Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden sees even more consolidation among top-tier defense contractors in the next 20 years, but the reduction in traditional firms will likely be offset by a surge in new entrants, particularly in the cyber and space domains.
Fighter pilots can’t yet fire lasers on their real jets, but a new wargame series will let them try it out in cyberspace. Armed with computers and virtual reality headsets, F-16 pilots, F-15E weapon system officers, and an E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System air ...
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning ...
Northrop Grumman bested L3 Harris to win the right to develop a Next-Generation Electronic Warfare system for Air Force F-16s, potentially worth $2.5 billion in production, the company and Air Force officials reported. The development contract is worth $250 million, and if successful, installs could ...
The Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin Space up to $4.9 billion for three geosynchronous Earth-orbiting space vehicles, plus ground mission software, as part of the Overhead Persistent Infrared next-generation space-based missile warning systems. OPIR will eventually include the three GEO satellites from Lockheed, along with two ...
The Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile failed to fly in a planned test launch, due to mechanical errors, not the missile design, sources reported. The problem follows captive-carry test flight issues during the spring and summer, which led to a HAWC prototype being damaged. ...
Lockheed Martin will buy Aerojet Rocketdyne, maker of rocket motors and hypersonic engines, among other products, in a $5 billion transaction, Lockheed announced Dec. 21. The biggest issue in the potential deal is how comfortable the industry, Congress, and the Pentagon will be with all ...
Three companies will move on to flight experiments as part of the Air Force’s Skyborg drone program, the service said Dec. 7. Kratos earned $37.8 million, Boeing earned $25.7 million, and General Atomics earned $14.3 million to continue on in the program, the Air Force ...
The Department of the Air Force’s Advanced Manufacturing Olympics showcase kicked off this week with a look at where military sustainment has come so far and what more it has to accomplish. The event began over the summer, with multiple challenges where 64 teams can ...
The Air Force said Oct. 13 it plans to choose a long-range radar in early 2021 to replace the aging AN/TPS-75, an effort that has been underway for several years. Late last month, the service held live-fly demonstrations to vet radars offered by Lockheed Martin, ...
The Air Force Research Laboratory wants to make its budding swarm of semi-autonomous weapons smarter. “Golden Horde” aims to connect munitions like Boeing’s Small Diameter Bomb I in a swarm that can work through a list of targets on its own, and that could redirect ...
Air Force researchers in October will test whether a software version of the service’s developmental weapons swarm can make its way through a combat mission and reroute itself as conditions change. The demonstration is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Golden Horde initiative, a ...