Industry News

Drive System Design‘s North American subsidiary has established a new facility in Michigan to support the design, test and development of defense vehicles. The facility is meant to help the defense industry build vehicles that consume less fuel without compromising lethality or passenger safety, the engineering consultancy said Friday. “Improving fuel consumption has a direct impact on the safety […] More

General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems business has flown an extended-range version of its Avenger remotely piloted aircraft for 23.4 hours continuously. The Avenger Extended Range RPA set a new endurance record and surpassed a flight test goal of 20 hours, General Atomics said Thursday. During the test, the Avenger ER operated in an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance configuration while performing a simulated […] More

The University of Nebraska’s National Strategic Research Institute has received a $92 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to provide research, development and engineering services. NSRI will also conduct mission-related research efforts such as test, evaluation and systems analysis of U. S. Strategic Command-related topics, the Defense Department said Thursday. The institute will perform work at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln […] More

A new General Services Administration report says vendors that won spots on a potential 15-year, $50 billion contract for telecommunications services have made progress in testing back-office systems they will implement in support of that contract, FCW reported Thursday. GSA released an update Wednesday on each company’s effort to perform Business Support Systems tests as […] More

Kratos Defense and Security Solutions has established a facility in New South Wales, Australia, that will offer target/tactical autonomous drones and range support systems to defense clients in the country. The company said Thursday it opened the NSW office as its partner Air Affairs Australia expanded operations with a new facility and relocated headquarters. Eric DeMarco, president and […] More

The State Department has approved Australia’s request to buy M795 155mm high-explosive projectiles from the U.S. government under a potential $148 million foreign military sales transaction. Australia plans to use the howitzer ammunition to build up homeland defense capability, deter regional threats and meet its operational readiness training needs, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Thursday. […] More

NASA has modified its contract with Boeing for the transportation of astronauts to and from the International Space Station in a move that could potentially extend crewed flight test to up to six months and add a third crew member to the test flight. The agency said Friday the revised Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract […] More

NT Concepts has teamed up with artificial intelligence systems provider Veritone to facilitate the delivery of the latter company’s AI platform to federal agency clients. Veritone’s aiWARE works to help analysts expedite the analysis of large data workloads and streamline file processing through an ecosystem of cognitive engines, NT Concepts said Monday. The platform is […] More

ICF has received a pair of multimillion dollar contracts from the General Services Administration to help the US. government establish two centers of excellence that will focus on service delivery analytics and customer experience. Both projects are part of the White House’s Information Technology Modernization Plan and each contract has one base year plus two option years, ICF said Wednesday. “We’re thrilled […] More

Mercury Systems has received the International Aerospace Quality Group certification for quality management at its facilities in Alabama, California, Indiana and Switzerland. The company said Thursday the Aerospace Standard 9100D certification adds to the  AS9100C and/or ISO 9001 designations given to its other sites. Dean Holman, senior director for global mission assurance at Mercury Systems, said the company […] More

The U.S. Air Force and HRL Laboratories have entered an agreement to test materials produced through additive manufacturing, or three-dimensional printing, for potential future use in hypersonic aircraft. Scientists from the Air Force Research Laboratory tested silicon oxycarbide materials that HRL manufactured using 3D printing technology and pre-ceramic resin chemistry, the Defense Logistics Agency said Wednesday. The Cooperative Research […] More

Orbital ATK has tested a rocket motor technology at its Promontory, Utah, facility in preparation for a scheduled April 2019 test of a spacecraft system designed to keep astronauts safe if a problem occurs during ascent. NASA and Lockheed Martin intend to use an SR 118 motor for the Ascent Abort 2 Flight Test that will evaluate the Orion capsule’s launch […] More