Industry News

Unmanned

NAVAIR inks $24.3 million in contract mods for unmanned aerial drone systems - News

March 02, 2018

Lisa Daigle - Assistant Managing Editor, Military Embedded Systems Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has signed a $24.3 million contract modification with Kratos Defense & Security Solutions' Unmanned Systems Division (USD) to exercise an option for the low-rate initial production of the Subsonic Aerial Target BQM-177A and technical data.

Avionics

U.S. Navy, Boeing sign contract to modernize F/A-18 Super Hornet fleet - News

March 02, 2018

Lisa Daigle - Assistant Managing Editor, Military Embedded Systems Boeing

ST. LOUIS. Boeing has finalized a contract with the U.S. Navy to modernize the Navy's fleet of 568 F/A-18 aircraft, which is intended to extend the life of existing Super Hornets from 6,000 to 9,000-plus flight hours.

Radar/EW

U.S. Navy adds USS Manchester to the LCS fleet - News

March 02, 2018

Mariana Iriarte - Technology Editor, Military Embedded Systems U.S. Navy

MOBILE, Ala. U.S. Navy officials accepted delivery of the littoral combat ship (LCS), USS Manchester (LCS-14). Delivery marks the official transfer of LCS 14 from the shipbuilder, an Austal USA-led team, to the Navy. It is the final milestone prior to commissioning, which is planned for May in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Radar/EW

USMC approves early field of G/ATOR systems - News

March 02, 2018

Mariana Iriarte - Technology Editor, Military Embedded Systems Northrop Grumman

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) officials approved early field of Northrop Grumman's AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar (G/ATOR). This milestone follows the delivery of the final Lot 1 and Lot 2 Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) G/ATOR system to the Marines. The USMC will field their first two systems by delivering them to Marine Air Control Squadrons 1 and 2 for operational use.

Comms

Thales, Cubic partner for UK training and simulation bid - News

March 02, 2018

Mariana Iriarte - Technology Editor, Military Embedded Systems Cubic

SAN DIEGO. Cubic Global Defense (CGD), a Cubic Corp. business division, is teaming up with Thales in the U.K. to bid for the Training and Simulation Systems Programme (TSSP) Joint Fires Synthetic Training (JFST) project.

Unmanned

U.S. Navy orders high-energy laser weapons for shipboard use - News

March 01, 2018

Lisa Daigle - Assistant Managing Editor, Military Embedded Systems Lockheed Martin

BOTHELL, Wash. Lockheed Martin won a U.S. Navy contract valued initially at $150 million -- with options worth up to $942.8 million -- for the development, manufacture, and delivery of two high-power laser weapon systems that will integrate intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and counter-unmanned aerial system (counter-UAS) capabilities.

Unmanned

Royal navy's Type 26 combat ship will be equipped with Lockheed Martin's MK 41 VLS - News

March 01, 2018

Mariana Iriarte - Technology Editor, Military Embedded Systems BAE Systems

HAVANT, England. Officials at BAE Systems selected Lockheed Martin to equip the Royal navy's new Type 26 Global Combat Ship with the MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS).

Radar/EW

Surface & submarine program budget highlights - News

February 28, 2018

John M. McHale III - Editorial Director, Military Embedded Systems

WASHINGTON. Funding slated for major shipbuilding and maritime systems totals $33.4 billion under the Department of Defense (DoD) Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 acquisition funding request, an increase of $2.7 billion over the FY 2018 request. Included below are updates on programs such as the CVN 78 Gerald R. Ford Class aircraft carrier, Arleigh Burke class destroyers, the Columbia class submarine, and more.

A.I.

Airbus/IBM venture designing first AI assistant for astronauts - News

February 28, 2018

Lisa Daigle - Assistant Managing Editor, Military Embedded Systems Airbus IBM

BREMEN, Germany. Airbus and IBM are developing CIMON (Crew Interactive MObile CompanioN), an artificial intelligence (AI)-based assistant for astronauts for the DLR Space Administration in Germany (The German Aerospace Center [German: Deutsches Zentrum f?r Luft- und Raumfahrt or DLR] is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of the Federal Republic of Germany.)

Radar/EW

DoD funding highlights: Ground vehicles - News

February 28, 2018

John M. McHale III - Editorial Director, Military Embedded Systems

WASHINGTON. Funding slated for major ground systems totals $15.9 billion under the Department of Defense (DoD) Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 acquisition funding request, an increase of $4.7 billion over the FY 2018 request. Included below are updates on ground programs such as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, the Abrams Main Battle Tank, the Stryker family of vehicles, and more.

Comms

Dept. of Homeland Security contracting for biometric ID services - News

February 28, 2018

Lisa Daigle - Assistant Managing Editor, Military Embedded Systems Northrop Grumman

MACLEAN, Va. Northrop Grumman Corp. has won a $95 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM) to develop the first two increments of the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) system. Northrop Grumman's role during the 42-month project will be systems developer and integrator.

Unmanned

DoD fighter, bomber, UAS, helicopter budget procurement highlights - News

February 28, 2018

John M. McHale III - Editorial Director, Military Embedded Systems

WASHINGTON. Funding slated for major aircraft and related systems totals $55.2 billion under the Department of Defense (DoD) Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 acquisition funding request an increase of about $6 billion from the FY 2018 request. Included below are updates on programs such as the F-35, B-21 Bomber, F-15, V-22 Osprey, the AH-64E Apache, and more.

Comms

CRADA: Improving safety, performance of lithium-ion batteries - News

February 27, 2018

Mariana Iriarte - Technology Editor, Military Embedded Systems Naval Surface Warfare Center - Crane Division

CRANE, Ind. Purdue University and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) signed a new Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), which aims to align modeling efforts at Purdue with testing capabilities at NSWC Crane to achieve the common goal of improving the safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries.

Comms

DoD announces open source software experiment - News

February 27, 2018

Lisa Daigle - Assistant Managing Editor, Military Embedded Systems U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)

ARLINGTON, Va. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) recently announced the launch of Code.mil, an open source initiative that allows software developers around the world to collaborate on unclassified code written by federal employees in support of DoD projects.

Comms

U.S. Army orders several thousand mobile satellite transceivers for battlefield use - News

February 27, 2018

Lisa Daigle - Assistant Managing Editor, Military Embedded Systems Comtech Telecommunications

MELVILLE, N.Y. Comtech Telecommunications Corp. won an initial $11.7 million order to immediately provide several thousand of its next generation MT-2025 mobile satellite transceivers in support of the U.S. Army's Blue Force Tracking-2 (BFT-2) system.