A General Atomics business unit has demonstrated aircraft carrier-based deck taxi capability and launch-and-recovery operations for its proposed offering for the U.S. Navy’s MQ-25 carrier-based unmanned aerial refueling tanker program. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. used a Predator C Avenger drone as a substitute for its MQ-25 offering and director wands that work to control taxi […] More

The U.S. Air Force plans to procure 22 lightly armed variants of the Cessna Caravan aircraft to deliver to allied governments for use in surveillance missions, FlightGlobal reported Monday. A notice posted Friday on FedBizOpps states that the Air Force wants potential vendors to supply AC-208 planes that are equipped with various weapons and sensors. Interested companies […] More

A report by Bloomberg‘s government arm says the Defense Department‘s maintenance requirements could increase amid delays facing various military aircraft programs. Robert Levinson, a senior defense analyst at Bloomberg Government, wrote in a blog post published Friday that the U.S. Air Force plans move the deployment of the Boeing-built KC-46 tanker aircraft from October 2018 to spring 2019. The […] More

The U.S. Air Force has announced plans to further test non-developmental aircraft offerings from Textron Aviation and the Sierra Nevada–Embraer team through the second phase of the Light Attack Experiment program. The service branch said Friday it will continue to experiment with Textron’s AT-6 Wolverine as well as Sierra Nevada and Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona from May to […] More

Airbus has demonstrated a capacity to launch laser guided rockets with the company-built H145M helicopter platform during a firing test held at Alvdalen test range in Sweden. The helicopter fired Thales-made FZ275 70mm air-ground rocket as part of the trials at the Swedish defense materiel administration’s test facility, Airbus said Wednesday. An MX-15D electro-optical system from L3 Technologies‘ Wescam subsidiary helped  guide rockets that […] More

A Research and Markets report forecasts the worldwide market for targeting pods will experience a 6.61 percent compound annual growth rate in the next five years as military agencies increase aircraft procurement and modernization efforts. The targeting pods market’s value is projected to increase from $3.3 billion in 2017 to $4.5 billion by 2022, Research Markets said Thursday. Lockheed Martin, L3 […] More

Frank Kendall, former acquisition chief of the Defense Department, has said that DoD  needs to ensure that it has “a healthy industrial base to support it” while performing its mission, USNI News reported Monday. He added that the military’s focus on readiness and force structure preservation efforts resulted in cuts to research and development funds. […] More

A new Research and Markets report predicts that U.S. spending on defense programs will grow 5.7 percent year-over-year to reach nearly $798 billion by 2022. The U.S. spent about $586.7 billion on defense during 2017 and is projected to have the largest defense expenditure in the world over the next four years, Research and Markets said Wednesday. The report also […] More

A new Research and Markets report predicts the global man-portable military electronics market will reach $6.4 billion by 2027 with a compound annual growth rate of 3.29 percent due to the increasing complexity of modern warfare techniques and soldier modernization efforts. The company said Friday it expects the communication segment to hold a market share of 56.7 percent over the […] More

Charter Trading has agreed to market and sell IronClad Encryption-built mobile phone and networking products to U.S. military and government clients. IronClad designed its ICE phone and ICEMicro software offerings to help customers secure data and communications, the company said Thursday. JD McGraw, CEO of IronClad Encryption, said the company seeks to offer its technology platforms to the special […] More

Reportlinker has unveiled a new report that predicts the global market for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems will reach more than $177 billion in cumulative value by 2027 at a 2.4 percent compound annual growth rate. An increasing demand for battle-space awareness and network centric warfare modernization efforts will help drive C4ISR market growth […] More

CenturyLink has hired Gaurav Chand and Shaun Andrews to serve in executive positions and directly work under Chief Operating Officer Jeff Storey. The company said Tuesday Chand, who previously worked at Dell EMC‘s infrastructure solutions group, and Andrews, formerly senior vice president for IP and real-time communications at Level 3 Communications, will serve as executive vice president for marketing […] More