General

The U.S. Air Force has received the first EC-37B Compass Call electronic warfare aircraft from BAE Systems and L3Harris Technologies as part of efforts to enhance EW capabilities of air, surface and special operations forces. The service branch will start combined developmental and operational testing of the next-generation aircraft designed to launch jamming attacks against adversarial communications, radars and navigation systems. More

Boeing has received the Raytheon-made B-52 active electronically scanned array radar that will be utilized for system integration, verification and testing activities under a U.S. Air Force modernization program. Raytheon used AESA technologies from AN/APG-79 radar as basis for the B-52 radar, which is envisioned to have better mapping and detection range and enable more simultaneous target engagements. More

Rocket Lab has booked a follow-on contract from Leidos to carry out additional launches for the latter's hypersonic test project with the U.S. Navy. The deal covers four missions to support the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed program, managed by the Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane Division, and follows an initial large-scale test in June that used Rocket Lab's Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron platform. More

NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne have wrapped up 25 years of rocket engine testing collaboration that supported 44 national space launches. The engine builder's hydrogen-fueled RS-68 technology helped government customers launch key missions, such as the U.S. Air Force-led Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Program, while working with NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. More

BWX Technologies will evaluate the viability of fielding small-scale nuclear reactors as a potential energy resource in the state of Wyoming under a two-year contract with the Wyoming Energy Authority. BWXT's advanced technologies subsidiary will perform contract work in two phases. More

The White House has received voluntary commitments from eight companies to help foster secure, safe and trustworthy development of artificial intelligence tools. Adobe, Cohere, IBM, Nvidia, Palantir, Salesforce, Scale AI and Stability have committed to adhering to three principles of responsible AI development in support of the current administration's efforts to manage AI risks. More

Collins Aerospace, an RTX subsidiary, has begun the production of a 1-megawatt electric generator to power future manned and unmanned military platforms as part of an Air Force Research Laboratory initiative. The electric power generation system moved into the manufacturing phase after the company concluded engineering work and completed the detailed design review phase of the program. More

ECS helped the Defense Microelectronics Activity gain clearance to use a ServiceNow-supported cloud environment for handling sensitive government data. DMEA, a laboratory within the Department of Defense, achieved the first authorization to operate in the ServiceNow National Security Cloud and seeks to modernize some of the agency's information technology processes using the platform. More

Amy Hopkins, vice president and general manager of national security space at Peraton, said opportunities to achieve space dominance might come temporarily and require collaboration across the U.S. military to maximize those chances to the fullest. She added that there would be "episodic instances of space superiority" and the U.S. military should focus on ensuring that it is efficiently prepared and trained to maximize its effects. More

Parry Labs and EpiSci have teamed up to leverage edge cloud computing and autonomy to boost the combat strength of the U.S. Air Force. The collaboration seeks to introduce tactical autonomy capabilities in support of Department of Defense-led uncrewed and wingman aircraft initiatives. More

Parry Labs and EpiSci have teamed up to leverage edge cloud computing and autonomy to boost the combat strength of the U.S. Air Force. The collaboration seeks to introduce tactical autonomy capabilities in support of Department of Defense-led uncrewed and wingman aircraft initiatives. More

At the start of 2023, the artificial intelligence industry saw a major boom with the release of numerous large language models and generative AI tools. The CIA's Jennifer Ewbank explained that within the Intel Community, leaders are grappling with how to use these advancements to their advantage while defending against adversarial uses of AI. Watch her full video interview with Executive Mosaic for more. More