Industry News

The U.S. Navy may take on some of the U.S. Air Force’s General Atomics-built MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicles as the latter prepares to transition to the MQ-9 Reaper drone by the end of 2018, The War Zone reported Monday. “There are a number of possibilities as to where they could go, including Air Force museums,” […] More

A General Dynamics subsidiary plans to employ an additional 2,200 workers in 2018 to support submarine engineering, design, operations and fabrication work in Groton, Connecticut, and Quonset Point, Rhode Island, The Day reported Monday. Jeffrey Geiger, president of General Dynamics Electric Boat, told state and local officials in Groton Monday that the company hired at […] More

The U.S. Navy‘s guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald arrived in Pascagoula, Mississippi on Friday to undergo repair and upgrade efforts at a Huntington Ingalls Industries  shipyard. A heavy-lift vessel transported the Arleigh Burke-class ship from Yokosuka, Japan and will stay in the Port of Pascagoula for several days before the destroyer heads to its designated pier space at HII’s facility, the Navy […] More

General Dynamics‘ ordnance and tactical systems business has awarded Orbital ATK  a follow-on contract to supply additional illuminating flares for Hydra-70 rockets that work to help warfighters defeat targets at an extended range. Orbital ATK said Monday it will provide more than illuminating flares designed to provide light that can be sensed both visually and through infrared technology. […] More

Frank Kendall, former acquisition chief of the Defense Department, has said that DoD  needs to ensure that it has “a healthy industrial base to support it” while performing its mission, USNI News reported Monday. He added that the military’s focus on readiness and force structure preservation efforts resulted in cuts to research and development funds. […] More

NASA is expected to proceed Tuesday with its live television coverage of a spacewalk on the International Space Station after Congress passed a three-week stopgap bill to end a government shutdown that went into effect Saturday, Spaceflight Now reported Monday. Astronauts Scott Tingle and Mark Vande Hei are scheduled to do a spacewalk Tuesday to […] More

Dell Technologies has selected Carahsoft to serve as a federal distributor of the former’s entire technology product line via the General Services Administration Schedule contract vehicle. Carahsoft said Monday it will sell, market and distribute Dell-built client, networking, security, servers and storage platforms to its ecosystem of partners as part of the partnership agreement. Tracy Pavillard, […] More

Rocket Lab has launched its second Electron orbital launch vehicle from the company’s launch complex on Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, into space. The rocket, nicknamed Still Testing, reached orbit 8.5 minutes after liftoff and deployed  Planet‘s Dove Pioneer satellite along with a pair of Spire‘s Lemur-2 satellites during the test flight, Rocket Lab said Sunday. Rocket Lab engineers will analyze launch data […] More

Surmet has received a $7.9 million U.S. Air Force contract to deliver research and development on the transparent advanced production process used for Aluminum Oxynitride or ALON ceramic. The Defense Department said Friday services under the small business innovation research contract aim to have ALON’s manufacturing process meet DoD requirements for transparent armor and infrared sensor windows. The Air Force obligates $1.9 million in fiscal […] More

General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems unit showcased an automatic takeoff and landing capability for the MQ-9B SkyGuardian/SeaGuardian remotely piloted aircraft via a satellite communications datalink. The company said Monday operators of an MQ-9B SkyGuardian controlled the aircraft outside General Atomics’ Gray Butte Flight Operations Center in Palmdale, California while the platform flew out of the Laguna […] More

Salesforce and IBM will combine their cloud and artificial intelligence offerings and expand their strategic partnership to help companies connect and boost collaboration with client organizations. IBM said Friday the companies will merge the IBM Cloud and Watson services with Salesforce Quip and Salesforce Service Cloud Einstein to create new IBM WatsonQuip Live applications designed to […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne provided a range of propulsion products to support the launch of the U.S. Air Force‘s fourth Lockheed Martin-built missile warning satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance-made Atlas V rocket on Friday. An Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ-60A solid rocket strap-on motor powered the Atlas V’s Centaur upper stage to transport the Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit […] More