ROME. The operational version of the Leonardo M-346 Fighter Attack aircraft equipped with an optimized variant of Leonardo’s Grifo radar recently completed a successful initial flight, the company reports.

SAN DIEGO. BAE Systems has signed an initial order with the U.S. Army under the service's Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) Capability Drop 2 Program -- a multiple-award, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract worth up to $823 million -- under which BAE Systems will provide systems enabling enhanced intelligence to see and better understand threats and other relevant aspects of the operational environment.

TUCSON, Ariz. Raytheon Missiles & Defense reports delivery of the first AN/SPY-6(V)1 radar array for installation on the future USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), the U.S. Navy's first Flight III guided-missile destroyer. 

ANDOVER, Mass. Mercury Systems has received $11.7 million in orders against its previously announced $152 million five-year sole-source basic ordering agreement (BOA) to deliver advanced digital RF memory (DRFM) jammers to the U.S. Navy. 

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. Raytheon Intelligence & Space (RI&S, a Raytheon Technologies business) has agreed to provide an initial prototype system design for the Next Generation Electro-Optical Infrared Weather Satellite for the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center.

HUDSON, N.H. BAE Systems has signed a $33 million multiyear contract with the U.S. Army to further develop its Long Range Precision Guidance Kit (LR-PGK) for 155 mm artillery shells, which will enable the Army to take advantage of BAE Systems' enhanced antijam GPS-based navigation and antenna array aimed at improving long-range precision strikes in challenging electromagnetic environments. 

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Aerojet Rocketdyne reports successful completion of its second series of propulsion-system tests in support of the Operational Fires (OpFires) program, a project spearheaded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a ground-launched tactical hypersonic missile.

BANGALORE. The global unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market size is projected to reach $133.5 billion by 2026, up from $25.9 billion in 2019, at a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.4% during 2021 to 2026, according to a recent study by Valuates Reports, "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Market Research Report 2020."

BOULDER, Colo. Ball Aerospace has been chosen by the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to develop a prototype of a new multiband, low-observable satellite communications antenna that will be installed on the U.S. Navy's newest stealth-enabled ships, the DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyers.

SAN DIEGO. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc (GA-ASI) has signed a contract with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to make and deliver a total of 16 Protector RG Mk1 remotely piloted air systems (RPAS).

COLUMBIA, Md. Systems Engineering Group (SEG) -- a wholly owned subsidiary of Telephonics Corp. -- has won a threat-engineering task order worth $119 million from the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD). 

LONDON. Methods that leverage electronic warfare (EW) techniques -- together with the use of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL) technologies -- will be key to developing autonomous systems that offload some of the data and operational from the warfighter, according to a new market study from Visiongain, "Military Embedded Systems Market Report 2020-2030."

NETHERLANDS. According to the Navy, a major reason for selecting the NS100, next to its unparalleled performance, is fleet-wise logistic advantages. 

ARLINGTON, Va. BAE Systems has been awarded a $32 million prototype agreement by the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) to integrate a Hybrid Electric Drive (HED) system onto a Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

LIVERMORE, Calif. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems (Irvine, California) have reached a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) to develop innovative compact and robust telescopes for nanosatellites; it is hoped that In the future small satellites will use the advanced optical imaging payloads to collect information for remote sensing data users.