The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has selected Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing subsidiary, to commence the development of a full-scale aircraft that uses active flow control for flight control. Aurora will build and demonstrate the X-65 aircraft under the third phase of the Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors program, DARPA said Wednesday.

Aurora Flight Sciences, Bell Textron, Northrop Grumman and Piasecki Aircraft Corp. have begun designing prototypes of an experimental military aircraft capable of vertical take-off and landing under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency initiative. DARPA expects one of the contractors to finish designing, prototyping, building and demonstrating the VTOL aircraft by spring of 2027 as part of the Speed and Runway Independent Technologies program.

L3Harris has taken multiple steps forward in its responsibilities under a U.S. Air Force contract to modernize avionics for the C-130H aircraft. These achievements include the first flight and delivery of the initial round of prototype aircraft for developmental and operational assessment, the Melbourne, Florida-headquartered company announced on Thursday.

The U.S. Air Force used predictive maintenance applications enabled by artificial intelligence and data analytics to lower maintenance costs and ensure mission readiness, wrote Liz Martin, Department of Defense director at Amazon Web Services. In an article published Thursday, Martin explained the Predictive Analytics and Decision Assistant, co-developed by the Air Force and C3 AI and launched in AWS GovCloud.

The Potomac Offices Club will hold the 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 21, 2024. Register now.

DZYNE Technologies has secured a seven-year, $49 million contract through the Small Business Innovation Research program to conduct research and development on advanced unmanned aerial systems for the U.S. Air Force. R&D efforts will include improving flight performance, sensor capabilities and flight endurance of long endurance UAS, the Department of Defense said Tuesday.

The Potomac Officers Club will host the 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 31 to discuss the latest developments in the defense technology sector. Register here and save a seat at the highly anticipated event.

The U.S. Air Force's B-21 Raider, built by Northrop Grumman, has taken its first flight at Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, where it has been under development as the sixth-generation nuclear-capable stealth bomber. The Air Force plans to order 100 B-21 bomber aircraft with long-range and mid-air refueling capabilities to bring conventional and nuclear weapons to U.S. forces worldwide.

The U.S. Navy has fielded the RTX-built StormBreaker precision-guided glide bomb on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, providing the multirole fighter aircraft with strike capability against moving targets. RTX said Monday the F/A-18 is the first approved Navy aircraft to carry the air-to-surface weapon system to engage fixed or moving land and maritime targets in all weather conditions.

Beta Technologies has delivered its all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to undergo a series of tests as part of the U.S. Air Force's Agility Prime accelerator program. The Air Force Research Laboratory's AFWERX innovation arm and Beta Technologies plan to commence the test campaign for the Alia eVTOL aircraft on Nov. 7 at Duke Field on Eglin AFB, AFRL said Friday.

The U.S. Army has awarded Parry Labs a follow-on contract for the transition and fielding of the Gray Eagle Miniature Mission Interface software for the MQ-1C–25M aircraft. The company announced Wednesday that it was granted next-phase funding by the Army Product Manager Office - Endurance Unmanned Aircraft Systems to upgrade hardware and software as part of the Ground Modernization Software Suite.

Aeyon has booked a contract from the U.S. Marine Corps to provide the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing with financial management, logistics, internal controls and digital transformation services. Work under the award is expected to drive the efficient allocation and distribution of critical resources and improve the unit’s communication, information sharing and decision making processes, Aeyon shared with ExecutiveBiz in an email sent Friday.

The Defense Contract Management Agency, on behalf of the U.S. Army, accepted the first GE Aerospace-built flight test engine for the Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft on Sept. 28. The second T901 engine is going through the acceptance process under the Army’s Improved Turbine Engine Program and the service is set to hand over the two engines to two vendors working on two FARA competitive prototypes - Raider X from Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky business and 360 Invictus from Textron's Bell subsidiary - by the end of October.

Joby Aviation has delivered an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to the Edwards Air Force Base as part of an Agility Prime contract with the U.S. Air Force. Joby Aviation, the Air Force and NASA will work together to test the eVTOL aircraft in support of the space agency's Advanced Air Mobility campaign. AAM aims to evaluate how to incorporate aircraft like the eVTOL into the national airspace system, NASA said Tuesday.