9–15 September 2026
This Week in Defence Technology
This week’s developments point to a major change in the way military-industrial strength is being measured. Production rate, multiple suppliers, rapid testing and the ability to upgrade existing systems are becoming almost as important as developing entirely new weapons.
A U.S. defence startup unveiled a long-range cruise missile explicitly designed for low-cost mass production. The U.S. Army placed major contracts covering next-generation precision strike, armoured vehicles and upgrades to the Abrams tank’s gas-turbine engine. Pratt & Whitney opened another production route for the widely used F100 fighter engine and moved its F135 upgrade closer to production. Australia declared its NASAMS air-defence system fully operational with significant domestic industrial participation. Meanwhile, Ukraine continued testing cheaper ways of intercepting mass drone attacks.
The connecting theme is straightforward: a modern military industrial base must be able to produce more, replenish faster and adapt existing technology quickly.
Land Systems
On 14 September, the U.S. Army awarded BAE Systems an $818.4 million modification for Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles, taking the cumulative contract value to about $3.3 billion. Production is scheduled through May 2030.
The same day’s contracting activity included a particularly interesting sustainment and propulsion programme. The National Advanced Mobility Consortium received an agreement with a ceiling of $2.5 billion to enhance the AGT1500 gas-turbine engine used by the M1 Abrams tank fleet.
This is important because military-industrial capability is not built only by manufacturing new platforms. Existing equipment may remain in service for decades, creating continuing demand for engine upgrades, components, overhaul technology and engineering support.
The industrial cycle therefore becomes:
Manufacture → Sustain → Upgrade → Recapitalise → Sustain again.
For large armoured fleets, the ability to modernise propulsion, electronics and other subsystems can extend useful platform life without requiring complete replacement.
Air & Aerospace
Two developments announced on 15 September illustrate different approaches to strengthening fighter-engine capability.
Pratt & Whitney completed the Risk Reduction Design Review for the F135 Engine Core Upgrade, advancing the programme toward production. The upgrade is intended to provide additional power and thermal-management capacity for future F-35 sensors, weapons and other Block 4 capabilities.
This is a design and programme milestone, not yet a fielded engine upgrade.
Its importance lies in a growing aerospace problem: aircraft increasingly carry more powerful sensors, computers and electronic systems, all of which require additional electrical power and cooling.
Future propulsion systems therefore need to provide not only thrust but also the energy and thermal capacity required by the aircraft’s expanding electronic architecture.
A second announcement may be even more interesting from an industrial-base perspective.
Pratt & Whitney and Hermeus signed a production licence allowing Hermeus to manufacture F100-PW-229 fighter engines. Pratt & Whitney described the arrangement as creating a new qualified U.S. production source for the engine.
The F100 powers aircraft including variants of the F-15 and F-16.
Creating another qualified producer introduces industrial redundancy.
Instead of:
one established production source
the system begins moving towards:
multiple qualified producers + shared standards + greater surge potential.
That model could become increasingly important as governments reconsider how much spare manufacturing capacity they need for prolonged conflict.
Maritime & Undersea
No comparably major new naval-platform technology demonstration was verified during the 9–15 September reporting window.
However, developments elsewhere this week have direct maritime implications.
The expansion of long-range precision weapons and distributed communications affects naval warfare because ships increasingly operate as parts of larger sensor-and-shooter networks rather than isolated platforms.
Similarly, growing demand for resilient satellite communications affects ships, submarines, aircraft and land formations alike.
The industrial implication is that naval capability can no longer be measured solely by shipyard output.
Modern maritime industrial capacity increasingly includes:
shipbuilding + missiles + sensors + electronic warfare + satellite communications + software + autonomous systems + sustainment.
A nation may be capable of constructing a sophisticated warship yet remain dependent on foreign suppliers for many of the systems that give that ship its combat capability.
That distinction is central to technological sovereignty.
Space & Cyber
On 12 September, the U.S. Space Force announced an updated multinational agreement supporting production and operation of the 12th Wideband Global SATCOM satellite, WGS-12.
Ten international partners will provide $302 million, covering acquisition, launch, on-orbit delivery, ground-system upgrades and mission operations.
This is a funded acquisition and international industrial programme rather than a newly demonstrated satellite capability.
Its importance lies in the infrastructure behind modern military operations.
Secure satellite communications support command and control across aircraft, ships and deployed ground forces. Increasing the resilience of this infrastructure therefore strengthens many military systems simultaneously.
The programme also illustrates how expensive strategic capabilities can increasingly be built through multinational industrial arrangements.
Such arrangements can broaden funding and interoperability, although they also create long-term dependencies between participating nations.
Electronics, Sensors & Communications
Australia reached an important operational milestone on 9 September when its Army’s National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System, NASAMS, achieved Final Operational Capability.
Australia’s Defence Ministry said the system had completed phased introduction, live-fire activities and soldier training and was ready for operational employment.
This is therefore demonstrated operational capability, rather than an announcement of future procurement.
NASAMS provides networked defence against aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles and drones and forms an inner layer of Australia’s integrated air-and-missile-defence architecture.
The industrial aspect is particularly noteworthy.
The Australian system incorporates locally designed radar technology from CEA Technologies, while Australian industry participates in integration, sustainment and support.
This illustrates an important model of defence industrialisation.
A country does not necessarily need to design every part of a weapon system domestically to develop sovereign capability.
It can combine:
foreign core technology + indigenous sensors + local integration + domestic sustainment.
Over time, that can create engineering expertise capable of supporting increasingly independent development.
Propulsion, Materials & Manufacturing
Propulsion emerged as one of the week’s strongest industrial themes.
The F135 Engine Core Upgrade represents technology improvement.
The Hermeus F100 licence represents additional manufacturing capacity.
The Abrams AGT1500 programme represents sustainment and modernisation of an existing engine fleet.
Together, these programmes illustrate why propulsion remains one of the most strategically important layers of the military industrial base.
Jet and gas-turbine engines require advanced capabilities in:
materials → precision machining → coatings → thermal engineering → controls → testing → overhaul.
Mastering final assembly without mastering these underlying technologies creates only partial industrial independence.
The Hermeus agreement is particularly interesting because it attempts to add production capacity by qualifying another manufacturer rather than building an entirely new engine programme.
That may become an increasingly attractive approach where proven systems remain militarily useful but existing factories cannot provide sufficient surge capacity.
Munitions & Missiles
The week’s most striking industrial-development story came from the U.S. startup Covenant.
On 9 September, the company unveiled Anthem, a ground-launched long-range cruise missile carrying a payload exceeding 200 kg. Covenant says the missile has completed more than 200 test flights over the previous year.
The missile is not yet in full-rate operational production, so the company’s ambitious production claims should be treated as targets rather than demonstrated output.
But those targets are significant.
Covenant says its facilities in the United States, Germany and Israel are intended eventually to produce a combined 12,000 missiles annually. Its Dallas and German facilities are each planned for 5,000 missiles per year, with another 2,000 from Israel.
The company is also deliberately avoiding dependence on single suppliers. It says it has three solid-rocket-motor suppliers, with another being developed, and long-term agreements covering more than 4,000 jet engines over the next two years.
That supply-chain design may ultimately be as important as the missile.
The traditional model has often prioritised maximum performance from relatively small numbers of expensive precision weapons.
The emerging model adds another requirement:
acceptable performance + lower unit cost + very high production rate.
The U.S. Army reinforced the importance of long-range fires on 14 September with a $1.21 billion contract for Precision Strike Missile Increment 2 Early Operational Capability, running through 2031. It also awarded nearly $98 million for Multiple Launch Rocket System recapitalisation.
Ukraine provides the operational reason why this shift is occurring.
On 15 September, Ukraine said a new domestically developed anti-drone weapon was undergoing testing and had successfully destroyed a Shahed-type drone, although further technical refinement remained necessary.
Ukraine has increasingly concentrated on inexpensive interceptors because repeatedly using expensive conventional missiles against large numbers of relatively cheap drones is economically difficult.
The defence-industrial problem is therefore becoming one of cost per engagement as well as technical effectiveness.
Industrial Base Implications
This week’s developments reveal five characteristics that are becoming increasingly important to military-industrial strength.
Production scale matters. Covenant’s proposed missile factories are being designed around thousands of weapons rather than dozens.
Supplier redundancy matters. Multiple rocket-motor and engine suppliers reduce the chance that one production bottleneck stops an entire weapons programme.
Sustainment matters. The Abrams engine programme shows that maintaining and improving existing fleets can absorb major industrial resources for decades.
Technology absorption matters. Australia’s NASAMS programme combines an international weapon architecture with Australian radar, integration and sustainment capability.
And adaptation speed matters. Ukraine’s continuing counter-drone development demonstrates how battlefield threats can change faster than traditional acquisition programmes.
The modern military industrial base therefore increasingly resembles a continuous system:
Threat → Development → Testing → Production → Deployment → Operational feedback → Modification → Expanded production.
The countries that shorten this cycle gain an advantage that cannot be measured simply by counting tanks, aircraft, ships or missiles.
The broader lesson from this week is therefore:
The military industrial base of the future will be judged not only by what it can invent, but by how quickly and economically it can manufacture, replenish, sustain and improve what modern warfare consumes.
Sources
Australia Department of Defence — 9 September 2026: NASAMS achieved Final Operational Capability after phased introduction, training and live-fire activity, with Australian radar technology and domestic industry contributing to integration and sustainment.
Reuters — 9 September 2026: Covenant unveiled its Anthem long-range cruise missile and detailed its testing, multi-supplier strategy and proposed high-volume manufacturing network.
U.S. Space Force — 12 September 2026: Ten international partners committed $302 million towards WGS-12 production, launch, ground upgrades and operations.
U.S. Department of War — 14 September 2026: Contracts covering the AGT1500 Abrams engine, Precision Strike Missile Increment 2, Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles and MLRS recapitalisation.
Pratt & Whitney / RTX — 15 September 2026: F135 Engine Core Upgrade Risk Reduction Design Review completed, moving the programme toward production.
Pratt & Whitney / Hermeus — 15 September 2026: Production licence authorising Hermeus to manufacture F100-PW-229 fighter engines, creating an additional qualified U.S. production source.
Reuters — 15 September 2026: Ukraine reported successful interception of a Shahed-type drone during testing of a new domestically developed counter-drone weapon, while stating that further refinement remains necessary.