The National Defense Strategy (NDS) calls for America to “Supercharge the U.S. Defense Industrial Base” by reinvesting in production capacity, empowering innovators, adopting technologies like artificial intelligence and removing obstacles to deliver capabilities at the scale and speed the Joint Force requires. The U.S. Army’s XM30 program shows how to execute that vision.

As commander of Charlie Company, 3-15 Infantry during Operation Iraqi Freedom, I led my soldiers through the opening days of the war – from crossing into Iraq in the van of 3rd Infantry Division’s march to Baghdad, through numerous meeting engagements in places such as Najaf, Karbala, and Mahmoudiya, to participating in both of 2^nd Brigade’s Thunder Runs into Baghdad. Time and again, our infantry fighting vehicles made the difference. I understand the criticality of these platforms to winning on the battlefield and bringing soldiers home alive. The future battlefield will be even more demanding, and our infantry squads need a modernized fighting vehicle to survive and win.

Team Lynx exemplifies the “Arsenal of Freedom” that the Department of War is working to rebuild, with companies from across the defense tech ecosystem collaborating to deliver capability with speed and agility. The partnership includes American Rheinmetall, L3Harris Technologies, Raytheon, Textron Systems, Anduril Industries and Allison Transmission – aligning innovation with reliability, advanced technology with production discipline and speed with long-term sustainment. This is the industrial approach the NDS envisions.

Integration, Not Trade-offs The NDS rejects false choices between non-traditional innovators and established manufacturers. It demands integration of new technologies into proven industrial frameworks that can deliver and sustain combat capabilities.

The Lynx XM30 embodies that principle. It represents a generational leap in capability – a decade or more ahead of competitors in advanced technology. It’s a digitally native fighting system built for lethality, survivability and mobility that’s capable of evolving as threats change. Partners like Anduril bring advanced autonomy, AI-enabled sensing and software-defined capabilities that are scaled for sustained combat operations and integrated into a platform built for the long haul. Anduril provides the Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) software on the platform, while L3Harris provides Ground Combat Integration Architecture (GCIA) software to ensure all components communicate seamlessly. Additionally, L3Harris provides a GCIA compute box that delivers all the processing power and hosts all the software for the Team Lynx vehicle. This architecture means the XM30 can receive capability upgrades in the field, keeping pace with emerging threats without requiring soldiers to wait years for modernization.

Mission Systems as Force Multipliers Modern ground combat is defined by information, connectivity, lethality and decision advantage. L3Harris brings proven expertise in assured communications, sensors and mission systems that operate in contested environments.

On Lynx XM30, L3Harris integrates systems from across the company’s portfolio that enable crews to see, share, decide and strike. WESCAM® imaging systems provide 360-degree awareness. RF-9800W interoperable, protected communications ensure secure connectivity across joint and coalition forces. The CAMAN waveform enables communication between command posts, vehicles and dismounted soldiers, while the ROVER Waveform commercial data link provides connection to the platform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance network above. Motors for TOW missile systems deliver precision anti-armor firepower.

Raytheon’s Multi-Mission Launcher brings fire control that allows crews to adapt loadouts while collecting and relaying sensor data. L3Harris sensors and communications enable Raytheon’s fire control and targeting, creating a seamless kill chain from detection to engagement.

During the thunder runs into Baghdad, we learned that situational awareness and communications in urban combat can mean the difference between mission success and catastrophic failure. The systems Team Lynx partners provide ensure crews and squads can fight and win even when enemies try to blind or isolate forces – capabilities I wish we’d had in 2003.

Industrial Sovereignty as Strategic Strength The NDS correctly emphasizes that a resilient, domestic industrial base is a strategic necessity. Team Lynx reflects this through deep American industrial roots. American Rheinmetall is investing in U.S. facilities, workers and supply chains to ensure Lynx XM30 is designed, built and sustained in America.

That commitment extends across the team. Allison Transmission builds upon its proven propulsion systems from Abrams to Stryker by supplying the eGen Force hybrid transmission for Lynx XM30, while Textron Systems contributes survivability and integration expertise from the Army’s combat vehicle fleet. Both companies have established U.S. manufacturing operations ready to produce at scale.

Executing the Strategy Team Lynx demonstrates what the defense industrial base can achieve when policy vision meets industrial execution – integrating innovative technologies with proven industrial capability, onshoring production and sustainment, and delivering at the speed and scale required. The soldiers who will crew these vehicles in future fights deserve nothing less: our best effort, delivered on time, at scale, and built to bring them home alive.

Brigadier General Larry Q. Burris Jr. (Ret.) served as the 60th Chief of Infantry and Director of the Soldier Lethality Cross Functional Team. He commanded troops at every level from platoon to brigade combat team, including Charlie Company, 3-15 Infantry during Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he led soldiers through the opening days of the war and both thunder runs into Baghdad. His nearly 30 years of service included multiple peacekeeping and combat deployments to Bosnia, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, and key staff positions including Executive Officer to the Secretary of the Army and Operations Officer for Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve.

Lauren Barnes, President of Spectrum Superiority at L3Harris Technologies, sat down with Defense News to discuss how the company is approaching this shift. She covers the move toward scaled autonomy at the edge, the resilience demands of contested SATCOM and weapons data links, and the milestones behind programs like Viper Shield, DiSCO, and the Next Generation Jammer. Her answers offer a clear picture of where electronic warfare is headed and what it will take to maintain spectrum superiority over the next five years.

Q: Recent conflicts have put EW capabilities front and center. How have peer adversaries evolved in their sensing, jamming, and deception tactics and how is L3Harris adjusting its approach to stay ahead?

A: Peer adversaries have become far more agile in the electromagnetic spectrum. They’re fielding distributed sensing architectures that present increasingly complex long-range threats and using adaptive jamming techniques to counter U.S. and allied systems. The pace and sophistication of deception tactics are also rising – they’re blending cyber and EW effects to obscure their signatures and complicate our targeting.

At L3Harris, we’re responding by shifting from platform‑centric systems to distributed, connected and platform-agnostic EW solutions. This includes everything from software-defined electronic countermeasure systems to modular EW payloads on attritable platforms. Maritime decoys are a particularly important growth area driven by the proliferation of increasingly lethal and long-range threats.

Facing these evolving threats requires more AI‑enabled processing at the edge and architectures that are upgraded at the speed of software. Our investment in electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO), cognitive sensing and advanced digital signal processing lets us identify and counter new waveforms in real time, and to orchestrate non-kinetic effects at scale.

Q: Looking at AI-enabled threat detection, autonomous EW, counter-UAS – the threat picture is evolving fast. What are the one or two trends that most fundamentally change how you think about spectrum superiority over the next five years?

A: Simply put, we are enabling military personnel to understand their environment as it changes so they can rapidly adjust how they operate at the speed of need. Two trends stand out:

• Scaled autonomy at the edge. We’re moving toward modular, open and distributed EW systems that sense, classify and respond in a coordinated fashion. That’s necessary in a dynamic battlespace with threat waveforms that can change in seconds.
• AI‑enabled, multi‑domain spectrum maneuver. Spectrum superiority is no longer airborne‑centric. It relies on coordination across air, land, sea, cyber and space. AI helps fuse that picture and optimizes effects across domains at machine speed.

Both trends demand the ability to continuously update software, which is a central focus of our roadmap.

Q: What role do software-defined systems play in enabling faster upgrades to EW platforms?

A: They’re essential. Software-defined EW – whether for sensing, jamming or protecting – is how we continuously inject new threat libraries, AI models and mission applications. The combination drives affordability, resiliency and rapid evolution across the life cycle.

Q: As weapons and platforms become increasingly dependent on high-bandwidth data links, how does L3Harris approach maintaining resilient connectivity in a degraded, denied, or disrupted RF environment?

A: We engineer our data links with resilience as a first principle: adaptive waveforms, low‑probability-of-detection techniques and multi‑path routing. We also combine SATCOM, line-of-sight and beyond-line‑of‑sight modalities so platforms don’t rely on a single point of failure. We’re also integrating advanced interference cancelation and signal processing to preserve connectivity even under heavy jamming.

Q: How do you balance the competing demands of low probability of intercept/detection, high throughput, and long-range performance?

A: It’s an optimization problem, and our approach uses software-controlled adaptability. Instead of locking to one mode, our waveforms dynamically adapt based on mission priorities. We can stay covert when needed, push throughput when available and extend range when the tactical situation demands it.

Q: Link 16 has been the backbone of tactical data links for decades. As adversaries develop the ability to detect and exploit it, what does the next chapter look like — do you foresee an evolutionary upgrade or something more disruptive?

A: We see both. Link 16 remains indispensable for current operations, and enhancements like cryptography extend its relevance. For example, we’re looking to expand Link 16 to U.S. Army and allied aircraft platforms in response to customer needs.

Yet as adversaries improve their detection and exploitation abilities, the future requires complementary capabilities that are more adaptive, scalable and software-defined to accelerate capability to the field. We’re working on evolutionary upgrades that keep Link 16 resilient, while also investing in tactical networks that offer higher capacity and intelligent routing.

Q: Precision strike is increasingly network-dependent. What are the key challenges L3Harris is solving for weapons data links in contested airspace?

A: Precision weapons need reliable connectivity despite high-end jamming, clutter and rapid maneuver. We’re focused on cost-effective waveforms that adapt on the fly and reduce the size, weight and power needed. What’s important here is secure, low-latency links across the weapon, platform and network.

The goal is equipping weapons to receive real‑time updates and transmit terminal guidance information, even against a peer threat.

Q: As the military shifts toward hybrid SATCOM architectures that blend commercial, military, LEO, MEO, and GEO capabilities, where does L3Harris see the biggest opportunities and challenges in ensuring resilient, jam-resistant connectivity for contested environments?

A: Hybrid SATCOM – mixing commercial, military, GEO, MEO and LEO – creates resiliency through multiple pathways. The opportunity lies in the ability for a terminal to dynamically pick the best path without user intervention. The challenge is orchestrating all of that in a contested environment, where each layer of the architecture faces different jamming and cyber threats.

Our strength is in terminal innovation, adaptive modems and protected waveform development that bring all those layers together to assure connectivity from anywhere in the world. We have made significant investments in demonstrations and production capacity to ensure these Hybrid SATCOM solutions are ready now for the warfighter.

Q: Viper Shield is now heading into full-rate production. What design decisions made it possible to evolve Viper Shield this quickly and where does it go from here? Also, the DiSCO ecosystem just had a landmark autonomous EW demo with Shield AI. What can you share about what DiSCO is and what’s next?

A: Viper Shield is in flight test with production hardware and meeting milestones to deliver advanced EW to the global F-16 fleet. Eight nations have selected the system with more expected to follow. Three decisions stand out:

• A digital architecture from day one. This allows rapid software upgrades and easier integration with other mission systems.
• A modular hardware design architected for growth. We can insert new features to meet evolving threats without redesigning the entire system.
• A focus on execution. Our work to accelerate development and production has put Viper Shield years ahead of any competitor.

DiSCO is our electromagnetic battle management (EMBM) software solution and data-sharing architecture. It delivers situational awareness of the spectrum, decision support, rapid reprogramming of distributed sensors and C2 orchestration of effects at scale.

DiSCO paired with Shield AI’s Hivemind autonomy software and our DECEPTOR modular EW payload demonstrates how autonomous threat detection and response can dramatically reduce operator burden to meet mission objectives. Next, we’re scaling across platforms and mission sets, including multi‑platform coordination and tighter integration with airborne and ground-based sensors.

Q: What makes your work on the Next Generation Jammer novel?

A: The U.S. Navy’s EA-18G fleet currently relies on an obsolete jamming system that is increasingly challenged by adversary radar capabilities and plagued by persistent sustainment issues. Responding to the Navy’s urgent need, L3Harris developed the Next Generation Jammer – Low Band tactical jamming pod. This is a revolutionary solution that delivers the capability and power necessary to engage enemy air defenses at greater standoff ranges.

A major element is high Equivalent, Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP) and tailored waveforms to increase the number of simultaneous targets that aircrews can attack.

Q: You’ve said that “electronic warfare is uniquely suited for autonomy, where speed and scale in the RF spectrum are decisive.” How close are we to a future where autonomous systems are making EW decisions faster than any human operator could and what’s the command-and-control framework that makes that acceptable to warfighters and policymakers?

A: We already are seeing autonomous behaviors – like real‑time signal classification and threat response – that exceed human reaction times. The path forward is ensuring those behaviors are aligned with commander intent and orchestrated at scale as more autonomous platforms with EW payloads are deployed.

The command‑and‑control framework will rely on human‑defined rules of engagement and AI models that are testable, traceable and certifiable. Autonomy doesn’t replace the operator – it helps them by handling the sub‑second tasks humans simply can’t do.

Hanke outlines the shift toward proven, on-orbit capabilities, resilient architectures, and software-defined systems that compress the timeline from detection to decision. The discussion also highlights a central challenge: moving at operational speed as adversaries already contest space in real time. The path forward, he argues, lies in tightly integrated, interoperable systems that deliver decision advantage at the pace of modern conflict.

Defense News: L3Harris has described its space-based missile defense capabilities as “proven and ready now.” For defense leaders who hear that phrase from a lot of vendors — what does proven actually mean in this context, and what’s on orbit today that backs it up?

Hanke: There are two capabilities I can mention here that are proven on orbit and ready today: MDA’s Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) and the SDA Tracking Layer.

Last year, MDA confirmed the L3Harris HBTSS satellite uniquely demonstrated tracking against a live hypersonic target, providing the latency and high-fidelity track quality required to enable end-to-end missile defense. HBTSS is not a future promise—it is a proven capability. Working closely with the MDA Space Capabilities team, we moved with urgency to deliver a system that can detect and track advanced missile threats from space, including hypersonic missiles.

In addition, L3Harris’ Tranche 0 satellites successfully demonstrated the ability to identify missiles – in real time, and on orbit. This addressed one of the most challenging aspects of performing missile warning / missile tracking from Low Earth Orbit: the ability to detect and process a missile target, separate from the moving background clutter of the Earth while the satellite is traveling at orbital speeds of over 15,000 mph. Proliferated, resilient space architectures are essential to outpacing evolving threats. L3Harris is supporting the SDA Tracking Layer across all existing tranches, with four missile tracking satellites already on orbit for Tranche 0 and another 52 satellites in development across Tranche 1, Tranche 2 and Tranche 3.

Defense News: Hypersonic threats are driving the entire LEO constellation build-out. What’s the hardest technical problem your team has had to solve in tracking hypersonic glide vehicles, and where does the solution stand today?

Hanke: Hypersonic glide vehicles present unique challenges: they are fast, dim, and maneuverable, making detection difficult compared to traditional ballistic missile threats that follow predictable trajectories.

Engagement requires global coverage and persistent sensing from space. Industry can solve for this technical challenge.

What we must keep our eye on are bigger-picture challenges, including interoperability and the urgency of the threat. Let’s start with interoperability: It is likely that an enhanced national defense architecture will bring together legacy and next-generation capabilities from multiple companies, which makes it crucial that interoperability is an inherent part of design and development. The challenge at the architecture layer will be pulling together all these capabilities and assuring low latency command, control and interoperability.

At the same time, with a global threat that is moving faster than ever, it’s important to remember that it’s not just about mission capability, it’s also about timeliness. Solving for this means disrupting the legacy defense acquisition system and leveraging proven next-generation systems that have been developed and fielded, with new capabilities that can be rapidly sourced from across the space industrial base.

Defense News: The department is being asked to move faster than traditional acquisition timelines allow. How has L3Harris invested ahead of demand to make sure capability is ready when the mission requires it — not 18 months after?

Hanke: Companies like ours have invested knowing that the threat exists and the demand signal would come. L3Harris took the opportunity to position for speed, scale and capability ahead of formal acquisition. Specifically, we recently made $250 million in capital expenditures to renovate and expand manufacturing facilities in Indiana, Florida and Massachusetts for space-based missile warning and defense technologies. These investments will enable us to produce a payload and a space vehicle per week for more advanced missions, and potentially faster depending on the demand signal. We’ve also taken action to ensure our second- and third-tier suppliers also have the capacity to quickly ramp up production of the tracking space sensor layer.

Our investments aren’t limited to space technologies – we’re also investing billions across our sites in Alabama, Arkansas and Virginia to support increased production of solid rocket motors that power key defense systems.

Defense News: Space-based missile defense is only as good as the kill chain it feeds. How does L3Harris think about its role beyond the sensor — connecting detection to decision to defeat?

Hanke: As the global threat from near-peer adversaries is moving faster than ever, U.S. Defense leadership is looking to industry to rapidly deliver capabilities that can preserve peace through strength. Next-generation missile warning and defense will require the most advanced capabilities from every part of our defense industrial base. We must be prepared to deliver. As a key industry partner, L3Harris is ready to rapidly deliver the resilient, proliferated, multilayered solutions that align with national defense priorities.

Defense News: Ground systems rarely get the headline attention that satellites do. You just won a $150 million contract to sustain and modernize critical Space Force ground infrastructure — why should defense leaders care deeply about who’s running this layer?

Hanke: Ground systems are the invisible backbone of space superiority—they don’t just “support satellites,” they turn raw orbital data into real-time command decisions that enable warning, targeting, and maneuvering in a contested domain. As Chief of Space Operations Gen. Saltzman has emphasized, the Space Force must become a “warfighting service” that can deliver decision advantage at speed, and that starts with modern, resilient ground architectures that can process and fuse data fast enough to matter in a fight.

As evidenced in L3Harris’ MOSSAIC work and broader SDA modernization efforts, these systems are being upgraded to deliver faster decision cycles, higher-fidelity tracking, and resilient command-and-control under attack or disruption. Whoever runs this layer is effectively operating the “nervous system” of space operations—if it’s slow, fragmented, or brittle, even the most advanced satellites lose their warfighting value, which is why leaders like Gen. Saltzman consistently stress speed, integration, and operational readiness as decisive factors in future conflict.

Defense News: GBOSS is nearing operational acceptance. What does that milestone actually unlock for the warfighter on day one of full ops?

Hanke: Last week, the U.S. Space Force declared that GBOSS has achieved operational acceptance. This means the capability has crossed the most important threshold: it is no longer a developmental upgrade—it is officially part of the Space Force’s operational Space Surveillance Network, delivering authoritative deep-space tracking data directly to warfighters in real time. This unlocks immediate improvements in timely, high-fidelity space domain awareness, enabling faster detection, identification, and tracking of objects that could threaten critical U.S. and allied space assets.

From day one of full ops, operators gain a more resilient and precise “space picture,” which directly improves decision speed for collision avoidance, anomaly response, and threat characterization in an increasingly contested orbital environment.

Most importantly, operational acceptance means GBOSS is now trusted as a mission system—not just a test article—so its data can be fully integrated into Space Force command-and-control workflows, compressing the timeline from sensing to decision to action and strengthening space superiority in real time.

Defense News: The U.S.-Australia Space Surveillance Telescope partnership is a real example of allied space integration in action. How is the coalition approach to space domain awareness maturing, and where are the gaps that still need to close?

Hanke: The U.S.–Australia Space Surveillance Telescope partnership shows coalition Space Domain Awareness is maturing from data-sharing into true jointly sustained sensing infrastructure, where allies are co-investing in long-term performance, upgrades, and mission continuity of critical orbital “watchtower” capabilities. This really reflects a shift toward integrated allied systems that extend coverage and resilience rather than just exchanging feeds.

The gap is no longer sensors—it’s integration speed and interoperability, specifically the ability to fuse allied data into a single, real-time, decision-quality space picture with shared processing and command-and-control. Until that is solved, coalition SDA will remain strong at the edge, but not fully unified at the point of decision.

Defense News: With MOSSAIC, GBOSS, SST, and ATLAS all in play simultaneously — how does L3Harris manage modernization across that portfolio without creating seams adversaries can exploit?

Hanke: L3Harris manages modernization across all of these by deliberately architecting them as a connected SDA ecosystem—not separate programs—so upgrades to sensors, data, and command-and-control are continuously integrated across the portfolio rather than fielded in isolated “stovepipes.” This approach, reflected in MOSSAIC and ATLAS modernization work, focuses on common data standards, resilient communications, and faster machine-to-machine tasking so improvements in one layer immediately strengthen the entire space domain awareness chain.

The goal is to obviously eliminate any seams before adversaries can exploit them, ensuring persistent, high-availability space surveillance data flows from sensor to decision advantage without latency gaps or integration breaks that create vulnerability windows.

Defense News: Meadowlands was purpose-built with the Space Force to disrupt hostile satellite communications in contested environments. How did the requirement evolve, and what drove the design decisions around automation and modularity?

Hanke: Correct. Meadowlands was purpose-built and is a highly agile, software-defined space electronic warfare system that gives the U.S. Space Force the ability to rapidly disrupt adversary satellite communications in contested environments, strengthening deterrence and protecting national security by ensuring the U.S. can deny an opponent’s use of space when it matters most. The requirement for Meadowlands evolved from a traditional counter-communications jammer into a more mobile, survivable, and rapidly upgradeable offensive space control system as adversary space-enabled threats accelerated and became more dynamic. That drove design choices around automation, modular RF architecture, and open software systems, enabling faster mission updates and reducing the need for large, fixed crews in contested environments.

L3Harris emphasized this shift toward a compact, trailer-mounted, plug-and-play system so the Space Force can rapidly reposition, upgrade capabilities, and maintain operational advantage while complicating adversary targeting and countermeasures.

Defense News: Electronic warfare in space is often treated as a classified black box. What can you share publicly about the threat environment that would help defense leaders understand why a system like Meadowlands is urgent right now — not a future problem?

Hanke: The space threat environment is already active and contested, with adversaries demonstrating the ability to jam, spoof, and disrupt satellite communications and GPS-dependent services during both exercises and real-world operations—meaning electronic warfare in space is not theoretical, but operational today. Systems like Meadowlands are urgent because they give the U.S. Space Force a rapidly deployable, software-defined capability to disrupt hostile space-enabled systems and preserve U.S. and allied freedom of action in a domain where decision timelines are shrinking and contested access is the norm.

Defense News: Adversaries are constantly adapting their communications and jamming capabilities. How does Meadowlands keep pace, and what does “rapid global mobilization” look like in practice?

Hanke: Meadowlands keeps pace with evolving adversary jamming by being software-defined and modular, allowing the Space Force to rapidly update capabilities and reconfigure effects without waiting on major hardware refresh cycles. In practice, “rapid global mobilization” means a compact, transportable system that can be deployed, repositioned, and brought to mission-ready status quickly anywhere it’s needed, turning space electronic warfare from a fixed advantage into a globally maneuverable capability.

I’d like to add that this capability is absolutely needed now because adversaries are already contesting space in real time. Waiting for the “future threat” window means accepting operational disadvantage today. Expanding capabilities like Meadowlands is about scaling rapid, mobile electronic warfare capacity fast enough to match an accelerating threat cycle, where whoever can disrupt and reconstitute space-enabled services first controls the tempo of modern conflict.

Defense News: Across missile warning and defense, space domain awareness, and electronic warfare — where is L3Harris placing its biggest bets for the next five years, and what keeps you up at night about whether the U.S. is moving fast enough?

Hanke: L3Harris is placing its biggest bets on integrated space superiority—connecting missile warning and defense, space domain awareness, and electronic warfare into a single, faster decision ecosystem that delivers action-ready data at speed and scale. Across programs like MOSSAIC, GBOSS, ATLAS, and Meadowlands, the focus is on resilient sensing, software-defined systems, and ground-to-space integration that give warfighters earlier warning and more options in a contested domain.

What keeps us up at night is whether the U.S. can move fast enough to stay ahead of adversaries who are already operating at “combat tempo” in space and the electromagnetic spectrum—because delay anywhere in the chain becomes exploitable vulnerability. The good news is L3Harris is built for exactly this moment: we’re ready now. As mentioned earlier, we’ve made significant investments in production capacity ahead of need and we’re delivering modernized, interoperable capabilities that compress timelines from detection to decision so that warfighters maintain the advantage in real time.

The U.S. will need the ability to quickly test new missile defense systems in order to field them at the speed of relevance to accelerating threats. L3Harris’ commitment to advancing defense technology is built on the foundation of high-stakes testing environments, precise target development and a proud legacy of delivering propulsion to power the nation’s tactical, strategic, air and missile defense systems.

From THAAD to PAC-3 and Standard Missile, our propulsion powers some of the world’s most effective missile platforms. In fact, we’re the leading propulsion provider for all the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) interceptor programs currently in production. To ensure these critical systems — and those systems yet to be developed — work every time, we must have a robust testing infrastructure.

Today, L3Harris provides missile defense targets and in-house testing for a wide range of systems.

Targeting Fidelity

L3Harris’ ability to design, build, integrate and execute complex target missiles was on full display in March 2025 during MDA’s “Stellar Banshee” test, where our eSR-19 solid rocket motors powered the first and second stages of an air-launched Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) target, simulating a hypersonic threat with remarkable fidelity. The USS Pinckney successfully detected, tracked and conducted a simulated engagement of this advanced MRBM target. The mission marked our 39th launch in support of the U.S. missile defense program.

Testing Readiness

L3Harris’ state-of-the-art propulsion test facilities across the country are key enablers of these successes. Our modern test bays, laboratories and simulation centers are already configured to support accelerated timelines. In these facilities, we integrate, refine and validate next-generation propulsion systems. From simulating high-intensity environments to mimicking the subtleties of operational stress factors, our testing facilities are designed to replicate complex scenarios with unmatched precision. This testing helps guarantee the performance and reliability of our defense systems and quickens the pace at which new technologies can be deployed in defense of the homeland.

For example, at our facilities in Orange County, Virginia, L3Harris operates advanced propulsion testing that replicates operational conditions with remarkable reliability. These labs support high-altitude Divert and Attitude Control System validation, hypersonic engine testing up to Mach 6 and rigorous ground testing for solid rocket motors and components. From multi-axis thrust measurement to 5,000-degree Fahrenheit material evaluation, these capabilities accelerate development timelines and ensure systems are mission-ready the moment they deploy.

Our Camden, Arkansas, site tests more than 6,000 rocket motors a year, with an average of 30 tests per day, and we are making significant investments to expand this testing capability. This year, we’ve expanded test operations to seven days a week, added a sixth test bay dedicated to developmental testing and installed a new configurable test stand, known as a modular fixture. This flexible setup allows engineers to quickly adapt the stand to test different motor types, increasing both efficiency and safety across a wider range of testing scenarios.

When our warfighters call on industry to deliver with greater speed, it’s not a suggestion. It’s a directive. L3Harris’ capabilities are not theoretical but backed by tangible assets and dedicated engineering prowess.

As we drive forward with modernizing and enhancing America’s ability to protect our homeland from advanced threats, our commitment is clear: we will harness decades of expertise, state-of-the-art facilities and relentless innovation to secure a future where the U.S. missile warning and defense system remains a global beacon of excellence.

It’s going to take a modern-day Arsenal of Democracy – American companies working together to provide integrated solutions – to make this vision a reality.

Our nation is committed to making a strategic leap forward in missile defense, and the Department of War can rely on the full spectrum of L3Harris testing and targets expertise to field urgently needed systems.

With each branch of the U.S. military focused on modernization, the industrial base will play a critical role in ensuring that the challenges of tomorrow can be met.

Technology is at the forefront of these challenges, as the U.S. military faces tasks ranging from developing artificial intelligence tools that can be used effectively to procuring enough semiconductors and chips to ensure production needs can be met. But technology isn’t the only challenge; the industrial base must also be able to meet needs for manufacturing capacity, digital engineering to shorten production timelines and doing all of these things in an affordable manner.

In this webcast, Defense News examined the state of the industrial base, what is needed to meet future military manufacturing needs and how to ensure that production can keep pace with the rapidly changing challenges of modern warfare.

Watch Recording:

Guest Speakers:

• Doug Bush, Assistant Secretary, Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, U.S. Army
• Scott Alexander, President, Missile Solutions, L3Harris

Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) are paving the way for future military activities, and the Navy’s Project Overmatch is exploring how to use them to develop strategies that keep the U.S. ahead of near-peer adversaries such as Russia and China. Vessels utilizing these technologies will evolve to learn the right behaviors in real time and ultimately better suit the mission at hand with its decision-making capabilities. Manned-unmanned teaming on platforms enabled by autonomous mission and situational awareness payloads is increasingly important to military success. Unmanned autonomous targeting will prove critical for improved lethality and survivability of manned platforms, but its success will still depend on quality AI/ML implementation. In this webcast, Defense News examined how families of autonomous systems are employed, how AI/ML improves system autonomy and how unmanned and autonomy solutions are redefining the Navy’s operational capabilities, both now and in the future.

Watch Recording:

Guest Speakers:

• Bryan Clark, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, Hudson Institute
• Bill Drexel, Associate Fellow, Technology and National Security, Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
• Christopher J. DeMello, Sr Manager, Engineering Management and Autonomous Surface Vehicles Chief Engineer, L3Harris

L3Harris Technologies’ Iver4 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) was designed and developed with continuous feedback from the U.S. Navy to support these types of multi-mission requirements precisely.

The long-endurance AUV can support both contemporary and future operating requirements of naval forces around the world, including long-range surveys, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, anti-submarine and mine warfare.

Initially designed to support the operational requirements of submarines and explosive ordnance disposal teams, the non-ITAR, exportable AUV allows customers to achieve greater operational effects with a smaller platform, which is enabled through a series of distinguishing features unique to the Iver4.

Features include an agnostic power module capable of supporting any battery type, payload modularity for the rapid swapping of sensors and ease of portability to support expeditionary and clandestine mission requirements.

The standard Iver4 is equipped with a rechargeable NiMH battery pack, providing up to 20 hours run time, allowing for longer ingress/egress to and from target areas. Safe battery chemistry technology also enables transport on-board commercial aircraft without the requirement for specialist shipping equipment.

Alternative power supplies include a rechargeable 4 kilowatt hour (kWh) lithium-ion battery (~40 hours endurance), or aluminum-water power source (~80 hours). Additionally, the power module can be easily replaced ‘at sea’ or quickly recharged, without any change to the submersible’s configuration, providing a flexible solution for customers seeking to satisfy a broad range of mission requirements.

The Iver4 features an open architecture allowing customers to integrate specialized sensor payloads, including ITAR related payloads, and software consistent with operational requirements. Currently, L3Harris offers a towed magnetometer; forward-looking echo sounder for object avoidance; and an optional forward-looking sector-scanning sonar for sonar gap fill.

Integrated onboard the vehicle, the Iver4 is designed with modular, wet-mate sections; alternative payloads, including cameras, side scan, and synthetic aperture sonars as well as exchanging payloads for operators to quickly and easily swap with its no-tool design.

Measuring 2.5 meters in length and less than 230 pounds in weight, the Iver4′s 9-inch diameter noncorrosive, carbon fiber tube allows the AUV to dive to a depth of 300 meters. Capable of being carried by two service personnel, the AUV can also be easily carried on-board Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats for surface launch in addition to being launched from land.

The Iver4 has been optimized to support maritime operations across multiple domains, including anti-access/area denial environments with the AUV’s ability to conduct longer ingress/egress routes providing naval forces with the ability to launch missions at greater standoff distances away from enemy forces.

Without the need for external navigation aids, the Iver’s clean power architecture and low electromagnetic interference delivers best in class Geolocation accuracy and clear target detection in complex bottom types.

Once a mission has been completed, the Iver4 can be programmed to loiter in a holding pattern under the surface until acoustically requested to return to base or retasked. Upon successful recovery, optionally encrypted ‘wet’ data modules can be extracted and replaced, allowing the Iver4 to immediately redeploy on another mission dependent upon battery power. Secure data transfer and command and control solutions are scalable from non-ITAR to classified missions.

Looking to the future, L3Harris is expanding the Iver legacy with new vehicle size offerings, including the 5.8″ diameter Iver4 580. L3Harris’ affordable, unmanned system solutions are designed to perform when you need them most.