SAN DIEGO, Calif. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) completed the first flight of the Protector RG Mk1 Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS), the fourth MQ-9B SkyGuardian air vehicle (the first three MQ-9B air vehicles are company-owned assets supporting the certification qualification).

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Abaco Systems announced a new version of the network management software OpenWare V6.4. The updates in version 6.4 provide new features including innovations allowing for a flexible SFP pluggable transceiver configuration support for the GBX25 6U VME managed Ethernet switch.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. Parry Labs LLC has announced the successful demonstration of their hyperconverged mission computing technology, Stellar Relay, designed to enable Architecture, Automation, Autonomy Interfaces (A3I) capabilities for U.S. Special Operations Command in collaboration with the U.S. Army's Project Convergence. 

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona. As military radar, signals intelligence (SIGINT) and electronic warfare systems get more complex so does the associated signal integrity challenges. These signal integrity concerns didn't even exist 10-15 years ago. As signal density for connectors continues to get tighter as footprints get smaller problems such as crosstalk and geometry of launch greatly affect backplane performance. This webcast titled, "Signal Integrity in Military Radar and Electronic Warfare Systems," to be held on Thursday, October 8, at 2 pm Est., will address these challenges and how VITA standards and open architecture solutions are helping solve them.

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla.The U.S. Air Force has announced the completion of the Integrated Battle Station (IBS) on the B-1B Lancer fleet. The eight-year project has been completed earlier than anticipated, and 60 aircraft went through the modification process that began in late 2012.

WASHINGTON. DARPA’s Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors (PALS) program aims to leverage how marine organisms observe changes in their environment through sensing to augment the Department of Defense’s (DoD) existing, hardware-based maritime monitoring capabilities. The program, launched in November 2018, is now entering its second phase.

POWAY, Calif. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. conducted captive carry Sparrowhawk Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) flight demonstrations. According to the company, the Sparrowhawk aircraft is designed as an airborne launch and recovery demonstrator aircraft tailored to fit GA-ASI platforms, and is focused on Advanced Battle Management System’s attritableONE technologies.

ADELPHI, Md. Studies being conducted by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory are using findings on electromagnetism and radio frequency to ensure U.S. defense forces obtain spectrum dominance on the battlefield.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., National Security Solutions provider, announced that it has won a $950 million ceiling indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the maturation, demonstration, and proliferation of capability across platforms and domains, leveraging open systems design, modern software and algorithm development in order to enable Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2).

AUSTIN, Texas. Hiller Measurements, a test system design and manufacturing firm, announced the company was awarded a $66.3 million combined firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award contract for the Marine Corps Automatic Test Systems program, alongside two other companies.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. Northrop Grumman Corporation has delivered a pair of sensors to enhance the capability of its Global Hawk high-altitude long-endurance autonomous aircraft system.

WASHINGTON. Shift5, cybersecurity company that secures operational technology for a range of Department of Defense and commercial platforms, announced a contract award with the Air Force Cyber Resiliency of Weapon Systems (CROWS) office.

CAMBRIDGE, England. Blighter Surveillance Systems, British designer and manufacturer of electronic-scanning radars and surveillance solutions, has announced the launch of the latest in its range of counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) radars, the A800 3D drone detection radar for land, air, and sea surveillance.

RESTON, Va. and READING, U.K. SES Government Solutions (SES GS -- a fully-owned affiliate of SES) and broadband terminal company Isotropic Systems have signed a two-phased antenna evaluation contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), working together with the U.S. Army Research Engineering Team, to test the Isotropic Systems multibeam terminal over SES’s O3b medium Earth orbit (MEO) constellation; it is hoped that the results of the test will lead to implementation of next-generation connectivity across the battlefield.

ASHBURN, Va. Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division announced that it intends to acquire the stock of Pacific Star Communications (PacStar -- Portland, Oregon), in a move that Curtiss-Wright officials say will boost its position in and commitment to the U.S. and global battlefield network operations (NetOps) markets.