Military Embedded Systems

LISBON, Portugal and CAMBRIDGE, U.K. Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) provider TEKEVER and RF technology company CRFS completed phase one of their system integration partnership, recently launching the first sub-tactical UAS carrying highly sensitive RF sensors as a payload, able to obtain beyond-line-of-sight (BLoS) images.

MELBOURNE, Fla. L3Harris Technologies won a U.S. Navy contract worth $80 million for the next phase of its electronic warfare (EW) modernization project for the F/A-18 fleet. 

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. Electromagnetic-spectrum specialists Pacific Defense demonstrated its modular open systems approach (MOSA) solutions at the recent Bold Quest 2023 field exercise at Camp Pendleton, in support of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) ENDOR Future Naval Capability (FNC) initiative.

CAPELLEN, Luxembourg. NATO announced that it will use the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail aircraft as its next airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platform, as it embarks on an overhaul of its aging E-3A AWACS [Airborne Warning And Control System] fleet. 

QUIMPER, France. Interface Concept launched its new IC-INT-VPX3l, a 3U VPX single-board computer (SBC) aligned with the SOSA Technical Standard and optimized for use in military, aerospace, and edge-computing applications. 

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. The first Boeing T-7A Red Hawk military trainer successfully arrived at Edwards Air Force Base on November 8, a move that kicks off the U.S. Air Force developmental flight-test campaign for the aircraft. When all tests are completed, the T-7A is intended to be the replacement pilot-training capability for the T-38 Talon, which was first fielded in the early 1960s.

DENVER, Colo. Boom Supersonic -- the company building a supersonic airliner -- is readying its XB-1 demonstrator aircraft for first flight sometime before the end of 2023, according to a company announcement.

COLCHESTER, U.K. Concurrent Technologies announced the launch of its highest-performance plug-in card (PIC) to date, the TR MAA/9sd-AFT.

RESTON, Va. SES Space & Defense (a wholly-owned subsidiary of satellite-communications company SES) won a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to provide medium-Earth orbit (MEO) low-latency high-throughput satellite (HTS) services.

WAKEFIELD, Mass. PICMG -- PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group, a leading consortium for the development of open embedded computing specifications -- has ratified Revision 3.0 of the MicroTCA.0 (µTCA.0) specification, a move that addresses urgent bandwidth requirements by defining 100 GbE and PCIe Gen 5 fabrics that improve system performance by four times while also expanding platform thermal design power (TDP), thereby enabling the use of higher-performance processors. 

RESTON, Va. Technology company SOSi and the Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA) Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC) have signed a task order worth $63 million under which SOSi will deliver artificial intelligence (Al) and machine learning (ML) technology development services.

ANDOVER, Mass. Mercury Systems announced that it signed an agreement with the U.S. Navy to develop manufacturing capabilities that would allow commercial photonics chiplets to accelerate edge processing in defense applications.

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. The U.S. Air Force's 52nd Combat Communications Squadron (CBCS), based at Robins Air Force base, is beta-testing two new deployable tactical-communications kits: the Agile Communications Package (ACP) and the Fly-Away Communications Terminal (FACT).

NATIONAL GUARD CAMP ATTERBURY-MUSCATATUCK, Ind. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the Indiana National Guard hosted the second iteration of the Technology Readiness Experimentation 2023 event (T-REX) at Muscatatuck Training Center/Camp Atterbury, Indiana during mid-October, as part of the T-REX assessment of technologies that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) deems critical to warfighting efforts.

BOZEMAN, Mont. Defense-technology company Reveal Technology won a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant totaling $749,000 for research, development, testing, and evaluation of Reveal's Farsight platform.

MCLEAN, Va. Military shipbuiders HII announced that its Mission Technologies division won a $79 million contract to support the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) mission to develop, test, and field a missile defense system intended to protect the U.S. and its allies against enemy ballistic missile attacks.

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. U.S. Air Force personnel recently assembled at Eglin Air Force Base to take delivery of the ALIA electric aircraft from electric/aerospace company BETA Technologies, which partnered with the Air Force's AFWERX directorate to develop one of several zero-emission aircraft for the U.S. military. 

WASHINGTON. A different type of space antenna will be getting a ride to space on a 6U CubeSat as part of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) 43 mission, slated for launch in March 2024. 

YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz. Raytheon reports successful demonstration of the capabilities of what it calls the Low, slow, small-unmanned aircraft Integrated Defense System (LIDS) during the U.S. Army's annual summer test period.

ARLINGTON, Va. Electronics provider CAES won a contract from the U.S. Navy for production of the AN/ALQ-99 low band consolidation (LBC) transmitter used in electronic-warfare (EW) systems.