SAN DIEGO, Calif. Citadel Defense has received a multi-million-dollar government contract for their Titan, an AI-powered, radiofrequency (RF) based counter drone system. 

GERMANY. Germany’s Federal Office for Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) has awarded a consortium, or ARGE, consisting of MBDA Deutschland GmbH and Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH a contract to fabricate, integrate, and support testing of a laser weapon demonstrator in the maritime environment.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa. Collins Aerospace and project teammate Leonardo DRS announce the successful initial flight of the TCTS Inc. II Air Combat Training program on an operational F/A-18E/F Hornet by pilots in the U.S. Navy. The initial flight took place out of Naval Air Station Patunxet River (Maryland).

ATLANTA. Communications company Envistacom has won a three-year, $235 million contract to supply communications and IT infrastructure support services for services under the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

AMSTERDAM. The global defense battery market -- totaling $1.87 billion in 2020 -- is anticipated to reach a value of around $3.36 billion by 2029, a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 6.47% over the forecast period, according to a new study from Market Forecast, "Global Military Batteries -- Market and Technology Forecast to 2029."

FRANCE. Thales has won its third delivery order from the U.S. Army to provide the AN/PRC-148D Improved Multiband Inter/Intra Team Radio (IMBITR). Under the Army Leader Radio program and in support of Capability Set fielding’s into the Integrated Tactical Network (ITN), this latest award brings total IMBITR radio orders to more than 6,000.

SAN DIEGO. A new technology pilot program -- called the 5G Living Lab -- is now operational at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar in San Diego, part of a $4 million initiative funded through the Office of Naval Research and Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific and run by nonprofit concern US Ignite.

BOCA RATON, Fla. AE Industrial Partners, LP (AEI), a private equity firm specializing in Aerospace, Defense, Government Services, Power Generation, and Specialty Industrial markets, announced that it has acquired UAV Factory, company specializing in the tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) technology markets.

CARLSBAD, Calif. Viasat Inc., a global communications company, announced it increased production run rates to over 200 Non-Developmental Item (NDI) Link 16 Next-Generation Tactical Data Links radios per month to meet current interest and pending orders from U.S. and international defense customers.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. Abaco Systems, Inc. announced the GVC1001, a graphics, vision, artificial intelligence (AI) and image processing computer. Using NVIDIA's latest AI and Deep Learning enabled NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier System on Module, Abaco aims to meet the demands and challenges of low size, weight, and power (SWaP) graphics, vision, AI, and sensor computing applications within ground vehicles, aviation, naval, and industrial platforms.

HERNDON, Va. Satellite company HawkEye 360 announced that its second cluster of satellites has successfully been deployed into orbit and will soon be detecting, characterizing, and geolocating different kinds of radio frequency (RF) signals; the satellites were launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 on January 24. 

ARLINGTON, Va. FLIR Systems has won an additional $30.1 million contract from the U.S. Army for sustainment efforts connected to the service’s Man Transportable Robotic System Increment II (MTRS Inc. II) and Common Robotic System-Heavy (CRS-H) unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) programs.

JAPAN. Japan’s Coast Guard completed flight testing of Raytheon Intelligence & Space (RI&S), a Raytheon Technologies business, maritime surveillance technologies onboard a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) SeaGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA). RI&S provided its SeaVue Expanded Mission Capability (XMC) radar and AN/DAS-4 Multi-spectral Targeting System for the tests.

WICHITA, Kansas. Students at Wichita State University (WSU) have become the first in Kansas with the opportunity to learn how to solve real-world national defense challenges as part of the Hacking for Defense (H4D) program, as WSU joins the FirePoint Innovations Center and WSU’s Masters of Innovation Design program.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company, and Boeing released details of its advanced helicopter for the U.S. Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft competition, known as FLRAA. The aircraft, named DEFIANT X, will aim to revolutionize the way the Army meets threats in 2035 and beyond.