ARLINGTON, Va. Leonardo has introduced its newest naval defense product Lionfish, a family of small-caliber remotely controlled turrets. Designed and developed by Leonardo, the new line consists of four models, which feature Ultralight, Inner Reloading and Top of 12.7 mm caliber, and the model 20 of 20 mm caliber.

HERNDON, Va. ManTech announced a four-year $260 million task order awarded under the Department of Defense Information Analysis Center’s (DoD IAC) multiple-award contract (MAC) vehicle.

FARNBOROUGH, U.K. BAE Systems has won an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract with the U.S. Air Force (USAF) -- worth as much as $400 million -- to compete to develop a digital design for a low-cost combat unmanned aerial system (UAS) that can team with piloted warplanes under the USAF's Skyborg program.

EUROPE. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) awarded a contract to Airbus Defense and Space Airborne Solutions (ADAS), a 100% subsidiary of Airbus Defense and Space and company specializing in remotely piloted aircraft systemts (RPAS) services, and its partner Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to operate a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) RPAS for Maritime Aerial Surveillance services.

CHANTILLY, Va. Perspecta Labs -- the applied research arm of Perspecta Inc. -- received two awards on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Open, Programmable, Secure 5G (OPS-5G) program to perform work to improve the security of 5G networks.

AUSTRALIA. Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace (KONGSBERG) has placed a Purchase Order with BAE Systems Australia for an initial batch of Passive Radio Frequency Sensors for the Joint Strike Missile (JSM).

SAN DIEGO, Calif. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) and Boeing announced they are partnering to jointly pursue opportunities for a 100 kW-class scalable to 250 kW-class High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon system to support a variety of air and missile defense applications.

CHICAGO, Ill. The Boeing Loyal Wingman aircraft being developed with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) recently moved under its own power for the first time, a milestone for the aircraft that’s expected to make its first flight this year.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. The U.S. Navy’s chief of acquisition James Geurts -- assistant secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition -- announced during Britain’s Atlantic Future Forum that the U.S. and the U.K. have established what they call the "London Tech Bridge," the first such innovation center located outside the U.S. 

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio. Flight testing of the ROBOpilot unmanned air platform has been resumed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Center for Rapid Innovation (CRI) and DZYNE Technologies Incorporated. The platform completed a fourth flight test at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, during which ROBOpilot flew for approximately 2.2 hours, completing all test objectives.

TAMPA. U.S. Special Operations Command has awarded three companies five-year contracts -- with the contracts worth as much as $780 million -- to furnish equipment and technical assistance for designated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) activities.

UNITED KINGDOM. Leonardo demonstrated integrated capabilities between a manned aircraft and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This took place in the U.K. during Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUMT) trials between a Leonardo AW159 Wildcat helicopter and a semi-autonomous UAV from Callen-Lenz Associates.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. The U.S. Air Force has met Full Operational Capability (FOC) readiness for Northrop Grumman Corporation’s AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar on Air National Guard F-16s to meet a U.S. Northern Command Joint Emergent Operational Need (JEON) for homeland defense.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. AeroVironment, Inc., company specializing in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), announced it secured a $8.3 million firm-fixed-price U.S. Department of Defense FMS contract award for Puma 3 AE tactical UAS, training, and support to an allied nation.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Purdue University is at the helm of a national initiative sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense that aims to address and resolve the urgent need for engineering graduates to develop defense technologies, particularly in the area of microelectronics.