Tony Frazier, executive vice president for global field operations at Maxar Technologies and a 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, said the company seeks to continue applying emerging technology to support customer missions while expanding its team of professionals.

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Robert Lightfoot, vice president of strategy and business development at Lockheed Martin's space segment, has been appointed chairman of the Alabama Space Grant Consortium's Industrial Advisory Board, according to the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Lightfoot joined Lockheed in early May and oversees strategic planning efforts across space technology programs.

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NASA has awarded contracts worth $45.5M combined to study and develop human lander prototypes in the next six months in support of its Artemis lunar exploration initiative. The space agency said Friday the companies will produce prototypes of a human landing platform with descent, ascent, transfer and refueling elements and shoulder at least 20 percent of the total development cost under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships Appendix E contracts.

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United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno has said the company began to produce the initial flight hardware for the Vulcan Centaur rocket.

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The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency plans to use a C-130 aircraft to demonstrate in 2019 the launch and recovery of unmanned aircraft systems in mid-air, Fire Aviation reported Thursday. DARPA plans to equip the drones with several payloads designed to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, signals intelligence and electronic warfare missions once deployed, according to […] More

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has asked industry to provide information on novel technology platforms designed to counter small unmanned aerial systems. A request for information posted Wednesday on FedBizOpps says DARPA is interested in modular and scalable platforms that work to identify and target small drones and could complement systems that are still in […] More

Kratos Defense and Security Solutions is scheduled to begin production of unmanned aerial vehicles for an unidentified government customer by the end of the third quarter, FlightGlobal reported Tuesday. Kratos President and CEO Eric DeMarco told audience at the Jefferies 2017 Investor Conference that he expects the “confidential” UAV program to help increase Kratos’ drone […] More

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded contracts to three industry teams to develop methods to counter small unmanned aircraft systems. DARPA said Thursday teams led by Dynetics, Saab‘s defense and security business unit and SRC will develop counter-sUAS approaches under the first phase of the Mobile Force Protection program. The contracts were awarded one year […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has decided to build its AR1 rocket engine technology in Huntsville, Alabama, and create as many as 100 jobs to support production work. The company said Monday it is developing AR1 to help end U.S. dependence on foreign-made engines for national security and civil space launch programs. Eileen Drake, president and CEO of Aerojet Rocketdyne, said Huntsville is the “logical choice” for AR1 […] More

General Atomics has rolled out a mechanical arm for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency‘s Gremlins program in search of a launch-and-recovery system for unmanned aerial systems in-flight, Breaking Defense reported Monday. Sydney Freedberg writes General Atomics built the system catch drones in the air and haul collected units into the back of a cargo aircraft. Chris Pehrson, General […] More

Kenneth Callicutt, director of capability and resource integration at the U.S. Strategic Command, has said unmanned aircraft vehicles could be deployed in non-permissive environments, operate as part of a network and expand manned aircraft’s “sensor net,” Aviation International News reported Tuesday. Bill Carey writes Callicutt made the remarks Tuesday at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space […] More

Vernon Joyner, formerly technical director for the advanced mission solutions group at Dynetics, has joined Ensco as manager of the company’s national security solutions division, effective April 30. Ensco President Boris Nejikovsky said Thursday Joyner brings three decades of experience in system engineering, software development, organizational leadership and program management to the Falls Church, Virginia-based engineering firm. […] More