Summer Myatt

Northrop Grumman said Monday that engine tests have begun on the B-21 Raider, a strategic bomber aircraft the company is developing with the U.S. Air Force. Northrop Grumman built the first B-21 Raider test unit as production representative. The defense contractor also incorporated sustainment strategies during the design phase. More

ABL Space Systems has received a $15 million contract from the Space Systems Command to execute a responsive space launch demonstration. SSC's Assured Access to Space office awarded the contract under the Small Business Innovative Research Strategic Funding Initiative program in support of its Tactically Responsive Space initiatives. More

Leidos has received a potential five-year, $12 million prime contract from the Federal Trade Commission to oversee and manage the agency's cyber and enterprise security operations. Under the firm-fixed-price award, the company will establish a security operations center and provide related information technology security tools as part of implementing a SOC-as-a-service program for the organization. More

Rob Warren, a senior executive with over 15 years of experience at CACI International, has joined ECS as vice president responsible for leading its capture organization and helping accelerate company growth. As capture VP, Warren also has oversight of ECS' strategy development and contract award pursuits. More

The Government Accountability Office has cleared General Dynamics Information Technology as the awardee of all initial task orders under a Department of the Air Force contract for various security services, from personnel to cyber defense. The $4.5 billion Security Support Services indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has a base period of performance of five years and an option period of five years. The contract goes into effect on Nov. 15. More

Spire Global's U.S. subsidiary will help the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research the use of global navigation satellite system reflectometry observations to gauge ocean surface wind and other characteristics. Work is under a Commercial Weather Data Pilot OSW contract supported by NOAA’s Commercial Data Program. More

Jared Novick was elevated to the role of chief operating officer at Sidus Space, where he previously served as senior vice president of strategy and special projects. The executive joined the space and defense-as-a-service company in mid-2023, bringing experience as a civil servant in the intelligence community. More

Kelle Wendling, president of the space systems sector at L3Harris Technologies, said the Melbourne, Florida-based aerospace and defense contractor is in discussions with satellite bus suppliers that could serve as potential partners as it competes for new government contracts. More

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has started soliciting concepts that could be developed into new technologies to enable warfighters to defend and protect space systems from adversaries as part of the space superiority topic of DARPA’s Bringing Classified Innovation to Defense and Government Systems program. More

CACI has finished the Optical Communication Terminal Interoperability Testing for its CrossBeam OCT as part of the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture program. Now, CrossBeam OCT's evaluation is able to progress with optical payloads to further demonstrate its interoperability. More

The U.S. Navy has commissioned the USS Marinette, a Freedom-class littoral combat ship constructed by Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri's Marinette Marine shipyard. The vessel, which was named after a city in Wisconsin, was delivered to the Navy in February and inaugurated on Saturday in Menominee, Michigan. More

Secure collaboration platform provider Mattermost has expanded its partner network to increase support for Microsoft and Atlassian tools and drive the adoption of artificial intelligence, DevSecOps and zero trust architecture across the Department of Defense and the federal government. SOS International partnered with Mattermost to serve as the primary interface for reviewing analysis results for Exovera's exoINSIGHT AI-powered tool that uses open-source data to support machine learning operations. More