Tag Archives: propulsion

San Marcos, Texas-based Berry Aviation has opened a new division in Stillwater, Oklahoma, that is focused on conducting research into unmanned aerial systems to support the Department of Defense in the areas of propulsion, navigation and acoustic improvements. The company’s newly created autonomous and unmanned aviation division has hired additional engineers to support work related to UAS and counter-UAS activities.

James Taiclet, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin, said acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne will bring in propulsion systems for potential integration with Lockheed-built missile and rocket offerings, Via Satellite reported Monday. Taiclet told analysts Monday during a conference call he expects the transaction to support upfront design, production planning and engineering integration efforts at the Bethesda, Maryland-based aerospace and defense company.

The U.S Air Force is looking for potential sources of propulsion technologies that can be integrated into weapons systems installed in next-generation F-15EX fighter aircraft.

General Motors’ vision for its defense segment is to “reimagine” ways of turning its commercial vehicles and other technology products into platforms that could be offered to the U.S. military and allied forces, Defense One reported Thursday.

Production of Mk48 torpedoes went on hiatus for 20 years and Science Applications International Corp. is now starting to manufacture the propulsion system and other afterbody sections of the submarine-launched weapon at its Bedford, Ind.-based facility under a contract with the U.S. Navy, Seapower reported Tuesday.

Ron Baczkowski, CEO of VT Halter Marine, said the company’s proposed heavy polar icebreaker for the U.S. Coast Guard is based on a hull of German research vessel Polar Stern II, USNI News reported Wednesday.

Iridium Communications CEO Matt Desch said he believes the industry needs new regulations that would mitigate failed satellites and other space debris in orbit, Space Intel Report reported Wednesday. Desch, a 2019 Wash100 winner, said those regulations should include a policy that would ground satellite and rocket developers in the event of an in-orbit failure and require them to determine the cause of the problem.

The U.S. Navy has awarded United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney subsidiary a $71.4M task order to mature the F-35 propulsion system ahead of service operational use of the fighter aircraft.

Boeing and France-based Safran have unveiled a new joint venture to design, develop and service auxiliary power units or engines used to start aircraft and related systems while on the ground. Etienne Boisseau will serve as CEO of the new JV, Initium Aerospace, which will operate in San Diego to build APUs in collaboration with Boeing and Safran teams on production and engineering, Boeing said Wednesday.
 

Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, told Ars Technica in an interview published Wednesday that the company expects to launch a national security payload aboard the ULA-built Vulcan rocket in 2022. He said ULA plans to perform certification flights in 2021 under the launch services agreement with the U.S. …

Aerojet Rocketdyne has received a potential two-year, $13.4M contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop propulsion systems for a ground-launched tactical weapon platform. The contract was awarded in support of DARPA’s Operational Fires program that aims to build new mobile missile technologies, the company said Tuesday. The OpFires …

Lockheed Martin has developed at its Cape Canaveral, Fla.-based facility a lunar habitat prototype for NASA’s lunar Gateway that is slated for launch by 2024, Denver Business Journal reported Wednesday. The space agency plans to award in the fall of 2019 a contract to build the Gateway platform, which will …

Aerojet Rocketdyne has built the propulsion devices that powered a NASA spacecraft during a journey to Mars as part of a mission to study the planet’s seismology, rotation and internal temperature. InSight, which landed Monday on the Martian surface, used MR-107N 50 engines, an RL10C-1 main engine, MR-106 reaction control thrusters and MR-111C thrusters …

Three companies have received separate contracts to build propulsion technologies intended to power a ground-based weapons delivery platform as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Army’s joint Operational Fires program. Aerojet Rocketdyne, Exquadrum and Sierra Nevada Corp. will support the OpFires initiative that seeks to demonstrate a ground …

Raytheon has secured a potential $21M contract from the U.S. Army to produce a new propulsion system for a radio frequency-guided weapon system intended to defend against armored and wheeled platforms. The company said Sunday it will incorporate propulsion modifications onto TOW missile variants such as the direct-attack 2A, Bunker Buster and top- …