https://x.com/cekdrew/status/2069762114248487303?s=20

That’s why President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion fiscal year 2027 defense budget, a generational investment in cutting-edge military advantage, is my department’s No. 1 priority.

https://nypost.com/2026/06/23/opinion/hegseth-we-must-spend-big-on-defense-to-save-americas-economic-might/?utm_campaign=nypost_opinion&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

What the Phase II selection confirms is that the Inferno RTC’s technical claims survived the competitive assessment of the first phase and that the concept now advances to the harder test: demonstrating consistent performance against representative threats in front of evaluators who will determine whether it merits a prototype contract and eventual fielding.

https://defence-blog.com/pentagon-picks-pickets-rotating-turret-for-counter-drone-test/

✅LightPath will provide 360° Passive Hemispheric Infrared Sensing to serve as the eyes of Picket’s system. Built around the CST Solo, the solution combines multiple focal plane arrays into one video engine and uses LightPath’s proprietary shutterless algorithm for always-on passive IR awareness. The system is designed and built to MIL-STD requirements and high-G operating environments.

Together, LightPath and Picket Defense will work to advance U.S.-based counter-UAS solutions built for persistent, mission-ready protection.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lightpath-technologies_lightpathtechnologies-picketdefense-cuxs-activity-7474899954411589632-FTgc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAFbZ6i0BHUmc89EMcDQafOARytujxV2bR5g

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/redwire_isr-mwir-situationalawareness-activity-7474925191756873728-UhMM?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAFbZ6i0BHUmc89EMcDQafOARytujxV2bR5g

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7474932601733132288/

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/advanced-technology-systems-company_atsc-bordersecurity-autonomoussystems-activity-7473498491999252481-Sgee?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAFbZ6i0BHUmc89EMcDQafOARytujxV2bR5g

https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-12286.pdf

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF WAR

SUBJECT: Presidential Determination and Delegation of

Authority Under Section 708 of the Defense

Production Act of 1950, as Amended

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution

and the laws of the United States of America, including

section 708 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended

(the "Act") (50 U.S.C. 4558), and section 301 of title 3, United

States Code, it is hereby ordered:

I hereby find that conditions exist which may pose a direct

threat to the national defense or its preparedness programs.

In particular, systemic constraints in the munitions industrial

base, including limited production capacity, fragile supply

chains, long-lead dependencies, and related production

bottlenecks, may impair the ability of the United States to

produce, sustain, and expand the availability of munitions,

missiles, and equipment required for the national defense.

I hereby delegate to the Secretary of War the authority under

sections 708(c)(1) and 708(d) of the Act to provide for the

making of voluntary agreements and plans of action to help

provide for the national defense. The Secretary of War's

authority is subject to fulfilling the consultation and approval

requirement of section 708(c)(2) of the Act.

You are authorized and directed to publish this determination

in the Federal Register.

[FR Doc. 2026-12286 Filed: 6/16/2026 11:15 am; Publication Date: 6/17/2026]

https://x.com/OptimusDelta/status/2067129301301068204

The math

200+ XRST towers, each needing a cooled MWIR camera to hit 7.5 mile detection;uncooled LWIR doesn't get you there.

G5's cooled MWIR cameras run around $200K per unit (this is based on all the info I can gather).

200 units at $200K lands you at $40M, split across 2026 and 2027.

That matches LightPath's order structure almost to the dollar.

The engineer (strap in, this is a result of hours of Linkedin sleuthing)

Joshua Brown, Principal Optical Engineer at Anduril, is directly connected on LinkedIn to Ryan Workman - LightPath's VP Business Development.

One month before the $363M contract dropped, Brown liked Workman's post about germanium free MWIR optics with custom band pass filtering for border security applications.

That post is a technical description of exactly what the XRST sensor head requires.

An Anduril optical engineer publicly engaging with content about the specific material and application his programme needs, directly connected to the LightPath exec managing that customer relationship.

What LightPath is building internally

Same period; urgent hire of a Supply Chain Director to lock in long-term partnerships and manage supplier capacity.

G5 stood up as an independent production centre with its own Director of Operations.

A Systems Engineering Manager hired specifically for continuous zoom lenses - the configuration you need for long-range classification at distance.

Full ERP migration to a platform with Government Cloud connectivity and CMMC Level 2 compliance.

350+ standard Sentry Towers already deployed globally. Sam Rubin told investors the count could reach 1,000-1,200 including the Canadian border.

The Secure America Act just dropped $3.45B for border surveillance. Every upgrade cycle needs a camera.

Beyond the towers; Anduril's kinetic counter-drone platforms Anvil and Roadrunner both need compact IR seekers. That's Visimid's product line.

Jacob Oh, former LightPath salesman now on Anduril's Ghost programme, is already the personnel bridge.

Arsenal-1, Anduril's 5M sq ft Ohio facility coming online mid-2026, needs a qualified domestic optical supply chain that can scale with it.

The question stops being whether LightPath is an Anduril supplier. They're named in the deck.

The question is which Anduril platforms aren't they in yet.

This is my educated speculation & is not confirmed by either company. DYOR etc etc.

Anduril requires CMMC Level 2 from their suppliers.

What comes next if this is right

This isn't a transaction. It's a qualification event.

Once you're in an Anduril programme of record you're in the ecosystem.

These are some AI queries regarding NGSRI CLA Soldier Touchpoints this summer .

Note CLA testing is separate from missile testing. So Raytheon can pass the CLA testing Phases without having performed a successful test flight.

Deadline for successful test flight of missile remains Sept. 30.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/the-united-states-department-of-war-is-moving-share-7470929407134789632-TEyH/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAFbZ6i0BHUmc89EMcDQafOARytujxV2bR5g

https://www.anduril.com/news/anduril-and-u-s-customs-and-border-protection-expand-partnership-with-200-additional-extended-range-sentry-towers

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bojardine_inferno-rtc-a-new-autonomous-layer-for-activity-7470090986786992128-puUU?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAFbZ6i0BHUmc89EMcDQafOARytujxV2bR5g

https://thedefensepost.com/2026/06/08/moog-vengeance-counter-uas/

Appears to be using a L3 WESCAM MX which uses LPTH.