Spirent Federal Systems has appointed retired U.S. Space Force Gen. David Thompson to an advisory role. The company said Monday that it plans to prioritize military position, navigation and timing innovation and would need strategic counsel from Thompson as it partners with defense and industry to develop robust test equipment for emerging navigation warfare technologies.

Lockheed Martin has transferred control of the long range discrimination radar positioned at the Clear Space Force Station in Alaska to the Missile Defense Agency. The company said Monday the handover followed the completion of the DD250 requirement, signaling the preparatory phase for the Operational Capability Baseline and impending transition to active use for military personnel.

United Launch Alliance looks to reuse the upper stages of its Vulcan Centaur heavy-lift launch vehicles by keeping them in orbit, where they could perform other functions apart from the original launch mission. ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno explained in an interview during the Space Symposium conference how Vulcan upper stages, loaded with additional propellant, could work to move other spacecraft in orbit or event defend them against anti-satellite weapons.

United Launch Alliance looks to reuse the upper stages of its Vulcan Centaur heavy-lift launch vehicles by keeping them in orbit, where they could perform other functions apart from the original launch mission. ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno explained in an interview during the Space Symposium conference how Vulcan upper stages, loaded with additional propellant, could work to move other spacecraft in orbit or event defend them against anti-satellite weapons.

The aeronautics business of General Atomics plans to put forward a modified version of its MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft system to address the U.S. Army's requirement for an armed scout aircraft. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. head Dave Alexander made the revelation in a recent interview, saying, "We’re trying to jump into that [opportunity]."

Steve Escaravage, an executive vice president within Booz Allen Hamilton’s global defense business, said the U.S. federal government and the Department of Defense should find new pathways that would enable industry to back defense missions as the country faces strategic competition. Escaravage, a 2024 Wash100 awardee, noted that the National Defense Strategy states that denial, resilience and cost imposition are the three areas that play a role in strengthening deterrence.

The Department of the Treasury's Internal Revenue Service has begun seeking information on a potential $512 million multiple-award blanket purchase agreement covering information technology portfolio management support services for the IRS' Enterprise Case Management system. A notice posted Wednesday on SAM.gov states that the BPA has an ordering period of five years and encompasses strategy and planning, enterprise services and operations, cybersecurity, user and network services and program management services.

Northrop Grumman and SpaceX are working together on a classified satellite constellation for a U.S. intelligence agency to gather high-resolution Earth imagery and help improve the U.S. government's ability to monitor military and intelligence targets, Reuters reported Thursday. According to the report, SpaceX secured a potential $1.8 billion contract from the National Reconnaissance Office in 2021 for the classified satellite project.

Mercury Systems has received a production contract from BlueHalo to deliver a signal processing technology for the latter's digital beaming platform being developed for the U.S. Space Force's Satellite Communication Augmentation Resource program. The company said Thursday it will produce a field-programmable gate array-based common signal acquisition and digital beamforming tool for BlueHalo's BADGER technology, a transportable ground-based communications system that uses re-configurable beamforming tiles for simplifying space operations.

A potential foreign military sale of Basler BT-67 aircraft to the government of Argentina has been approved by the U.S. Department of State. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Thursday that the FMS has an estimated cost of $143 million and includes the aircraft themselves, various parts, technical documentation, training equipment and logistics and program support, such as personnel training, technical and engineering services and transportation.

According to Amy Spruill, senior vice president and managing director of U.S. regulated industries at SAP, a key element that differentiates robotic process automation from its artificial intelligence-powered counterpart is the level of autonomy and task specificity. “RPA is more about configuration and simple rules and is applied to specific, preconfigured tasks. AI-enhanced RPA sits in the middle, blending the specific task orientation of RPA with the broader capabilities of AI,” Spruill added.

Applied Insight was awarded a contract to provide an undisclosed but existing intelligence community customer with artificial intelligence development over a five-year performance period. The cloud and technology services provider said Thursday contract work will primarily focus on AI/machine learning and its various aspects to support national security efforts.