SAN DIEGO, Calif. The Italian Air Force has partnered with the U.S. Government and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) to provide a mid-life update to its fleet of MQ-9 Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) and Ground Control Stations (GCS) as part of a Foreign Military Sales agreement.

NORWAY. The Norwegian Defense Material Agency (NDMA) has signed an agreement with the Netherlands Defense Material Organization (DMO) for the acquisition of five Thales Ground Master 200 Multi-Mission Compact radars (GM200 MM/C). The agreement also includes an option for three additional systems.

ANDOVER, Mass. and MUNICH, Germany. Mercury Systems and Airbus Defence and Space announced that they will cooperate in the area of autonomous and flight-control computer programs.

PORTLAND, Ore. The global electronic warfare (EW) market, which totaled $15.81 billion in 2020, is estimated to reach $23.56 billion by 2028 -- growing at a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6% between 2021 and 2028 -- according to a new report published by Allied Market Research, "Electronic Warfare Market by Capability (Electronic Protection, Electronic Support and Electronic Attack), Equipment (Jammer, Countermeasure System, Decoy, Directed Energy Weapon, and Others), Product (EW Equipment, and EW Operational Support), and Platform (Land, Naval, Airborne, and Space): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021–2028."

PALO ALTO, Calif. and YOKNEAM, Israel. Ramon.Space, company specializing in space computing solutions, has raised $17.5 million in Series A funding. The capital will be used to continue development of the company's computing solutions, support its rapidly expanding U.S. and Israel operations, and expand the team globally.

UNITED KINGDOM. The Expeditionary Robotics Center of Expertise (ERCoE) has been launched by Defense Equipment and Support (DE&S) in collaboration with the British Army. Officials claim the ERCoE will aim to bring together robotics and autonomous systems experts from across defense, government, academia, and industry and aligns with DE&S’ strategy to deliver the edge through people, technology, and innovation.

GERMANY. Saab has received an order from Panavia Aircraft GmbH to upgrade the radar warning equipment on the Tornado aircraft operated by the German Air Force. The order value is approximately $48.4 million (400 million SEK).

NEWPORT NEWS, Va.  Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries reported that the U.S. Navy has ordered two REMUS 300 unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) for use in national-security missions.

FAIRFAX, Va. General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS) announced that it has delivered the 500th wideband nose radome to Lockheed Martin for installation aboard U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and international military F-35 aircraft.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa. Collins Aerospace, a unit of Raytheon Technologies Corp., announced that it has begun shipping parts following a second multi-year contract it received in November to supply Northrop Grumman with NP2000 propeller systems for 39 E-2D aircraft.

HUNGARY. The 209 new Lynx infantry fighting vehicles recently ordered by Hungary from Rheinmetall of Germany will be equipped with Rheinmetall’s StrikeShield hard-kill active protection system (APS). Hungary is the latest customer for this technology, which has formed part of the Rheinmetall portfolio since 2006.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa. Collins Aerospace, a unit of Raytheon Technologies Corp., is developing two software-defined radios (SDR) for the U.S. Air Force that will aim to connect and transmit airborne and ground radio data for the first time using a multi-node network.

FRANCE. Thales has announced that the first of the five Sea Fire active electronically scanned array (AESA) digital radars for French Navy’s future Frigates for Defense and Intervention (FDI) arrived at the Lorient shipyard April 27, 2021 for integration on the first vessel.

BOULDER, Colo. Ball Aerospace, in collaboration with Microsoft, completed a series of demonstrations intended to show the viability of using commercial cloud computing to process and securely deliver actionable information to those who need it, whether they are in a ground station, command center, or on the battlefield.

ARLINGTON, Va. BAE Systems, Inc. has received a $325.5 million contract from the Defense Logistics Agency for advanced Military Code (M-Code) Global Positioning System (GPS) modules that will aim to provide reliable and secure positioning, navigation, and timing data with anti-jamming and anti-spoofing capabilities. The modules will help warfighters conduct operations in contested electronic warfare environments.