Entering 2026 Focused on the Mission

When I stepped into the CEO role at Accelint three months ago, my goal was to understand what was working – and how to build on that as we plot a course through 2026 and beyond. That meant spending time in our different locations, in program offices, and with the teams delivering capability day to day. Listening to operators and partners. Watching systems perform under the real constraints of schedule, integration, and mission demand.

There was a lot that we were doing right.  The founders of our legacy businesses instilled a strong devotion to our customers and their missions, and a sense of purpose and meaning in what we do.  

That devotion has set us up for success – leading to a culture and reputation for delivering on our commitments to the warfighter and to the acquisition corps.  What I saw reinforced a core truth about defense modernization: insurgents in this industry earn trust through consistent delivery. Anyone can deliver a PowerPoint deck that looks good, but few can deliver under real-world operational constraints. The programs that endure are the ones that perform reliably, integrate cleanly, and hold up under operational pressure.

Across programs, the same pattern repeats. Modernization works when it respects how forces actually operate. Systems that add friction or require wholesale retraining get sidelined. Systems that fit into real workflows and solve real problems get used.

That gap - between what's needed and what can be delivered consistently - is where 2026 will be decided.

The Environment We’re Operating In

Across the Department of War and allied organizations, expectations continue to rise while budgets face pressure to do more with less. Our forces are operating across all domains, pulling data from fragmented systems, and making decisions faster - often on top of legacy infrastructure that wasn’t designed for this pace.

Open architectures, AI-enabled decision support, and autonomy are no longer future concepts. They show up in programs of record and live demonstrations today.

At the same time, our customers understandably have little tolerance for mission disruption. Systems have to modernize without breaking workflows, delaying missions, or introducing new risk. That tension - between urgency and reliability - is the reality we’re operating in.

What the First 100 Days Made Clear

Where Accelint is engaged, that tension tends to be highest. Much of the work that matters most sits inside government-led ecosystems, assumes integration complexity, and is judged by operator feedback and mission outcomes in the field.

You can see that across the programs we’re supporting.

>> Open Ecosystems Are Becoming Operational Proving Grounds

This year, Accelint joined Northrop Grumman's Beacon™ testbed ecosystem, an open-access environment for accelerating autonomous flight through real-world testing. What matters about Beacon is the model: shared infrastructure, open participation, and the ability to stress systems in operationally relevant ways. That’s how autonomy and AI will mature in defense: through ecosystems that reduce integration risk while increasing learning speed.

>> Command and Control Is Moving from Architecture to Use

In the Army's Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) program, Accelint is working as part of a Lockheed Martin-led team to translate C2 architecture into something soldiers actually use. Our Neo mission command interface serves as the connective tissue within a full-stack NGC2 prototype, including deployments with the 25th Infantry Division in the Pacific. These efforts are structured around soldier feedback and field exercises, where usability and trust matter more than technical specs.

The shift is clear: C2 modernization is increasingly defined by how well it supports decisions at the point of need.

The maturation of C2 systems is equally prevalent in other services, and internationally.  We have fielded C2 systems today with the U.S. Navy, and have exportable systems in the field in Africa, Asia and Europe.  Our partners throughout the world are investing to modernize their C2 systems in a hurry.  They understand that the best hardware in the world is meaningless without the C2 systems to back it up.  

>> Modernization Must Preserve Operational Continuity

Some of the most consequential modernization is quieter but just as difficult. For the U.S. Navy, Accelint supported migration of the Model Based Product Support (MBPS) system from commercial SaaS into a Navy-owned cloud enclave. The requirement: achieve ATO compliance and operational control without disrupting fleet logistics workflows relied on across NAVSEA directorates, PEOs, and Naval Shipyards.

That effort reflects a broader reality across the DoD; modernization only succeeds when it preserves the continuity of systems already keeping forces operational.

>> Training Systems Are Becoming Mission-Critical Infrastructure

Another shift I’ve seen is in how training is treated. It’s no longer separate from operational capability - it’s increasingly viewed as operational infrastructure that has to evolve alongside missions and systems.

Advanced simulation today is about realism, safety, and preparing operators for the complexity they’ll face in live environments. Through partnerships like our work with AVT Simulation on the SkyFall parachute descent trainer, training systems are reducing risk while maintaining readiness.

These environments are evolving alongside operations, making training infrastructure inseparable from operational readiness.

>> Autonomy Is Being Designed for Scale, Not Novelty

In the maritime domain, Accelint continues work on the MV-20 small unmanned surface vessel (sUSV) under the EMC2 OTA. The emphasis here is on a platform designed for forward deployment, open-architecture integration, and production at scale.  Our approach is fundamentally different than other USV manufacturers. We intend to produce vessels in many shipyards, in multiple variants, and at speed.

As autonomy matures, the differentiator shifts from experimentation to fielding speed. How quickly can capability be adapted, produced, and deployed across fleets, without locking forces into brittle designs?

What 2026 Requires

These programs differ in domain, customer, and technical focus, but they point to what matters in 2026:

• ‍AI becomes operational infrastructure - valued when it reduces operator burden and accelerates decisions
• ‍Production capacity rivals technology performance - autonomy and advanced systems will be judged by delivery speed
• ‍Open systems prove themselves under integration pressure - interoperability matters more than best-in-class features
• ‍Decision advantage gets measured by mission outcomes - architectural elegance takes a back seat to operational results
• ‍Partners get chosen for ecosystem fluency - the ability to work within joint programs matters more than proprietary advantages

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Accelint builds, integrates, and supports systems that hold up when they meet real missions and can be produced at the scale and speed the force needs.

The first 100 days reinforced my confidence in this direction, and I've seen the quality of work required to execute it. Modernization is no longer about proving what's possible. It's about proving what works - consistently, at scale, and under real conditions.

That is the work ahead.

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