While they\u2019re doing that, we\u2019ll finish the development work and the testing of the missile system, what we call that all-up round. And so we have a series of flight tests over the next year and a half, 18 months, that will complete that work and so by the end of [fiscal year 20]23, which was our mission set, we will have a warfighting capability for our nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve done this at this speed because there was a lot of great [science and technology] work done in the Army, in the labs, and with the folks at Sandia National Labs. And so we\u2019ve taken that now and moved it from the labs into the industrial base, creating the industrial base to do that work. We do that jointly with the Navy, actually, we share the all-up round that is common with the Navy. That partnership is really a strength of our program. And that keeps us together and focused for the outcomes in \u201823 for the Army and \u201825 for the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You should be getting close to a major hypersonic glide body test by the end of the year. Is that still on track? When will the first unit start receiving all-up rounds and training with those?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s really important to recognize that we give them the equipment so they can train right and be ready before we give them live rounds to go shoot. This year, we\u2019ll have, in FY22, three flight tests. And we\u2019ll have an additional flight test in \u201823.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those flight tests will actually be done by the unit, they\u2019ll come to the flight test, they\u2019ll shoot off of their equipment and we\u2019ll use those flight tests to train the unit as they get ready for the completion of their fielding. And so each of our flight tests have very specific objectives, things that we must do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reason we do that is so not only do we finish the design work and prove that the design works, but there are safety considerations we have to account for as we give equipment to soldiers. We just don\u2019t show up with that shiny piece of equipment; it has to be ready, it has to be trained and and I\u2019m the one who actually signs the document that says it\u2019s safe enough for a soldier to use. It\u2019s not just the design work, it\u2019s the safety work and all the testing that validates objectively that the weapon system is safe to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019re supporting the joint office in charge of counter-small unmanned aircraft system pursuits. The JCO has completed two demonstrations, but the RCCTO was directly involved in the second one this past September. What are you looking for next in the process?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n UAS \u2014 it\u2019s the [improvised explosive device] of the future. It\u2019s low cost, it creates a pretty robust capability pretty quickly. For the last 20 years, all the services have been putting counter-UAS systems in the battle space for all the right reasons. And then in 2020, the secretary of defense said, \u2018Hey, we need to get this consolidated, we need to be better at this.\u2019 That [directive] was given, what we call an executive agency, to the Army. For all of the Department of Defense, Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey leads that effort [and] the RCCTO was given the mission to support him on the materiel acquisition side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We now have a joint team of the materiel folks from the Army, Navy, Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Space Force is part of that. Maj. Gen. Gainey, on the operational side, created a joint requirements document that was staffed and approved by all the services, and then in that document, they prioritize the gaps. What we did was we gave industry a chance, we call it a semi-annual demonstration, we\u2019ve done two, [and] the next one will be next April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are going to do it in April and September each year. What we do is we put out a request for white papers, a request for information from companies, and we give them the gap. We invite companies to bring their equipment to a live fire event. We go out to Yuma Proving Ground, they show up, we have targets, we have ranges, we measure everything. And we look for things that work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Industry loves that event; it gives them a chance to see their investment come to life. The second demonstration we just did was low collateral from the ground, the first one was from the air.. And then the third one, which is coming up and and the request for white papers will be probably about a month away, will be really for two things: directed energy and counter-UAS as a service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having a service construct is a very different model than us buying a widget, paying a company to set up a site and run a site and keep it modernized as a service. We\u2019ll keep doing this as we go right down that list of priorities that Maj. Gen. Gainey has given us until we fill those gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you demonstrate counter-UAS as a service?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n What the companies will have to do is develop a model that, say we will give them ranges and types of equipment that they need to be able to destroy, and then they\u2019ll put together the materiel solution to do that. Depending on how many sites we want them to protect, it may be one site, it might be 10 sites, and so they have to develop the structure to maintain and man the sites. Then they have to have the equipment to destroy the targets that we need to destroy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s likely the business model will end up being a prime with multiple partners because you might want to have some electronic means, you might want to have a high energy means, you might want to have a kinetic means. There\u2019s lots of ways to do that. But rather than we buy the widget and and do all of that work, we\u2019re going to try a different model, which is as a service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is your path for directed energy both on the maneuver side and for the Indirect Fires Protection Capability?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re super excited about our high-energy laser programs. Directed energy just is generally high-energy lasers and high-power microwave, electronic burst, and so we have multiple programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One is the [Directed Energy Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense system] that\u2019s designed to fight with the maneuver elements, to fight with our brigade combat teams. We chose to put the 50-kilowatt [laser] in a Stryker vehicle. We did that in a competitive environment. There was a very detailed gated process that both of the teams agreed to prior to signing the contracts, and it was pretty black and white. You either meet the gate and continue or you don\u2019t meet the gate and you have to make your own decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We just went to Fort Sill last summer for about 45 days and did what we call a combat shoot-off. We had soldiers, not contractors, soldiers in the vehicles engaging UAS \u2014 Groups 1, 2 and 3 and mortar rounds. It was very successful, we had over 400 engagements in that 45-day period. The work is not done. That was just the first vehicle. We have to deliver the first battery, which is four vehicles, by this time next year so September of next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We learned a lot of things; we use a process called soldier-centered design. Even before we made the first prototype vehicle, we had soldiers in a virtual environment, sitting in the virtual vehicle, virtually working through the mechanics of where they sit. Is there enough room? Is there enough space? We really have the opportunity with today\u2019s technologies to engage our soldiers much earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have about 1,000 hours of soldier time on the vehicle for our first vehicle, and that\u2019s a little different way of doing business than the traditional model. We have a lot of work to do on that program, we learned a lot of things we want to fix, which is why we do it \u2014 it isn\u2019t perfect. But it\u2019s on track. And again, that industrial base for directed energy is a little more mature than the hypersonics industrial base. Most of this technology we\u2019ve taken is from commercial industry and now we\u2019ve applied it in a military application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where are you in the process of bringing a high-energy laser and a high-power microwave capability into the Indirect Fires Protection Capability program?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n For the IFPC program, there\u2019s a kinetic side and a high-energy laser side. I have that high-energy side and so it is designed for fixed and semi-fixed, so it\u2019s a truck versus an armored vehicle like a Stryker. We\u2019ve chosen to team with [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] for a 300-kilowatt program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Army has some money into that program, and OSD has some money into that program. We do that first demonstration in August 2022. Dynetics will team with Lockheed is our current plan, and they\u2019ll build that vehicle or build that system that you can put on a truck in fixed and semi-fixed and we pair it with high-power microwave.<\/p>\n\n\n\t![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6874486.jpg.jpg\")