BOULDER, Colo. Blue Canyon Technologies has signed a contract worth $14.6 million with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to build a small satellite bus for explorations beyond geosynchronous Earth orbit that can explore deep space, reaching past where most U.S. military satellites operate.

BEAVERCREEK, Ohio. Parallax Advanced Research -- a nonprofit technology accelorator -- garnered a contract worth $2 million from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Sensors Directorate to participate in the Multi-Sensor Exploitation for Tactical Autonomy (META) program under the AFRL Autonomy Capability Team 3, or ACT3, program.

ROME, N.Y. Information-technology provider PAR Government Systems announced what company officials called the largest single-contract award in PAR’s history: A $490.4 million ID/IQ contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate.

DAYTON, Ohio. Mission-critical software provider Aptima has won a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to build and develop a library of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled pilot agents that will match the AI with pilot trainees in scenarios that target the trainees' skill-building needs. 

SAN DIEGO. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions announced that its Kratos Unmanned Systems Division (KUSD) has been awarded a contract worth $17.6 million to design and develop a jet-powered off-board sensing station (OBSS) unmanned aerial system (UAS) in support of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Autonomous Collaborative Platforms (ACP) technology maturation portfolio. 

U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND -- HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. The U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) -- together with the Air Force Research Lab's Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation (AFRL-SDPE) directorate -- is currently developing a variant of the venerable C-130J "Super Hercules" aircraft: an MC-130J Commando II Amphibious Capability (MAC) to improve the platform's support of seaborne special operations. 

Military technology has long looked to the natural world for its cues, taking a page from a field called biomimetics, in which principles from chemistry, biology, and engineering are applied to human-fabricated materials, systems, or machines that function similarly to biological processes.