Photos and video from Exercise Thunderstruck 3.0 show Oklahoma National Guard convoy vehicles fitted with wire mesh cage screens, a low-cost defense against first-person-view drones that Ukrainian forces have used on the battlefield since 2022. The exercise, held September 12 at Camp Gruber Training Center, centered on unmanned systems and drone threats. Images from the […]

The U.S. Navy has awarded Boeing a $562 million contract to begin low-rate production of the MQ-25A Stingray, the service’s first carrier-based unmanned refueling drone. The Fixed Price Incentive contract covers three Lot 1 aircraft and includes advance funding to buy long-lead components for three more Lot 2 aircraft. Boeing expects to deliver the first […]

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will hold an Industry Day on September 30 in Arlington, Virginia, for a new program aimed at building next-generation electronic-support systems that can watch across wide swaths of the radio spectrum without needing to digitize and process every signal they detect. The program is called BEAMERS, short for Beam-Space […]

The U.S. Army has added $39.1 million to a contract with Rolls-Royce Solutions America to build more engines for Israel’s Eitan armored vehicle, pushing the total value of that contract to roughly $158.9 million. The modification, the eleventh change made to the original deal, will keep production running at the company’s plant in Graniteville, South […]

The U.S. Air Force just gave itself a lot more room to sell Boeing’s aerial refueling tanker overseas. In a contract modification worth $13.4 billion, the Air Force raised the ceiling on an existing Foreign Military Sales agreement for the KC-46A Pegasus tanker from $5.7 billion to $19.1 billion, more than tripling how much business […]

The U.S. Army has awarded Olin Winchester a contract worth up to roughly $788.4 million for 5.56mm, 7.62mm and .50-caliber ammunition. The five-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract combines firm-fixed-price and price-adjustment terms, runs through September 10, 2031, and was awarded without competition after only one bid was submitted. Army Contracting Command at Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is […]

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded BlueHalo a contract worth up to nearly $100 million for research and development work under a program called Leveraged Orbital Battlespace Optimization. The five-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract runs through August 29, 2031, and came out of a competitive process in which BlueHalo was the only company to submit […]

The U.S. Army has handed Knight’s Armament Company, run by founder Charles Reed Knight Jr., a new five-year deal worth nearly $50 million to keep building M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper Systems. The firm-fixed-price contract covers the rifle, its variants, accessories, spare parts, special tools and training, and runs through September 10, 2031. Only one company bid, […]

The U.S. Navy has awarded KestrelX, a small Florida-based aviation company, a contract worth up to $9,987,285 to supply low-observable target aircraft and engineering support for Navy and Department of War training exercises. The Navy did not obligate any funds when it signed the deal, and will instead pay KestrelX as it issues individual task […]

The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Mission Systems a contract worth up to $184.25 million to move a new electronic warfare component for the EA-18G Growler into full-rate production. The contract covers manufacturing of the Next Generation Electronic Attack Unit, known as NGEAU, along with sustainment support for the unit and future sustainment work […]

The U.S. Navy has added $38.2 million to a BAE Systems contract to overhaul two Mk 45 Mod 4 naval guns, the main deck gun mounted on the Navy’s destroyers and cruisers. Naval Sea Systems Command issued the cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to an existing contract, funded through fiscal 2024 shipbuilding money that will remain available beyond […]

The U.S. Army has awarded a $581 million contract to build a new plant to manufacture IMX-104, the explosive used to fill 155 mm artillery shells and mortar rounds, as the service works to close a production gap that has slowed its ammunition buildup. Nitradyn LLC of Tampa, Florida, will design, construct and commission the […]

The U.S. Air Force has added $826 million to its bulk missile contract with Lockheed Martin, pushing the total value of the deal past $10 billion for the first time. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, issued the contract modification for continued production of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded Conti Federal Services a $74.8 million contract to build a new radio frequency and measurements hangar for the B-21 Raider stealth bomber at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. The facility will include space for one B-21 aircraft, along with supporting workshops, material storage, and administrative offices. Three […]

The U.S. Air Force has awarded four manufacturers a combined $149 million to build metal cases for large bunker-busting bombs, splitting the work across small forging and machining shops rather than a single prime contractor. Superior Forge and Steel of Lima, Ohio; Ellwood National Forge of Irvine, Pennsylvania; Faxon Machining LLC of Cincinnati, Ohio; and […]

Helicopters have carried flares to dodge heat-seeking missiles since the late 1960s. The U.S. Army just committed nearly $4.84 billion to replace that decades-old defense with a laser that jams the missile itself. The Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, awarded Northrop Grumman the firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract on September 8 for full-rate production of […]

U.S. and Indonesian forces fired rocket artillery and flew combat aircraft together during a live-fire exercise at Baturaja Combat Training Center on September 4 and 7, part of the ongoing Super Garuda Shield exercise in Indonesia. The ground-fire portion combined U.S. Army M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems with Indonesian Army ASTROS II Mk6 launchers […]

American and Russian military aircraft will appear at the same airshow this week, as the U.S. Air Force sends fighters and cargo planes to Egypt’s El Alamein International Airshow alongside a Russian delegation set to showcase its Su-57E stealth fighter. The 2026 Egypt International Airshow officially opens September 8 at El Alamein International Airport, drawing […]

The U.S. Air Force wants to buy 60 handheld counter-drone jammers for its Pacific forces, according to a solicitation Pacific Air Forces published September 8, though the purchase can’t move forward until funding becomes available. The notice, posted by PACAF’s 18th Contracting Squadron, calls for 60 DroneBuster 5 units equipped with a GPS-focused add-on kit, […]

The U.S. State Department has approved a possible $5 billion sale of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits to Saudi Arabia, notifying Congress on September 4 of a deal covering more than 10,000 guidance kits and bombs. It is one of the largest single munitions packages Washington has cleared for a foreign buyer in years, and […]