TYSONS CORNER, VA, February 24, 2021 — Roger Krone, chairman and CEO of Leidos (NYSE: LDOS) and a 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, shared his views about pursuing complementary merger and acquisition deals and competing for big information technology contracts in the current federal market landscape, GovCon Wire reported Feb. 16.

The Space Development Agency plans to release a solicitation in August to buy 150 satellites and expects those spacecraft to be in orbit by 2024 to support the development of a multilayered system designed to improve surveillance and transmit data to weapons and ground systems, Federal News Network reported Tuesday. “What our architecture is based on is proliferation and spiral development,” Derek Tournear, director of SDA and a 2021 Wash100 Award winner, said Tuesday at a Space Foundation event.

Northrop Grumman completed an engineering and manufacturing development baseline review for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program in November 2020. More than 100 people participated in the three-day virtual EMD baseline assessment of GBSD, which included a review of user requirements, configuration elements and program data.

Errol Farr, former senior director of strategy and business development at AeroVironment, has joined Auterion to serve as the drone software company's vice president for government business development. Farr will oversee business development activities related to Auterion's offerings to security and defense customers, the company said Wednesday.

A new five-year Research and Markets forecast says increased global military spending in battle communication or network-centric warfare systems will help steer the software-defined radio market's direction. The research company said Wednesday it estimates that the worldwide market for SDR products will grow more than 6 percent over the next five years and expects the defense segment to experience the highest growth rate.

Lisa Callahan, vice president and general manager of commercial civil space at Lockheed Martin, has provided an update on the company's partnership with Blue Origin for the development of a new system that would help astronauts land on the lunar surface, TechCrunch reported Friday.

Epirus, a Los Angeles-based developer of high-powered microwave technology for defense and commercial applications, has raised $70M in a Series B fundraising round led by Bedrock Capital. The new capital will fund production of SmartPower, an Epirus technology designed to facilitate HPM transmission with the use of gallium nitride semiconductors.

Aireon has partnered with the Federal Aviation Administration to allow FAA to access and develop use cases for the company’s space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast data in air traffic management.

Lockheed Martin will serve as the presenting sponsor for a space-themed program launched by the U.S. Air Force Association in an effort to encourage students to take up careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Thomas Campbell, a former general manager for L3Harris Technologies, has been named president of Made In Space, a Redwire subsidiary focused on in-space manufacturing technology. Campbell will lead activities under a portfolio of in-space production technologies, and will succeed Andrew Rush, who will serve as Redwire's chief operating officer on a full-time basis, the company said Wednesday.

Accenture has formed Accenture Cloud First under a three-year, $3 billion investment. The division will help clients accelerate digital transformation to increase speed and scale. Accenture has appointed Karthik Narain to lead Accenture Cloud First and join the Global Management Committee, effective October 1. Accenture Cloud First is a multi-service group of 70,000 cloud professionals that will leverage Accenture’s industry and technology capabilities and ecosystem partnerships.

Leidos’ Dynetics subsidiary has started developing a spacecraft called Autonomous Logistics Platform for All-Moon Cargo Access under a potential $253M contract with NASA to develop human landing systems for the agency’s lunar mission by 2024, CNBC reported Wednesday.