BlueHalo and Stellar Sciences have secured contracts worth $49.4 million combined to support the Air Force Research Laboratory's Satellite Assessment Center at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. Both contractors will help the center advance modeling, simulation, analysis, assessment and technical capabilities necessary to protect strategic U.S. space assets, the Department of Defense said Friday.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems' XQ-67A off-board sensing station completed its inaugural flight three weeks after the company conducted high-speed taxi trials of the drone with the U.S. Air Force Laboratory. GA-ASI announced that the test flight took place on Wednesday, validating the effectiveness of a common core chassis as the genus for constructing different aircraft variants.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory provided a preview of their novel off-board sensing station as part of the service branch's Collaborative Combat Aircraft program. The XQ-67A sensing drone underwent high-speed taxi tests in preparation for flight trials that were originally set for the first half of fiscal year 2024.

A three-week field test of the Counter-Electronic High-Power Microwave Extended-Range Air Base Defense system, or CHIMERA, recently took place at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. RTX business Raytheon said Monday that it had conducted the test in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory, with whom the company is working alongside Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division and the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering to develop CHIMERA under the Directed Energy Front-line Electromagnetic Neutralization and Defeat program.

The Air Force Research Laboratory is planning a research and development project focused on techniques and processes that lead to the creation of biomaterials, bioprocesses and related technologies, and has issued a request for information for the effort. These advanced technologies are envisioned to sustain or optimize Air Force assets, according to the RFI posted Friday on SAM.gov.

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The Air Force Research Laboratory has released a five-year broad agency announcement describing the research areas of interest of the directed energy directorate. AFRL will issue standard and topic area group call announcements against the Tactical BAA to seek proposals for specific research initiatives upon identification of technical requirements, according to a SAM.gov notice published Wednesday.

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Arlington, Virginia-based Decision Lens has been chosen by the Air Force Research Laboratory to supply commercial-off-the-shelf software for the laboratory’s Digital Capabilities Directorate. Decision Lens said Wednesday its software will be utilized to assist DCD in optimizing its processes for prioritizing the portfolio of digital capabilities.

BWX Technologies has partnered with Lockheed Martin and Space Nuclear Power Corporation to contribute to an Air Force Research Laboratory program focused on advancing technologies for spacecraft employing nuclear electric power systems. Under the collaboration, the company said Wednesday it will produce and test nuclear fuels and components as well as support design and system integration at its facilities in Lynchburg, Virginia, in support of the Joint Emergent Technology Supplying On-Orbit Nuclear program.

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has issued Materion Corporation a contract to support additive manufacturing research and development efforts. Under the award, Materion will assist with the study of this production technique, which is also referred to as 3D printing, for beryllium and aluminum-beryllium alloys, the Mayfield Heights, Ohio-headquartered company announced on Monday.

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The Air Force Research Laboratory has expanded its partnership with BigBear.ai to develop composable collaborative planning technology to accelerate military planning processes. BigBear.ai said Monday it will continue to use its artificial intelligence-powered platforms to help condense the traditional operational planning timeframe from two years to less than one month, provide real-time resource data to joint planners and visualize the impacts of simultaneous plan execution.

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded Stratolaunch a contract to support the inaugural flight test of the company's second reusable Talon-A hypersonic vehicle called TA-3. The award came on the heels of a 2022 AFRL contract to facilitate the first flight of the initial configuration of the TA product line.

The Air Force Research Laboratory has advanced a two-track program that seeks to mature technologies to facilitate the development of spacecraft that use nuclear electric power systems with the award of three contracts to Lockheed Martin, Intuitive Machines and Westinghouse Government Services.