The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded a contract to DRS Technologies to update the company’s ultra-small pixel infrared focal plane arrays under DARPA’s Lambda Scale program. The FPAs work to support the functions of cooled infrared sensors to address pilot situational awareness and visibility concerns, DRS said Monday. The company uses thin-film deposition technology and a high-density capacitance […] More

Visiongain predicts in a new report that the global military smart weapons market will hit $22.32 billion in 2016. The report examines the market’s competitive landscape and identifies potential business opportunities, Visiongain said Monday. Visiongain also analyzes potential developments in the following five submarkets within the military smart weapons sector over the next 10 years: Radar-guided military […] More

A new Research and Markets report forecasts the worldwide market for missiles and missile defense platforms to grow from $23.7 billion in 2015 to $36 billion by 2025. The company said Wednesday it predicts the Asia Pacific region to spend $129.9 billion over 10 years on such weapon systems and gain a market share of […] More

NATO member countries, such as Poland and Germany, have yet to sign the final contracts to buy new missile defense systems even if they already chose the contractors for such platforms this year, Defense News reported Tuesday. Jen Judson writes that Germany and Poland expect to sign the procurement agreements in 2016. Poland tapped Raytheon […] More

Lockheed Martin is set to complete the production of its standalone launcher in October that is built to launch MBDA‘s common anti-air modular missile. The three-cell ExLS launcher is scheduled for qualification testing in late 2016, Lockheed Martin said Tuesday. Jennifer Houston-Manchester, Lockheed Martin ExLS engineering program manager, said the ExLS works to “reuse already […] More

Two Commerce Department agencies have teamed up with the Minority Business Development Agency and the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer to launch a consortium to help minority-owned enterprises develop and commercialize their technology platforms and services. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology will collaborate with MBDA […] More

A new Visiongain report forecasts the global military aircraft maintenance, repair and operations market will hit $49 billion in value in 2015. Visiongain said Friday the increasing adoption of new fighter aircraft among tier-one market players would spur growth in the industry. The 2015-2025 forecast covers maintenance aspects in operations and field, heavy airframe, heavy engine, […] More

The increasing usage of small unmanned aerial vehicles is driving industry to respond with new technologies that work to protect infrastructure and people from potential UAV threats, Defense News reported Saturday. Andrew Chuter writes that MBDA, Thales‘ subsidiary in the Netherlands and other companies have introduced new counter-UAV equipment at the recent Paris Air Show, […] More

Steve Wadey, formerly managing director of MBDA’s U.K. business, has taken on his new role as CEO at QinetiQ. Wadey, whose appointment was announced in January 2015, is tasked to steer QinetiQ’s organic-plus growth strategy and lead more than 5,000 employees in the U.K., U.S., Belgium and Australia, QinetiQ said Monday. “I am relishing my new […] More

A new Transparency Market Research report states that air-to-ground and surface-to-air missiles dominated the global smart weapons market in 2012, with further growth projected to give the market a value of $66.91 billion by 2019. The company said Thursday the market will achieve a compound annual growth rate of 10.3 percent from $34 billion in 2012 to reach the projected […] More

Lockheed Martin is looking to expand the market of its naval combat systems to other regions such as South America and Europe, Defense News reported Dec. 31. David Pugliese writes that as part of the push, the contractor is studying to make an offer to extend the life of Greece’s German-designed Meko200 frigates. “There’s obviously […] More

The Royal Air Force has collaborated with BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin to demonstrate the weapons handling system of F-35 short take-off vertical landing aircraft. BAE said Friday test pilots flew two F-35B fighters equipped with dummy Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missiles and Paveway IV laser-guided bombs during recent trials at Patuxent River Naval Air […] More