Industry News

ICF has received a pair of multimillion dollar contracts from the General Services Administration to help the US. government establish two centers of excellence that will focus on service delivery analytics and customer experience. Both projects are part of the White House’s Information Technology Modernization Plan and each contract has one base year plus two option years, ICF said Wednesday. “We’re thrilled […] More

Mercury Systems has received the International Aerospace Quality Group certification for quality management at its facilities in Alabama, California, Indiana and Switzerland. The company said Thursday the Aerospace Standard 9100D certification adds to the  AS9100C and/or ISO 9001 designations given to its other sites. Dean Holman, senior director for global mission assurance at Mercury Systems, said the company […] More

The U.S. Air Force and HRL Laboratories have entered an agreement to test materials produced through additive manufacturing, or three-dimensional printing, for potential future use in hypersonic aircraft. Scientists from the Air Force Research Laboratory tested silicon oxycarbide materials that HRL manufactured using 3D printing technology and pre-ceramic resin chemistry, the Defense Logistics Agency said Wednesday. The Cooperative Research […] More

Orbital ATK has tested a rocket motor technology at its Promontory, Utah, facility in preparation for a scheduled April 2019 test of a spacecraft system designed to keep astronauts safe if a problem occurs during ascent. NASA and Lockheed Martin intend to use an SR 118 motor for the Ascent Abort 2 Flight Test that will evaluate the Orion capsule’s launch […] More

Tortuga Logic has received a contract to develop new hardware security tools for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The effort will make use of Tortuga’s hardware security models which will then be integrated with commercial emulation systems, the company said Wednesday. The project seeks to support hardware designers in identifying security vulnerabilities needed for chip fabrication. Participants of […] More

Boeing will begin an effort to extend the service life of the U.S. Navy‘s fleet of F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft after the first plane arrives this week, Defense News reported Wednesday. Dan Gillian, program manager for Boeing’s Super Hornet and Growler aircraft, told Defense News that the 10-year program is meant to increase the service […] More

A SpaceX-built Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday to deliver 5,800 pounds of crew supplies and scientific experiments, Space.com reported Wednesday. Astronauts aboard ISS used the Canadarm2 robotic arm to capture Dragon at 6:40 a.m. Eastern time. On Monday, SpaceX launched the capsule atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in […] More

The U.S. Army has unveiled a Northrop Grumman-built training system designed to educate soldiers on the management and operations of the Wideband Global SATCOM satellite communications program. Northrop said Wednesday the Wideband Training and Certification System is accessible on workstations at the Army Cyber Center of Excellence in Fort Gordon, Georgia. WTCS graduates will be assigned to […] More

Boeing has completed fuel on-load tests needed for Federal Aviation Administration certification of the company’s refueling tanker aircraft. KC-46 received 540,600 pounds of fuel and performed 68 contacts with other tankers as part of the pre-Supplemental Type Certificate test series, Boeing said Wednesday. The recent flight test lasted for three hours and forty eight minutes, during which a KC-46 transferred […] More

Northrop Grumman has conducted virtual training sessions for U.S. Army rangers who are certified Joint Terminal Air Controllers. The training took place at Northrop’s Distributed Training Center located at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and involved simulations of actual battle scenarios with corresponding deployment locations, the company said Wednesday. DTC and Joint Base Lewis McCord’s 5th […] More

Iridium Communications‘ fifth set of NEXT satellites that launched Friday includes Aireon-built global air traffic surveillance technology payloads. Aireon said Friday its Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system is designed to provide aircraft tracking coverage with a 15-minute update interval and help airlines test aircraft tracking systems via space-based ADS-B. The International Civil Aviation Organization and European Aviation Safety […] More

The Energy Department plans to extend a contract with a joint venture of AECOM and SNC-Lavalin‘s Atkins business unit to manage, treat and dispose nuclear waste at the department’s Hanford site. The DOE said Thursday in a FedBizOpps notice that it intends to award a one-year contract extension to Washington River Protection Solutions, with work slated to occur […] More