Latest news with #SpaceandMissileDefenseSymposium
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Cummings fine-tunes Hellhound drone for Golden Dome mission
Cummings Aerospace unveiled a variant of its Hellhound drone designed to meet homeland defense missions at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, this week. The company is taking its S3 variant and beefing it up into a new S4 variant to take on air defense missions, particularly countering drone threats, that could fit within the framework of President Donald Trump's homeland missile defense shield dubbed Golden Dome. The turbojet-powered, 3D-printed Hellhound S3 drone can carry a variety of payloads, and the company is putting that version forward as a loitering munition option for a competition that the U.S. Army is planning to kick off this year. The S4 variant, designed to take on Golden Dome mission sets, is a scaled-up version of the S3 that adopts its modular architecture such as the removable nose that allows the unmanned aerial system to shift from countering drones to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance or serving as a weapon itself like a low-cost cruise missile, according to Sheila Cummings, the company's CEO. The S4 is 'really a multimission capability as well as a multilaunch platform capability,' she added, 'so ground-based is kind of the primary, but then the airframe and launch canister can support both an air- and sea-based launch.' 'Mobility and multimission capability are obviously paramount to any sort of layered approach for Golden Dome,' she said. While the S3 variant is roughly 12 to 14 pounds, depending on the payload, the S4 falls in the 45-pound range. But the majority of the capability uses the same software, additive manufacturing techniques, 3D-printed materials and other commercial-off-the-shelf parts. The S4 is in the engineering development phase and the company is building prototypes. The plan is to go into flight tests with the capability from as early as this fall through next spring, Cummings said. Like the S3 manufacturing strategy, the S4 design also takes into account the reality that it will need to be manufactured at a large scale. The military is changing the way it acquires weapon systems and, in many cases, requires companies to prove they can build systems at scale as part of competitive acquisitions. Historically, a weapon system might be chosen for its performance on the battlefield without much attention paid to the amount of work it would take to build a system or even how stable the supplier base was. The Huntsville-based company chose a space next door to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, home to the program office and testing and development for Army aviation, in 2021 and designed and built a facility intended to produce large numbers of the drones. A large portion of the Hellhound air vehicle is made using commercially available 3D printers in-house and buying commercially available standard parts that are not unique to just a few suppliers, Cummings said. 'If you think about low-cost solutions — that's part of the strategy — is we have to design something that we can get screws from multiple vendors, we can get 3D print material from multiple vendors,' she said. 'We talk about exquisite payloads, that's a different challenge, but electronics, we have to make sure we can source them from multiple vendors.' For the Huntsville facility, Cummings said her goal is to produce at least 100 S3 air vehicles a month. 'The same distributed manufacturing approach that we have considered for the Hellhound S3 through our supplier partners is the same approach that we're looking to take with S4 again,' Cummings said, such as, 'the combination of U.S. and international partners [and] licensing agreements for the vehicle design, whether it be with the government or with industry partners, in order to meet the production demand.' The company is 'well suited to bring forward the solution set for Golden Dome as part of that layered defensive strategy,' she said. 'Cummings Aerospace was built on missile defense programs. That's how we first got started, and so we have, over the last 16 years, contributed to almost every interceptor, sensor or [command-and-control] program within the missile defense portfolio.' Solve the daily Crossword
Axios
5 days ago
- Business
- Axios
U.S. Army air defenses are a sizzling hot commodity
The demand for U.S. Army overhead defenses will not "be letting up anytime soon," a service leader told Axios on the sidelines of the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama. Why it matters: Missile defense is hot right now, from the defense of Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar — during which the single largest Patriot salvo was launched — to the service's quadrupling of its PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement acquisition goal. The stakes are further amplified by fighting in Eastern Europe and the greater Middle East, where explosive drones batter troops and civilians every day. The latest: "Our air defenders are probably one of the most in-demand and operationally deployed capabilities that we have within the Army," David Fitzgerald, the senior official performing the duties of the undersecretary of the Army, said in an onstage interview during Axios' Future of Defense: Domes, Drones and Dollars event last night in the Rocket City. "Those units get rode pretty hard," he said. "I think that's just reflective, though, of the critical capability that they bring" to the fight. The intrigue: Fitzgerald sees opportunities for increased AI application in the future. Coordinated swarms of missiles, drones and decoys have complicated the job of protecting military bases, critical infrastructure and cities. By the numbers: The Army is planning to grow its air-and-missile defense force by 30%, Defense News reported Tuesday.
Politico
6 days ago
- Business
- Politico
Pentagon keeps a lid on Golden Dome
The Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville this week typically showcases the Pentagon's missile defense priorities. Organizers expect it will draw 7,300 attendees and 300 exhibitors this year, with Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins among the headliners. But Hegseth's public affairs office told organizers to keep Golden Dome off the agenda and muzzled government speakers — at least until a separate event on Thursday, according to event spokesperson Bob English. 'A lot of [attendees] are coming this year because of Golden Dome,' English said. 'Unfortunately, last week, [the Defense secretary's office] came out and said they don't want us talking about Golden Dome during the symposium.' The Pentagon, when asked for comment, pointed to a July announcement about the creation of an office to oversee the missile shield's development. Officials provided no additional information. Organizers described frantic days assessing the new rules' implications. 'There was confusion for about 48 hours about exactly what the policy was or what they intended us to do or not to do,' English said. Officials will still have some conversations about Golden Dome, but in a more structured setting. The Missile Defense Agency posted a notice this week that it will brief industry in an unclassified session Thursday, laying out what threats the shield is meant to stop, what mix of defenses it may use and how the Pentagon wants to buy and build it. But experts contend the conversation belongs in public. 'When it comes to Golden Dome, start talking,' said Tom Karako, a missile defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'There are good answers to these questions because the threat is profound. But there needs to be a lot more communication and persuasion.' The fledgling initiative, launched by Trump soon after he returned to office, received $25 billion in the recently signed GOP megabill. Proponents envision a $175 billion program. The Senate confirmed Gen. Mike Guetlein in July to lead the new Golden Dome office, which aims to unveil the system's architecture by mid-September and conduct the first integrated flight test in late 2028.
Miami Herald
7 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems Highlights Its Missile Defense Portfolio at the 2025 Space and Missile Defense Symposium
HUNTSVILLE, AL / ACCESS Newswire / August 4, 2025 / General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) returns to the Space and Missile Defense Symposium to highlight its missile defense solutions supporting Golden Dome, a layered missile defense architecture designed to protect the nation from a range of advanced missile threats including hypersonic, ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as other airborne threats. GA-EMS will showcase the designs for their Bullseye™ missile and Long-Range Maneuvering Projectile (LRMP), with a 1:1 scale model and 1:2 scale model in their booth. The company has accelerated integration and testing of its missile defense technologies to demonstrate advanced capabilities and move rapidly toward field deployment. "Our LRMP aligns with dynamic defense requirements for improved long-range precision strikes and minimizes operational uncertainty by integrating into existing artillery systems," said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. "The next phase of full-system testing will validate the projectile's performance across complex scenarios and ensure seamless integration with missile defense frameworks." Bullseye is a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 8 missile system that shares 80% of its components with combat-proven TRL 9 missile systems, fully validated through successful real-world operations. Attendees visiting Booth #531 will engage directly with GA-EMS experts to explore system designs and planned field-testing initiatives for both LRMP and Bullseye. GA-EMS will also feature its portfolio of laser weapon systems, hypersonics and sensor payloads for missile defense and tracking-offering greater flexibility and capability to support both offensive and defensive missions. About General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) develops innovative technologies to create breakthrough solutions supporting operational environments from undersea to space. From electromagnetic, power generation and energy storage systems and space systems and satellites, to hypersonic, missile defense, and laser weapon systems, GA-EMS offers an expanding portfolio of capabilities for defense, government, and national security customers. GA-EMS also provides commercial products and services targeting hazardous waste remediation, oil and gas, and nuclear energy industries. For further information, visit Contact Information General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems Media Relations Media Relationsems-mediarelations@ SOURCE: General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems press release
