C4ISR

Kratos Defense and Security Solutions has received a $23 million initial contract to manufacture a jet-powered unmanned aerial drone system for an undisclosed customer. The company said Monday it aims to complete majority of work under the new contract over a 12-month period and expects to produce additional systems for the client thereafter. Eric DeMarco, president and …

Aurora Flight Sciences has received a potential $48 million contract to continue developing twin-engine unmanned aircraft system for the U.S. Air Force. The Boeing subsidiary said Wednesday it will build an Orion UAS variant designed to perform in any location worldwide. Aurora will produce the system at its facilities in Mississippi and Virginia. Orion is designed …

Lockheed Martin has secured a potential $25.2 million contract modification from the U.S. Army to deliver target acquisition and night vision sensor kits and spares for integration onto Egypt’s Apache attack helicopters. The company will supply Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor System equipment kits and spare parts …

United Launch Alliance has started final assembly of the Atlas V rocket that is set to launch Jan. 18 to send to the geostationary Earth orbit a Lockheed Martin-built satellite designed to help the U.S. Air Force provide missile warning data to the U.S. and its allies, Spaceflight Now reported …

Fifty U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and two territories have agreed to take part in the First Responder Network Authority’s project with AT&T to build a national emergency broadband network. “Securing 53 opt-ins is significant for the public safety personnel that this network will serve,” Chris Sambar, senior vice president for AT&T-FirstNet, said in a …

Reportlinker has unveiled a new report that predicts the global market for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems will reach more than $177 billion in cumulative value by 2027 at a 2.4 percent compound annual growth rate. An increasing demand for battle-space awareness and network centric warfare modernization efforts will …

Saab has received a $15.1 million order to help South Korea’s agency for defense development build an active electronically scanned array radar that can integrate with fighter aircraft. The company said Friday it aims to develop and evaluate an algorithm for AESA fighter radar technology through the order. Saab will …

Iridium Communications has started the testing and validation phase for the fourth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites that launched Friday aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Scott Smith, chief operating officer at Iridium, said in a statement published Wednesday the company’s team at the satellite network operations center started to conduct …

Northrop Grumman has secured a $12.7 million contract modification to incorporate an engineering change proposal into the payload technology of the U.S. Army‘s Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle. The Defense Department said Wednesday Northrop will perform work in Sierra Vista, Arizona through Oct. 20, 2018. The Army Contracting Command obligated $6.2 million at the time of award from …

Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch, senior vice president for government strategy and policy at Inmarsat, has said calendar year 2017 saw several efforts that government and industry leaders initiated to build an integrated satellite communications architecture that views commercial and military satcom as a “holistic capability.” Cowen-Hirsch wrote in a SpaceNews commentary published Dec. 18 those efforts …

Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium Communications, told CNBC in an interview published Friday the Aireon system payload aboard NEXT satellites aims to help air traffic controllers track an aircraft’s position anywhere on Earth. “Aireon means airlines can fly more direct routes, which could reduce both the cost and time of air travel,” …

Iridium Communications’ fourth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites took off Friday at 5:27 p.m. Pacific time from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 rocket. The launch marks the first use of the rocket’s previously-flown first stage that SpaceX fielded in June to bring the second set of Iridium NEXT …

Maxar Technologies‘s MDA business has received a potential $11.8 million contract to produce a technology platform for NATO to visualize the international alliance’s maritime command and control operations. MDA said Thursday it will base the platform on a modern software architecture and technology for integration into fixed and deployable systems as part of Project TRITON. …

A business unit of General Atomics has secured a contract to design and build a permanent-magnet propulsion motor technology for large displacement unmanned undersea vehicles of the U.S. Navy. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems will also test and deliver the motor under the contract from the Office of Naval Research, the company …

A spokesperson for SpaceX has said the company intends not to land the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage as part of a mission to launch Iridium Communications’ fourth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites into space, SpaceNews reported Wednesday. Iridium’s satellites are scheduled Friday to take off aboard SpaceX’s Falcon …