A woman in a tailored suit whose badge said Huntington Ingalls cleared her throat before interjecting. “Mr. Batista, we have been very open about the challenges our Newport News production facility has faced. From a critical shortage of skilled labor to materials needed for the construction of the Doomhammer arsenal. We’re back on track—”
“On track for what? The current order? Or the tripling the Navy needs? And who the hell is coming up with the names for these ACVs — Doomhammer? What is this, a play off of Warhammer 40K or something?” Batista retorted hotly.
A representative from Anduril Industries corrected him. “It’s World of Warcraft, not Warhammer.”
All eyes turned to the young-looking representative from Anduril, waiting to see how Batista would respond. “Huh, World of Warcraft… Aiden, is it?” Batista shook his head. “I think it’s been fifteen years since I played WoW with my kids. Let me guess, this is your CEO’s idea?”
The Anduril rep, Aiden, smiled and nodded. “It was. I suppose it could be changed if that’s really necessary. These platforms are basically software built to kill. He wanted to let the dev guys name the ACVs.”
Batista grunted but didn’t press the issue. He didn’t care about the names. What he cared about was that they performed as intended and that the shipbuilders could deliver in the time and numbers requested.
Fixing Aiden with a hard stare, Batista pressed on. “You and the Navy can call these things whatever you want, so long as you deliver. Now, speaking of production and specifically your company, is Arsenal-1 going to be able to keep up? You’re not just feeding the Navy. The Army wants more Roadrunners, and the Air Force is screaming for more Barracuda-500s.”
Aiden smiled confidently. “Sir, that won’t be an issue. Arsenal-2 in Texas went fully operational last month. Arsenal-3 in Kansas comes online next week and Arsenal-4 in Stuttgart is already producing.”
“Stuttgart?” Batista’s eyebrow rose in surprise.
“Yes, sir. We’re filling pre-position stocks as we speak. Dutch Harbor, Pearl, Guam, Sasebo, Robertson Barracks.” The rep pulled up production figures. “Even forward positions in Poland, Germany, and the UK. It’s actually one of the bright spots in the Replicator program,” Aiden replied.
Batista studied the numbers, his expression softening marginally. “Finally, some good news.” He turned back to Hammond and Vos. “So missiles we can build. Ships, still a struggle apparently. When will these task groups reach full strength?”
Vos nodded for Hammond to take the question.
“By end of summer, sir. We’ve been addressing the bottlenecks for more than a year. They’re clearing. Boeing’s Long Beach facility just doubled their Seeker-class production line. Shield AI opened two new autonomous underwater vehicle plants—”
“Whoa, hold up there,” Batista interrupted again. “You said end of summer?”
“That’s correct,” Hammond confirmed.
Batista looked around the room, then pulled up a production comparison he’d been briefed on by the DIA a few days earlier. “A couple of days ago the Defense Intelligence Agency was able to verify what I’m about to tell you. The Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai launched eight Type 058 autonomous corvettes in December. Eight of them in one month. That’s on top of their already insane building of conventional warships.”
The Saronic rep countered, “Mr. Batista, those are incredible numbers. I would like to point out our Defiant-class arsenal stealth ship uses our modular construction technique. This means once the new facilities in Toledo and northern Wisconsin are operational—”
“There’s that word again — operational. OK, when is it scheduled to be operational?”
“Six weeks for Toledo. Eight for northern Wisconsin. We should be cranking out ACVs a rate of four per month. That’s a fully autonomous stealth ship the size of a corvette with forty-eight VLS extended-range naval strike missiles.”
“We’re stuck with summer, aren’t we?” Batista sighed, frustrated by the delays and little he could do about it. “Listen, the Eurasian Defense and Economic Pact is going to be running the largest military drills since the height of the Cold War in the 1980s starting in early May. I’m a big believer in deterrence. So is the President. And in order for deterrence to work, you have to have a military force capable of deterring aggression. I’m not confident we’re there, and I don’t think the people in this room are either.”
Batista stood, gathering his materials. “Here’s what’s going to happen. Admiral Vos, the SecDef and I have to provide a weekly update to the President on this issue. That means I need a weekly update on the ACV Task Group’s readiness. Not a monthly progress report — a
“Understood, sir. We’ll make it happen,” the admiral confirmed, nodding to Hammond to make sure it did.
