SIMI VALLEY, Calif. AeroVironment, Inc., company specializing in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), announced that the U.S. Army exercised the second of three options under the sole source Flight Control Systems (FCS) domain of the Army’s multi-year small UAS contract. The value of the contract option is $20,979,905 and includes avionics and data link upgrade packages to modify radio frequencies employed by the Army’s existing fleet of Raven tactical UAS. 

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. According to the Army Research Lab, Army-funded researchers have demonstrated a machine learning approach that could correct quantum information in systems composed of photons, intended to improve the outlook for deploying quantum sensing and quantum communications technologies on the battlefield.

FAIRFAX, Va. General Dynamics Mission Systems has delivered the first Knifefish surface mine countermeasure unmanned underwater vehicle (SMCM UUV) system under a contract awarded by the U.S. Navy on Aug. 26, 2019. The contract, awarded after a successful Milestone C decision and approval to enter low-rate initial production (LRIP), calls for the procurement of five Knifefish systems (10 total UUVs) and support equipment.

PHOENIX, Ariz. DDC-I, supplier of software and professional services for mission- and safety-critical applications, announced that its Deos safety-critical DO-178 real-time operating system has been selected by Bell Textron, Inc. for use in a Data Concentrator Unit (DCU) that will fly aboard the Bell 360 Invictus as part of the U.S. Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) Competitive Prototype program. 

NETHERLANDS. The report "Artificial Intelligence in Military Market", is estimated at $6.3 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $11.6 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 13.1% during the forecast period, according to an ASD Reports study. An increase in funding from military research agencies and a rise in research and development activities to develop advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems are projected to drive the increased adoption of AI systems in the military sector.

LONDON. The worldwide market for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), currently worth $2.1 billion (in 2021), is projected to be worth $3.1 billion by 2031, according to a new market study by GlobalData, "Thematic Research -- Defense: Unmanned Surface Vehicles." 

MELBOURNE, Fla. L3Harris Technologies has won a contract from Lockheed Martin for development of a new advanced electronic warfare (EW) system to protect the international F-16 multirole fighter aircraft against emerging radar and electronic threats.

UPPER SADDLE RIVER, N.J., FACE/SOSA Virtual Technical Interchange Meeting. Pentek, Inc., announced a development platform, the Model 8256, that is aligned to the SOSA Technical Standard. 

FALLS CHURCH, Va. and TUCSON, Ariz. Northrop Grumman and strategic partner Raytheon Missiles & Defense (a business unit of Raytheon Technologies) have won a contract with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) for the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) program, under which the companies will embark on rapid development and flight test of an interceptor designed to defend the U.S. against the most complex long-range threats.

CENTREVILLE, Va. Parsons Corporation has won a shared ceiling value $250 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) multiple award task order contract by the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific for research, development, test, and technical engineering for maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and information operations.

LITTLETON, Colo. and TYSONS, Va. Omnispace, LLC and Lockheed Martin, have entered into a strategic interest agreement to explore jointly developing 5G capability from space. The proposed global 5G standards-based non-terrestrial network (NTN) would aim to offer commercial, enterprise, and government devices ubiquitous communications worldwide. 

FAIRFAX, Va. IT engineering firm Salient CRGT has been awarded the first of four expected options on its $482 million contract supporting the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) cyber, networking, and engineering services.

BERWYN, Pennsylvania and HUNTSVILLE, Alabama. Officials from Ametek announced that the company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Abaco Systems, Inc., a provider of mission-critical embedded computing systems for electronic warfare, radar, avionics, communications, and other military applications from Veritas Capital in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.35 billion.

SYDNEY, Australia. Counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) company DroneShield and partner Trakka Systems report a successful recent demonstration of the TIPS-C [Trakka Interceptor Package Solution] at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

FRANCE. Announced at the Euronaval show in October 2018, the French Navy has selected the SonoFlash new-generation sonobuoy from Thales to enable France to reach its strategic capability goal for acoustic sensors.