Business
Textron Systems Corporation, a Textron Inc. company, announced that it received a contract for up to $607 million from the U.S. Army to provide contract logistics support, field services, and engineering support along with the retrofit of the existing Shadow Block II Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (TUAS) to the
Business
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, California, is awarded an $81,992,887 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. This contract provides for sustainment, engineering, logistics, test, mission control, and operator training systems support for MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). This effort also includes procurement of field service representatives and technical support to
Military
AeroViroment Inc., Simi Valley, California, was awarded a $44,961,750 modification (P00007) to contract W31P4Q-20-C-0024 for the Switchblade Weapon System. Work will be performed in Simi Valley, California, with an estimated completion date of April 29, 2023. Fiscal 2010 Foreign Military Sales (United Kingdom) funds; and fiscal 2020 missile
Military
The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) established the 601st Unmanned Aerial System Squadron on March 4, 2021, operating the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle UAS from its base at Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. It is the RMN’s first unit dedicated to unmanned aerial systems. The launching ceremony was officiated by Navy chief
Military
The second prototype of Turkey’s state-of-the-art unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) Akıncı has successfully passed another test, the manufacturer announced. “Each successfully completed test brings #AKINCI one step closer to the mission. Free and independent in our sky,” the company noted. Baykar’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Selçuk Bayraktar
Business
AeroVironment, Inc. announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Arcturus UAV, now operating under the AeroVironment brand, was awarded a competitive task order valued at approximately $7 million from the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). The competitive task order is for a one-year period of performance, which started February 3, 2021.
Business
The Australian government announced that it has agreed with Boeing Australia to co-develop a further three Loyal Wingman aircraft to advance the air-teaming vehicle, payloads and associated support and training capabilities. The agreement will increase the aircraft’s production capability to six aircraft for Royal Australian Air Force and is
Military
AeroVironment, Inc. announced that it secured a $5,922,461 firm-fixed-price U.S. Department of Defense Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract award on December 22, 2020 to provide Puma 3 AE tactical UAS, training and support to a European allied nation. Delivery is anticipated by April 2021. "Puma 3
Military
On Jan. 28, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI) and the U.S. Army conducted the first production Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP) flights of a Gray Eagle Extended Range (GE-ER) Unmanned Aircraft System using Scalable Command & Control (SC2) software developed by GA-ASI and installed on an Army-owned laptop
Weapons Systems / Lasers
At the Digital Defence Talks session organised online by the Düsseldorf-based group, Fabian Ochsner, CEO of Rheinmetall Air Defence, introduced a new product, currently at concept demonstrator stage, that will be refined in the near future, taking into consideration potential customers requirements, before making it a real product. Speaking from
Testing
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. announced that its company-owned Avenger ER achieved a company milestone as it received an FAA-issued Experimental Certificate (EC) enabling the “Extended Range” Avenger to perform expanded operations in the U.S. National Airspace System. “Since 2005, GA-ASI has worked closely with the FAA to affirm
Business
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Arizona, has been awarded a $32,853,210 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Autonomous Swarm/Strike – Loitering Munitions. This contract provides for work on the Coyote Block 3 (CB3) Autonomous Strike—a rapid capability effort to achieve operational launch capability from unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and an unmanned