Defense Business Brief: 1:1 with Gabe Camarillo; Tariff ripple effects?, and more

Defense Business Brief

Peraton wants to bring AI-fueled project management to the Pentagon and beyond—while also changing the perception that it’s just an IT company.

It’s true the company has “a rich history of doing IT services and IT modernization across

government customers,” Gabe Camarillo, the company’s new defense sector president, told Defense One .

But Peraton is also big on defense prototyping and engineering: “We do Tomahawk theater mission planning support for the Navy,” he said, plus “ modeling and simulation for Aegis. Also, sonar analysis and acoustic analysis for the Navy at Carderock . And then we also provide engineering support to some Army programs, like, for example, those that do aircraft survivability equipment.”

And those are areas ripe for growth, he said.

“We're looking to expand that footprint across the department, particularly at a time where new capabilities allow you to reduce risk in modernization programs, identify technical risks on system designs…achieve test and evaluation much more quickly. And bring that experience to bear to our customers to help them modernize at the pace they want to,” Camarillo said.

The former Army undersecretary stepped into the role this summer and said his overall vision is for Peraton to become the “go-to provider to manage and modernize enterprise IT across the department” which includes using AI to manage networks effectively.

And part of the vision is to bring what Peraton’s been doing with the $1.5 billion contract to overhaul the Federal Aviation Administration’s aging air traffic control system to other government customers.

“One of the key aspects of that work that we're doing for the FAA is introducing AI-enabled program management, where it gives the leadership of the agency much better insight into how the program can be executed,” Camarillo said, adding that AI can spot cyber risks and map out an organization’s modernization plan.

“That kind of applied AI usage…[can] enable not just an end user to ask queries of an AI tool, but to really allow an enterprise to use the tool effectively for its own modernization. That’s where I think there's some secret sauce that Peraton has brought to the table, and we're looking to expand that across all of our customer sets, whether it's defense and non-defense.”

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On a waterfront near Baltimore during a shipbuilding announcement Tuesday, President Donald Trump brought up tariffs, which he now calls his “fourth” or “fifth favorite word.” The comments weren’t new, but they were a reminder of simmering concerns about how U.S. trade relations, particularly with close allies, could affect national security.

“Our drug industry is coming back. Our car industry is coming back. They're leaving Canada. They're leaving Mexico. They're leaving Japan, Germany, South Korea. We're building car plants,” he said. “It's all because of my favorite word, my fourth favorite…tariff,” the president said. ( Context : There are multiple reports that U.S. tariffs on imported goods, such as automobiles from Canada, create uncertainty and the U.S. trade deficit is worsening .)

The president’s comments reminded me of exchanges last week during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Golden Dome, in which lawmakers on both sides of the aisle raised concerns that the escalating U.S. trade war with Canada could spill into defense.

“They're a good ally. They're a good neighbor. They are modernizing NORAD right now…It's my understanding, though, that an agreement hasn't been reached with Canada yet on Golden Dome,” Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., who chairs the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, said during the hearing last week. “I think as we progress along there, my hope would be that we can continue to have a good working relationship there to really protect both of our countries.”

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., agreed, saying tensions between the neighboring allies have necessitated multiple “peacekeeping visits to Ottawa” and that it’s “unrealistic to expect that you can treat an ally badly in one domain, on the economy, but expect…to work cooperatively in terms of our defense.”

Some background: The senators’ concerns echo those circulating since last year when the White House issued hefty tariffs on Canada and threatened to make the sovereign nation the 51st state. Those qualms have resurfaced as U.S.-Canada trade talks faltered in August and as a new batch of tariffs—and retaliatory tariffs — took hold this week. On the defense side, Canada has been reviewing its decision to buy 16 F-35As for months. And even if the trade war is resolved , there’s concern about an overall cooling in U.S.-Canada relations.

Making moves + other news

General Dynamics President Danny Deep will take over as the company’s next CEO in 2027. CEO Phebe Novakovic will become executive chairman of the company’s board of directors.

Peraton hired two more former Army officials as vice presidents: Jennifer Swanson and Danielle Moyer.

The Army inked a $9.5 million deal to expand use of Reveal Technology’s intelligence platform Farsight with the service’s Nett Warrior system.

Ursa Major added ex-Pentagon official David Rader as its chief strategy officer.

ACMI, which builds defense production hubs, added Limitless Aeronautics to its Indiana campus.

Kaizen, the company that helped build the Pentagon’s counterdrone marketplace, landed a $49 million deal for unclassified work for the Army.

Auterion debuted a universal UAS launcher.

Tiberius Aerospace snagged a $500 million deal to build and distribute its Sceptre precision-guided missile as part of a U.S.-U.K. collaboration.

NEXT STORY: Anduril wades into traditional shipbuilding arena with major submarine play

国防商业简报

Peraton 希望将人工智能驱动的项目管理引入五角大楼及其他领域，同时改变人们对它只是一家 IT 公司的看法。

该公司确实“在IT服务和IT现代化方面拥有丰富的经验”。

“政府客户，”该公司新任国防部门总裁加布·卡马里洛告诉《国防一号》杂志。

但佩拉顿​​公司也十分重视国防原型设计和工程：“我们为海军提供战斧导弹战区任务规划支持，”他说，“此外，我们还为宙斯盾系统提供建模和仿真。同时，我们也为海军在卡德罗克基地进行声呐分析和声学分析。此外，我们还为一些陆军项目提供工程支持，例如，那些研发飞机生存能力设备的项目。”

他说，这些都是极具发展潜力的领域。

卡马里洛表示：“我们正寻求在整个部门扩大这种影响力，尤其是在当前新技术能够帮助我们降低现代化项目风险、识别系统设计中的技术风险、更快地完成测试和评估的情况下。我们将把这些经验带给我们的客户，帮助他们按照自己想要的速度实现现代化。”

这位前陆军副部长于今年夏天上任，并表示他的总体愿景是让 Peraton 成为“管理和现代化整个部门企业 IT 的首选供应商”，其中包括使用人工智能有效地管理网络。

愿景的一部分是将 Peraton 公司利用价值 15 亿美元的合同改造联邦航空管理局老化的空中交通管制系统所取得的成就，推广到其他政府客户。

卡马里洛表示：“我们为美国联邦航空管理局所做的工作的一个关键方面是引入人工智能赋能的项目管理，这能让该机构的领导层更好地了解如何执行项目。”他还补充说，人工智能可以发现网络风险并制定组织的现代化计划。

“这种人工智能应用方式……不仅能让最终用户向人工智能工具提出查询，还能真正让企业有效地利用该工具进行自身现代化改造。我认为这正是Peraton的独门秘诀所在，我们希望将其推广到所有客户群体，无论他们身处国防领域还是非国防领域。”

欢迎来到《国防商业简报》，在这里我们将深入探讨五角大楼的采购内容、采购供应商以及采购原因。欢迎将您的建议、反馈和歌曲推荐发送至 lwilliams@defenseone.com。点击此处查看《国防商业简报》往期内容，并邀请您的朋友订阅！

周二，在巴尔的摩附近的一处海滨，唐纳德·特朗普总统在一次造船项目发布会上提到了关税问题。他现在称关税是他“第四”或“第五喜欢的词”。这些言论并非新鲜事，但它们提醒人们，美国贸易关系，尤其是与亲密盟友的贸易关系，可能会对国家安全造成影响，这一问题一直令人担忧。

“我们的制药业正在复苏。我们的汽车业正在复苏。他们正在离开加拿大。他们正在离开墨西哥。他们正在离开日本、德国和韩国。我们正在建设汽车工厂，”他说。“这一切都归功于我最喜欢的词，或者说我第四喜欢的词……关税，”总统说道。（背景：有多份报告指出，美国对进口商品（例如来自加拿大的汽车）征收关税，造成了不确定性，并且美国的贸易逆差正在恶化。）

总统的言论让我想起了上周参议院军事委员会就金顶大厦举行的听证会上的交流，当时两党议员都表达了担忧，认为不断升级的美加贸易战可能会蔓延到国防领域。

“他们是个好盟友，也是个好邻居。他们目前正在对北美防空司令部进行现代化改造……不过，据我了解，我们尚未与加拿大就金顶国家防空系统达成协议，”内布拉斯加州共和党参议员、参议院军事委员会战略部队小组委员会主席黛布·费舍尔在上周的听证会上表示。“我认为，随着我们在这方面取得进展，我希望我们能够继续保持良好的合作关系，真正保护我们两国的安全。”

弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员蒂姆·凯恩对此表示赞同，他说，邻国盟友之间的紧张关系导致多次“对渥太华的维和访问”，而且“指望你在经济领域对盟友不好，却指望……在国防方面进行合作，这是不现实的”。

背景：参议员们的担忧与去年以来一直存在的担忧如出一辙。去年，白宫对加拿大加征高额关税，并威胁要将这个主权国家变成美国的第51个州。随着美加贸易谈判在8月份陷入僵局，以及本周新一轮关税（包括报复性关税）生效，这些疑虑再次浮现。在国防方面，加拿大几个月来一直在重新评估其购买16架F-35A战斗机的决定。即便贸易战最终结束，人们仍然担心美加关系整体会降温。

最新动态 + 其他新闻

通用动力公司总裁丹尼·迪普将于 2027 年接任公司首席执行官一职。现任首席执行官菲比·诺瓦科维奇将出任公司董事会执行主席。

佩拉顿又聘请了两名前陆军官员担任副总裁：詹妮弗·斯旺森和丹妮尔·莫耶。

美国陆军签署了一项价值 950 万美元的协议，将 Reveal Technology 公司的情报平台 Farsight 与陆军的 Nett Warrior 系统结合使用。

Ursa Major 聘请前五角大楼官员 David Rader 担任首席战略官。

建设国防生产中心的ACMI公司在其印第安纳州园区新增了Limitless Aeronautics公司。

Kaizen 公司曾帮助五角大楼建立反无人机市场，该公司获得了一笔价值 4900 万美元的陆军非机密项目合同。

Auterion公司推出了一款通用无人机发射器。

作为美英合作的一部分，Tiberius Aerospace 获得了价值 5 亿美元的合同，负责建造和分销其 Sceptre 精确制导导弹。

下一篇报道：安杜里尔进军传统造船领域，推出大型潜艇项目