The Hatch Report (Issue #2)
See below for a brief legislative update, content from the past week that caught my eye, along with 22 x "Industry Activity" updates, 12 x "DoD Opportunities," and 8 x defense-focused events.
Legislative Updates
The August recess concludes with both chambers returning to action today. Another CR, likely lasting until early 2025, almost certain. To recap, the House passed its NDAA with the Senate version only making it out of Committee. The House also passed its version of the Defense Approps Bill, coming in at $833B, 1% above FY24, and within the FRA caps. The Senate Approps Committee passed its Bill at $852B, a $27B or 3.3% increase over FY24, but it has yet to go to the floor for a final vote. Expect another grinding Conference to weed out controversial provisions. Adjusting for inflation, both of these toplines effectively represent a cut in real terms. Rep. Wittman (R-VA / HASC-TAL Chair) recently stated the $833B topline is where Congress will land. He also suggested that lawmakers may consider adding more funding later in fiscal 2025. FYSA, CRS keeps a helpful “Appropriations Status Table”.
NOTE - See bottom of this email for an infographic by Chris Tottman offering a helpful look into how VCs make decisions.
Top Stories
1) US Army’s next budget invests heavily in drones and EW - Army senior leaders also seeking flexible funding for capability portfolios and doing a lot of PE consolidation. GMU’s CGC has a great report on this worth checking out.
2) Need for Truly Maneuverable C-UAS - Compelling op-ed from two Army ADA officers. Most current systems are semi-mobile / need to be stationary to operate. Authors call for a platform capable of engaging threats on the move and light enough to be air-assaulted or air-dropped from the back of fixed-wing aircraft. They also delve into specific tech that could bridge this capability gap. Hopefully, we’ll see some proposed solutions at this week’s Maneuver Warfighter Conference and next month’s AUSA expo.
3) Army Force Structure Changes - Great CRS update. Army will struggle to fully man highly technical formations, e.g., MDTFs / additional AMD units due to demanding aptitude requirements.
NOTE - These force structure changes are a helpful indicator of the types and number of systems the Army may need. Also important to consider how persistent recruiting challenges are informing DoD force designs and capability requirements (i.e., more autonomy/systems requiring less training?).
4) INDO-PACOM Intra-Theater Logistics Enablers - Stern Landing Vessel (SLV) informing requirements for USMC’s Medium Landing Ship (LSM). Other major effort is the USMC’s Autonomous Low Profile Vessel (ALPV)..think “narco boats”.
NOTE - Intra-theater logistics enablers for contested resupply missions = a top priority for the US / Pacific allies. Army + USMC + allied coordination on LSM very encouraging. Potential for higher combined order numbers should garner greater industry interest and keep procurement + O&M costs in check vs U.S. going it alone. Important to understnad the manufacturing base / industrial capacity for these smaller-sized classes of vessels. From what I’ve seen, this sector doesn’t get as much attention compared to the industrial base for SSNs/SSBNs and large surface combatants.
5) $30M Western Australian Venture Capital (WAVC) Initiative - Will be a “Fund of Funds” model, with the government co-investing with private sector VC firms. Goal is to increase the availability of early-stage VC investment in the region.
6) LaunchPad software transforms digital workforce - The USAF Digital Transformation Office and SAIC created LaunchPad, a free, secure platform offering cloud-based tools, training, and services to over 2,000 USAF users. Initially focused on engineering programs, LaunchPad provides access to tools like Cameo, Teamwork Cloud, IBM DOORS, and MATLAB.
7) USAF NGAD PCA Back to the Requirements Drawing Board - Key takeaway = USAF senior leaders really emphasizing the combination of capabilities for achieving air superiority vs overreliance on do-everything platforms. Threats / new tech advanced quicker than anticipated during the initial AoA, causing the re-look.
IMO, very similar to Army’s recent mantra of “formation-based lethality”. For industry, knowing how your capability can integrate with and complement other systems/platforms is key. To offer more comprehensive solutions, wonder if we’ll see more industry teaming (beyond subsystem integration) and having distinct platforms from different vendors work together to achieve requirements that are broader in scope. Is this something DoD can do a better job of incentivizing?
8) The ATP 7-100.1 "Russian Tactics" (Feb 2024) - Detailed analysis of RU military doctrine, TTPs, and capabilities, including recent insights from war in UA. Key takeaway is RU’s integration of UAS-based ISR and EW that feed automated BMC2 networks to accelerate sensor-to-shooter kill chains at the tactical level. Importantly, these advances enable RU artillery batteries to concentrate their fire while disbursing the individual gun systems over a wide area, complicating enemy counter-battery fire.
9) RAND Report on PRC Commerical / Naval Shipbuilding - Key PRC shipyards are becoming specialized for naval or commercial production, not as flexible between the two (largely driven by the increasing complexity of modern naval vessels). China's share of global ship completions rose from 4.7% in 2000 to 51.9% in 2023.
10) Guetlein: Space Force Moving to Counter New Adversary Kill Webs - PRC has more than 470 ISR satellites “feeding a robust sensor-shooter kill web.” GMTI and AMTI = big focus for USSF. 2030s ETA for these capabilities to start coming online. USSF partnering with NRO on space-based tactical targeting ($1.2B in related funding requested across the FYDP).
11) Chinese Flying Wing UCAV Testing Accelerating - The GJ-11 is designed for strike missions, with the ability to carry munitions in a pair of internal bays, as well as perform ISR tasks. Sharp Swords have been depicted launching decoys and carrying out what appear to be electronic warfare attacks.
NOTE - U.S. counter stealth tech will become increasingly important as PRC begins fielding larger numbers of advanced stealth platforms. In this regard, USAF’s B-21 offers Army / Navy air defense programs a huge opportunity to perfect their counter-stealth capabilities. Hopefully, there’s an effective cross-Service feedback loop.
Industry Activity
12) The Alaska Center for UAS Integration (ACUASI) - Eielson Air Force Base notice of intent to sole source C-sUAS Red Team Assessment services. Based on the PWS, it appears Black River Systems’ Ninja, Anduril’s Anvil, and Dronebuster are some of the systems being evaluated.
13) Agility Robotics - Naval Research Laboratory notice of intent to sole source two of their humanoid bipedal robots.
14) WillcoTech - Awarded AFWERX SBIR for automated talent management system… “focus is on helping identify, build, recruit, upskill, and retain the critical cyber and IT workforce…”
15) Constellia - Won a £400m UK MoD contract to spearhead the procurement of novel technological goods and services through the newly developed Neutral Vendor Framework for Innovation (NVFi).
16) Safran -Acquires Preligens (specializes in AI-powered analytics for imagery, video, and acoustics). The acquisition, valued at 220M euros, will expand Preligens' reach in the US market.
17) Menlo Ventures / Anthropic - $100M to be invested in companies from seed to expansion stages, with individual investments starting at $100K (and up). Key focus areas: AI infrastructure; “Frontier/novel applications of AI”; Consumer AI solutions; Trust and safety tooling; and AI apps and tech that maximize societal benefits.
18) Real-Time Innovations (RTI) - Awarded a USAF SBIR PII ($1.25M) to help create a secure, standardized, and reliable AI framework for interaction between software agents, humans, and the target environment–enabling rapid deployment and reuse of cutting-edge AI technologies.
19) Aalo Atomics - Raises $27M to develop small nuclear reactors in Texas
20) Raytheon - Awarded a $52M (total contract value) for multi-band, satellite communications antennas capable of use on military aircraft. Will be capable of communications with multiple commercial space internet (CSI) constellations in various orbital regimes. Part of the Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) effort.
21) Mesa Quantum - Announces $3.75M in Seed Funding led by J2 Ventures. Uses chip-scale quantum sensors for alternative PNT. Has already been awarded an additional Space Force grant of $1.9M for Alternative PNT, with several other awards they anticipate in short order as a part of their government scaling.
22) Ocean Power Technologies - Follow-on contract with NPS, will incorporate advanced subsea sensors into a PowerBuoy equipped with OPT’s Merrows suite, designed for seamless AI-driven integration of Maritime Domain Awareness across multiple platforms. This will also include utilizing AT&T’s communication technologies for NPS.
23) Parry Labs - Completed a $80M raise, the Company's first institutional investment round. This strategic growth equity capital was led by Capitol Meridian Partners, and included participation from True Ventures, as well as 3Wire Partners and Teamworthy Ventures. The Company offers an open architecture software stack, known as Stratia, which serves as the digital backbone of its edge compute solutions, as well as EW products.
24) Usul - (YC24) Just launched O&M, Procurement, and RDT&E funding lines projected to 2029! Users can now find scaling pathways for their products. Coming this week: Connecting funding lines to awards to find unallocated end-of-year DoD dollars...
25) Gecko Robotics - Will begin examining a U.S. aircraft carrier for wear-and-tear using its AI-fueled software and fleet of automatons. The Pennsylvania company late last year was tasked with building a maintenance baseline and inspecting welds for the $132B Columbia-class nuclear submarine program. It raised $173M in funding around the same time.
26) Evolution Space - Selected by AFWERX for an SBIR Phase II ($1.2M) focused on solid propulsion hypersonic boost and target solutions.
27) Canopy - Wins two USAF contracts valued at $2.8M to develop thermal protection systems (TPS). Canopy (founded in 2021) is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony on 5 SEP for its new 6,096-square-meter manufacturing/development facility south of Denver. To date, Canopy has won $7.5M in government contracts and raised $4M in venture capital.
28) TrustPoint - Awarded two SpaceWERX D2P2 SBIR contracts, in the amount of $3.8M. Focused on demonstrating the company’s GPS-independent ground control segment and an advanced PNT security application.
29) Vivum Computing - Awarded ONR contract for Dynamic Neural UMVs / Enhanced Autonomy for the U.S. Navy. $921k total contract value.
30) SciX3 - Awarded ONR contract for Next-generation Autonomy for Unmanned Maritime Vehicles (UMVs). $999k total contract value.
31) Charles River - Awarded ONR D2P2 SBIR contract for Collaborative Operations with Maritime Platforms in Autonomous SwarmS (COMPASS).
32) Ara Partners - Secures $335M of non-recourse financing for a permanent magnet manufacturing facility. The Financing follows a JAN 2023 announcement of the signing of a binding agreement between e-VAC (an Ara portfolio company) and General Motors for e-VAC to build a North American factory to make rare earth permanent magnets to be used in a wide range of GM's electric vehicles. In SEP 2023, e-VAC received a DoD DPA Title III grant through the Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) organization.
33) AWS - Launches Global Passport Program. Will select growing software companies and provide tailored expert guidance, resources, and strategic support to help them clear the operational hurdles of global expansion.
Government Opportunites
34) Industry Enclaves' in the Monitoring, Rapid Adaption, and Deployment of AI Models in Mission Time
AFRL RFI // Abstracts Due by 4 OCT // Could help inform future BAA
Enclaves, comprised of one or more industry partners, could support single or multiple AI subsystems. They would monitor model drift and provide model adaptation and redeployment capabilities. These enclaves could also offer compute resources for retraining and adapting AI models in the battlespace.
35) EFT Launch Services Contractor
Air Force Nuclear Weapon Center SSN // Responses due 1 OCT
Interesting in companies that can provide launch capabilities for ballistic (sub-orbital) flight tests. Launch capabilities will encompass all activities from providing the launch vehicle to integration of the payload.
36) Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI)
DARPA Solicitation // Offers due by 19 SEP
QBI will rigorously test and validate a utility-scale quantum computer concept.
37) AI and Next Generation Distributed C2
AFRL BAA // Open Through 2028 // $99M Total Contract Value
Individual awards will not normally exceed 48 months with dollar amounts ranging from $200K to $20M.
Key interest areas include AI for C2, scalable AI orchestration, adversarial AI considerations, and distributed C2.
38) AI for Infectious Disease Threats
DHA Experimental Therapeutics (ET) Branch SSN // Responses due by 16 SEP
The ET Branch would like to establish an IDIQ contract for AI/ML in silico screening of candidate drug compounds against known targets of infectious disease threats of interest. The contractor will utilize ML decision tree algorithms for potent compound identification followed by evaluation of potential toxicity, off-target effects and potential structure-based metabolic liabilities.
39) Business Application/Application Development Software as a Service
ASN M&RA SSN // Responses were due on 3 SEP (posted on 30 AUG) //Must be a COTS solution
Needs a recruiting tool for college students and recent graduates to build brand awareness, engage candidates, and hire directly or encourage DON applications.
Wants (20) enterprise licenses of a web-based Talent Engagement Suite
41) Advancing Analytics Multiple Award Contract (AAMAC)
CDAO Updated SSN // Responses due 4 OCT
Seeking help building a competitive, adaptive, and responsive ecosystem of digital products and services providers around the ADVANA platform.
42) Tactical Fires Radar Technology, Medium Lift Ground-based Radar
Army C5ISR Center RFI // Responses Due by 22 SEP
Interested in small SWaP, multi-mode AESA radar systems to fulfill a short to medium-range mission.
43) Command and Control Simulation Environment for Training (C2SET)
USAF Kessel Run // Q&A from Recent Industry Day Posted
Conducting market research to understand capabilities related to sustaining, building, integrating, and modernizing Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis.
44) Collaborative Research Alliance (CRA)
Army (ARL) RFI // White Papers due by 25 SEP.
Program focused on basic research to create and expand scientific understanding of human-agent interactions in AI-supported team decision-making for intelligence activities.
45) Cadet Mentoring Application
West Point SSN // Responses were due 6 SEP (posted on 3 SEP)
This app will let cadets set character/well-being goals, chat with mentors, and receive resources while mentors track progress.
46) Intramuscular Injectable Generic Analgesic Ketamine
DHA SSN // Responses due by 7 OCT
Market research to determine the feasibility of securing a manufacturer for the procurement of generic ready-to-inject ketamine for intramuscular injection (IM) for analgesia.
The analgesic ketamine EUA will allow the DoD to formulate policies on analgesic ketamine use which is expected to result in a large demand for ketamine throughout the Joint Service Military Health System.
Events
47) NATO Open Innovation Conference (NOICE) - This week in Troia, Portugal. Attendees will get to know the different NATO entities working on innovation, learn about NATOs strategy and goals and have the opportunity to engage with national innovation cells and innovators at an interactive expo.
48) ADVANA Industry Day - 18 SEP at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, VA. Registration closes on 13 SEP. Learn more about CDAO’s transition to a new contracting model that will broaden access for potential vendors.
49) Maneuver Warfighter Conference - 10-12 SEP at Ft Moore GA. Lots of really interesting looking panels “USAIS Mortars” “Robotic Swarming to Reduce Minefields” “Maneuver Domincancee with Integrated Sensors” etc.
50) Exploration of Highly Complex Defense System DARPA/TTO Industry Day - 13 -15 NOV at a TBD location near Boston. Seeking applications from researchers, engineers, and SMEs to attend an invitation-only workshop focused on the design, development, and management of highly complex systems.
51) Pitchbook Tech Talks - OCT 2 at 1 pm. Will focus on navigating the DefenseTech Frontier: Venture Capital, Startups, and the Late-Stage Ecosystem. Speakers from Marlinspike, Shield Captial, and Epirus.
52) ACC-RSA Procurement Acquisition Lead Time (PALT) Session - 29 OCT at Redstone Arsenal. Session will include ACC-RSA, AMCOM, PEO Aviation, PEO Missiles & Space, PEO IEW&S, SMDC and DEVCOM AvMC contracting and program management senior leaders.
53) Midwest Defense Innovation Summit (MDIS) - 16-17 OCT at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis. Aims to bring together key stakeholders, policymakers, industry leaders, and regional partners to hear the latest innovations and foster opportunities to collaborate.
54) Growing the A&D Sector in Today’s Trade Environment - AIA virtual event on 11 SEP at 10:30am EST. Event is in partnership with representatives from Export-Import (ExIm) Bank, the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) Office, and A&D industry leaders as part of its Supply Chain Summit and AeroInsights Webinar Series.
Source - HERE
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