A Heron Systems-developed artificial intelligence ‘pilot’ on an F-16 Viper jet came out undefeated against a human Air Force fighter pilot in five rounds of simulated air combat as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s AlphaDogfight Trials.

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Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket deployed four Department of Defense satellites into low-Earth orbit on Wednesday as part of a rideshare mission, C4ISRNET reported Thursday. The company’s carrier aircraft Cosmic Girl lifted off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California and released LauncherOne in midair to enable the rocket to deliver the cubesat payloads into […] More

Airbus Group has received a contract from Germany’s defense procurement agency to operate Israel Aerospace Industries-built Heron 1 unmanned aerial systems in support of German forces’ missions in Mali. Airbus’ defense and space business will begin UAS operations in Mali in November through February 2018, Airbus said Thursday. Thomas Reinartz, head of sales for unmanned […] More

Shield AI has secured $210 million in equity financing as part of Series D funding round led by Austin, Texas-based technology investor Disruptive and will use the funds to invest in artificial intelligence capabilities for military aircraft and advance growth initiatives across defense and commercial sectors. “The funding round enables Shield AI to move one […] More

The U.S. Navy has commenced the second phase of a challenge focused on utilizing autonomous technology for small unit maneuver missions. Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, the NavalX Midwest Tech Bridge and the Office of Naval Research selected eight teams to compete for the $250,000 prize as part of the  Artificial Intelligence for Small Unit Maneuvers Prize Challenge, NSWC Crane said Monday.

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded contracts to five research and industry entities to develop manned and unmanned aerial combat maneuvering concepts as part of the agency’s Air Fight Evolution initiative.

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Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory will live-stream an online event from Aug. 18 to 20 for the third and final round of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency competition that will showcase artificial intelligence algorithms in a simulated aerial combat environment.

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has postponed the final test of an automated aircraft operations program due to COVID-19-related restrictions.

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has announced the eight awardees for the second sprint of the OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics program and started to solicit proposals for the third sprint. OFFSET seeks to use swarms of up to 250 unmanned systems designed to provide ground military units with insights as they face mobility and communications […] More

IBM has launched its first modular quantum computer, IBM Quantum System Two, and a new utility-scale quantum processor called IBM Quantum Heron. IBM Quantum System Two comes with three IBM Heron processors and serves as the foundation of the company’s quantum-centric supercomputing architecture, the company said Monday.

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Virgin Orbit‘s national systems division has begun final preparations with Space Systems Command to launch a pair of research and development satellites for the U.S. Space Force from Spaceport Cornwall in Newquay, U.K.  The Space Test Program-27VPD mission will liftoff to orbit onboard Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket to perform R&D experiments to demonstrate the capability […] More

Virgin Orbit has launched seven small satellites to low Earth orbit during its first evening launch mission, dubbed Straight Up, in support of the U.S. Space Force’s Rocket Systems Launch Program. The company said Saturday its fully mobile LauncherOne rocket lifted off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in Southern California and carried all […] More