Mark Skoog, a former principal investigator for autonomy research at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, has joined the board of advisers of electric first responder aircraft developer Jump Aero. Skoog will provide expertise in autonomous aircraft systems to support the development of an electric-powered vertical take-off and landing plane for emergency response missions, Jump Aero […] More

Jump Aero has received a U.S. Air Force research contract of an undisclosed sum in support of the development of an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that has potential defense application.

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Jim Bridenstine, former NASA administrator and Wash100 Award winner, has joined the advisory team of Venus Aerospace, a startup focused on developing reusable hypersonic space planes and aircraft. As a part of Venus Aerospace, Bridenstine will apply his experience as the 13th administrator of NASA, a member of Congress on the Armed Services Committee and a Navy pilot, the […] More

An AeroVironment-built vertical takeoff and landing platform has been selected as the winning vehicle for increment one of the U.S. Army’s Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System. Under an $8 million other transaction agreement, the company will build one Jump 20 system composed of six air vehicles along with ground control and data processing equipment, the Army said […] More

AeroVironment has secured a $22 million task order from U.S. Special Operations Command to provide beyond-line-of-sight intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services at an unspecified location. ISR support will be made through JUMP 20, a satellite-enabled medium unmanned aircraft system that is capable of flying for more than 14 hours at distances of around 115 miles, […] More

An AeroVironment subsidiary has won a one-year, $7 million task order to provide unmanned aerial system-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services to U.S. Special Operations Command.

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The aeronautics business of General Atomics plans to put forward a modified version of its MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft system to address the U.S. Army's requirement for an armed scout aircraft. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. head Dave Alexander made the revelation in a recent interview, saying, "We’re trying to jump into that [opportunity]."

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General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems business demonstrated its MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft during a military free-fall high-altitude training exercise of the U.S. Army’s 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) held in January. The company said Thursday the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle conducted remote monitoring of the exercise, tracked the jumps and offered critical overwatch capabilities for the […] More

The U.S. Army has received approval to transition the Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System program to a competitive prototyping phase as part of efforts to replace its Shadow UAS, Defense News reported Monday. The Army Requirements Oversight Council cleared the requirements for the FTUAS program through an abbreviated capabilities development document after evaluating improved and […] More

Northrop Grumman has made an investment in Deepwave Digital and partnered with the company to advance research-and-development work on artificial intelligence to enhance communications processing capability.

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Kenneth Possenriede, an executive vice president and chief financial officer of Lockheed Martin, said the company is seeing strong demand for its Hellfire, Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile and Patriot Advanced Capability–3 systems, Flightglobal reported Tuesday.

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A new KippsDeSanto report has found that approximately 75 percent of dealmakers said they expect the number of mergers and acquisitions in the government services sector to climb by at least 5 percent this year. KippsDeSanto said Tuesday it polled 168 strategic buyers and executives from private equity groups who are interested in defense, government […] More