ARLINGTON, Va. The U.S. Space Force is preparing to launch the eighth mission of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-8) on August 21 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, with one of the experiments on board being a quantum inertial sensor, which is a potential alternative to GPS that uses quantum science as a tool for navigation.  

SAN DIEGO. Cubic Defense announced that it won an ID/IQ [indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity] contract award from the U.S. Air Force for activities relating to the procurement, integration, deployment, and sustainment of the entire P5 Combat Training Systems (P5CTS) inventory.  

TAIPEI, Taiwan. Rohde & Schwarz developed and delivered an integrated satellite test solution to the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) that combines electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and antenna measurement capabilities in a single chamber, the company announced in a statement.

KOUROU, French Guiana. The first satellite in Europe’s MetOp Second Generation (MetOp-SG) program, MetOp-SG A1, launched aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, the European Space Agency announced in a statement.

ARLINGTON, Virginia. Leonardo DRS completed its first open-water demonstration of a maritime Mission Equipment Package (MEP) designed for counter-uncrewed aerial system (C-UAS) operations from small uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), the company announced in a statement.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado. Northrop Grumman and U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC) integrated multiple ground-based antennas at the Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) Site 1 in Western Australia, the company announced in a statement.

PETAH TIKVA, Israel. Gilat Satellite Networks won a multimillion-dollar contract from Israel’s Ministry of Defense to deliver and integrate satellite communications (SATCOM) systems, the company announced in a statement.

BERKELEY, Calif. Artificial intelligence (AI) engineering firm Arize AI won a $1.2 million contract from AFWERX for a Direct-to-Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) to conduct a 12–month R&D-focused effort on AI engineering capabilities for large-language model (LLM) AI enhancement to address the most pressing challenges in the U.S. Air Force. 

ARLINGTON, Va. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Digital RF Battlespace Emulator (DRBE) program announced that it built the world’s largest high-fidelity, real-time virtual radio-frequency (RF) test range, saying that it enables previously unachievable scale and realism in the emulation of EW scenarios.

EVERETT, Washington. DARPA held a christening ceremony for the USX-1 Defiant, an autonomous unmanned surface vessel (USV) built under the No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program, the agency announced in a statement.

MANILA, Philippines. Lockheed Martin will expand their industrial collaboration in the Philippines’ Multi-Role Fighter program that includes a partnership with Southern Methodist University (SMU) to advance digital innovation, intellectual property creation, and workforce development, the company announced in a statement.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Vessel-construction company Tote Services won a firm-fixed-price contract with the U.S. Navy, worth as much as $311.4 million, to support the operations and maintenance of the Navy's Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX-1), which is a semi-submersible, self-propelled platform that provides ballistic missile tracking information for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). 

ANKARA, Türkiye. HAVELSAN is integrating its Corporate Artificial Intelligence Platform (MAIN) into the ADVENT Network-Enabled Data Integrated Combat Management System to enhance naval maintenance and operational decision-making, the company announced in a statement.

VILNIUS, Lithuania. Embraer Defense Europe signed several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with eight Lithuanian organizations to expand cooperation in aerospace, defense, and technology development, the company announced in a statement.

GROTON, Connecticut. ThayerMahan's Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessel (USV) platform is being acquired for use by Australia’s Maritime Border Command (MBC) and Royal Australian Navy to expand surveillance and patrol coverage, the company announced in a statement.