Industry News

Orbital ATK has chosen EaglePicher Technologies to design and manufacture a battery system for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s Joint Polar Satellite System-2. EaglePicher said Thursday it will incorporate GS Yuasa Lithium Power‘s Gen III LSE134 lithium-ion cells into the JPSS-2 battery system. Orbital ATK received a $253 million delivery order from NASA in March 2015 to build up to three […] More

A team consists of Boeing, United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney subsidiary and UTC Aerospace Systems has been selected by NASA to perform a flight demonstration of an aircraft engine designed to reduce noise and fuel consumption under a potential three-year cooperative cost-sharing agreement. NASA’s aeronautics research mission directorate will cost-share $22 million over a […] More

The Department of the Navy has launched a market research effort to determine if two or more companies can help the government manufacture, assemble and test a mine neutralizer system for unmanned surface vehicles. A request for information notice posted Wednesday on the FedBizOpps website says the Navy plans to add a Barracuda Mine Neutralizer mission module to the LCS […] More

General Dynamics‘ NASSCO subsidiary has kicked off construction of a follow-on mobile sea base for the U.S. Navy under a previously awarded contract. The company said Thursday the fifth ship in the military branch’s Expeditionary Transfer Dock/ Expeditionary Sea Base program will be built with a 52,000-square-foot flight deck, accommodation areas for up to 250 personnel, repair, mission planning, fuel and equipment storage rooms. […] More

The Defense Information Systems Agency has submitted a dismissal request and notice of corrective action to the Government Accountability Office after two companies protested the award of a contract to Leidos for a new joint and coalition command-and-control fires support platform, Defense News reported Thursday. A spokesman for DISA said the agency will release a public […] More

The U.S. Navy has awarded Charles Stark Draper Laboratory a five-year, $53.5 million contract to produce the MK 6 guidance system for Trident II D5 fleet ballistic missiles. Draper Lab will also support failure verification, test, repair and recertification of inertial measurement units, electronic assemblies and electronic modules under the contract, the Defense Department said Thursday. Work will occur […] More

Ian Irving, CEO of Northrop Grumman’s Australian arm, has said he predicts the company to expand its presence in Australia over the next three years as it aims to compete for defense acquisition contracts in the country, Defense News reported Thursday. “There are five major projects in which we are likely to participate in the […] More

Huntington Ingalls Industries‘ Ingalls Shipbuilding division has started to fabricate an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer for the U.S. Navy at the company’s shipyard in Mississippi. The Lenah H. Sutclifee Higbee destroyer represents the fourth of five vessels Huntington Ingalls will build for the military branch’s DDG 51 program as part a contract awarded in 2013, the company said Thursday. Brian Cuccias, Ingalls Shipbuilding president, said that […] More

Reportlinker has released a report that predicts a 5.36 percent compound annual growth rate for the global undersea warfare systems market from 2016 to 2026. The “Global Undersea Warfare Systems Market 2016–2026” report predicts North America will dominate the market over the forecast period with a potential 33.5 percent share, Reportlinker said Wednesday. The combat systems sector is […] More

A Visiongain report has estimated worldwide revenue for military unmanned aerial vehicles reached $7.4 billion last year. The company’s Military UAV Market Report 2016-2026 report  also covers analyses and forecasts on high-altitude long endurance UAVs, medium-altitude long-endurance drones and three other military UAV submarkets over the next 10 years in eight countries that include the U.S., Australia and Japan, ReportBuyer […] More

NASA has restarted vibration tests on the James Webb Space Telescope after demonstrations shut down early on Dec. 3, 2016, due to sensor readings that went beyond predicted levels. The space agency said Wednesday an investigation revealed that the incident was caused by small motions of launch restraint mechanisms that keep one of JWST’s mirror wings folded-up. “Now […] More

Raytheon has conducted factory acceptance tests on a flight operations system for NASA‘s James Webb Space Telescope. The tests occurred at Raytheon’s Aurora, Colorado-based facility and aimed to verify 800 requirements on JWST’s ground control system, the company said Wednesday. Raytheon built the space observatory’s ground control system on the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, under a contract […] More