JOHN MCHALE, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Open architectures will make tech refreshes such as the latest avionics modernization (Technology Refresh 3 (TR3)) on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and other platforms much more efficient and cost effective in the long run. In the latest McHale Report Podcast, Bryant Henson, vice president and general manager for Harris Corporation’s Electronic Systems Avionics Business Unit details how through the open architecture approach, the F-35's next-gen Integrated Core Processor (ICP) is targeted to generate a 75 percent reduction in unit cost compared to the current system, as well as a 25-time increase in computing power.

MARIANA IRIARTE, TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) officials selected Altavian for the Short Range Reconnaissance Prototype (SRR) contract as a part of the Army's effort to field a next generation unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) weighing less than 5 pounds flown by a single operator.

MARIANA IRIARTE, TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

U.S. Army officials launched the third expeditionary technology search competition (xTechSearch 3.0), with the goal to engage with non-defense traditional small business sector.

MARIANA IRIARTE, TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

The Space and Missile Systems Center, in partnership with the National Reconnaissance Office, released a request for proposals (RFPs) to award two firm fixed-price, indefinite-delivery requirements contracts to domestic launch service providers.

MARIANA IRIARTE, TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Harris will supply its mission management open systems processor to Boeing under a contract to support the U.S. Navy's MQ-25 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) refueling program.

AVIATION MAINTENANCE MAGAZINE

A new report by CNN says after the release of the preliminary crash report on Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, four Boeing employees called an Federal Aviation Administration whistleblower hotline. The hotline calls reportedly voiced concerns about the angle of attack sensor and the anti-stall system (MCAS). All four calls came on April 5.

LISA DAIGLE, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR

Green Hills Software has completed the certification of conformance for its INTEGRITY-178 Time-Variant Unified Multi Processing (tuMP) real-time operating system (RTOS) for Arm architectures to the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard edition 3.0.

MARIANA IRIARTE, TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials granted the first air carrier certification to a drone delivery company, Wing Aviation, U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced in a press release.

RICARDO CAMACHO, LDRA

Avionics vendors – hardware and software – share an enthusiasm for the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard, which promotes a common operating environment with reuse of software capabilities across multiple Department of Defense (DoD) avionics systems. This enthusiasm continues to grow as does participation within the FACE consortium – run by the Open Group – as the version 3.0 of the standard is soon to be released.

MARIANA IRIARTE, TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Boeing officials selected Cubic Mission Solutions (CMS), a Cubic Corp. business division, to supply its Wideband Satellite Communications (SATCOM) modem system and Line-of-Sight (LOS) Common Data Link (CDL) system for the MQ-25 unmanned aerial refueling program.

MARIANA IRIARTE, TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

During a U.S. Air Force (USAF) demonstration, the Raytheon-built advanced high power microwave (HPM) and mobile high energy laser (HEL) systems engaged and defeated multiple unmanned aerial system (UAS) targets.

LISA DAIGLE, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR

Citadel Defense has been tapped by the U.S. Air Force to expand its work into counter-unmanned aerial system (CUAS) technology that will defeat enemy drones on the battlefield and may also be useful for broader commercial application.

AEROSPACE TECH WEEK

The 2020 Aerospace Technology Week Organizing Committees are inviting abstracts for consideration for inclusion in the conference for topic areas -- Avionics, Connected aircraft, MRO iT, Flight Ops iT, and Aerospace Testing. If you are interested, you are invited to submit your abstract for consideration by the conference committee. Your presentation should not be overtly commercial in nature.

MARIANA IRIARTE, TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) officials selected Citadel Defense Co. for its counter-unmanned aerial systems (counter-UAS) mobile systems to support U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) requirements. The contract is valued at $1 million.

AVIATION MAINTENANCE MAGAZINE

Nextant Aerospace has successfully completed the test flight with a U.S. Navy C-26D in Italy. This follows the certification flight completed earlier for the USAF T-1A AMP program.

MARIANA IRIARTE, TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Under the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's (DARPA) Radio Frequency Risk Reduction Deployment Demonstration (R3D2) program, a Northrop Grumman-led team demonstrated rapid spacecraft development.

ABACO SYSTEMS

It’s no secret that the expansion slot capability available on commercial laptops has changed dramatically over the past ten years. PC Card slots (also commonly referred to as PCMCIA slots) have all but vanished and it’s rare to find Express Card slots. Thunderbolt ports are now gaining in popularity for high-performance peripheral support. The headaches of migrating to new computer hardware and operating systems also present some significant hurdles to overcome. On top of that, the always-present pressure to do more with less can put a strain on efficiency when engineers must compete internally for budget. This white paper looks at a possible solution to these challenges.