Rocket Lab plans to launch a mission to retrieve its Electron launch vehicle before it executes a splashdown landing in a move to demonstrate rocket reusability. Rocket Lab said Thursday the upcoming “Running Out of Toes” mission will serve as the 20th launch for Electron and is scheduled to take place in May from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

Horace Blackman, senior vice president of consulting services at CGI, told Government Matters in an interview posted Thursday that agencies should consider the option of “reimagining the value chain” as they decide whether to update or replace legacy information technology platforms. “When we talk about reimagining the value chain, it’s looking at the mission and asking the question how can we best leverage technology to support this mission,” said Blackman.

Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky subsidiary has demonstrated supervised autonomous operations of a Black Hawk military helicopter as part of a testing program with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency aimed to reduce pilot workload while ensuring flight safety.

Rocket Lab has agreed to help BlackSky launch geospatial intelligence satellites to space across multiple missions in 2021. The launch vehicle provider said Thursday its Electron launch vehicle will send eight of BlackSky's 286-pound satellites to low Earth orbit across four flight missions.

Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky subsidiary has received a $94.3 million contract modification from the U.S. Army to produce six additional Black Hawk helicopters intended for medical evacuation use. The branch exercised an option under a previously awarded contract to procure lot 45 HH-60M choppers, the Department of Defense said Thursday.

BlackBerry has implemented new updates into an emergency mass notification system in an effort to augment communications between agencies and mitigate unauthorized access to federal government applications, data and systems.

A Raytheon Technologies business has received a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to commence Phase 3 activities under the Blackjack program and supply an additional set of satellites.

Benji Hutchinson, president of NEC Corp.'s U.S. federal government arm, has been appointed to lead the Security Industry Association's identity and biometric technology advisory board as chair while Jim Black, a director at Microsoft, will serve as its vice chair.

A Raytheon Technologies-made sensor payload has passed a critical design review under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's program to demonstrate high-speed network technologies in a low-Earth orbit satellite constellation. The company said Thursday its intelligence and space business tested focal plane, cryocooler, telescope and electronic parts that made up the sensor payload intended for DARPA's Blackjack initiative.

Small satellite maker Blue Canyon Technologies has wrapped up a critical design review of its X-SAT Saturn-class satellite bus for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Blackjack program.

Uyen Dinh, a former Department of Homeland Security official, has joined geospatial intelligence company BlackSky to serve as vice president for government relations and strategy. Dinh will contribute over 20 years of experience in national security, cybersecurity and geospatial intelligence to BlackSky's government engagements, the company said Tuesday.

Black Sage has received a contract of an undisclosed sum to deliver a counter-unmanned aircraft system technology for an electromagnetic weapon designed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to defend air bases.

BlackBerry's unified endpoint management software has been certified under a National Security Agency program that seeks to guarantee the cybersecurity of a commercial product for U.S. government use. The BlackBerry UEM offering, designed to help organizations manage devices and applications, is now part of NSA's Commercial Solutions for Classified Program, the company said Wednesday.

BlackBerry has integrated the AtHoc critical event management technology with Microsoft's communication and collaboration platform to support the virtual workforce. "This new capability to manage the incident response process through Teams will streamline communications and give greater visibility over the recovery progress of an unfolding event,“ said David Wiseman, vice president of secure communications at BlackBerry.

Spaceflight Industries' BlackSky subsidiary has completed preliminary design review activities for its proposed next-generation satellite for a U.S. Army program focused on tactical geospatial intelligence.