FORT WORTH, Texas. The U.S. Army chose Textron's Bell unit to produce and deliver the service's next-generation assault helicopter, the V-280 "Valor" tiltrotor able to take off and land vertically but also fly forward at high speeds.

An ongoing project intends to enable military and other scientists to monitor and even enhance the ways in which a soldier’s brain sleeps and, importantly, attains rest and repair. The effort – a collaboration between the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) Military Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP) and scientists and engineers at Rice University (Houston, Texas) – is only one of a group of sensor-driven military projects seeking to create wearable technology to track and improve soldier performance and outcomes.

The U.S. Army is putting considerable resources and time into virtual-reality (VR), augmented-reality (AR), and mixed-reality (MR) equipment and training that is intended to make troops on the ground safer and better equipped.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. BAE Systems reports a successful test of its Long-Range Precision Guidance Kit (LR-PGK) for 155 mm artillery projectiles from the U.S. Army’s Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, with the firing trial demonstrating airframe structural survivability under extreme firing conditions. 

REDSTONE ARSENAL -- HUNTSVILLE, Ala. The U.S. Army Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing/Space (APNT/Space) Cross-Functional Team (CFT) reported that its stratospheric flight demonstration using the solar-powered Airbus Zephyr 8 ultra-long-endurance solar-powered unmanned aircraft system (UAS) ended after 64 days, with the Zephyr remaining aloft for more than double its intended 30-day continuous flight.

WASHINGTON. The U.S. Army asked General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin to develop ground-based extended-range electronic warfare (EW) concepts for the first phase of a project called Terrestrial Layer System--Echelons Above Brigade, a planned Army system intended to enable integrated signals intelligence (SIGINT), EW, and cyber capabilities for large-scale combat operations. 

MCLEAN, Va. Communications company SpaceLink has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command Technical Center (USASMDC-TC -- Redstone Arsenal, Alabama) under which the partners will cooperate to explore alternative space communications pathways to ensure resiliency and reduce sensor-to-shooter latency.