Rolls-Royce and Reaction Engines have agreed to team up to build high-speed aircraft propulsion platforms and explore the use of Reaction Engines’ thermal management technologies in hybrid-electric systems and gas turbine engines for defense and civil aerospace platforms.

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.

A Blue Origin-led team has handed over to NASA an engineering mockup of a human landing system that could bring astronauts to the lunar surface. Blue Origin was one of the three prime contractors tapped by NASA in late April to develop a landing platform in support of the agency’s Artemis moon mission in 2024 and the company said Thursday that it works with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper as part of the HLS National Team.

Leidos’ Dynetics subsidiary has started developing a spacecraft called Autonomous Logistics Platform for All-Moon Cargo Access under a potential $253M contract with NASA to develop human landing systems for the agency’s lunar mission by 2024, CNBC reported Wednesday.

Kristen Vaughan and Britaini Carroll of Accenture Federal Services wrote in a Nextgov article published Wednesday that the federal government should prioritize reskilling the workforce to prepare them to work in tandem with artificial intelligence-based platforms.

Frank Dimina, vice president of public sector at Splunk, wrote in a Nextgov article published Tuesday that providing government employees and citizens access to data through the concept of data democracy could help agencies improve customer experience and regain public trust.

Cynthia Stuebner, defense industry principal at Pegasystems, discussed in an article published Tuesday on Federal News Network how automation could help the Department of Defense better manage its enterprise risk management systems, prevent errors and facilitate the decision-making process.

The U.S. Air Force has begun testing on a surrogate aircraft the avionics and other subsystems of the Northrop Grumman-built B-21 Raider bomber in an effort to keep the aircraft development work on track, FlightGlobal reported Saturday.

Kratos Defense and Security Solutions is working on new ground infrastructure that could be used to support proliferated low-Earth orbit constellations of small satellites, Breaking Defense reported Monday. “We think that p-LEO is a big deal. And there’s got to be a revolution that has to hit the ground segment,” said Phil Carrai, president of space, training and cyber division at Kratos.

Sierra Nevada Corp. has been selected to advance to the third phase of a U.S. Army competition to develop a system that can help pilots operate in fog, dirt and other limited visibility conditions, National Defense reported Friday.

Private equity firm KPS Capital Partners announced in July that it agreed to acquire AM General and Andy Hove, president and CEO of the military vehicle maker, told Defense News in an interview published Thursday that KPS is confident in AM General’s capabilities and strategy.

John Mengucci, president and CEO of CACI International and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said the company is coordinating with other firms in the GovCon industry to extend a provision in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act that offers reimbursement to contracting personnel who are unable to work due to the COVID-19 pandemic but kept in a "ready state," Inside Defense reported Thursday.

Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook announced that they have expanded their group with the addition of new partners and met with representatives from the Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the FBI to discuss efforts to protect the upcoming presidential elections from disinformation campaigns and foreign interference, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

Pradman Kaul, president of Hughes Network Systems, said the company believes its investment in satellite company OneWeb has paved the way for Hughes to offer low-Earth orbit broadband connectivity to compete for the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

Mark Forman, vice president of digital government strategy at Science Applications International Corp., said that government agencies should adopt digital transformation techniques and tools to scale supply chains in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other future crises.