Latest news with #DepartmentOfDefense
Skift
4 hours ago
- Business
- Skift
Cybersecurity Conference Delays U.S. Launch, Citing Uncertain Political Climate
Citing unpredictable political and economic conditions in the U.S., organizers have postponed the first American edition of InCyber Forum. This international cybersecurity conference was set to take place June 17–18 San Antonio's Henry B. González Convention Center. The event, which combines a tradeshow with expert panels, was expected to draw about 5,000 attendees from across the global cyber industry. 'The current policy and economic environment remains both challenging and unpredictable, and the decision to pause the San Antonio conference is consistent with similar decisions made by several other U.S. conferences whose success is impacted by the broader geopolitical and policy landscape,' said FastForward, the event's organizer. Visit San Antonio spent more than a year working to bring the event to the city. San Antonio promotes itself as Cyber City USA, with a dense network of cybersecurity operations supporting the Department of Defense, the commercial sector, and local government. Local hospitality leaders expressed disappointment about the decision to postpone. Other Global FastForward Conferences a Go 'We understand the organization's need to pause the inaugural event until the current uncertainty settles. We have heard potential concerns from a handful of meeting groups that their attendance may be impacted by political and economic uncertainty, and we are diligently working with them to see how we may help them shore up their convention. We stand by to ramp back up with InCyber Forum for San Antonio when the time is right,' said Mario Bass, interim president and CEO of Visit San Antonio. Launched in Lille, France, InCyber Forum draws 25,000 attendees annually in Europe. FastForward confirmed its Montreal conference will proceed in October, followed by a debut Tokyo event.
Associated Press
8 hours ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Kaplan Fox Alerts Investors to a Securities Class Action Against Red Cat Holdings, Inc. (RCAT) - Deadline is July 22, 2025
NEW YORK, NY - May 29, 2025 ( NEWMEDIAWIRE ) - Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Red Cat Holdings, Inc. ('Red Cat' or the 'Company') (NASDAQ: RCAT) on behalf of investors that purchased or otherwise acquired Red Cat securities between March 18, 2022 and January 15, 2025, both dates inclusive (the 'Class Period'). CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE CASE If you are an investor in Red Cat and have suffered losses, you may CLICK HERE to contact us. You may also contact Kaplan Fox by emailing [email protected] or by calling (212) 329-8571. DEADLINE REMINDER: If you are a member of the proposed Class, you may move the court no later than July 22, 2025 to serve as a lead plaintiff for the purported class. If you have losses we encourage you to contact us to learn more about the lead plaintiff process. You need not seek to become a lead plaintiff in order to share in any possible recovery. According to the complaint, 'Red Cat manufactures drones through its subsidiary Teal Drones, Inc. ('Teal') at a facility located in Salt Lake City, Utah ('Salt Lake Facility'). Throughout 2022, Defendants touted their development of the Salt Lake Facility's capacity to produce 'thousands of drones per month' or 'tens of thousands of drones' per year.' 'In March 2022, Red Cat announced that Teal had been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense's [] Defense Innovation Unit and the U.S. Army to compete in Tranche 2[] of the U.S. Army's Short Range Reconnaissance Program of Record ('SRR Program') . . . Defendants suggested or otherwise asserted that the SRR Program's Tranche 2 contract ('SRR Contract'') was worth potentially hundreds of millions to over a billion dollars in contract revenues.' 'On November 19, 2024, Red Cat issued a press release announcing that it had won the SRR Contract. On a subsequent conference call . . . Defendants continued to assert that the SRR Contract was worth potentially hundreds of millions of dollars, while expressing their confidence that Red Cat could realize up to $50 million to $79.5 million in revenue from the SRR Contract during its fiscal year 2025 alone.' 'Then, on January 16, 2025, Kerrisdale Capital ('Kerrisdale') published a report alleging, inter alia, that Defendants had overstated the value of the SRR Contract, which Kerrisdale found was only worth approximately $20 million to $25 million based on U.S. Army budget documents.' On this news, Red Cat's stock fell $2.35 per share, or 21.54%, over the following two trading sessions, to close at $8.56 per share on January 17, 2025. The complaint alleges, among other things, that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that (i) the Salt Lake City Facility's production capacity, and Defendants' progress in developing the same, was overstated; (ii) the overall value of the SRR Contract was overstated; and (iii) as a result, Defendants' public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. WHY CONTACT KAPLAN FOX - Kaplan Fox is a leading national law firm focusing on complex litigation with offices in New York, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago and New Jersey. With over 50 years of experience in securities litigation, Kaplan Fox offers the professional experience and track record that clients demand. Through prosecuting cases on the federal and state levels, Kaplan Fox has successfully shaped the law through winning many important decisions on behalf of our clients. For more information about Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, you may visit our website at This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. If you have any questions about this Notice, your rights, or your interests, please contact: CONTACT: Jeffrey P. Campisi KAPLAN FOX & KILSHEIMER LLP 800 Third Avenue, 38th Floor New York, New York 10022 (212) 329-8571 [email protected] Laurence D. King KAPLAN FOX & KILSHEIMER LLP 1999 Harrison Street, Suite 1560 Oakland, California 94612 (415) 772-4704 [email protected] Contacting or submitting information to Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP does not create an attorney-client relationship, nor an obligation on the part of Kaplan Fox to retain you as a client. View the original release on
Fox News
a day ago
- Business
- Fox News
SENS WARREN, SHEEHY: Pentagon wastes billions with devastating repair rules. We're working together to stop it
Our defense industrial base is stumbling. For years, the U.S. Department of Defense – under both Republicans and Democrats – failed to address one of the most fundamental issues within our military industrial complex, perverse incentives for contractors. But with the recently announced Army Transformation Initiative, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll and General Randy George are taking a major step to stand up for soldiers and strengthen our military readiness. Driscoll's plan will help end one source of waste, fraud, and abuse. Every other military branch should follow their lead – and, if they do, they will have our bipartisan support. The Department of Defense is the largest federal agency, consuming half the discretionary budget the federal government spends every year. In 2023, for example, DoD spent almost $450 billion on contracts. But buried down deep in the fine print, many of those contracts included restrictions that prevent our troops from fixing their own weapons and equipment. That fine print means that every time something breaks, DoD must call the contractor, schedule a repair visit, and pay a hefty fee. For some contracts, the repairs are more profitable than the original sale – a dynamic that represents how years of broken bureaucracy has slowed our acquisition process and driven costs higher and higher. Our military buys a lot of gear – from tanks to helicopters to night vision goggles, and the process to buy that gear is longer and more complicated than ever. Even worse, because our service members often can't make any repairs, they can be stuck waiting weeks or months, even for simple problems they could fix themselves with a little know-how and a 3D printer. Driscoll has identified these problems in the Army, but right to repair restrictions have spread across the military. The Navy was forced to rely on flying contractors out to sea for maintenance. The Air Force is struggling to keep its planes ready for combat because of restrictions and companies that won't even negotiate. Every hour these servicemembers can't fix their own weapons undermines their readiness to meet their assignments. Instead of working to help the military be ready for battle, these contractors are focused on squeezing out more revenue. These restrictions lead to three critical problems: readiness, cost and lack of competition. First, when contractors stop soldiers from fixing their own equipment, it threatens military readiness. All around the country, maintainers were struggling to keep the F-35 flying because Lockheed Martin won't give them the data they need to fix damage to basic parts. When our military could fix a helicopter in Korea themselves, they saved 207 days and roughly $1.8 million. Our military can't afford to wait 207 days to get a helicopter back online. And, in the most extreme cases, our military can't afford to have soldiers unable to repair equipment in the heat of battle, either because the contract has tied their hands or because they haven't had the chance to learn how. Imagine how frustrating it would be to be in the field up against an enemy, suffer an equipment breakdown, and there would be nothing to do about it. We need to end these dangerous right-to-repair restrictions so that our military is always ready. Second, repair restrictions waste billions of dollars. If Boeing got the Pentagon to agree that only Boeing can repair equipment, what stops them from charging whatever they want for that fix? Suddenly a $0.16 clip costs $20, and the defense budget rises even higher. That is a terrible deal for the taxpayer. By some estimates, giving the military the right to repair would save us billions. But more importantly, it would reinvigorate the operational resilience of our forward-deployed elements and allow them to self-sustain. And third, letting a contractor monopolize repairs doesn't just hurt taxpayers, it hurts small businesses that otherwise could compete for the repair work, depressing competition and thinning out our industrial base. Why would a small business start manufacturing a safety clip when the military is forced to go to its larger competitor to buy it? And equally alarmingly, if that big contractor decided one day to stop producing the part, the military would be out of luck because the contractor had the only game in town. To be sure, the military created this monopolistic environment, incentivizing consolidation through decades of bureaucratic process. Now they are reaping the whirlwind. We need a more diverse array of contractors who can bring free market competition to our defense space, driving costs down and efficiencies up. Until now, the military has enabled a broken status quo, handing over billions of dollars and hoping that there is no emergency when the equipment they need is sidelined. Meanwhile, over 70% of voters support giving the military the right to repair their own equipment. But Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll showed real leadership. He stood up to a broken bureaucracy and announced that every new Army contract would explicitly guarantee the right of the Army to fix its own equipment. That's a big deal. Every hour these servicemembers can't fix their own weapons undermines their readiness to meet their assignments. Instead of working to help the military be ready for battle, these contractors are focused on squeezing out more revenue. The new Army policy is a breakthrough in our fight to empower soldiers, but unless every single military service follows his lead, taxpayers will keep getting ripped off. And, because this is a directive from the secretary, a subsequent secretary could go back to the way things were before. But we have a plan to solve that problem. In the coming weeks, we will be introducing a bipartisan bill that would make changes to right to repair permanent. With a single change in the law, we can boost military readiness and cut costs by allowing servicemembers to repair their own equipment. On both sides of the aisle, many of us agree that waste, fraud and abuse are real problems in our government – and it's worse when it threatens our military readiness. It's time to show servicemembers we've got their backs and restore their right to fix their own equipment. Republican Tim Sheehy represents Montana in the United States Senate. He is a father, husband, former Navy SEAL team leader, aerial firefighter and entrepreneur. Sheehy completed several deployments and hundreds of missions as a Navy SEAL officer and team leader, earning the Bronze Star with Valor for Heroism in Combat and the Purple Heart.
ABC News
2 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
NT government rejects call for federal intervention in Project Caymus US military fuel tank facility
The Northern Territory government has rejected a call for federal regulatory intervention at a beleaguered US military fuel storage facility. The ABC revealed this week that 11 massive tanks on Darwin Harbour were not built to withstand a category three cyclone. Sitting on NT government land, the fuel tanks were also constructed unlawfully without US owner-operator Crowley obtaining a building permit. Dubbed Project Caymus, the facility was announced in 2021 and was meant to be operational in 2023. However, the tanks have never held fuel, in part because water is intruding into their base. An engineering report found if the tanks failed during a cyclone, while operational, up to 200 million litres of flammable and/or combustible liquid could be released. The scenario would have "catastrophic consequences" for people, property and the environment, the report said. Considering the risks referenced in the report, the Environment Centre Northern Territory (ECNT) has called on the Commonwealth to intervene under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act. "There is an ability, for when there is a significant new event or variation of this nature, for a new environmental impact assessment to be called for," Kirsty Howey, the ECNT's executive director, said. "That should happen immediately and the proponent, the US Department of Defense and its contractors, should want to undertake that process as well so that this project gets some kind of social license." Dr Howey said an environmental impact assessment (EIS) was not undertaken before approval was granted by the NT government. According the NT Environment Protection Authority, it only conducts an EIS if "the proposal has the potential to have a significant impact on the environment". "A lot of these problems could have been avoided had [an environmental impact assessment] occurred from the get-go," she said. Dr Howey also said cyclone risk was not assessed before environmental approval was granted. The NT Minister for Lands Planning and Environment, Josh Burgoyne, dismissed the calls for federal intervention. "This [NT] government has no intention of revoking the project's environmental approval and there is no evidence that any offence under NT environmental laws has occurred, given the tanks remain empty and the use of the facility has not commenced. "The department has been working with Crowley to ensure they provide independent evidence that the tanks meet safety, construction, and environmental standards." An NT Department of Lands, Planning and Environment spokesperson said an [EIS] was not required for Project Caymus because "the proposal met the threshold for assessment by the 'referral information' method". "Consistent with the requirements of the [NT] Environment Protection Act 2019," they said. "The NT Environment Protection Authority found that the proposal had the potential to have a significant impact on the environment and made its decision about method of assessment as required under the Act and Regulations." In March, the NT government passed legislation giving a bureaucrat the powers to override dozens of laws to fast-track projects of "economic significance". Under the legislation, the territory coordinator can override regulation associated with the NT Building Act and Environment Protection Act. Asked whether the territory coordinator could remove regulation requirements at Project Caymus to help get the facility operational, NT Attorney-General Marie Clare Boothby said: "That is something he may want to look at." Territory coordinator Stuart Knowles said: "There has been no engagement with the territory coordinator in relation to Project Caymus." The US Department of Defense was contacted for comment and referred the ABC to the Australian government. The Australian Department of Defence did not respond to the ABC's questions by deadline.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Hegseth Cuts Staff at Pentagon's Independent Test Office
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered staff cuts at the congressionally mandated Pentagon office that oversees tests of major weapons systems, to ensure they're effective and maintainable, before billions of dollars are spent on them. Hegseth framed the decision to scale back the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation as a cost-cutting move that would save $300 million each year. An internal review identified redundant and nonessential functions that affect the department's 'ability to rapidly and effectively deploy the best systems to the warfighter,' he said in a memo on Wednesday.
