Lockheed Martin to lay off 64 workers at Andover clean energy facility, citing ‘program changes'
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The Andover facility was the 'single site' for the development, testing, and production of
Webpages and other material related to GridStar Flow had largely been scrubbed from Lockheed Martin's website as of Wednesday.
The company directed questions on the future of the program to the US Army and the Romanian Ministry of Energy, which both partnered with Lockheed Martin on the program.
The defense giant opened its Andover lab in 2020, according to a
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'It's kind of this representation of how far we've come from our days of benchtop experiments to delivering these repeatable results on large scale flow battery systems,' Sean Powers, a manufacturing engineer, said at the time. 'We used to have small, handheld batteries that couldn't deliver much storage, but now we're working with these larger systems, and the new facility represents that transformation.'
Lockheed Martin announced in 2022 that a new GridStar Flow battery installed at the military base in
Fort Carson, Colo. would be 'the first megawatt-scale, long-duration energy storage system' for the Department of Defense. The battery was installed in December, with a pilot program scheduled to run for 18 months, US Army officials
The pilot program has since been discontinued, a Fort Carson official confirmed Wednesday.
Also last year, Lockheed Martin
The US Department of Defense did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday, nor did the Romanian Ministry of Energy.
Lockheed Martin also operates a missile development facility in Chelmsford that employs 350 workers, according to its
Camilo Fonseca can be reached at
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'We're behind': US soldier leading a new 'catch-up' crash course says that the Army has to aggressively close the drone gap
The US Army's got a new three-week crash course on flying drones. It's an aggressive attempt to catch up on drone warfare, the director said. The Army has made drones a top capability in the coming years and is testing them heavily in the field. The US Army has a new crash course on drones. Right now, it's basic, fast, and aimed primarily at catching soldiers up on what they've been missing. It's an example of how the US military is embracing drones, navigating growing opportunities and threats. The inaugural Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course, launched by the Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker in Alabama, is a three-week class focused on building drone flight skills. Students use commercial off-the-shelf drones and simulation software to develop skills flying first-person view drones, according to a release. The course's director, Capt. Rachel Martin, built the program in just 90 days. "This course is a catch-up," she said. "We're behind globally, and this is our aggressive attempt to close that gap." There are currently 28 students, including infantry soldiers, cavalry scouts, and aviation personnel. As a pilot course, soldiers are primarily learning lessons from what Army units are currently struggling with in adopting drones. Flying FPV, or first-person view, drones is a major topic, as is manufacturing and repairing drones with 3D printing pieces. One of the course's objectives is to build a repository of printable parts that soldiers can take back to their units for further use. The learning curve, Martin said, has been substantial. "Most of my peers, including myself until 90 days ago, didn't know how to do this," she said. "Now we know what it takes, how many people, how much equipment, how much money, and we are sharing this information already with our partners out in the force." The class's future will expand into other topics, including one-way attacks using FPV drones, an area soldiers in Ukraine have been implementing for years. By February, the Army said, Martin expects students to be using low-cost drones for precision strikes. Drones have become increasingly prolific in Ukraine, with many quadcopters, octocopters, and more conducting surveillance flights and also bombing and strike missions. Millions of drones are supplementing more traditional weapons. Some experts caution against an overreliance on drones, but there is still a wide recognition that proficiency is important and that trained operators are force multipliers. Drone operators are high-value targets, and in Ukraine, research indicates, operator casualties are on the rise. There are lessons in that for the US Army. "We're creating operators who are not only lethal but also survivable," Martin said, explaining that "sUAS [small Uncrewed Aerial Systems] operators are the most sought-after high pay-off target on the battlefield right now." "I am very aware that my team has been entrusted with developing solutions for a critical need in emerging Army tactics," she said. The Army, much like the other US military service branches, has been openly grappling with the challenges of drone warfare and what it means for the force, which is still building experience in this space, with a lot of lessons still to be learned. Flooding units with drones and counter-drone systems is a top priority for US military leadership, and uncrewed systems have been deemed a necessary and vital capability to prepare for potential future conflict. There are growing investments in American drone tech, emerging drone and counter-drone schools, and field testing. In the Indo-Pacific, soldiers have been exploring how drones adapt to flying in hot, rainy climates. Training exercises, like a special operations forces drill simulating a conflict involving Taiwan, have evaluated scenarios where enemy drone swarms attack soldiers. Another exercise in Europe saw soldiers carry drones into simulated conflict and adapt when their system broke or encountered technical difficulties, like cut connections. Developing doctrine, tactics, and techniques is a work in progress, but a necessity for the Army considering the lessons from the Ukraine war, where both sides are continually advancing their drone capabilities in a real, fast-paced conflict. In Ukraine, drone operators have to contend daily with the headaches of electronic warfare and signal jamming. These have led to unjammable fiber-optic drones with hard connections between operators and their drones and AI-enabled systems, resulting in new challenges for defenders. The technological arms race is moving fast, and there's a lot Western militaries watching the conflict need to learn to ready for a future drone war. Read the original article on Business Insider Solve the daily Crossword
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8 hours ago
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General Dynamics Stock: The Best Defense Prime
This article first appeared on GuruFocus. When investors look at defense contractors, names like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman often dominate the conversation. But General Dynamics stands in a uniquely advantageous position that quietly combines consistent defense contract revenue with its crown jewel, a growth engine in its aerospace and private jet division: Gulfstream. While the others lean almost entirely on government contracts, GD has a hybrid identity. This hybrid is what makes it, arguably, the best-positioned prime defense contractor for long-term capital appreciation with a healthy defensive backbone. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Signs with GD. Gulfstream: A Built-In Growth Engine The centerpiece of GD's growth narrative is Gulfstream Aerospace, which produces some of the most iconic and in-demand business jets globally. At a time when corporate and high-net-worth individuals are doubling down on private travel, Gulfstream continues to capture outsized interest with revenue up 45.2% year over year in Q1 25. The G700 and G800 programs represent major technology leaps, offering long-range, ultra-luxury aircraft with increased operating efficiency. GD has positioned itself as not just a defense stalwart but a growth company in disguise. Gulfstream demand is inelastic often backed by corporate necessity or ultra-high-net-worth individual preferences that don't waver during typical economic cycles. While business jet deliveries across the industry took a temporary hit during COVID, General Dynamics maintained its backlog and is now benefiting from a post-pandemic normalization and even acceleration of demand. With corporate tax cuts being extended without end in sight, it would seem one of the primary beneficiaries would be Gulfstream and its luxe private jets. More importantly, Gulfstream's growth feeds back into GD's earnings diversification. Defense primes tend to be at the mercy of budget cycles. Not so for GD. With Gulfstream, they capture margin-rich, non-defense sales from private buyers and corporate fleet operators, many of whom are more economically resilient than ever. Excellence in Execution Against Competitors While looking at General Dynamics on its own would show that execution and delivery is fairly exceptional for a company of its size, it especially stands out when compared to the broader market, GD trades at a 20x PE multiple, which although comparable to its competitors, GD does not face the same issues. Lockheed Martin: in the last month saw its crown jewel, the f-35 program have its air force orders cut in half, reportedly due to cost overruns, which without question will hit the bottom line and investors in the company, also trading at roughly a 20 PE albeit with headwinds and negative exposures. (LMT Earnings in Q2 resulted in a greater than 10% decline) Northrop Grumman: year over year displayed a 6% decline in revenues, displaying a sluggish adaptation to realities in the defense industry, and also took a 477 million dollar hit to the B-21 raider program in Q1. Again an example of missing targets and taking surprise expenses, not a great outcome for investors when the company trades at a 20x earnings multiple. Raytheon: has quite a bit of civilian exposure with Pratt and Whitney and as a result faces a more cyclical business structure, while oil is currently low and would benefit RTX, this is not a certainty going forward and leaves investors susceptible to this risk (it also comes at a premium with the highest earnings multiples of any GD competitor at a 43x PE). Also from an operations side, they were fined a billion dollar criminal charge due to bribery by the DOJ in the last year, another example of questionable execution. Boeing: lastly is in all honesty a disaster of a company, struggling to get any significant wins other than the NGAD contract, which upon a deeper dive seems to be a quasi-bailout to the company rather than a legitimately earned contract as the company is struggling financially along with facing the damages of the 737 Max disaster. Even with rather direct support from the US government the company is still hemorrhaging cash flows and going on 5 years later, not displaying positive earnings. With General Dynamics, you get the reliable execution and strong margins typical of a top-tier defense prime without the baggage. It's the kind of company you can hold with confidence, free from the headline risk or operational drama that plagues some of its peers. Ramping Production and Higher Revenues Over the past few years, supply chain dysfunction has been the pain point of both commercial aerospace and defense production. GD wasn't immune. Gulfstream production was throttled by component delays, especially avionics and engines. However, 2024 marked a turning point. The company's latest guidance suggests that supply chains are stabilizing, and full-rate production is back on the table across key programs. On the defense side, the same applies. General Dynamics Land Systems and Marine Systems have both seen normalization in their subcontractor inputs. This bodes well for delivery timing and profit margins. For a firm heavily involved in long-cycle military hardware like Columbia-class submarines or Stryker land vehicles normalized production cadence directly translates into stronger free cash flow. From a purely hypothetical valuation perspective/ a reality check on its current market price, 14.93 EPS guided for 2025, and model assumptions of a 7% discount rate, 4% growth rate in earnings over the next 5 years (a conservative estimate, real ttm EPS growth is hovering around 10% over the last year) and 3% for longer term a DCF would confirm that GD is cheap at current valuations. Assuming the company can execute on modest earnings growth, there is significant value to the upside in a risk-off non cyclical investment. Uncertainty in Contracts? Not for GD One of the underappreciated elements of General Dynamics story is the nature of its defense contracts. While political dysfunction in Washington can create noise around government spending, GD's contracts are less exposed to discretionary cuts than most. The U.S. Navy's Columbia-class submarine program, for instance, is a top national defense priority, the contract of 23.4 billion and 5.1 billion modification (production underway)have essentially been locked in and would not be logistically possible to cancel or cut. This is also ignoring that canceling or deferring these types of programs is virtually off the table for strategic reasons. The war in Ukraine has also sharply altered the European security calculus. General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) is capitalizing on increased armored vehicle demand across the continent. In other words, even if the U.S. were to tighten its budget belt slightly, international orders could offset that. A Tax Tailwind for Gulfstream Tax policy might not be the first thing that comes to mind when evaluating defense equities, but for Gulfstream, it matters. Business jet purchases in the U.S. benefit from accelerated depreciation provisions especially under bonus depreciation rules that have been in place and extended with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Although bonus depreciation is being phased down from its peak 100% level, it's still an influential factor. For high-earning individuals or corporations, being able to write off a major capital purchase like aGulfstream G700 in the first year remains a powerful incentive. In a high-margin segment like private aviation, tax policy can often be the final nudge that pushes a client to close a purchase. General Dynamics' investor materials have subtly nodded to this tailwind, and it's something that can continue supporting Gulfstream orders especially as election year tax rhetoric heats up and uncertainty grows around 2026 expirations (*The "Big Beautiful Bill" was shortly after this passed by US congress extending these cuts). Final Thoughts: The Quiet King of Defense While Northrop gets the headlines with recent involvement in conflicts, General Dynamics plays a quieter, more balanced game. Its dual engines of government contract stability and private aerospace growth give it a level of resilience that few can match. Whether you see escalating global conflict or looking for long-term capital appreciation from a capital-efficient compounder, GD quietly checks every box. In a world full of binary growth vs. safety trade-offs, General Dynamics offers both. For that reason, it is very well the best defense prime in the game and with current prices, a strong buy. Sign in to access your portfolio
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Army Open To 70mm Rocket Alternatives To Shore-Up Stockpile
The U.S. Army has opened the door to potentially acquiring new types of 70mm rockets that are similar, but different from the Hydra-70 family it employs today. The service is exploring options for how to bolster its stocks of Hydra-70s or 'Hydra-like' rockets amid significant demand. Originally developed for air-to-surface use, Hydra 70s combined with the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) laser guidance package have emerged in recent years as a key anti-air weapon against drones. The Army's Aviation Rockets and Small Guided Munitions (ARSGM) Product Office, which manages the Hydra-70 program, recently released briefing slides from an industry day event it held with prospective contractors in July. The Hydra-70 family is currently in service across all branches of the U.S. military, as well as with dozens of foreign armed forces. Guided and unguided variations can be employed from a wide array of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, as well as a growing number of ground-based platforms. Hydra-70 rockets have a modular configuration that consists of a standard rocket motor mated to one of a number of different warheads. The APKWS II guidance package, a separate program the U.S. Navy manages, slots in between the motor and warhead. More than 1.7 million Hydra-70-series rockets have been fired in the course of combat operations, training, and test and evaluation activities in the last decade, with the Army alone firing more than 100,000 just in training each year, according to the briefing from the ARSGM Product Office. The current maximum production rate is 330,000 rockets per year, but fewer than that are typically produced annually. Especially in light of Hydra-70's new counter-drone role, the evolution of which TWZ has been following closely, demand for the rockets looks set to continue to be high, if not grow significantly, in the future. This is where alternative options might come into play. 'Alternative design submissions are welcome,' according to the Army's July briefing, but contractors will need to 'build [a] business case for adoption to offset qualification and integration costs.' Any alternative design has to be able to reach targets out to at least around 5 miles (eight kilometers), or 4.3 miles (seven kilometers) in a precision-guided configuration, and have high-explosive, flechette, and training warhead options. The rockets also need to be compatible with the APKWS II guidance section and the Army's standard 19-shot 70mm M261 rocket pod. There are other 70mm rockets on the market now. This includes the Canadian CRV7, which has a similar modular design to the Hydra-70 and can be assembled using the same warheads, as one obvious option. A guided CRV7-PG variant has also been developed, but it does not use the APKWS II package. Roketsan in Turkey and Thales in Belgium also produce laser-guided 70mm rockets with proprietary seekers. It is worth noting here that the Army has also been looking ahead to a follow-on to Hydra-70, which it has referred to as Hydra II, with a particular focus on extended range (up to around 7.5 miles/12 kilometers). It envisions that munition, whatever form it might take, as entering service in the 2035 timeframe. The Army is still interested in options for bolstering production of the Hydra-70 family, which has the added benefit of being a U.S. government-owned design that is not locked to a particular company. The service says it is also working to further modernize that technical design package. This could include allowing the use of additive manufacturing/3D printing to make certain components, which could help accelerate and/or streamline production, and reduce costs. 'Your white papers will inform the Army's contracting strategy/strategies for future procurement of Hydra-70 rocket systems,' the July briefing notes. The future only looks set to see more demand for Hydra-70 (or similar designs), in general. APKWS II had already breathed additional life into the rockets, which trace their roots back to the 1960s and evolved from the earlier Mighty Mouse 2.75-inch folding-fin aerial rocket developed right after World War II. Combined with the array of available warhead options, APKWS II-equipped Hydra-70s are very flexible, as well as lower-cost precision-guided munitions. A new dual-mode version of APKWS II that adds an imaging infrared seeker to the existing laser guidance package is now in development, which will offer a further boost in capability against surface and aerial targets. The infusion of anti-air capability has added a further new dimension to the Hydra-70 program. The U.S. military has already fielded, or facilitated the fielding to allies and partners, of multiple counter-drone systems with APKWS II-equipped rockets as their effectors, including Humvee-mounted and containerized types. Other ground-based platforms capable of employing the laser-guided rockets against air and surface targets have also been demonstrated. Ukrainian forces have notably used Humvee-mounted launchers for APKWS II-equipped Hydra-70 rockets against drones, as well as targets on the ground, in combat. You can read more specifially about the VAMPIRE counter-drone systems that Ukraine has received from the United States here. Ukraine has also gotten significant stocks of guided and unguided 70mm rockets from its foreign partners, especially from the U.S. military, and also regularly uses them in the more traditional air-to-surface role. Footage of Ukrainian naval forces downing a Russian Shahed-131/136 attack drone over Odesa. — OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) February 11, 2024 In the air, U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16C Viper, and A-10 Warthog combat jets are now cleared to employ specially configured Fixed-wing Air-Launched Counter-UAS Ordnance (FALCO) variants of the Hydra-70 in the air-to-air role. More fixed-wing aircraft, including Marine and Navy F/A-18s, are likely to gain this capability as time goes on. In addition to warheads with proximity fuzes, the FALCO rockets have APKWS II guidance packages with 'air-to-air optimized guidance and sensing algorithms,' according to the Army's July briefing. TWZ has led the reporting on these developments all the way back to the first public disclosure of a test of this air-to-air APKWS II capability in 2019. U.S. Fighter aircraft shoot down Iran-backed Houthi one-way-attack drones with AGR-20 FALCO Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) Laser Guided 2.75" Rockets.#HouthisAreTerrorists — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 19, 2025 There has also been work on Hydra-70-based systems for potential shipboard use, including in the anti-drone role. As an interesting aside, Anping class patrol ships in service with Taiwan's Coast Guard are armed in part with a 2.75-inch/70mm rocket system consisting of six seven-shot pods on a remotely operated weapon station. Whether or not the Army ultimately pursues alternative 70mm rocket options, the service clearly sees Hydra-70s or 'Hydra-like' rockets playing important roles on battlefields for years to come, including now as anti-air weapons against drones. Contact the author: joe@ Solve the daily Crossword
