Douglas A. Macgregor's Blog, page 15

Developing American-made propellants needed for long-range fires

The US Army is investing heavily in production capacity, with an emphasis on rebuilding its stockpiles of the munitions needed for long-range fires. To build a secure, reliable supply chain of materials and finished munitions, the industrial base is developing the solutions necessary to build munitions in America, including manufacturing infrastructure, capacity and new technology to update munitions production.

In this Game Changer article, we explore how Rheinmetall is supporting American production of munitions to ensure the Army can meet its needs, both now and in the future.

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Okinawa-based F-15 squadrons responsible for nearly 60 percent of country’s scrambles

NAHA, Japan — Two of the nine Japan Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) frontline fighter squadrons are responsible for an average of between 60 to 70 percent of occasions where Japan scrambles its fighter jets to investigate unidentified aircraft in its air defense zone in recent years, primarily from China, according to the chief of staff of the regional air defense command. This year, however, they fell just shy of that number.

The two squadrons, the 204th and 304th Hikōtai, operate from Naha Air Base on the island of Okinawa, the largest in an archipelago that stretches from southern Japan to Taiwan and makes up JASDF’s Southwestern Air Defense Force. Both units fly the Mitsubishi F-15J Eagle interceptor, which is similar externally to the US Air Force’s F-15C, along with a handful of F-15DJ twin-seaters and Kawasaki T-4 trainers with each unit having approximately 20 aircraft on strength.

Col. Hideo Kiyonaga, chief of staff at the headquarters of the Southwestern Air Defense Force, told Breaking Defense during a visit to Naha Airbase that his command was responsible for securing an area of Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) measuring some 920 by 780 kilometers (575 by 488 miles), which he noted could fit the entirety of Honshu, the largest of Japan’s three main islands, within it.

Other JASDF assets based at Naha include a squadron of Northrop Grumman E-2C/D Hawkeye Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft and CH-47J Chinook helicopters and U-125 aircraft belonging to its Air Rescue Wing.

Given its location, Naha has been the main base from which the JASDF has reacted to increased Chinese military air activity for more than a decade, with the base’s F-15s scrambling on 411 occasions during the last Japanese fiscal year (which runs from April 1 to March 31 the following year).

This represents 58 percent of the 704 scrambles the JASDF undertook over the last fiscal year, for which 464 were activated in response to Chinese aircraft in Japan’s ADIZ. Last fiscal year’s figure falls just short of the average of 60-70 percent.

In addition to its air assets, the Southwestern Air Defense Force also has five ground-based radar stations and four sites for ground-based air defense systems located in its area of responsibility, and Kiyonaga said that air policing was the fundamental mission of the command.

“We conduct surveillance of Japan’s airspace in the area on a 24/7 basis and maintain readiness for any situation by utilizing all the systems and assets available to us,” he added.

Its area of responsibility also includes the airspace over the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, which is also claimed by China and whose own ADIZ overlaps with Japan’s in the area. A country’s ADIZ is not its territorial airspace but self-declared airspace where unidentified aircraft are tracked, located, and/or identified in the interests of its national security.

The JASDF’s requirement is for the first Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) fighters to be airborne within five minutes upon being activated during a scramble. Despite the operational demands placed on it, the Southwestern Air Defense Force is the smallest of JASDF’s four regional commands in terms of air strength and airbases, according to Kiyonaga.

According to data published by Japan’s Ministry of Defense, JASDF scrambles against Chinese aircraft in its ADIZ started picking up in 2012, when it started to surpass that of Russia’s, which had, until then, been the leading cause of Japan launching its fighters against aircraft in its ADIZ.

At that time, the only JASDF fighter squadron at Naha was the 204th Hikōtai, which bore the brunt of such scrambles until 2016, when the 304th was reassigned to Naha from its former home at Tsuiki in Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu.

This was also the year overall JASDF scrambles peaked, with the 851 out of 1,168 JASDF scrambles conducted against Chinese aircraft driving the number, and Kiyonaga noted that approximately 80 percent of those were flown out of Naha.

“Conducting scrambles requires a lot of effort, but it is important to show our strong intention to protect Japan’s airspace,” said Kiyonaga, who added that “it got to the point [at the peak of the scrambles] where we had to rotate F-15 crews from elsewhere to Naha to fly some of the scramble missions.”

It was also around this time the Japan revised the triggers for scrambling its aircraft to reduce the strain on aircraft and personnel, instead relying more on monitoring unidentified aircraft in its ADIZ and only scrambling fighters if they appeared to pose an imminent threat.

The JASDF’s current fleet of almost 200 F-15s were built by Mitsubishi under license from McDonnell-Douglas between 1980 and 1998. Japan is beginning to replace some of the older F-15s with the Lockheed-Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, with a F-15 squadron at Komatsu in Japan’s west coast currently transitioning to the fifth-generation fighter.

Japan also has plans to upgrade some of the newer aircraft, which were built to what is known as the Multi-Stage Improvement Program (MSIP) standard, with new avionics including a new mission computer, BAE Systems’ Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS) electronic warfare suite and Raytheon AN/APG-82(V)1 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar.

However, the program has faced several hurdles including skyrocketing costs, which has led Japan to downsize the number of aircraft that will undergo the upgrade from 68 to 54, according to the country’s latest Defense White Paper.

Both Naha squadrons operate a mix of pre- and post-MSIP aircraft, although Col. Kiyonaga declined to answer questions on whether the squadrons will receive F-35s or upgraded F-15s, instead referring Breaking Defense to Japan’s defense ministry.   

Drones have changed the battlefield; counter-UAS systems must keep up

Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) warfare is changing the modern battlefield, and counter-UAS must adapt quickly to keep pace. Testing, evaluation and drone-defense-as-a-service are all key to ensuring counter-drone strategies can stay effective as threats evolve. We spoke with Tim Saffold, VP, Autonomous and Unmanned Systems at Amentum, about how Amentum is working to keep warfighters protected.

Defense to ‘anchor’ exploding satellite market over next decade: NovaSpace

WASHINGTON — The number of satellites projected to be launched over the next decade will dwarf the number of those now on orbit — but even though the bulk of those new birds will be owned by commercial and civil government entities, it is the defense sector that will “anchor” the market through 2034, according to a new analysis.

Market intelligence group NovaSpace’s annual “Satellites to Be Built and Launched” report states, “more than 43,000 satellites will launch over the next decade, reshaping competition across orbits and applications and fueling a $665 billion market in manufacturing and launch services.”

According to US Space Command’s public database of objects in orbit, Space.track.org, there are now approximately 12,500 active satellites that can be positively identified. Another 4,700 space objects can not be linked to any owner/operator for a number of technical reasons, and could be active satellites or debris. (SPACECOM’s satellite catalog further does not publish the whereabouts of a number of classified US and other allied national security satellites.)

NovaSpace projects that five government and commercial mega-constellations in lower orbits — SpaceX’s Starlink and Starshield, Amazon’s Kuiper, and China’s Qianfan and Guowang networks — will account for 66 percent of the satellites launched between 2025 and 2034, but by contrast only 11 percent of market value.

“Budget priorities, meanwhile, sits with defense. Defense remains the market’s economic anchor, capturing 48% of total value despite representing just 9% of satellite volume,” the analysis adds.

Caleb Henry, research director at Quilty Space, agreed with the report’s analysis about the continued centrality of defense dollars to the global commercial space market.

“The business world is quite dynamic, and we’re seeing a sea change where everyone is a defense contractor now,” he told Breaking Defense today.

The public information released by NovaSpace does not break out projected US market shares or the percentage made up by US Defense Department acquisition. However, the findings regarding global defense spending are somewhat ironic, given DoD’s long-stated aversion to serving as an “anchor tenant” for the burgeoning US commercial space ecosystem.

NovaSpace further projects that the market for satellite manufacturing and launch, while robust and growing, will remain largely siloed within nations and/or regions so that only domestic companies can compete — or vertically locked into one owner/operator’s business (i.e., SpaceX launches all of its Starlink birds).

“Overall, the manufacturing and launch market offers significant revenue potential, however, targeting this opportunity will require a nuanced approach. Only 7% of the manufacturing market in value is fully open to any manufacturer and 70% is considered ‘nationally captive’, with the remainder locked by vertical integration of constellations. To compete here, consideration of strategic partnerships through the supply chain is now a must,” the report states.

With regard to launch, the report notes that SpaceX likely will continue to hold “a near-monopoly over heavy launch in the West,” and that while other providers are striving to compete, the company’s “Starship promises to profoundly redefine space transportation and the space economy at large.”

Starship has yet to prove viable, with SpaceX set to launch its 11th test flight of the super-heavy craft, being designed to eventually carry cargo to the Moon and Mars, on Oct. 13.

Despite that fact, the Pentagon already is considering the potential for Starship for point-to-point delivery supplies through suborbital space anywhere on the globe within 90 mins or less, with a firm eye on a future conflict with China.

Official signals changes to Taiwan military aid, potential AUKUS alterations

WASHINGTON — Change could be afoot for two key US partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, as a Pentagon official today suggested the Trump administration could redefine defense deals with Taiwan and alter the AUKUS security arrangement with Australia and the UK to make it more “sustainable.”

“Senator, if confirmed, I will be the biggest advocate to my leadership in the department to making sure that we have all the resources we need to strengthen deterrence in the Indo-Pacific,” John Noh, currently serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee when asked about a possible prioritization of the Western Hemisphere in the forthcoming National Defense Strategy. Noh, tapped to take the reins as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, appeared before the committee this morning for his confirmation hearing.

Noh faced some skeptical lawmakers, including Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who said he was concerned in particular about the provision of arms to Taiwan. Last month The Washington Post reported that Trump canceled $400 million in military aid to Taiwan in the form of a presidential drawdown, which pulls from US stocks and has a yearly allocation of $1 billion.

“A number of us are concerned that DoD may be using the Ukraine playbook with Taiwan by taking defense items procured with Presidential Drawdown Authority and returning it to the defense stockpile.” Wicker said. “This would be contrary to Congressional intent, and would require Taiwan to purchase these items that have already been authorized as PDA.”

The GOP chairman went on to ask if it would be “good policy” to return those weapons defense stock and then require Taiwan to pay for them.

Noh said he does “strongly believe” Taiwan needs to “do its part and to pay,” while also increasing its defense spending.

“It was President Trump who said that Taiwan — which is an island that faces an existential threat from the People’s Liberation Army, from the Chinese military — that Taiwan should spend upwards to 10 percent of its GDP on defense. I strongly support that,” Noh told lawmakers.

Senators on both sides of the aisle also expressed concerns about DOD’s ongoing review of AUKUS, a decision Wicker said came as a “surprise” to Congress and “our steadfast ally, Australia.”

Noh confirmed that the review started in July and should be wrapped up this fall, and while saying he did not want to “get ahead” of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, there could ways to alter Pillar I of the arrangement.

“There are things that I believe are common sense, things that we can do to strengthen AUKUS, to strengthen Pillar I to ensure that it is more sustainable,” Noh said. 

“As the findings of the review come out, I believe Undersecretary Colby and Secretary Hegseth will have an opportunity to discuss specific recommendations as to how to strengthen Pillar I and make it more sustainable,” he later added. “But my personal view is that there are things that we — as in both the United States and Australia, with the United Kingdom — can do to strengthen Pillar I and make it more sustainable.”

AUKUS is divided into two pillars. Pillar I, currently, involves the sale of at least three US-made Virginia-class submarines to Australia followed by the creation of SSN AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines for both the UK and Australia. The prospect of the US selling the Virginia-class has prompted concern for US seapower advocates, as the US shipbuilding industrial base is already straining to keep up with the US Navy’s demand.

RELATED: How the US and UK plan to get nuclear-powered subs to Australia

Pillar II revolves around co-development of new technologies among the three nations, and, potentially, other partners such as Japan, South Korea, Canada and New Zealand.

Calling out Chinese ships, plus what’s going on with NGC2

In this episode of The Weekly Break Out, Deputy Editor Lee Ferran and Naval Warfare Reporter Justin Katz talk about a recent trend in the Arctic: There’s been an uptick in the number of Chinese research ships spotted in the extended continental shelf off the coast of Alaska. And the Coast Guard has noticed.

Then, Networks and Information Warfare Reporter Mark Pomerleau makes his Break Out debut to talk about the Army’s Next Generation Command and Control effort.

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Navy may select next-gen fighter design as soon as this week: Sources

WASHINGTON — The Navy is moving forward with its F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter program, with a winner potentially announced as soon as this week, two sources told Breaking Defense.

Northrop Grumman and Boeing are competing for the right to design and build an aircraft that will ultimately replace the F/A-18 Super Hornets and E/A-18 Growlers. The next-gen fighter would also complement Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and a to-be-determined Collaborative Combat Aircraft in the service’s future air wing.

Reuters first reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved plans on Friday for the Navy to advance its ongoing competition. When contacted by Breaking Defense, a spokesperson for the Navy deferred to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. A spokesperson for OSD did not return a request for comment by press time.

The competition for F/A-XX, one of the most highly anticipated Navy contract awards outside its shipbuilding portfolio, has been at the center of ongoing disputes between various corners of the White House, Pentagon and Congress ever since the Air Force in March selected Boeing as the prime contractor for its future fighter, the F-47.

The two sources told Breaking Defense that an announcement on the fighter contract was rumored to come as early as this past weekend, when President Donald Trump celebrated the Navy’s 250th birthday in Norfolk, Va. Trump was joined by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, who himself was donning a flight suit, in embarking the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush to observe flight operations.

For Boeing, winning the Navy contract would mean cementing its status as the Pentagon’s strike fighter contractor of choice for its sixth-generation jets, icing out both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman from either the Air Force or Navy Next Generation Air Dominance programs. It would also be a remarkable turnaround for its defense business, which in the last 25 years lost two key combat aircraft contracts in the Joint Strike Fighter and Air Force’s Long Range Strike Bomber programs, while facing billions in losses on fixed-price development programs.

Meanwhile, if Northrop Grumman were to win F/A-XX, it would return the company to prime contractor status on an American strike fighter for the first time since the F-14 Tomcat, the jet made famous in Top Gun.

Lockheed Martin, which was once competing for the F/A-XX contract, was previously knocked out of the competition after submitting a bid that didn’t meet the service’s criteria, Breaking Defense first reported in March.

Navigation warfare is about the battle to assure positioning, navigation, and timing

Adversaries or other circumstances can disrupt the availability of space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) in contested military areas and globally. To address challenges, joint and allied forces need alternative sources of accurate and reliable PNT information to ensure continuous availability.

Joint and allied forces have traditionally planned, procured, trained, and conducted operations with the expectation of always having access to accurate and reliable PNT. Continuous access to GPS signals is crucial for real-time battlespace awareness, command and control synchronization, and various precision operations such as target location, weapon delivery, and logistical support.

Most modern electronics require synchronized timestamps to function correctly. The loss of time synchronization can lead to a loss of computing power, which directly impacts the ability to provide timely command and control (C2) to forces in the field.

The U.S. Army recognizes the dependency on GPS signals for PNT and has implemented measures to protect it. However, in today’s threat environments in Europe, the Indo-Pacific, and the Middle East, Military-code or M-code, is increasingly exposed to advanced electronic warfare. As the Joint Force faces future challenges, it must seek alternative sources of accurate PNT information to ensure continuous availability.

APNT to Depend On

Through the Army’s Mounted Assured Positioning, Navigation, and Timing program of record called MAPS Gen II, soldiers, Marines and allied forces have a fielded system they can depend upon to provide an authoritative and reliable source of truth for positioning, navigation, and timing. MAPS Gen II augments M-Code with a variety of alternate sources of navigation data and signals of opportunity, all brought together by a multi-source sensor fusion engine. 

Collins Aerospace, an RTX business, has delivered MAPS Gen II systems to the U.S. Army and U.S. Marines and will continue deliveries under Full Rate Production.

“In addition to secure M-Code GPS, Collins has built a system with multiple layers of redundant protection against jamming and spoofing,” said Sandy Brown, vice president and general manager for Resilient Navigation Solutions, Collins Aerospace, an RTX business. “An Assured PNT system with several layers of redundancy will ensure the operator maintains access to trusted PNT in the most contested environments.”

“For communication and networked systems, military operators ensure they have a primary, alternate, contingency, emergency plan for all contingencies they may encounter on a mission. Why should they not expect the same from their PNT system?” she added.

MAPS Gen II can defeat electronic warfare and other threats to PNT by replacing up to 12 legacy SAASM-based GPS receivers with multiple layers of redundancy to ensure that if one or more signals fail, there are alternate means of trusted PNT. It ingests navigation data from multiple sensors, including low Earth orbit-constellations and non-RF-based sensors. The embedded NavFusion engine blends those alternative signals together to deliver an accurate, non-RF based PNT solution with a high degree of accuracy, even when M-Code is unavailable. 

“When you consider the threats against the Army and allies by combat vehicles, weapon systems, and coastal vessels, extra protection is needed,” said Brown.

“The extra protection is made possible by advanced software that combines data from multiple sensors and a flexible system design. This setup allows MAPS Gen II to adapt to new sensing technologies as they develop, increasing our capabilities without needing to add more hardware to already crowded vehicles.” 

Photo Courtesy of Collins Aerospace.

Delivering more and faster

Increased capabilities, delivered faster, are essential for multi-domain operations (MDO) and Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control (CJADC2). Having access to Advanced Positioning, Navigation, and Timing is crucial for MDO, as it allows for better coordination between different services and partners, offering a joint warfighting environment across air, land, sea, space, and cyber domains.

MAPS Gen II is needed in front-line ground combat and command vehicles, as well as in other vehicles performing key missions like C2, maneuver logistics, air and missile defense, and artillery. MAPS Gen II ensures secure APNT and data sharing for CJADC2. For example, in island-hopping operations in the Indo-Pacific, frontline units act as forward scouts for naval forces essential to the fight. Without secure communication, they can’t give the Joint Force Land Component Commander (JFLCC) a clear picture of the enemy or accurate targeting information.

“MAPS GEN II is a significant advancement and force multiplier for soldiers, providing modern technology in an adaptable system that allows navigation anywhere, anytime,” said Brown. “Frontline units must have access to secure communications to send data back to their commanders.”

Firefly to buy SciTec with eye on Golden Dome

WASHINGTON — Launch company Firefly Aerospace has inked an agreement worth approximately $855 million to buy SciTec, a software-centric firm with expertise in big data analysis, missile tracking and remote sensing, with the deal expected to close by the end of the year.

The move positions Firefly to enter the industry feeding frenzy as the Pentagon readies acquisition plans under the Trump administration’s sweeping Golden Dome plan to build a comprehensive air and missile defense shield over the homeland.

“The acquisition of SciTec enhances our ability to support a growing number of defense missions and provides us with a significant operational advantage,” Firefly CEO Jason Kim said in a Sunday press release announcing the acquisition.

“SciTec’s mission-proven software and big data processing capabilities provide warfighters with rapid, accurate information to enable informed decisions that protect our homeland from emerging threats. These capabilities significantly enhance our ability to deliver integrated, software-defined solutions for critical national security imperatives, particularly Golden Dome,” he said.

Caleb Henry, director of research at Quilty Space, told Breaking Defense the acquisition brings Firefly more than Golden Dome-related tech.

“Golden Dome is a motivator for sure, but this deal also provides Firefly with diversified revenue streams. SciTec is cash flow positive, and helps Firefly evolve from a resource-intensive startup to a mature, money-making company,” Henry said.

SciTec in 2021 won a Space Development Agency contract to demonstrate mission data processing software for battle management command, control, and communications for its first prototype Tracking Layer missile warning/missile tracking satellites. The firm also is under contract with Space Systems Command to software to enable the sprawling, and troubled, Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution (FORGE) ground system for the Space Force’s legacy Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) missile warning satellites and two future constellations: the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR), and the Resilient Missile Warning/Missile Tracking — Medium Earth Orbit.

Firefly is currently on contract for two Space Force Victus-series missions under the service’s Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) program aimed at demonstration rapid launch capability. The Victus program also has been serving as a testing ground for space domain awareness satellites with more maneuverability than the six current Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) neighborhood watch birds.

Firefly was subcontracted to provide launch services for True Anomaly, which in September 2024 won one of two Space Force contracts (along with Rocket Lab) for the Victus Haze mission that will involve a rendezvous and proximity operation. In February, Firefly was tapped by the service to undertake the slightly mysterious Victus Sol mission that will launch an operational satellite (presumably also with a maneuvering capacity).

True Anomaly and Rocket Lab were expected to loft their Victus Haze missions this year, but the Space Force has delayed True Anomaly’s launch due the failure in April of a separate launch undertaken by Firefly’s the sixth flight of the Alpha rocket, Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, head of Space Systems Command, told reporters on Sept. 24.

He explained that while the launch was carrying a payload for Lockheed Martin and not the Space Force, the service needs to understand what went wrong.

“So we always look at crossovers,” Garrant said, “to make sure that we’re not going to repeat the same mistakes, if you will. We’re still moving forward, working with our partner to make sure that they’re ready.”

To make matters worse for Firefly, on Sept. 30 the booster for the Alpha Flight 7 (also to carry a Lockheed Martin satellite) blew up on the launch pad in a pre-flight ground test.

According to stock market analysis website The Motley Fool, Firefly’s stock plummeted by 35.4 percent last month due to the problems, following a strong start with its initial public offering in August.

Following the wrap up in August of the Federal Aviation Administration’s investigation into the April launch failure, Jordi Paredes Garcia, Firefly’s chief engineer on the Alpha program said that the company took on board “lessons learned” and undertook “corrective actions” to improve the rocket’s reliability.

“At Firefly, technical challenges aren’t roadblocks — they’re catalysts,” said Jordi Paredes Garcia, Alpha Chief Engineer at Firefly Aerospace. “Each mission provides us more data and enables us to continuously improve, he wrote in a fact sheet on the Firefly website.

As for the SciTech purchase, the move broadly did not appear to some in industry to be a huge surprise.

Philip Hover-Smoot, CEO of Scout Space, posted Sunday on LinkedIn: “Yet another space domain awareness capability provider snapped up by an aspiring prime looking to increase pWin on Golden Dome pursuits. Not the first, not the last.”

SAIC will acquire software shop SilverEdge for $205 million

WASHINGTON — Government technology and consulting giant SAIC announced today it plans to acquire SilverEdge Government Services for $205 million in cash. The deal should close by the middle of next year, SAIC said.

SilverEdge is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) shop with extensive defense and intelligence contracts. Currently owned by Godspeed Capital, a private equity focused on government and defense, SilverEdge was created in 2022 from Varen Technologies, Exceptional Software Strategies, and Savli Group, and later acquired Gardetto and Counter Threat Solutions.

“This acquisition advances SAIC’s strategy of bringing mission focused, IP-based solutions and commercial products to our customers,” SAIC said in a press release, later adding that layoffs are not expected. “By integrating SilverEdge’s SaaS products and expertise, SAIC will further enhance its ability to deliver real-time mission-based solutions with speed, efficiency, and agility.”

SilverEdge hasn’t published much publicly about clients and revenues, but press releases and news reports suggest it does much of its work in the classified world, including a $164 million contract for unnamed US government agencies. A rare case of actually naming the client came in a subcontract on a Section 508 disability access project at the National Geo-Spatial Intelligence Agency (NGA).

SilverEdge’s biggest recent announcement was its August rollout of MynAI, which it describes as an “agentic” AI — that is, an AI capable not just of generating new text but of performing at least some bureaucratic functions on its own — specifically optimized for US government agencies. MynAI is authorized for Top Secret/Secure Compartmented Information (TS/SCI, the level of classification above the actually quite common “Top Secret”) and already “operational at multiple National Security Agencies,” the company said.

SAIC, short for Science Applications International Corporation, is among the largest defense contractors in the world and has been a DC mainstay for decades, founded in 1969 and spinning off Leidos in 2013.