According to a SOCOM official, the Army included feedback from the command that led to design changes like hardware for a refueling probe and features that will enable special operators to make unique modifications.

A look at some of what this year’s SOF Week conference in Tampa had to offer.

“We already expanded production ahead of Replicator, and irrespective of Replicator, because we know where this is going,” AeroVironment CEO Wahid Nawabi told Breaking Defense.

The command carried out steps like hydrostatic and wind tunnel tests, but is now “kind of hitting a pause” on implementing a water landing capability due to budget concerns.

Special operators had planned for FARA to take the role of the AH-6, but the program’s cancellation “changed our equation,” a SOCOM official said.

“We haven’t seen … the arrival of that many different, I would call ecosystems or capabilities, going that fast together in quite some time,” SOCOM Commander Gen. Bryan Fenton said of new technologies changing the nature of warfare.

Company executives claimed the Pulsar system can use AI tools to quickly identify new threats and devise defenses against them, compressing the timeline for responding to rapidly-evolving electronic warfare.

Lockheed Martin alleged in court filings that Howmet cut off the supply of titanium after the aerospace giant refused to agree to higher prices, threatening production of the F-35.

“What’s the future in your space?” Gregg Skinner, program manager for Navy and Marine Corps small tactical uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), asked a mixed audience of military and industry. “Group 5 capability, in a Group 2 [drone], at a Group 1 price.”

With only 20 bombers in the service’s fleet, that could translate to roughly $350 million in work per plane.

“We have recognized in our threat analysis that we need these capabilities in our wing in order to make our three wing missions executable,” Col. Joshua Koslov said of activating two EW squadrons. “And so that’s exactly what’s driving it.”

The cost breach is driven by the service’s plan to cut the buy of the helicopter in half, not by any cost overrun in the program itself.

“The states need to be consulted, and need to be full partners moving forward in any major change such as this,” said Minnesota Rep. Betty McCollum, the defense subcommittee’s top Democrat.

The win is a major victory for the firm in a competition that saw the surprise elimination of aerospace giant Boeing.

Through the deal, Boeing’s litigation with supplier GKN Aerospace will be dropped, and the aerospace giant will take possession of a St. Louis-area factory it used to own.