Ursa Major will work to advance the development of its Draper and Arroway engines to support government programs on hypersonics defense and space launch under a contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory.  The rocket propulsion company said it was tasked with creating and testing the prototype of its 4000-pound-thrust closed cycle hydrogen peroxide engine […] More

Ursa Major has received a contract from the U.S. Air Force to develop an engine designed to produce 5,000 pounds of thrust and power rockets for low-Earth orbit satellite deployment. The company said Wednesday it will also test multiple “Hadley” engines and provide datasets to the Air Force Research Laboratory on performance parameters such as […] More

Rocket propulsion company Ursa Major Technologies has raised $85 million in a round of Series C funding led by accounts and funds managed by BlackRock and will use the capital to ramp up the development and production of liquid rocket engines for hypersonic and launch applications. Ursa Major said Tuesday it intends to manufacture one […] More

Spire Global and Ursa Space Systems have teamed up to merge their capabilities and help U.S. federal agency clients track illegal activity in the maritime domain. Spire will provide automatic identification system data and combine it with synthetic aperture radar imagery sourced by Ursa Space to help detect and monitor “dark” ships that may be […] More

Will Roper, a seasoned defense and technology leader and three-time Wash100 Award winner, has been added to the operating executive board of private equity firm J.F. Lehman & Company. As an OEB member, Roper will contribute to strategy formation, investment inquiry and portfolio maintenance of the organization’s designated sectors of aerospace, defense, maritime, government and environmental, JFLCO said Wednesday. […] More

Chantilly, Va.-based AMERICAN SYSTEMS had an active 2016 with key events that included a major fifth-generation fighter jet testing services contract win and new health information technology services offerings for agencies — two key areas of growth for the government services contractor. Joe Kopfman, a four-decade company veteran, is one of the key leaders over those endeavors in his dual […] More

The beltway was hopping this week with major moves and mergers. Across our media properties, we tracked news at the FBI, a changing of the guard at DoD and the changing faces at some of GovCon“™s executive tables. ExecutiveGov topped the news this week with reports that Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta will replace […] More

QinetiQ North America is more than the “robot company,“ Steve Stratton, vice president for business development there, says. For a billion-dollar government-contracting giant, its mentality is that of a “nimble start-up,“ with competencies in survivability products, service-oriented architecture and cybersecurity, he explains. And, as the nation and the industry rebound from an uncertain economic climate, […] More

ExecutiveBiz recently had a chance to speak with Don Morrison, VP of Contracts at Lockheed Martin, Information Systems & Government Services.  He told us about why fixed-price contracting isn’t always the best solution, and spoke about the current push for in-sourcing and why the federal government and government contracting are equally affected by the shortage […] More