Government Technology

General Atomics has conducted lightning simulation tests on a full-scale MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft last month at a company facility in Poway, Calif. The company said Tuesday engineers from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. and NTS Pittsfield tested the MQ-9B that was equipped with lightning protection technology. GA-ASI plans to integrate the same technology into its proposed unmanned aerial […] More

Textron‘s Bell subsidiary has conducted the first public demonstration of the V-280 Valor tiltrotor prototype for the U.S. Army’s capability demonstration program, which is expected to be completed in 2019, Defense News reported Wednesday. The aircraft reached 170 knots in the first pass and 175 knots in the second pass of the demonstration while on hover […] More

Raytheon has received a patent from the U.S. government for a system that works to collect real-time distance and speed readings from the laser radar-generated data stream. Joe Marron, a Raytheon optical engineer, invented the technology that received the U.S. patent number 10,000,000, the company said Tuesday. Marron and the company filed a patent application […] More

The Energy Department has selected Hewlett Packard Enterprise to provide a supercomputer for DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration to process simulation and modeling workloads intended for science, energy and national security applications. HPE will deploy the Astra supercomputer at Sandia Labs Laboratories as part of the Vanguard program, the company said Monday. Astra is based on the Arm […] More

Factom has received a Department of Homeland Security grant worth $192,380 to start beta testing of a blockchain technology designed to secure data in connected devices. DHS said Friday the Austin, Texas-based company will evaluate a combination of blockchain and critical infrastructure sensor technologies in an outside location with minimal connectivity under the final phase of the Silicon Valley Innovation […] More

ViON has received a contract potentially worth $22 million annually to assist the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the procurement of server and data storage products. The company said Thursday it aims to provide CoPA access to the firm’s MarketPlace platform built to help customers manage product research, delivery, acceptance, billing and authorization processes. Tom Frana, ViON […] More

Blockchain is likely to gain traction in the federal government in the next fiscal year as agencies seek offers for contracts related to the distributed ledger technology, Bloomberg Government reported Thursday. The Office of Personnel Management, Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Postal Service are among the agencies that have issued solicitations for contracts […] More

The unmanned systems division of Kratos Defense and Security Solutions has been awarded a potential five-year, $10.2 million contract to provide engineering services for a U.S. government agency. The agency’s name and other details are being withheld due to a number of considerations. Work will take place at company and government facilities and will support […] More

A Rockwell Collins-built radio technology has passed an evaluation to comply with security requirements for operation with the Defense Department‘s military satellite communications system. The company said Wednesday its AN/PRC-162 software-defined military radio worked in conjunction with the latest version of the Mobile User Objective System during tests led by the U.S. Navy‘s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. […] More

The Department of the Navy has awarded KeyW a potential five-year, $43.7 million contract to help the Naval Research Laboratory’s Physical Acoustics Branch develop sea acoustic techniques. DON announced the contract award in a notice posted Wednesday on the Federal Business Opportunities website. Work covers the development of modeling algorithms and computational tools to support the creation of structural acoustics […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed hot-fire tests of a RL10 engine thrust chamber assembly that was built using three-dimensional printing technology. The company said Wednesday the latest test series follows an initial demonstration of a 3D-printed copper alloy thrust chamber and nickel alloy main injector last year. Eileen Drake, president and CEO of Aerojet Rocketdyne, said hot-fire tests […] More