Industry News

Lockheed Martin has used a three-dimensional printing system to create a remote interface unit for integration onto a military communications satellite built for the U.S. Air Force. The company said Tuesday it developed the 3D-printed aluminum enclosure to hold avionic circuits on the military branch’s sixth Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite and reduce the amount of time required for the […] More

The U.S. Navy has conducted formal laboratory and initial flight tests on updated software for a Northrop Grumman-built unmanned aerial system. Northrop said Tuesday the new MQ-4C Triton software package modernized the platform’s traffic alert and collision avoidance system, multi-aircraft control technology and multifunction active sensor radar modes. The Navy aims to achieve early operational capability status for the […] More

Space Systems Loral and NASA have reviewed systems requirements for a robotic spacecraft designed to carry out a satellite servicing mission in low-Earth orbit. The two-day evaluation brought together SSL and NASA teams to verify functional and performance requirements for the Restore-L spacecraft, the company said Tuesday. SSL received a potential five-year, $127 million contract last year to help […] More

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has begun to solicit proposals from industry for a program that aims to identify new approaches to store and process information with molecules. DARPA said Friday in a FedBizOpps notice it seeks methods to represent information and run computational operations in molecular form under the agency’s Molecular Informatics program. Selected proposers will work to formulate scalable […] More

Lockheed Martin has received Milestone C approval to transition the Sikorsky-built CH-53K King Stallion helicopter to the low-rate initial production phase. Lockheed said Tuesday the CH-53K aircraft was granted the approval after it completed production readiness reviews and initial operational assessment by the U.S. Marine Corps in October 2016. The helicopter also completed its Defense Acquisition […] More

The Defense Department has chosen Eaton to provide engineering and power management services to a microgrid demonstration project at the Michigan Army National Guard’s Fort Custer Training Center. Eaton said Tuesday it will collaborate with Electricore and Consumers Energy to demonstrate the capacity of microgrids to maintain power supply during outages as part of the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program. The Electricore-led project team will also […] More

Orbital ATK has secured a $20.8 million contract to produce and support the first article test of a multifunction projectile fuze designed to increase the overall mission capacity of five-inch gun ammunition for U.S. Navy ships. The MK419 Mod 1 Multi-Function Fuze combines five modes of operation into a single fuze intended to be used on MK187 projectiles that support Navy 54 and […] More

United Launch Alliance has wrapped up the final testing phase on an emergency egress platform for the Boeing-built Starliner crew capsule designed to fly aboard the ULA-built Atlas V rocket for crewed missions to the International Space Station. ULA collaborated with zip line maker Terra-Nova to develop the Emergency Egress System in support of NASA’s Commercial […] More

MIL Corp. will extend its financial support services to the State Department under a recompete contract awarded through a blanket purchase agreement. The company said Monday it will continue to help the department manage applications, from the planning phase through the implementation of accounting, payroll and reporting systems. MIL will also analyze the department’s financial, budgeting and compensation systems as well as […] More

Boeing has introduced concepts for its deep space habitat and transport platforms designed to help NASA advance manned exploration missions to the moon and Mars. The company said Monday the proposed habitat called Deep Space Gateway would fly aboard the Space Launch System to facilitate scientific research in cislunar space and help open commercial and government partnerships for […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has conducted hot-fire tests on a full-scale thrust chamber assembly the company built using a three-dimensional printing method that incorporated selective laser melting technology. The company said Monday that the Defense Production Act Title III program management office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base facilitated tests of the 3D-printed thrust chamber for the RL10 rocket engine. RL10’s copper thrust chamber will replace […] More