The Navy has awarded contracts to develop Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones to major defense contractors Anduril, Lockheed Martin, General Atomics, Boeing and Northrop Grumman. The CCAs are uncrewed systems that would be launched from carriers to augment the Navy’s power to deliver airstrikes in a maritime setting, and also complement manned fighter aircraft launched…
The U.S. Air Force last week awarded defense firm Applied Research Associates a two-year contract to design and prototype the next version of the massive bunker-busting bomb that this year struck a key Iranian nuclear facility. ARA will work on the air-to-ground Next Generation Penetrator, the successor to the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the Albuquerque,…
The U.S. Air Force last week awarded defense firm Applied Research Associates a two-year contract to design and prototype the next version of the massive bunker-busting bomb that this year struck a key Iranian nuclear facility. ARA will work on the air-to-ground Next Generation Penetrator, the successor to the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the Albuquerque,…
At a test site in Costa Mesa, California, in a video posted this spring by the Air Force’s top general, hangar doors slid open for a great reveal. As dramatic electronic music pulsed, the video showcased one of the Air Force’s newest drones — and heralded an emerging sea change in the defense industry. The…
Defense industry experts are warning that a potential government stake in major firms such as Lockheed Martin or Boeing could stifle innovation, create conflicts of interest, and lead to more contract award protests, following comments from a top administration official considering the move. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday sparked discussion of whether the Trump…
The U.S. Navy on Friday awarded Pratt & Whitney a contract modification worth up to nearly $2.9 billion to build more engines for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Pratt & Whitney, which is a subsidiary of RTX, will produce and deliver 141 F135 engines to go into new F-35s for the Air Force, Marine Corps…
The U.S. Navy on Friday awarded Pratt & Whitney a contract modification worth up to nearly $2.9 billion to build more engines for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Pratt & Whitney, which is a subsidiary of RTX, will produce and deliver 141 F135 engines to go into new F-35s for the Air Force, Marine Corps…
The Space Force launched its X-37B spaceplane late Thursday for its eighth experimental mission. The spacecraft flew from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. While many of the experiments it will conduct in the coming months are classified, the Space Force has identified space-based laser communications and quantum sensing…
More than 3,200 unionised Boeing workers in the St. Louis area and Illinois walked off the job on August 4 after overwhelmingly rejecting a second contract offer from the aerospace giant. These workers, who are responsible for assembling key US military aircraft like the F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets, argue that the proposed agreement falls…
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said Tuesday he’s not worried about the impact of an impending strike that would include 3,200 union workers that produce fighter aircraft and munitions at factories in Missouri and Illinois. The threat of a strike follows the employees’ rejection Sunday of Boeing’s most recent contract proposal. The International Machinists and Aerospace…
