just about recapitalisation of the armed forces, but a permanent war fighting fund.

 

[جوبا]

And be like the Navy? Perish the thought.

Even though these had a good track record:

View attachment 217229

FFS, the Air Force still deploys the 40mm Bofors in the AC-130 so why not use it for airfield defense as well. Update the radar control systems and with modernized proximity fuses, it would be ideal for aerial defense.

Just a few days after we discussed that idea the US DOW announced this - at this point Raytheon has been awarded nearly $1b worth of contracts since last year for the phalanx.

U.S. Navy and U.S. Army order more Phalanx guns​

Raytheon has won a $247.1 million contract to build, upgrade and overhaul Phalanx close-in weapon systems for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army, covering the shipboard gun, its land-based counterpart and the missile-armed SeaRAM, the U.S. Department of War announced.

Naval Air Systems Command awarded the firm-fixed-price contract to the RTX business without competition. It covers production, upgrades, conversions and overhauls of MK 15 Close-In Weapon Systems, along with hardware, equipment and spare parts, and runs through September 2030. The notice does not say how many new systems will be built or how many existing ones will be refurbished.

Phalanx is a radar-guided, computer-controlled 20 mm Gatling gun that fires between 3,000 and 4,500 rounds per minute. It is designed to shoot down anti-ship missiles and other threats that get past a ship’s longer-range defenses, and Raytheon says it is installed on every U.S. Navy surface combatant class and on ships from 24 allied nations.


The gun proved its value in combat on Jan. 30, 2024, when the destroyer USS Gravely (DDG 107) used its Phalanx to destroy a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile in the Red Sea. The missile had come within about 1.6 km (1 mile) of the ship, a matter of seconds from impact, and it was the first time a U.S. warship had needed the system during the Red Sea campaign.

The U.S. Army’s share of the contract goes to the Land-based Phalanx Weapon System, the core of its Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar defense, known as C-RAM. The land version, fielded since 2005, uses the same gun and radar to shoot down incoming rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds over bases. The contract also covers SeaRAM, which pairs Phalanx’s sensors with a launcher for RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles to engage threats at longer range than the gun.

The funding split shows how much of the work is for the U.S. Army. Of the roughly $240.6 million obligated at award, all of it fiscal 2026 money, about $104.2 million comes from U.S. Army procurement and operations and maintenance accounts. The remaining $136.4 million comes from four U.S. Navy accounts: procurement, operations and maintenance, shipbuilding, and weapons procurement.

A third of the work will take place in Louisville, Kentucky, the main center for Phalanx production and overhauls, and 7% in Tucson, Arizona. The rest is spread across 16 other named sites in the United States, plus Ottobrunn, Germany, at 4%, and various U.S. locations accounting for 23%.

The award follows a $205 million U.S. Navy contract Raytheon received in September 2025 for similar Phalanx production, upgrade and overhaul work running through 2029. In June 2025, the U.S. Army separately awarded Raytheon $279.2 million for management support of its Land-based Phalanx fleet through 2030.

 

[F-22Raptor]