Navy Confirms Triton Crash in Persian Gulf

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The Navy confirmed this week that an MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone crashed April 9, over the Persian Gulf, reports TWZ. The circumstances remain unknown but the incident has now been described as a mishap. The uncrewed aircraft had vanished unexpectedly from online flight tracking sites while flying over the Persian Gulf, but where exactly it went down is unclear.

The Federal Aviation Administration and Pentagon have agreed to the government’s use of a high-energy laser counter-drone system along the southern US border with Mexico, reports Military Times. The agreement follows FAA testing in New Mexico on the laser system used by the Pentagon and Homeland Security that validated safety controls in place and determined it did not pose undue risks to passenger aircraft.

The House passed aviation safety legislation this week meant to prevent a replay of last year’s deadly crash between an Army helicopter and a commercial plane over Washington, DC, reports The Hill. The legislation calls for new collision-prevention technology to more accurately track nearby aircraft, overhauls helicopter routes near major airports, and updates air traffic control procedures and training.

The Navy has decided to retire the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Boise after repairs for the boat became too costly, reports Defense News. The submarine, which had been sidelined since 2015, began a $1.2 billion overhaul at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding, VA, in 2024.

Automatic registration of men potentially eligible for the military draft will take effect by December 2026, reports Stars and Stripes. The new rule passed by Congress last year, will register men automatically rather than require them to register themselves within 30 days of their 18th birthdays. Late registration is allowed until a man reaches his 26th birthday.

National Guard adjutants general from nearly two dozen states have signed a letter to Congress seeking multiyear funding for the Air Force to purchase between 72 and 100 new fighter jets per year to modernize the total force, reports Air & Space Forces Magazine. “The United States Air Force is the oldest, the smallest, and the least ready in its 78-year history,” the letter states. “We must build a fighting force that will win.”

A new and not immediately recognizable launcher has emerged on the Navy’s Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Carl M. Levin, reports TWZ. The Navy is exploring several options for integrating lower-cost anti-drone interceptors on warships. The new launcher could also be for deploying other kinds of munitions, drones, and/or decoys.

No ship entered or exited Iranian ports during the first 24 hours of a sweeping US maritime blockade, in an operation involving more than 10,000 troops and over a dozen warships, according to US Central Command. Military Times reports the blockade, ordered on Sunday by US President Donald Trump, places US forces at the center of a key global shipping route, the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime corridor through which much of the world’s oil shipments flow.

US Central Command said the blockade began Monday and will only apply to ships going to or from Iran, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, reports Defense News. Trump also said US forces would interdict vessels that have paid tolls to Iran, even if those ships are now in international waters.

A pair of Avenger class mine-hunters homeported in Japan have been tracked sailing westward out of the Pacific Ocean, reports TMZ, as US officials say an operation is taking shape to clear Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz, essential to fully reopening that critical waterway.

The Navy plans to use underwater drones in the coming days as part of its new effort to clear Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command announced Saturday, according to Defense Scoop.

The US military said Sunday that it blew up two boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing a total of five people and leaving one survivor, reports APNews. The attacks in the Pacific ratcheted the total people killed in the US boat strikes  to at least 168 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September. According to Reuters, the US military said on Tuesday ​it carried ​out a strike ⁠on a vessel ​in the ​eastern Pacific, killing four men, a day ​after the US military ‌said ⁠that a strike, also in the eastern Pacific, ​had ​killed ⁠two men.

As of April 14, according to Military Times, the Trump administration and US military have disclosed 50 strikes, killing at least 157 people.

Washington has quietly opened the door to Venezuelan mining investment, but US companies may find it one of the world’s most dangerous supply chains — a gold economy dominated by armed groups, criminal syndicates and corrupt military-run networks that experts say could expose foreign firms to money laundering, human-rights abuses and environmental destruction, reports Military.com.

The Pentagon has agreed to terms with Lockheed Martin on a $4.7 billion contract for the defense giant to accelerate production of its Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptor, reports Military Times.

Federal regulators have cited three contractors for safety violations stemming from the death of Hector Gonzalez, 38, a worker helping build a major immigration detention center in El Paso, TX, last year. Military.com reports the violations were found in an investigation by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Washington Technology reports IBM has agreed to pay $17.1 million to settle allegations  by the Justice Dept. that it failed to comply with anti-discrimination requirements involving federal contracts. The department claims IBM tied bonus compensation to achieving demographic targets, altered interview criteria based on race and sex, and had practices in place to identify diverse candidates for hiring, transfer, or promotion. IBM allocated costs for these activities to its federal contracts and sought reimbursement, according to the settlement.

A Pentagon-ordered review on the effectiveness of women in combat has been moved out of the DoD and will now be conducted under a contract with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, a University Affiliated Research Center, reports Military Times.

Legislation introduced in the House would prohibit excluding service members from any “occupational speciality, career field, or assignment” on the basis of sex, reports Military Times. All 36 cosponsors are veterans and Democrats.

A US military dive team has begun pulling artifacts from the floor of Subic Bay, where a Japanese prisoner transport ship sank in December 1944 with more than 1,600 Allied prisoners of war packed in its holds, reports Military.com.  A 15-person dive team began work in February from the salvage vessel USNS Salvor, targeting the wreck of the Oryoku Maru, where the agency believes more than 250 unaccounted-for Americans still remain. The wreckage now rests in 90 feet of water, about 550 yards from the Philippine shoreline.

Contracts awarded in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., April 13-15, 2026:

Platform Systems Inc.,* doing business as Platform Aerospace, Hollywood, Maryland, is awarded a $12,893,010 firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded job order contract (N0016425FJ608) for Vanilla Long Endurance Unmanned Aircraft Systems, supporting hardware, spare parts, engineering support, and logistics support. Work will be performed in Hollywood, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by August 2026. Fiscal 2026 research development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $12,893,010 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity.

Accenture Federal Services LLC, Arlington, Virginia, is awarded a $22,999,791 option modification to previously awarded firm fixed price contract HT003823C0004 for a total cumulative value of $81,136,242. The option modification is a 12-month period of performance in support of the Program Executive Office – Defense Healthcare Management Systems, Joint Operation Medicine Information Systems Program Management Office’s Globally-Integrated Medical Common Operating Picture (MedCOP) initiative providing enterprise-wide real-time medical situational information and facilitating operational medicine information sharing and collaboration inside and outside the medical community. This 12-month option period begins April 18, 2026, and concludes on April 17, 2027. The MedCOP program supports a variety of locations outside the contiguous U.S. to support the mission of all Combatant Commands. Work is performed at various locations in the contiguous U.S., including Falls Church, Virginia; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; Miami, Florida; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Suffolk, Virginia. The option period is funded with the following: fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance funds; fiscal 2026 research, development, test and evaluation funds; and fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation funds. The Defense Health Agency, Defense Healthcare Management Systems Contracting Division, Rosslyn, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

General Dynamics NASSCO-Norfolk, Norfolk, Virginia, is awarded a $183,228,722 firm-fixed-price contract action for maintenance, modernization, and repair of USS Truxtun (DDG 103) Fiscal 2026 Depot Modernization Period. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $183,581,496. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by April 2028. Fiscal 2026 other procurement, (Navy) funds in the amount of $172,220,253 (94%); fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance, (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,976,728 (6%), fiscal 2025 other procurement, (Navy) funds in the amount of $593,427 (<1%); and defense wide procurement funds in the amount of $31,742 (<1%), of which $10,976,728 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the System for Award (SAM) website, with two offers received. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N0002426C4410).

Fontaine Consulting LLC,* East Moline, Illinois (N00023-26-D-0025); International Trade Management Group LLC,* Leesburg, Virginia (N00023-26-D-0026); and Exclusive Tent Rentals Inc.,* Upland, California (N00023-26-D0027), are being awarded a $55,000,000,000 multiple award, firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity Worldwide Expeditionary Multiple Award Contract (WEXMAC) Territorial Integrity of the U.S. (TITUS) contract. The WEXMAC Titus 2.2 contract will provide supplies and services in support of but not limited to supporting the six phases of the continuum of military operations in support of the geographic Combatant Command’s joint operations, coalition partners, and other U.S. federal agencies in setting and sustaining the theater through the following requirements: theater opening (includes reception, staging, onward-movement, and integration support); sustainment; theater distribution; and stability operations and Defense Support of Civil Authorities support. The WEXMAC TITUS description of contractual scope provides that services and supplies provided through the performance of this contract include but are not limited to humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, contingency, exercise, lodging, logistics, water-based and land-based support. The contracts will run concurrently. The base performance period for these new awardees will begin April 2026 and is expected to be completed by December 2029. If the option is exercised, the performance period will be completed by December 2034. Work will be performed in the U.S. and outlying territories, but due to the fact that specific requirements cannot be predicted at this time, more specific information about the percentage of work and where it will be performed cannot be currently provided. Fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,500 will be obligated ($500 on each of the three new contracts to fund the contracts’ minimum amounts) at time of award and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Additional funds will be obligated at the task order level with the appropriate fiscal year funding as issued by the customers for each area of responsibility. The requirement was competitively procured as full and open competition with 36 offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity.

Serco Inc., Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a $42,495,824 modification (P00086) to contract W911S0-18-C-0004 for Mission Command Training Program support services, providing contractor support for WarFighter Exercises, training, and logistical support globally. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $506,973,317. Work will be performed in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 14, 2026. Fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $15,153,243 were obligated at the time of the award. Field Directorate Office Eustis, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Space, Titusville, Florida, is being awarded a $850,410,935 cost-plus- incentive-fee modification (P00024) to a previously awarded and announced contract (N0003024C0100) for TRIDENT II (D5) Life Extension 2 SSP Alteration Advanced Design and Development Program efforts. Work will be performed in Denver, Colorado (55.20%); Cape Canaveral, Florida (8.06%); Magna, Utah (4.04%); Titusville, Florida (3.35%); Elkton, Maryland (2.61%); Culpeper, Virginia (2.59%); Sunnyvale, California (2.44%); Orlando, Florida (1.70%); Clearwater, Florida (1.22%); and Folsom, California (1.17%); and locations less than 1.0% each (17.62%). Work is expected to be completed Sept. 30, 2030. Fiscal 2026 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $850,410,935 will be obligated on this modification award and no funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract is being awarded to the contractor on a sole source basis under 10 U.S. Code 2304(a)(1) and was previously synopsized on the Systems for Award Management (SAM) website, with one proposal received. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.