U.S. Air Force plans long-term ASARS-2 support for the U-2
The U.S. Air Force is looking for companies that can repair and sustain the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System-2, or ASARS-2, the imaging radar carried by the U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane, even as the service asks Congress to retire its last U-2s by the end of fiscal 2027. The Air Force Life Cycle Management [β¦]
Lockheed Martin will upgrade the operating systems running the F-35 Lightning II reprogramming laboratories, which build the threat data the fighter needs for combat missions, under a $43.7 million contract modification the U.S. Navy announced on Oct. 28. Eighty percent of the work will take place in Eglin, Florida, and the remaining 20% in Fort [β¦]
The U.S. Navy has awarded South Carolina-based Integer Technologies a $23.1 million contract to research how zero trust cybersecurity can protect the electrical power systems that run its warships, without slowing the split-second controls those systems depend on. The Office of Naval Research awarded the cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for a program called Threat Resilient Integrated Defense [β¦]
U.S. Army aviators and National Guard aviation officers spent a week this summer flying a virtual MV-75 Cheyenne II, critiquing cockpits and rehearsing maintenance in virtual reality, as the service brings soldiers into the tiltrotorβs design before the first test aircraft has flown. The sixth MV-75 Special User Evaluation ran Aug. 24 to 28 at [β¦]
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has named artificial intelligence as one of his three strategic priorities, ranking it behind only securing a budget and ahead of ongoing military operations. Caine made the remarks on Oct. 26 during a fireside chat at the National Defense Transportation Association and U.S. Transportation Command [β¦]
The U.S. Army has added nearly $500 million to a Boeing contract for engineering services and technical support on the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, extending the work through February 2031. Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, awarded the $499.8 million modification to Boeingβs Mesa, Arizona, operation on Feb. 21, 2026, according to the Department [β¦]
Lockheed Martin will update the radar warning and electronic support software on Canadaβs CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopters under a $9.8 million contract awarded through the U.S. Navy, with work running until October 2030. Naval Air Systems Command placed the contract with Lockheedβs Owego, New York, operation on behalf of the Canadian government, which is paying [β¦]
The U.S. Navy has added $13.3 million and 50,000 labor hours to a Lockheed Martin order covering integration of the F-35βs upgraded F135 engine core and the move of a new power and cooling system for the fighter into preliminary design. Naval Air Systems Command announced the cost-plus-fixed-fee, level-of-effort modification on Oct. 27, definitizing an [β¦]
The U.S. Army has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems a $135.9 million contract modification that sets prices for buying complete retrofit kits for the Stryker armored vehicleβs Enhanced Power Distribution Unit Version 2, raising the total value of the contract to $162.4 million, the Department of War announced on Oct. 26. The kits are designed [β¦]
The U.S. Air Force has put its first hypersonic weapon into production, awarding Lockheed Martin a $694 million contract on Sept. 29 to build and field the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW, a missile the service had planned to abandon just three years ago, the Department of the Air Force announced on Oct. [β¦]
Britainβs Ministry of Defence has opened a tender to buy Skydio X10D small drones, the American-made reconnaissance quadcopter already ordered by the thousands by the U.S. Army, with an estimated budget of Β£120,000 (about $160,700) excluding VAT, according to a notice on the Defence Sourcing Portal. The tender was issued by Navy Commercial, the Royal [β¦]
L3Harris Technologies has received a three-year contract worth up to $60 million to develop a long-range, maneuverable missile for the U.S. Army that is designed to shoot down small and medium drones at greater distances than todayβs interceptors. The company announced the award on Oct. 23, 2026, under the Xtended Range Counter-sUAS Missile program run [β¦]
The U.S. Air Force has published new details of its $20.7 billion contract with Raytheon for AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, confirming that the sole-source deal covers seven production lots and will keep the Tucson, Arizona, production line busy until mid-2033. An award notice posted on the federal contracting site on Oct. 23, 2026, shows the [β¦]
The U.S. Navy has added $2.4 billion to Fluor Marine Propulsionβs contract to run naval nuclear propulsion work at the Naval Nuclear Laboratory, the network of government labs that designs and supports the reactors powering every U.S. Navy submarine and aircraft carrier. Naval Sea Systems Command awarded the $2,409,077,590 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification on Sept. 24, 2026, [β¦]
The Royal Canadian Air Force has taken delivery of its first two CF-35A stealth fighters, the Canadian version of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II, at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, the service announced. The jets will stay at Luke, a major U.S. Air Force training base for F-35 pilots from the United States [β¦]
Lockheed Martin has received a $114.6 million order to redesign two key navigation systems on the F-35 Lightning II, the GPS electronic unit and the NAV100 inertial navigation system, replacing electronic parts that are going out of production so the stealth fighter can keep rolling off the line. The cost-plus-fixed-fee order, announced on Oct. 23, [β¦]
The U.S. Army has started flight testing four MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopters that the U.S. Navy was retiring, turning aircraft headed for long-term storage into flying testbeds for Army sensors and saving the Army just over $70 million in procurement costs. The Armyβs Redstone Test Center at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, received the four aircraft [β¦]
A Typhoon uncrewed surface vessel built by California-based Splash Industries demonstrated naval interception during a drone demonstration at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, on Oct. 21, 2026, as part of the Keen Sword 27 exercise between U.S. forces and the Japan Self-Defense Forces. The demonstration put the small, fast drone boat through an intercept [β¦]
The U.S. Navy is buying one more AN/SPN-50 shipboard air traffic control radar from Saab under a $14.3 million contract option, adding to a growing fleet of new radars that track and guide aircraft around aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, Maryland, exercised the option on Saab Inc.βs [β¦]
The U.S. Air Force has raised the ceiling on Raytheonβs life cycle support contract for the GBU-53/B StormBreaker, also known as the Small Diameter Bomb II, by $350 million, bringing the total potential value of the deal to $950 million. The modification lifts the contract from $600 million and extends work at Raytheonβs plant in [β¦]