General Atomics' electromagnetic systems unit has inaugurated its customer service hub in Patuxent River, Maryland, that will serve customers such as Naval Air Systems Command and support local business growth efforts of the company. James Donnelly, director of maritime program operations at GA-EMS, will manage the office and ensure the delivery of launch and recovery systems that are intended for the U.S. Navy's Ford-class nuclear powered aircraft carriers, General Atomics said Monday. 

General Atomics' electromagnetic systems group has finished the initial design review of a system being developed with the U.S. Space Force in an effort to address military weather imagery requirements. The space and ground platforms for the Electro-Optical Infrared Weather System program completed the IDR phase, the company said Thursday.

General Atomics' aeronautical systems unit took part in an exercise where U.S. Pacific Fleet demonstrated the integrated use of unmanned platforms with other manned naval systems. The company said Wednesday its MQ-9A Block 5 unmanned aircraft system showcased its ability to connect with U.S. Navy ships and traditional jets during Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem ‘21.

The U.S. Air Force performed flights of the General Atomics-built MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft equipped with the Reaper Defense Electronic Support System and a digital recorder in Europe through remote split operations. RDESS is an electronic support measure payload that provides MQ-9 with electronic sensing capability by gathering and geolocating signals of interest from standoff ranges, while the digital recorder collects multispectral targeting pod data to further develop machine learning and artificial intelligence applications.

The aeronautical systems business of General Atomics has tapped Hexagon's U.S. federal arm to support its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance projects by providing geospatial capabilities for visualization and analysis tasks. Hexagon US Federal products under its Luciad Portfolio will be used on General Atomics Aeronautical Systems' Multi-Mission Controller and Metis projects.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded General Atomics a $22.1 million contract to support the agency’s efforts to conduct a rocket test launch in cislunar orbit. General Atomics will perform Track A contract services as part of DARPA’s Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations program, the Department of Defense said Friday.

General Atomics' aeronautical systems business and CP Technologies have partnered to build a mobile military-grade workstation that will replace the U.S. Air Force's Ruggedized Aircraft Maintenance Test Station. The Portable Aircraft Control Station will be designed and manufactured by the two companies to support direct connect aircraft pre- and post-flight operations and engine functions through the use of multi-touch displays and Intel Xeon processors, CP Technologies said Tuesday.

The General Atomics-managed DIII-D National Fusion Facility has developed a compact nuclear reactor design as part of efforts to support commercial nuclear fusion initiatives. The DIII-D facility's Compact Advanced Tokamak concept builds on the high-performance computing activities of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and well as the DIII-D team's plasma physics research work, General Atomics said Monday.

General Atomics' aeronautical systems business has recorded more than 1 million flight hours for its Gray Eagle unmanned aerial system since the aircraft's first deployment with the U.S. Army in March 2004. The Gray Eagle platform hit the milestone during March 16 flight operations conducted by the military service, the company said Wednesday.

General Atomics has partnered with Parsons to help the latter support radioactive operations at the Department of Energy's Salt Waste Processing Facility within the Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina. General Atomics' electromagnetic systems business will perform operational support and cognizant system engineering services at SWPF, which is valued at $2.3 billion and commenced full operations in January, the company said Wednesday.

General Atomics' aeronautical systems business used a new command and control software to help the U.S. Army test an extended-range unmanned aircraft system. The Gray Eagle Extended Range UAS flew on Jan. 28 for acceptance testing under the control of General Atomics' Scalable C2 software that was operated via an Army laptop, the company said Wednesday.

Nick Bucci, vice president for program development at General Atomics, said that adaptive optics will enable Laser Interconnect and Networking Communication System-enabled satellites to rapidly transmit more data to ground stations, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

General Atomics' aeronautical systems business has received the Federal Aviation Administration's approval to test a second Avenger Extended Range unmanned aircraft system in U.S. national airspace. The company said Wednesday it will use the FAA-granted experimental certificate to expand Avenger ER's testing activities for internal research and development, as well as contracted efforts.

General Atomics' electromagnetic systems business has secured a contract of an undisclosed sum from the U.S. Space Force through the Hosted Payload Solutions delivery order to launch a data collection payload aboard the Orbital Test Bed satellite.

General Atomics' aeronautics systems business has entered into an agreement with U.K.-based aerospace subsystem supplier GKN Aerospace to begin full-rate production work for the MQ-9B SkyGuardian remotely piloted aircraft's composite V-tails.