AUSTRALIA. Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace (KONGSBERG) has placed a Purchase Order with BAE Systems Australia for an initial batch of Passive Radio Frequency Sensors for the Joint Strike Missile (JSM).

SAN DIEGO, Calif. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) and Boeing announced they are partnering to jointly pursue opportunities for a 100 kW-class scalable to 250 kW-class High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon system to support a variety of air and missile defense applications.

CHICAGO, Ill. The Boeing Loyal Wingman aircraft being developed with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) recently moved under its own power for the first time, a milestone for the aircraft that’s expected to make its first flight this year.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. The U.S. Navy’s chief of acquisition James Geurts -- assistant secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition -- announced during Britain’s Atlantic Future Forum that the U.S. and the U.K. have established what they call the "London Tech Bridge," the first such innovation center located outside the U.S. 

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio. Flight testing of the ROBOpilot unmanned air platform has been resumed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Center for Rapid Innovation (CRI) and DZYNE Technologies Incorporated. The platform completed a fourth flight test at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, during which ROBOpilot flew for approximately 2.2 hours, completing all test objectives.

TAMPA. U.S. Special Operations Command has awarded three companies five-year contracts -- with the contracts worth as much as $780 million -- to furnish equipment and technical assistance for designated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) activities.

UNITED KINGDOM. Leonardo demonstrated integrated capabilities between a manned aircraft and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This took place in the U.K. during Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUMT) trials between a Leonardo AW159 Wildcat helicopter and a semi-autonomous UAV from Callen-Lenz Associates.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. The U.S. Air Force has met Full Operational Capability (FOC) readiness for Northrop Grumman Corporation’s AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar on Air National Guard F-16s to meet a U.S. Northern Command Joint Emergent Operational Need (JEON) for homeland defense.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. AeroVironment, Inc., company specializing in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), announced it secured a $8.3 million firm-fixed-price U.S. Department of Defense FMS contract award for Puma 3 AE tactical UAS, training, and support to an allied nation.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Purdue University is at the helm of a national initiative sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense that aims to address and resolve the urgent need for engineering graduates to develop defense technologies, particularly in the area of microelectronics.

UNITED KINGDOM. The latest concepts under development for the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) next generation combat air system have been revealed by British engineers on the program. Delivering the technology will be Team Tempest, a U.K. technology and defense partnership formed by BAE Systems, Leonardo, MBDA, Rolls-Royce, and the RAF, and also involving hundreds of high-tech companies and academia across the U.K.  

COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. and DELEON SPRINGS, Fla. ERAPSCO -- a joint venture of Ultra Electronics and Sparton DLS -- has won a contract from the U.S. Navy valued at $71.8 million for the manufacture of sonobuoys. This latest contract is a modification of the contract signed in Fiscal Year 2019 in which the Navy ordered a number of AN/SSQ-125 sonobuoys for its U.S. fleet. 

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Abaco Systems has won orders from a major European technology company that will insert some of Abaco’s hardware platforms deployed at the center of a new helicopter cabin computer.

MELBOURNE, Fla. L3Harris Technologies will develop and integrate an end-to-end satellite system under a $193 million firm fixed-price contract for the Space Development Agency. L3Harris will support the agency with technology that will protect against advanced missiles, such as hypersonic.

ARLINGTON, Va. BAE Systems has unveiled a next-generation cyber-threat detection and mitigation solution for U.S. military platforms called Fox Shield to help platforms detect and respond to cyber attacks in real time.