The Defense Department has required a modular approach for the design of the U.S. Air Force‘s Long-Range Strike Bombers to allow future incremental modifications on the aircraft’s systems, Defense One reported Thursday. Marcus Weisgerber writes Frank Kendall, DoD acquisition chief and an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2015, told reporters the LRS-B program has […] More

United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno has said the company seeks to retire the medium-lift version of its Delta IV rocket between 2018 and 2019, Defense News reported Sunday. Aaron Mehta writes Bruno told Defense News during a March 3 interview the company identified cost as a challenge in having both the Delta IV and […] More

The U.S. Air Force is looking to outsource the operations of its wideband global satellite communications network to a commercial company by 2016, Defense News reported Thursday. Aaron Mehta writes that the goal is to allow Air Force crews to focus on the battle management aspect of the satellite constellation. Crew members at present work to track […] More

Northrop Grumman is showcasing the U.S. Air Force‘s RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 at the Avalon Air Show in Australia, where it arrived following a 3,500-mile flight from Guam, Defense News reported Saturday. Aaron Mehta writes that this is the first time that the drone has been exhibited at an international air show. “It’s a tremendous opportunity, not just for defense […] More

Northrop Grumman is looking to convert an unused space at the Palmdale, California-based F-35 facility into a production area for a new aircraft, Defense News reported Thursday. Aaron Mehta writes the government-owned, contractor-operated Air Force Plant 42 site has a one-million-square-foot vacant area. Tom Vice, Northrop’s president of aerospace systems, told reporters “this site has very […] More

Northrop Grumman has formed two internal teams to design and build a “sixth-generation” fighter in anticipation of future aircraft requirements at the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, Defense News reported Thursday. Aaron Mehta writes Tom Vice, vice president at Northrop’s aerospace business, said the company also named a program manager to lead new fighter […] More

The Defense Information Systems Agency has eased security restrictions on certain data classes in order to shorten the period of cloud services procurements, Federal Times reported Monday. Gregory Garcia, executive director of the Army Information Technology Agency, expects Defense Department to migrate its applications to the cloud five years from now, Aaron Boyd reports. “This will […] More

Elbit Systems of America has been awarded a $106 million contract to upgrade four Grumman C-1A aircraft for Brazil’s navy. The company will upgrade the aircraft’s engine, avionics, communication and ECS technologies and air-to-air refueling system, Elbit Systems of America said Tuesday. Elbit Systems of America will perform work for five years at the San Antonio, Texas-based […] More

Domingo Urena Raso, executive vice president for military aircraft at Airbus Defense and Space, has indicated how industry has started to come together and collectively look at new ways to defend intellectual property against cyber threats, Defense News reported Monday. “It’s a common enemy today when you talk about the cyber attacks,” Raso told audiences […] More

The F-35 Joint Program Office aims to increase competition for work to build new training and simulation systems for the fighter program, Defense News reported Thursday. Aaron Mehta writes Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the F-35 JPO’s executive officer, said the office could seek competitive bids on the Deployable Mission Rehearsal Trainer development contract. “I think […] More

Domingo Urena Raso, executive vice president for military aircraft at Airbus‘ defense and space business, said that international industry cooperation is possible to address demand for technology around the world, Defense News reported Sunday. “Industry knows how to cooperate internationally.. there is not a program that is made only by one company as far as I remember,” Raso […] More

An agreement between Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Defense Department for the eighth F-35 batch includes a provision to deliver some of the fighters to U.S. partner nations, Defense News reported Monday. Aaron Mehta writes Lockheed is scheduled to begin low-rate initial production of 43 additional F-35s for U.S. and allied forces in 2016. Israel, […] More