UNITED KINGDOM. Dstl, the science inside U.K. defense and security, has developed a prototype robot so that humans and machines can now team up to detect and report dangerous chemicals over large areas.

ARLINGTON, Va. A U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) unmanned surface vessel (USV) -- part of the Ghost Fleet Overlord autonomous-vessel partnership between the DoD's Strategic Capabilities Office and the U.S. Navy -- recently traveled a distance of more than 4,700 nautical miles (5,409 miles), almost entirely autonomously. After this transit the ship participated in an exercise called "Dawn Blitz," where it again spent nearly all of its time operating autonomously. 

POWAY, Calif. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) announced that in a recent flight test it has integrated a Lockheed Martin Legion Pod onto an Avenger Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) demonstrating enhanced autonomous sensing capabilities for an unmanned aircraft.

SCOTTDALE, Arizona. A new requirement for adherence to function safety or security standards can be a rude awakening for the uninitiated. There can be no half measures when applications are critical.  Requirements traceability, static analysis, dynamic coverage analysis, and unit/integration testing are deemed essential, not just at the end of development but throughout the development lifecycle. Such activities can come at a considerable overhead.  Off the shelf and open source software promise to offset that, and are in abundant supply for common system components such as RTOS and UI. However, integrating them within the application domain in a safety- or security-critical context can be a logistical nightmare for the unwary.  This webcast of industry experts will help you to pick your way through the demands of the functional safety and cybersecurity standards to minimize the pain of compliance while maximising the benefit of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software component use.

WOKING, U.K. TT Electronics, a global provider of engineered electronics for performance-critical applications, announced a collaboration agreement with defense and aerospace company Thales aimed at boosting cybersecurity now as well as future development of operational technology (OT)-based cybersecurity initiatives and research. 

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. AeroVironment, Inc., a privately-held provider of Group 2 and 3 unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and services, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which AeroVironment will acquire Arcturus UAV for a total purchase price of $405 million, including $355 million in cash and $50 million in AeroVironment stock.

MELBOURNE, Fla. L3Harris Technologies has completed a technology demonstration, under a Defense Innovation Unit prototype contract, for the U.S. Space Force satellite communication system to improve communications with the agency’s growing number of satellites.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Abaco Systems, Inc. announced the VP831 as the next generation of the VP889, the 3U VPX FPGA board engineered with 100G Ethernet on a design aligned with the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) technical standard.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. Northrop Grumman Corporation has received a $325 million contract from the U.S. Air Force for continued support of the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS). The 2021 contract executes the Total System Support Responsibility (TSSR) program for the E-8C Joint STARS fleet with Northrop Grumman as the prime systems integrator for total support and sustainment to the U.S. Air Force.

HAIFA, Israel. Elbit Systems Ltd. announced that it was awarded a contract to supply Seagull Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) to the Navy of a country in Asia-Pacific. The company claims that the contract will be performed over a 17-month period.

MUMBAI, India. The Indian Army has signed an approximately $20 million contract for undisclosed quantities of a high-altitude variant of ideaForge's SWITCH UAV which will be delivered over a period of 1 year.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Abaco Systems has won an initial award of $900,000 for a design -- with a lifetime potential win of several million dollars -- for a ground control interface that will support the U.S. Space Force's Protected Tactical Satellite (PTS) Communication Program. 

FALLS CHURCH, Va. Northrop Grumman Corporation has received a contract award from Lockheed Martin Corporation to enable new functionality to protect the 5th Generation F-35 Lightning II multi-role fighter.

CHANTILLY, Va. Perspecta Inc. announced that its innovative applied research arm, Perspecta Labs, won a prime contract to develop a spectrum access manager for the Department of Defense (DoD) under the National Spectrum Consortium's Spectrum Base Agreement. The contract has a value of $6.2 million and a three-year period of performance.

WHITE SALMON, Wash. Sagetech Avionics, technology company providing situational awareness solutions for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), announced it has received a U.S. Air Force Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract for the initial development phase of components for a type-certifiable detect-and-avoid (DAA) system. The resulting system will aim to enable UAS to safely operate beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) in the National Airspace System (NAS).