Analysis | STL.News
ST LOUIS, MO – October 4, 2026 (STL.News) A Bloomberg Technology special recorded at Lockheed Martin’s legendary Skunk Works offered a glimpse into a potentially profound transformation of the American defense industry.
The Oct. 2 program examined artificial intelligence, autonomous aircraft, counter-drone systems, and advanced manufacturing as the Pentagon and its suppliers confront an increasingly important question: Can the United States develop sophisticated weapons quickly enough — and manufacture enough of them — to sustain a modern high-intensity conflict?
Bloomberg’s Ed Ludlow spoke with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics President OJ Sanchez and Lockheed technology executive Sarah Hiza, along with Fortem Technologies CEO Jon Gruen and Divergent Technologies CEO Lukas Czinger.
Individually, the interviews examined different pieces of the defense-technology industry.
Together, they illustrated a much larger change.
America’s military advantage may increasingly depend not only on who can build the most technologically sophisticated weapon, but also on who can design, improve, and manufacture it at scale before the battlefield changes again.
That concern is not limited to defense companies.
The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board has warned that unmanned weapons cannot provide sufficient military value if they remain prototypes or are available only in limited quantities. The board has called for shorter development cycles, stronger supply chains, and enough manufacturing capacity to field and replace unmanned systems in meaningful numbers. (innovation.defense.gov)
The Pentagon’s 2026 National Defense Strategy similarly calls for the United States to rebuild its defense industrial base and expand the ability to produce weapons rapidly and at scale. (media.defense.gov)
Those priorities help explain what is happening inside companies such as Lockheed Martin, Fortem and Divergent.
America Races to Build a New Arsenal – Modern warfare creates a production problem
The United States has spent decades pursuing technological superiority through exceptionally capable aircraft, missiles, submarines, satellites and other sophisticated weapons.
Those systems remain critical.
But another requirement has emerged alongside them.
Relatively inexpensive unmanned aircraft can conduct surveillance, attack vehicles and infrastructure, threaten military installations, and force defenders to expend resources to stop them.
When those aircraft arrive in significant numbers, the economics become increasingly difficult.
A military cannot indefinitely answer every inexpensive threat with an extremely expensive interceptor.
And if autonomous aircraft themselves become expendable weapons used in large quantities, producing replacements becomes almost as important as designing them.
The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board has addressed that problem directly, arguing that the military needs unmanned weapons in quantities large enough to matter operationally and sustainable production capable of replenishing them during conflict. (innovation.defense.gov)
America increasingly needs two things simultaneously:
Highly sophisticated weapons at the technological frontier — and comparatively inexpensive systems that can be manufactured in much greater quantities.
America Races to Build a New Arsenal – Vectis represents a new Skunk Works approach
One example of that transition is Lockheed Martin’s Vectis, an autonomous aircraft Skunk Works is developing.
Lockheed describes Vectis as a survivable autonomous aircraft intended to operate independently or alongside crewed aircraft, including the F-35.
The company emphasizes affordability, adaptability, survivability, and integration with existing and future aircraft. (lockheedmartin.com)
Vectis remains a developmental system.
Lockheed announced Sept. 14 that it plans to produce four additional Vectis vehicles as the program progresses toward flight testing.
The first prototype is targeted to fly by the end of 2027. (lockheedmartin.com)
But another part of the announcement may be equally important.
Lockheed says engineers moved from the first Vectis drawing to a wind-tunnel fly-off in less than two months, completed the first digital build within six months and released the first physical part after eight months.
Those are Lockheed-reported development milestones and do not establish the aircraft’s eventual operational effectiveness.
They do, however, reveal what the company is trying to change.
Speed is becoming a design requirement.
Crewed aircraft could command autonomous partners
Vectis’s significance extends beyond the aircraft itself.
Future air operations could increasingly combine highly capable crewed aircraft with autonomous aircraft performing complementary missions.
A crewed fighter would no longer necessarily operate primarily as an individual aircraft.
It could become part of a distributed network containing other aircraft, sensors, communications systems and autonomous platforms.
Those unmanned aircraft might eventually perform missions considered too dangerous, repetitive, or economically inefficient for crewed platforms.
Exactly how Vectis will perform remains unknown.
The aircraft has not yet reached its first flight.
Its ultimate capabilities will depend on testing, military requirements, and procurement decisions still ahead.
But its development illustrates the broader transition underway inside one of America’s most historically important advanced-aircraft organizations.
Skunk Works is still pursuing sophisticated aerospace technology.
It is also pursuing ways to develop that technology faster.
Fortem tackles the other side of drone warfare
As autonomous aircraft become increasingly important offensive tools, militaries also need economical ways to stop them.
That is the problem Fortem Technologies is attempting to address.
Fortem develops systems designed to detect, track, and intercept unmanned aircraft.
Lockheed Martin announced a $25 million investment in Fortem on April 22, calling it the initial tranche of Fortem’s Series B financing round. (news.lockheedmartin.com)
On Sept. 30, two days before Bloomberg’s Skunk Works program, Fortem announced that it had completed a $50 million Series B financing round led by Lockheed Martin.
Fortem said the additional capital would help accelerate manufacturing and deployment of its SkyDome counter-unmanned-aircraft systems. (fortemtech.com)
SkyDome combines radar, command-and-control software, and autonomous DroneHunter interceptors.
One of DroneHunter’s distinctive capabilities is capturing certain drones with a tethered net rather than destroying them with an explosive weapon.
That could potentially reduce collateral risks in environments where an explosive interception would itself create danger.
More importantly, Fortem’s technology has moved beyond corporate demonstrations.
The Pentagon has purchased it.
Pentagon selects DroneHunter under Replicator 2
On Jan. 14, the U.S. Army reported that Joint Interagency Task Force 401 had announced the first acquisition under the Pentagon’s Replicator 2 initiative.
The purchase covered two Fortem DroneHunter F700 systems.
The Army said it expected delivery by April and described the systems as part of an effort to improve defenses against small unmanned aircraft threatening military installations and critical infrastructure in the United States. (army.mil)
The Army said DroneHunter uses artificial intelligence and radar to identify and track small, low-altitude unmanned aircraft and can capture targets using a tethered net.
That government confirmation is important.
It does not prove how DroneHunter would perform under every battlefield condition.
But it independently establishes that the Pentagon selected the technology for acquisition under Replicator 2.
Fortem wins position on DHS procurement vehicle
Fortem also announced in August that it had been selected as a prime contractor for a five-year Department of Homeland Security counter-UAS procurement.
According to Fortem, the hardware and software contract on which it was selected as a prime contractor carries an estimated starting ceiling of approximately $1.011 billion. (fortemtech.com)
That figure must be interpreted carefully.
It does not represent a $1.011 billion award to Fortem.
An indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracting structure allows government agencies to place future orders under the procurement vehicle. Fortem’s eventual revenue would depend on orders actually placed.
The distinction is particularly important in the defense-technology industry, where contract ceilings can be dramatically larger than the revenue ultimately received by an individual contractor.
Can one drone swarm stop another?
The counter-drone problem becomes much harder when numerous aircraft attack simultaneously.
Lockheed Martin demonstrated one potential response during the U.S. Army’s Technology Readiness and Experimentation event.
The company integrated its Coordinated Autonomous Remote Intercept, or CARI, system with Lockheed’s Sanctum counter-UAS architecture and a Fortem R30 radar.
According to Lockheed’s Sept. 9 account, the system detected an opposing drone swarm and autonomously launched defensive unmanned aircraft.
Lockheed said those aircraft formed a three-dimensional defensive barrier that could adapt as the attacking swarm changed direction or formation. (lockheedmartin.com)
The company reported that the demonstration included autonomous launching, flocking, defensive formation changes and terminal-guidance locking.
Those are Lockheed Martin’s reported demonstration results.
They should not be interpreted as proof that the system has demonstrated equivalent performance in combat.
Nevertheless, the experiment illustrates a potential direction for autonomous warfare.
The answer to an attacking drone swarm may increasingly be another autonomous swarm.
That creates difficult problems involving sensors, artificial intelligence, communications, and command and control.
It also creates an enormous manufacturing problem.
If autonomous systems are consumed in large quantities during a conflict, replacements must be manufactured in equally significant quantities.
Divergent wants to reinvent the factory
Divergent Technologies is approaching the defense problem from a different direction.
Its central technology is not a particular missile or drone.
It is a manufacturing system.
Divergent has developed what it calls the Divergent Adaptive Production System, or DAPS, which combines digital engineering, additive manufacturing, and automated assembly.
Lockheed Martin has collaborated with Divergent to determine whether that approach can shorten aerospace development and manufacturing timelines.
According to Lockheed, the companies used digital engineering and additive manufacturing to develop a nine-foot-wingspan unmanned aircraft from concept to first article in less than one year. (lockheedmartin.com)
That does not establish that every defense system could be produced on a similar timetable.
But it demonstrates that at least one aircraft development effort moved from concept to physical hardware unusually quickly using the combined approach.
That matters because traditional manufacturing can require extensive tooling before meaningful production begins.
Digital and additive manufacturing could potentially reduce some of those constraints.
A 430,000-square-foot manufacturing bet
Divergent is now attempting to expand that model substantially.
In June, the company announced plans for a 430,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Long Beach, California.
Divergent also unveiled an industrial metal additive-manufacturing machine called Monolith One.
At the time of the announcement, the company said six Monolith One machines were operating at its Torrance headquarters, and another 64 were planned for the Long Beach factory over the following 24 months. (prnewswire.com)
Divergent made ambitious projections about what the expanded operation eventually could produce.
According to the company, a fully operational facility could provide annual manufacturing capacity exceeding:
- 275,000 individual parts
- 30,000 500-pound-class missile airframes
- 60,000 100-pound-class warhead casings
Those numbers are Divergent’s projected manufacturing capacities.
They are not verified current annual production figures. (prnewswire.com)
The distinction matters.
A factory’s theoretical capacity is not the same as actual output.
Production ultimately depends on customer orders, material availability, supply chains, qualification requirements, workforce, and other factors.
But the scale of Divergent’s planned expansion reveals something significant.
Additive manufacturing is increasingly being pursued not simply for prototypes or small numbers of unusual parts, but as a potential way to produce defense hardware at industrial scale.
The Pentagon says America needs more capacity
The broader concern about American manufacturing is explicitly reflected in Pentagon policy.
The Defense Innovation Board’s report on scaling unmanned weapons concluded that having innovative technology is insufficient if systems cannot be acquired and manufactured in meaningful quantities.
The board called for shorter development cycles, stronger supply chains, and procurement mechanisms that can move larger quantities of unmanned systems into military use. (innovation.defense.gov)
The Pentagon’s 2026 National Defense Strategy places similar emphasis on industrial capacity.
Under a section titled “Supercharge the U.S. Defense Industrial Base,” the strategy calls for expanding America’s ability to produce military equipment rapidly and at scale.
The document also emphasizes increasing production capacity and accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. (media.defense.gov)
That provides important context for what Bloomberg documented at Skunk Works.
These corporate initiatives are happening while the Pentagon itself demands faster innovation and greater manufacturing capacity.
Startups and defense giants are converging
Defense-technology startups are sometimes portrayed as companies that could eventually displace traditional defense contractors.
The relationships among Lockheed Martin, Fortem and Divergent suggest another possibility.
The two models could increasingly converge.
Traditional defense companies bring decades of systems-engineering experience, established manufacturing infrastructure and extensive knowledge of military requirements.
Smaller technology companies can bring specialized technologies and potentially faster approaches to software, autonomy, and manufacturing.
Lockheed’s investment in Fortem demonstrates one model.
Its collaboration with Divergent demonstrates another.
Rather than developing every technology internally, a major defense contractor can invest in or work with specialized companies and potentially integrate their technology into larger defense systems.
Whether that model consistently produces weapons faster or at lower cost remains to be demonstrated.
But the incentives behind it are clear.
Speed itself is becoming a weapon
Modern warfare can evolve extraordinarily quickly.
Drone designs change.
Software changes.
Sensors change.
Electronic countermeasures change.
An adversary can study a successful weapon and develop tactics or technology intended to defeat it.
That means a military system’s effectiveness depends not only on what it can do when first deployed but also on how quickly it can be modified afterward.
The same principle applies to manufacturing.
If a conflict consumes large numbers of autonomous aircraft or interceptors, designing an excellent system is not sufficient.
Factories must be able to replace those systems.
And when battlefield conditions change, manufacturers may need to change the systems they produce.
Under those circumstances, manufacturing speed becomes part of military capability.
America’s emerging arsenal
That is the larger story behind Bloomberg’s visit to Skunk Works.
The United States is not abandoning sophisticated weapons.
Nor does the available evidence suggest that cheap autonomous systems will simply replace advanced fighters, missiles, submarines or other traditional weapons.
Instead, a layered arsenal appears to be emerging.
Advanced crewed aircraft could operate alongside autonomous aircraft.
Sensors could feed information into increasingly automated command-and-control networks.
Counter-drone systems could deploy autonomous interceptors against incoming unmanned aircraft.
Digital manufacturing could also shorten the time required to move some components and systems from design into production.
The model attempts to combine two requirements that can sometimes appear contradictory:
technological sophistication and industrial scale.
Skunk Works became famous for solving exceptionally difficult aerospace problems.
The challenge facing the American defense industry today may be broader.
The United States must continue developing sophisticated weapons while simultaneously rebuilding the ability to manufacture military hardware rapidly and in quantities sufficient for a major conflict.
Lockheed Martin, Fortem Technologies and Divergent Technologies are addressing different parts of that challenge.
Fortem is developing defenses against increasingly prevalent unmanned aircraft.
Divergent is attempting to compress manufacturing timelines and dramatically expand production capacity.
Lockheed is incorporating autonomy into advanced aerospace development while investing in and collaborating with companies developing specialized technologies.
There are important reasons for caution.
Not every prototype becomes an operational weapon.
Not every successful demonstration translates to battlefield effectiveness.
Not every government contract vehicle produces large orders.
And projected factory capacity should never be confused with actual production.
Those distinctions matter most amid the enormous investment and publicity surrounding defense technology.
But the Pentagon itself documents the underlying strategic problem.
The United States wants greater manufacturing capacity, faster technological adoption, and an industrial base that can produce weapons rapidly and at scale.
That means the next defense competition is not simply about who can invent the most sophisticated weapon.
Increasingly, it is about who can design it, manufacture it, improve it and replace it fastest.
That may ultimately be the most important lesson from Bloomberg’s visit to Skunk Works.
In the next era of warfare, the factory could become almost as strategically important as the weapon it produces.
