🔊 Navy buys Thales remote mine hunting modules for $53.9M

Oshkosh Defense partnered with Silicon Valley startup Grid Aero to manufacture the Lifter, an autonomous modular-payload drone and the first aircraft the Wisconsin company will produce.

Lifter is a Group 4 or 5 aircraft, piston-powered and built from metal rather than composites, which matches Oshkosh's high-rate, multi-variant vehicle lines.

Thousands of aircraft are planned for the Pentagon and commercial buyers, with Grid Aero starting low-rate production while Oshkosh stands up a pilot line and takes over in stages.

Thales subsidiary Advanced Acoustic Concepts won a $53.9M Navy contract for two remote mine hunting modules and engineering support, with options that could reach about $196.2M.

The suite combines multiview towed synthetic aperture sonar, AI-assisted target recognition, and remotely operated vehicles, letting sailors find and classify mines from stand-off distance.

Future remote neutralization capability would join the same system on crewed and uncrewed surface vessels, which Thales says will speed the move from detection to action.

TOTE Services selected Hanwha Defense USA to build one Landing Ship Medium for $269M at Hanwha Philly Shipyard, with options for up to three more vessels.

It is the first award under the Navy's new vessel construction manager model, with TOTE acting as prime contractor under a $2.2B contract.

Construction starts in Q4 2027, with first delivery now expected in 2030 rather than 2029, while TOTE still negotiates with Bollinger and Fincantieri Marinette Marine.

Australia unveiled three payloads for Anduril's Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous undersea vehicle on Oct. 19: sea mines, Altius-600 loitering munitions, and logistics supply caches.

One Ghost Shark can clandestinely lay a dozen sea mines, and the vehicles can deploy from shipping containers, the sterns of small ships, or wharves.

Torpedoes and electronic warfare are the likely next payloads for the A$1.7B (US$1.2B) fleet, which helps fill capability gaps until Australia's nuclear-powered submarines arrive.

The State Department approved a potential $2.1B sale of 500 PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors to Ukraine, with no US funds involved.

Canada, Germany, and Norway would contribute through the JUMPSTART donor program, alongside Ukrainian national funds financed by the European Union's Ukraine Support Loan.

Foreign Military Sales notices can precede years-long processes, so near-term supply remains unclear for a country that says it needs 350 interceptors a month.

RAF Protector flies first operational sorties tracking Russian warships — Read More

Ethiopia receives 12 Su-35s, with S-400 batteries to follow — Read More

France targets roughly 15 drone units by summer 2027 — Read More

India signs $5.6B deal for eight next-generation corvettes — Read More

Finland christens Valpas, second new Border Guard patrol vessel — Read More

Iranian limpet mines reportedly hit Hormuz tanker Louise 1 — Read More

Pentagon's IT agency pushes common data standards with Pacific allies — Read More