Jerry Strandberg

L3Harris Technologies today announced that AE Industrial Partners has agreed to acquire a controlling interest in L3Harris’ Space Propulsion and Power Systems business at a total enterprise value of $845M. https://lnkd.in/gs3gY5S4

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Lately I’ve been thinking about scope. In defense and aerospace, it is common for people to get sorted into neat buckets. Layout. Systems. RF. Execution. It is efficient. It is also reductive. Early in my career, I spent years in what many would call support roles. Production floor work. Sustaining engineering. Cable and component lifecycle management. Configuration control. The kind of work that does not make headlines. At the time, I treated those years as background experience. Useful, but not defining. What I have come to appreciate is that those years built systems intuition. Understanding how harness architecture influences board layout. How lifecycle risk shapes component decisions. How documentation discipline prevents field failures. How integration, not schematics, is where programs actually succeed or fail. I was at the ITAC grand opening at CGCC on Friday and ran into a couple old colleagues from my early startup days. We laughed about the environment back then. Small team. Big expectations. Workforce swinging from 125 to 25 in what felt like overnight. Everyone wearing three hats at once. It was chaotic. It was exhausting. It was formative. Looking back, neither of us would trade it. When you are designing in the morning, troubleshooting integration in the afternoon, supporting production in the evening, and rewriting documentation before you leave, you stop thinking in silos. You start thinking in outcomes. You learn that PCB layout is not separate from cable architecture. That connector decisions shape signal integrity. That lifecycle risk shapes design choices. That configuration control is not bureaucracy, it is survivability. That integration is where theory meets reality. I used to think some of that work was just “support.” The less glamorous side of engineering. Now I see it differently. Those monotonous years, the crayon drawings on construction paper versions of what later became flight hardware, were the foundation. The grind built systems intuition. The instability built adaptability. The responsibility built ownership. Over time, that foundation expanded into development work where the expectation is not just to route traces, but to own the technical decisions that affect cost, schedule, manufacturability, and risk. High reliability RF and mixed signal hardware includes layout, but it does not end there. It is accountability across the full signal path, the environment it operates in, and the lifecycle it must survive. It is easy to compress a career into a narrow title. It is harder, and more honest, to acknowledge the full scope of what shaped you. If you have built systems, own it. I am grateful for the grind

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Test systems are often comprised of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components that can become obsolete quickly. Sustainment involves proactive planning to identify and replace obsolete hardware and software to ensure the test system remains supported and functional for the life of the UUT, which can span decades. ARC Technology Solutions can restore performance, compliance and deliver system sustainability with modern upgrades to your aging, mission-critical systems. Whether it's a full system refresh, or reverse engineering targeted obsolete components requiring the same form/fit/funstion, we'll help you avoid costly downtime and extend the life of your high-value assets.

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Would you trust an unmanned helicopter in a critical mission? Honeywell Aerospace Technologies and Near Earth Autonomy are teaming up on a groundbreaking $15 million U.S. Army program to retrofit UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters with advanced autonomy kits. Here's what makes this initiative so compelling: Autonomous Black Hawk Retrofit Highlights * Mission: Transform legacy Black Hawks into optionally piloted logistics aircraft capable of operating in contested environments—no onboard crew, remote pilots, or continuous data links required. * Technology Core: The autonomy system is powered by Near Earth’s Captain architecture, designed for safe flight and hazard avoidance even in GPS- and comms-denied zones. * Honeywell’s Role: Provides scalable, certifiable avionics including flight decks, Compact Fly-by-Wire systems, and navigation tech that support both piloted and autonomous operations. * Modular Design: Built using a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) for easy upgrades, cost efficiency, and adaptability across multiple airframes. * Operational Impact: Enables 24/7 high-tempo logistics while minimizing risk to personnel and maximizing throughput. This program is a major leap toward autonomous military aviation. #defence #autotomy #helicopters #pilot #pilotless #avionics #honeywell

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Up next for Sea, Business Intelligence Specialist Mya Thevanayagam and Mechanical Engineer Samuel Caulley share how Parts Life, Inc. is solving obsolescence challenges for the US Navy. Parts Life is working directly with Navy personnel, specifically the Air Launch Recovery Equipment (ALRE) Group based at Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst (JBMDL) in New Jersey. For these components, our team has developed several manufacturable solutions that mitigate obsolescence challenges. For the leaf spring, which supports the cable that catches the aircraft landing on the carrier, material availability is scare and extremely limited. Within six months, the team at Parts Life strategically sourced the only remaining material in North America, and developed fixturing and dedicated equipment required to manufacture these components to original specifications. For the mechanical counter, the part became obsolete because the original equipment manufacturer no longer supported it. By reverse engineering and developing a complete technical data package that proves we can manufacture this component, Parts Life ensures the carriers remain mission ready and operationally available. Finally, for the electrical connector within the same launch system, located in the capacity selector valve system, the team engineered a solution based on the existing sample. This allows the operator to continue programming and positioning the selector valve, which is essential for aircraft launch operations. At Parts Life, Inc. we're proud to support the Maritime Industrial Base delivering source approved parts and components with integrity and speed, whether it's space, air, land, sea or subsea. Our resilient solutions strengthen sustainment, reduce downtime and keep critical platforms mission ready. Maritime Industrial Base Program Build Submarines General Dynamics Electric Boat NAVSUP Weapon Systems Support  Submarine Industrial Base Council (SIBC) Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR)  Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP)  Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Commander, Submarine Forces | Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic  American Society of Naval Engineers Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division Department of the Navy Office of Small Business Programs United States Department of War United States Marine Corps Defense Logistics Agency Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding, A Division of HII HII Austal USA Raytheon #PartsLifeInc #SeaDomain #NimitzClass #USNavy #MaritimeIndustrialBase #ReverseEngineering #MissionReady #ObsolescenceSolutions #DefenseManufacturing #EngineeringInnovation #Sustainment #NavalAviation #AircraftCarrierSupport #MadeInAmerica #DefenseIndustry #MakersOnAMission

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