🔷 C-17 Reboot

Episode 48

🎧 On the pod: Mike and Jake catch up on defense tech happenings.

Behind the scenes on the frothy state of defense VC investing.

Golden Dome: breaking down the problem, the solution, and the challenges ahead.

DIU: A viral LinkedIn post sparks conversation about innovation, Ukraine, and a potential reckoning in the US innovation space.

The next thing: forget about the third offset, what is the fourth offset?

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In That Number

5.3 miles

DARPA’s POWER program set a new distance record by transmitting 800 watts of power wirelessly over a distance of 5.3 miles.

This breakthrough demonstrates the ability to provide on-demand energy across long distances through the thickest part of the atmosphere, and the potential to revolutionize battlefield power supply distribution.

TRIVIA

June 22: On this day in 1945, the Battle of Okinawa concluded after 82 days of brutal fighting.

It was the largest amphibious assault—and the bloodiest battle—in the Pacific Theater of World War II (150,000+ casualties).

What was its codename?

A) Operation Downfall
B) Operation Coronet
C) Operation Iceberg

On the Radar

C-17 production reboot? Two decades after the last C-17 Globemaster III rolled off the line, Boeing is in early talks with at least one customer about restarting production of the iconic heavy airlifter. A total of 279 C-17s were built before the line ended in 2015. Restarting the C-17 line could be a $10B+ bill, but that’s cheaper than developing a new airlifter that can match the C-17’s unique capabilities.

The Merge's Take: A lesson re-learned every few years is to NOT end an aircraft production line without a plan and funding in place for what’s next. The US fleet of 222 C-17s is now 22 years old, getting older every year, and there is no plan for what’s next. OBTW, there was the time in 2018 when the Air Force said they needed 3 more squadrons of C-17s, so there is a potential capacity play here too. Dear Boeing: the real chess move is to get a group together and create demand for an E-17 variant, ala China’s massive KJ-2000. That would revive the ‘C-17B’ line and also create a follow-on for the E-7 Wedgetail that Australia and Japan have been looking for—and something the US Air Force could plan for.

US CCAs in Europe. General Atomics and Anduril haven’t flown their YFQ-42 and YFQ-44 Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), but both companies were targeting the European market at the Paris Air Show last week. Anduril announced a strategic partnership with Germany’s Rheinmetall to co-produce the YFQ-44 Fury drone and Barracuda cruise missiles, while General Atomics revealed it too is exploring a similar pathway.

• The Merge's Take: Behind the scenes, the international push is actually coming from the US Air Force. Cutting the red tape for export, encouraging coproduction, and giving the freedom for nations to use indigenous payloads to suit their needs are all levers to proliferate affordable intelligent mass. This is the clearest signal possible for US companies to build and offer CCAs for DCS (Direct Commercial Sales), so expect a number of new US CCA offerings to pop up over the next year. On that note, Shield AI announced they are building a jet-powered next-gen autonomous aircraft.

FCAS fighter drama. Two months ago, Dassault threw Airbus under the bus about how difficult they were to work with on the French-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System (FCAS) fighter program. But this week, Airbus offered a positive update: “We have learned how to work together.” The French director offered a more promising take: “SCAF is back.”

• The Merge’s Take: It is definitely not back. The core issue is work-share for the biggest part of the program, the New Generation Fighter (NGF). Dassault (French) is the prime contractor, but Airbus represents a two-thirds vote of the 3-nation program because it represents both Germany and Spain. Airbus is the prime for the CCA, which they call RC (remote carrier), but want a bigger piece of the pie. FCAS is a stark reminder that Europe’s defense industrial complexity can sometimes be its own worst enemy.

• The Merge’s Spicy Take: This European consortium is also the worst at naming things. SCAF is a French acronym (Système de Combat Aérien du Futur) for FCAS, which itself is the umbrella term for NGWS (Next-Generation Weapon System, aka the NGF fighter, the RC drone, and the C2 network).

They Said It

“Absolutely, we can do it, and so can the industrial base, and so can the engine manufacturers. So I don't see that as being an issue.”

— Steve Parker, CEO of Boeing Defense and Space, pushing back on remarks from Navy leadership that F/A-XX cannot be run simultaneously with the Air Force F-47 program

Knowledge Bombs

• General Atomics & Shield AI completed another MQ-20 drone test flight, this time with multiple live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) aircraft

• Leonardo and Baykar established a joint venture to develop and produce drones

• Northrop Grumman launched its “Beacon” autonomy partnership that will utilize its Model 437 jet as a flying test bed for industry

• SpaceX was tapped to build a secretive MILNET SATCOM constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO)

• Applied Intuition closed a $600M Series F round, valuing the company at $15B

• Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works entered captive-carry testing for its Common Multi-Mission Truck-X (CMMT-X)

• General Atomics & Saab announced a partnership to make an MQ-9 AEW&C variant (Airborne Early Warning and Control)

• Constellium unveiled the first aerospace-grade aluminum made entirely from recycled aircraft

• Lockheed Martin announced its completed the software updates for the F-35 TR-3 fighter upgrade

• Ursa Major won a $32.9M contract to upgrade rocket engines on Stratolaunch’s Talon-A hypersonic vehicle

• Kratos, known for its target drones and XQ-58 Valkyrie, shared that its space-based RF detection network can see and locate Iran’s SATCOM jammers that are targeting Israeli frequencies

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ANSWER
C) Operation Iceberg was the codename for the Battle of Okinawa, the final major battle of World War II. FYI, Operation Downfall was the code name for the planned invasion of mainland Japan, and Operation Coronet was part of Downfall.