Naval Information Warfare Center awards BlueHalo $50M for UAS electronic warfare sensors
The $49.9 million award will be fleshed out over a five year period.
Eyeing more special forces business, GDIT acquires AI, tech firm Iron EagleX
“The combination of Iron EagleX and GDIT represents a new chapter in our company’s stated goal of having a ‘generational impact on national security,’” said Michael Grochol, Iron EagleX’s CEO.
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Why enterprise IT modernization matters now – and how to “delight by design”
Do more with less: streamline workflows, reduce duplication, invest upfront to save long-term.
Air Force, DIU pick 4 companies to compete for drone test vehicle
Anduril Industries, Integrated Solutions for Systems, Leidos Dynetics and Zone 5 Technologies will now compete to carry their drone prototypes into production.
DARPA green lights Aurora, Bell for next phase in SPRINT X-plane competition
Northrop Grumman and Piasecki Aircraft Corporation have been eliminated from a DARPA effort to design, develop and fly a high-speed vertical takeoff and landing X-plane.
Teledyne FLIR’s ‘new’ Rogue 1 loitering munition has been under SOCOM contract for two years
A SOCOM spokesperson told Breaking Defense, “Our next step is to purchase limited quantities of the Rogue 1 for further test and evaluation in support of a fielding decision and follow-on Low-Rate Initial Production in late calendar year 2025.”
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New capabilities make GA-ASI’s MQ-9A Reaper® more resilient against cyber threats & anti-aircraft weapons
These upgrades will play a central role in the way American and allied forces fight, and are destined to keep them at the vanguard for a long time.
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Answering the demand signal to move faster, field sooner, iterate continuously
As threats rapidly evolve, digital engineering, manufacturing capacity and robust supply chains are critical to meeting challenges.
SOCOM tables amphibious MC-130J ambitions: Official
The command carried out steps like hydrostatic and wind tunnel tests, but is now “kind of hitting a pause” on implementing a water landing capability due to budget concerns.
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SOF needs multi-mission quadcopters for the contested battlespace
With China the primary source of quadcopters, the U.S. can counter with a superior domestic supply chain.
FARA fallout: A ‘resurrection’ of Boeing’s A/MH-6 Little Bird for special forces
Special operators had planned for FARA to take the role of the AH-6, but the program’s cancellation “changed our equation,” a SOCOM official said.
SOCOM chief sees ‘renaissance’ for special forces amid great power competition, evolving warfare
“We haven’t seen … the arrival of that many different, I would call ecosystems or capabilities, going that fast together in quite some time,” SOCOM Commander Gen. Bryan Fenton said of new technologies changing the nature of warfare.
Modernizing defense enterprise IT without disrupting the mission
Government can’t stop to update systems, so modernization has to happen without interruptions.
Loitering munition maker UVision contracts with SAIC for US production line
The war in “Ukraine and what happened in Israel has put in the spotlight the use of unmanned systems," UVision exec Izthik Huber told Breaking Defense.
In race with China, SOCOM must leverage private equity, say experts and VCs
“We are witnessing a cultural shift. Engineers want to work on problems for the DoD. We’re going to have an explosion of defense technology. Capital is following the engineers and following DoD opening of the aperture who want innovation,” said Alex Moore, partner at 8VC.
The ‘morale challenge’ facing some special operators in the era of Great Power competition
The head of US special ops in the Pacific suggested some operators are struggling with a less direct mission, though USSOCOM chief Gen. Bryan Fenton told Breaking Defense that's not something he's seen.
SOCOM acquisition chief: AI will be ‘key to every single thing’
SOCOM acquisition exec Jim Smith's enthusiasm for AI was slightly tempered later, when he said he was "absolutely" concerned about AI-generated mistakes, though he said there are ways to manage that.