ARLINGTON, Va. Raytheon closed on a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) under which Raytheon will develop a domestic production capability for thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) wafers, a material the company says is essential to high‑speed, secure communications and advanced sensing systems.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. Defense research and development company SRC, Inc. won a $24 million contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to develop next-generation embedded artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) capabilities across ground, air, and space domains.

SAN DIEGO. Cubic Defense's Secure Communications business unit won a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to advance Halo, its multilink, multiband, multi-orbit hybrid satellite communications (SATCOM) antenna.

POWAY, Calif. General Atomics won a $99.3 million contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for work on what it calls a “hybrid-electric propulsion ducted fan next-generation intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance/strike unmanned aerial system,” which it calls GHOST. 

HOUSTON. Hughes Network Systems reports that it will collaborate with Eutelsat America Corp. and OneWeb Technologies Inc (EACOWT) -- operating in combination as a wholly owned independent U.S. proxy company and subsidiary of Eutelsat Group -- to develop an enterprise-grade OneWeb capable low-Earth orbit (LEO) modem transceiver circuit card assembly (CCA) intended to support EACOWT’s contract with L3Harris Technologies for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) Call 003 program.

DENVER, Colo. and ASHBURN, Va. Security and space services provider Voyager announced it will partner with space-based cloud services provider LEOcloud on a project to advance edge-computing technology in space with a focus on neuroprocessing technology.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) reports that two teams have been chosen to compete in the 2024 AFRL Commander’s Challenge, which seeks solutions to the threats to troops posed by slow-moving, high-altitude, aerial adversaries.