MARIGNANE, France. Airbus Helicopters plans to acquire Aerovel and its uncrewed aerial system (UAS), Flexrotor, as part of a bid to enhance its tactical UAS offerings, the company announced in a statement.

SAINT-CLOUD, France. Dassault Aviation will provide 42 Rafale combat aircraft to the French Air and Space Force (AAE) under a new contract, the company announced in a statement.

PALMDALE, Calif. NASA and its design partners officially rolled out the X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft on Friday, January 12, at prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility Palmdale, California. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which aims to make sonic booms quieter, one of the major challenges to supersonic flight over land.

TEL AVIV, Israel. The Israeli Ministry of Defense, in collaboration with Rafael, conducted a test for the SPYDER air defense system in its latest configuration, All in One, Rafael announced in a statement.

AUSTIN, Tex. Firmware security company NetRise received an STTR [small business technology transfer] Phase 1 grant focusing on identifying and managing the risk in firmware and software of connected devices to address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF). 

STAFFORD, Va. BAE Systems delivered the first of its amphibious combat vehicle command and control (ACV-C) variants under a full-rate production contract with the U.S. Marine Corps.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona. The most popular military avionics stories on MilitaryEmbedded.com throughout 2023 included stories about supersonic aircraft, VPX, and the global market for fighter planes and bombers. Check them out below.

BOSTON. Quantum-computing startup QuEra announced that it will accomplish error correction for quantum computing in two years, and enable useful computations using it, by 2026. 

WASHINGTON. The U.S. Space Force signed a deal with Microsoft worth $19.8 million under which the tech giant will develop a virtual and mixed-reality training environment for Space Force personnel.  

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona. The most popular military uncrewed tech stories on MilitaryEmbedded.com throughout 2023 included stories about hypersonic missiles, the deployment of a large UUV, and a C-UAS system for Ukraine. Check them out below.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Engineering research laboratory Draper won a $26 million (with all options) contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to expand the capabilities of its uncrewed autonomous systems (UAS) software to perform chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) reconnaissance missions in collaborative teams and in unfavorable operating environments. 

ARLINGTON, Va. Intelligent robotic systems company AeroVironment reported that it -- together with Corvid Technologies and L3Harris Technologies -- successfully completed its first multi-drop of live-fire GPS-guided Shryke munitions from its VAPOR 55 MX electric uncrewed aerial system (UAS). 

CARLSBAD, California. Viasat has won a contract to provide its High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) technology to the U.S. Army as part of the service's ongoing efforts to boost its communications infrastructure, according to a statement from the company.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona. The most popular military artificial intelligence (AI) stories on MilitaryEmbedded.com throughout 2023 included stories about ChatGPT, multi-agent augmentative AI, and the role of big data. Check them out below.

SAN JOSE, Calif.  Lynx Software Technologies -- a provider of open architecture software for use on the mission-critical edge -- has acquired Thompson Software Solutions (TSS -- Atlanta, Georgia), which offers software development, engineering, and integration solutions to mission-critical aerospace and defense (A&D) platforms.