laststandonzombieisland

Check out these interesting War Department awards posted late Friday, emphasis mine, including big numbers for AI, the new AEHF satcom system, a half-billion worth of upgrades to EA-18G Growlers (namely to the Beowulf system), committing to the E-7A, buying more SM-3s, and, ironically, allocating millions to decommisson the 51-year-old Nimitz— which just deployed on a final final (we promise this is the last one) mission.

The granddaddy carrier’s 12,400-mile ’round the cape redeployment from Bremerton to Norfolk will be extended by an on-the-way SOUTHCOM tasking with her taking part in South Seas 2026, visiting several partner countries along the way, and, well, you know, there is this whole Venezuela and now Cuba thing, sooooo…don’t be surprised if things get kinetic or are at least billed as “possibly becoming kinetic” to influence politics in the region.

U.S. Sailors conduct preservation on the 68 tower of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) in San Diego, March 12, 2026. Nimitz is pierside at Naval Air Station North Island for a scheduled port visit while operating in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations while executing a scheduled homeport shift to Norfolk, Virginia. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Gina Gallia)

Anyway, the contracts:

Anduril Industries Inc., Costa Mesa, California, was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract with a cumulative total of $20,000,000,000 to consolidate current and future commercial solutions—including the proprietary, open-architecture, AI-enabled Lattice suite, integrated hardware, data, computer infrastructure, and technical support services—into a unified, mission-ready capability supporting the Army’s evolving operational and business needs. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 12, 2036. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W9128Z-26-D-A001).

Raytheon Co., Marlboro, Massachusetts, has been awarded a ceiling $2,011,063,181 modification (P00011) to a previously awarded contract FA8735-21-D-0001 for Advanced Extremely High Frequency Terminal. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $2,971,063,181 from $960,000,000. Work will be performed at Marlboro, Massachusetts, and Largo, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 9, 2031. There are no funds being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Strategic Communications Division, Bedford, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a not-to-exceed $489,306,966 cost, undefinitized order (N0001926F1055) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001921G0006). This order is for the procurement of non-recurring engineering and associated test assets, to include four Beowulf A-Kits, four Gunbay Pallet A-Kits, 12 Beowulf B-Kits, 15 sensor control unit B-Kits, and nine power control unit B-Kits, as well as support equipment in support of the design, development, and integration of the AN/ALQ-264(V) Beowulf upgrade to the existing EA-18G platform. Work will be performed in Baltimore, Maryland (61%); St. Louis, Missouri (28%); and Bethpage, New York (11%), and is expected to be completed in February 2030. Fiscal 2026 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $33,988,353 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This order was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia, is awarded an option exercise of $95,703,960 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-25-C-2127) for advance planning and long-lead-time material procurement to prepare and make ready for the accomplishment of the inactivation and defueling of USS Nimitz (CVN 68). Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by March 2027. Fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $32,695,077 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(1), (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., St. Louis Missouri, is awarded a $60,103,735 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00006) to an order (N0001924F0259) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001921G0006). This modification adds scope for the procurement of developmental and operational test support, developmental and operational test aircraft installation and capability validation activities, including avionics and airframe material, to support the Growler Block II Phase I upgrade, known as the Next Generation Electronic Attack Unit. Additionally, this modification adds non-reoccurring engineering, consisting of anti-tamper requirements, functional and physical configuration audits, systems engineering, software development and integration, human engineering, test and evaluation requirements, developmental and operational ground and flight testing, product support requirements, and additional software requirement changes. Work will be performed in Linthicum, Maryland (16.3%); Bethpage, New York (37.9%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (27.4%); and St. Louis, Missouri (18.4%), and is expected to be completed in February 2029. Fiscal 2026 research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the amount of $13,082,629 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This order was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

These came on Thursday:

The Boeing Co. Defense, Tukwila, Washington, has been awarded a $2,335,411,756 option exercise modification (P00045) to a previously awarded contract FA8730-23-C-0025 for E-7A Rapid Prototype Airborne Mission Segment. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $4,907,391,116 from $4,907,391,116. Work will be performed at Seattle, Washington (primary); Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Huntsville, Alabama; and Heath, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by August 10, 2032. Fiscal 2026 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $31,000,000 are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force Lifecycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity.

Raytheon, Tucson, Arizona is being awarded a noncompetitive fixed-price-incentive-fee modification (HQ0851-24-C-0001), definitizing two previously announced undefinitized contract actions (P00008 and P00014) for Standard Missile (SM-3) Block IB production.  The value of this contract modification is $266,912,456, increasing the previously announced value of $1,099,000,000 to a total value of $1,365,912,456. The total definitized value of this award increases the total existing contract value from $1,948,713,505 by $1,365,912,456 to $3,314,625,961. Under this modification, the contractor will procure and deliver an additional quantity of 23 SM-3 Block IB All-Up Rounds (AURs) for a total of 78 SM-3 Block IB AURs. This contract includes one-time costs to restart the SM-3 IB production line. The work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona; and Huntsville, Alabama, with an expected completion date of May 2030. Fiscal 2024 and 2025 procurement funds are being used to fully fund this effort upon award. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity.