General Atomics’ aeronautical systems business used an MQ-20 Avenger unmanned aircraft to demonstrate its open standards-based autonomy architecture for unmanned combat air vehicles and a U.S. government-owned communications capability, dubbed Waveform X, during a flight test in November. The live test flight held at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.’s flight operations facility in El Mirage, California, used three L3Harris Technologies-built software-defined radios to support command and control, line of sight and data movement capabilities through the nonproprietary Waveform X platform, the company said Tuesday.

Digital transformation services provider DMI has secured a $27 million contract to provide on-site application hosting and monitoring services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's data centers in Atlanta, Georgia. DMI said Thursday the contract encompasses software and data management enhancements to CDC applications to boost the delivery of health services to the public.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. and two partners conducted in November a flight test to demonstrate the ability of the MQ-20 Avenger to carry out a multi-objective collaborative combat mission and close the find, fix, track, target, engage and assess engagement chain using various autonomy technologies. GA-ASI said Tuesday it had provided its weapon-target pairing and electronic warfare autonomy skills for the flight test, which took place at the company's Desert Horizon Flight Operations Facility in California.

Artis completed a demonstration of Sentinel, its third-generation active protection system for military vehicles under airborne or top-attack threats. The company showcased the cost-effectiveness of the technology compared to its previous Iron Curtain APS, which did not reach the fielding phase due to the high system maturity cost.

NASA has increased funding for two commercial space stations meant to succeed the International Space Station, which is scheduled to retire in 2030. The agency announced Friday that it added $57.5 million for the Starlab station of Voyager Space’s exploration segment, as well as $42 million to the Orbital Reef station conceptualized by Blue Origin.

The U.S. Army sealed a $50 million undefinitized contract action agreement with BAE Systems for the construction of M777 lightweight howitzer major structures. The transaction allows BAE to restart production of the titanium structures, the first lot of which is expected for delivery in 2025, the company said Thursday.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded Sierra7 a contract to help the Office of Information Technology Privacy Services conduct privacy impact assessments for data within the VA's electronic information systems. Sierra7 said Wednesday the PIA tracking contract will support Privacy Services in assessing privacy risks in information systems that collect and store personally identifiable information and protected health information data.

The Defense Intelligence Agency is soliciting white papers through the NeedipeDIA broad agency announcement for possible innovative ideas from industry and academia to help address mission critical requirements. According to a SAM.gov notice for the follow-on solicitation, the agency is in need of capabilities that could assist in advancing the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations.

Decision Lens will help the Office of the Secretary of Defense streamline its processes by modernizing the current manual approach to taking in and prioritizing more than 350 department projects. The company said Wednesday its software will be used by the Department of Defense's OSD Office of Innovation & Modernization for enabling automated project submission capability and facilitating submission and prioritization processes.

Koniag Government Services has launched its Strategic Partner Program for small businesses and welcomed DecisionPoint and Leisnoi Government Services as the initiative's inaugural participants. The program is aimed at exposing small businesses to new customers and opportunities in the government contracting landscape.

The U.S. Air Force used predictive maintenance applications enabled by artificial intelligence and data analytics to lower maintenance costs and ensure mission readiness, wrote Liz Martin, Department of Defense director at Amazon Web Services. In an article published Thursday, Martin explained the Predictive Analytics and Decision Assistant, co-developed by the Air Force and C3 AI and launched in AWS GovCloud.

The Potomac Offices Club will hold the 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 21, 2024. Register now.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency has begun seeking information on potential industry sources capable of providing unbiased operational assessments of technologies and capabilities. A notice posted Thursday on SAM.gov said that the potential five-year contract will support the assessment of the comparative functionality and interoperability of platforms designed for explosive ordnance disposal and counter weapons of mass destruction missions.

Join the Potomac Officers Club's 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 31. Register here.