ExecutiveBiz ExecutiveBiz covers emerging companies in Washington's government contracting sector.

Vertex Aerospace will operate and maintain base supplies for 178 T-1A Jayhawk jet trainers used by the Air Education and Training Command under a $65.6M contract from the U.S. Air Force.

SpaceX is slated to launch an updated Dragon space vehicle aboard the Falcon 9 rocket Dec. 5 to the International Space Station as part of NASA's 21st Commercial Resupply Services mission.

Scott Stapp, former vice president of resiliency and rapid prototyping within Northrop Grumman's space systems sector, has been promoted to chief technology officer. Stapp will report to Kathy Warden, chairman, CEO and president of Northrop and five-time Wash100 Award recipient.

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has incorporated a propulsion technology built by NASA into a spacecraft designed to support the agency's demonstration of its first planetary defense capability.

The Department of Defense has approved a CompTIA certification exam designed to measure cybersecurity skills necessary to conduct penetration testing and manage vulnerabilities in an information technology system.

Gilat Satellite Networks' Wavestream subsidiary has secured a delivery order of an undisclosed sum to provide a high-power 50-watt Ka-band block upconverter in support of a U.S. military communications program.

Naval Air Systems Command is searching for technologies that could support its plans to pursue digital transformation, as well as address its related challenges and meet technology need. NAVAIR said Monday in a SAM notice it seeks white papers on projects that align with the command's digital modernization plan.

John Coleman, formerly chief of staff for the 1st Marines Expeditionary Force, has joined tracking technology company LocatorX's advisory board. Coleman will contribute to company's board his more than 40 years of experience from both military and commercial sectors, LocatorX said Tuesday.

TIAG and Google Cloud have partnered to develop and provide services that address customers' cloud integration requirements. The partnership will allow TIAG to use Google's cloud platform and network to help customers integrate and consolidate cloud assets, TIAG said Wednesday.

Gary Newgaard, vice president of public sector at Pure Storage, wrote in an article published Tuesday on FedTech Magazine how artificial intelligence and big data could help government agencies carry out their missions by gleaning insights from large data volumes.  

Lockheed Martin has invested $750K in Canada-based artificial intelligence company DarwinAI to help the latter operationalize a project that seeks to accelerate diagnosis of COVID-19 through chest X-ray scans. Lockheed made the investment in DarwinAI through its Canadian arm and as part of the Industrial Technological Benefits policy.

DXC Technology has collaborated with Infinia ML to advance machine learning and data analytics, DXC announced Tuesday. The partnership will work to help customers manage and drive stronger performance and value from IT enterprises. DXC will leverage Infinia ML’s machine learning capabilities across its Enterprise Technology Stack.

Inmarsat and Singapore-based communications firm Addvalue Innovation have introduced a service to facilitate data transfer between low-Earth orbit small satellites and ground stations. The partnership commissioned the Inter-satellite Data Relay System service Nov. 12 on Sequoia, a Capella Space synthetic aperture radar microsatellite, and launched the IDRS offering after completion of a live data connectivity demonstration, Inmarsat said Monday.

Jacobs has acquired The Buffalo Group, a provider of advanced cyber and intelligence solutions. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. "Defending our nation against adversarial threats is growing in complexity. The Buffalo Group's leading cyber and intelligence capabilities further strengthens our suite of national priority solutions across integrated multi-domain environments," said Jacobs chair and CEO Steve Demetriou. 

Avantus Federal, formerly known as E3/Sentinel, and rocket developer Interorbital Systems have agreed to jointly offer space launch services to the federal sector under a strategic partnership agreement.