Raw Intel

Americas Northrop Grumman has inked a $244-million deal with the US Space Force (USSF) to build advanced relay ground stations in the US and UK to expand the coverage of critical missile warning and tracking satellites. The ground stations will support the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) program, which seeks to establish satellite constellations that detect and track missile launches and potential attacks. The US Army has taken delivery of its fourth CH-47F Chinook Block II heavy-lift helicopter from Boeing as part of a contract signed in 2021. The deal, which ordered nine aircraft, is part of the army’s goal to modernize its airborne transpor…

Americas The US Air Force has begun ground testing for two unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) developed under the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. The air force revealed that the YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A test vehicles are currently undergoing tests for their propulsion systems, avionics, autonomy integration and ground control interfaces to prepare the systems for flight testing later this year. All tests are currently taking place at the Beale Air Force Base in California, hosted by the CCA Aircraft Readiness Unit. The aircraft will be flown minimally and maintained at a flight-ready status. Textron Systems has hit a major milestone with its XM204 top attack …

Americas Huntington Ingalls Industries – Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, has received an $81.2 million contract modification from the USNavy. This funding continues previous work to support and maintain several types of Navy ships, including amphibious transport docks (LPD 17), amphibious assault ships (LHD 1 and LHA 6), dock landing ships (LSD 41 and 49), and an amphibious command ship (LCC 19). Most of the work (75%) will take place in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Additional technical support will be provided in Norfolk, Virginia (24%), with very small portions in San Diego, California, and Sasebo, Japan. The project is expected to be completed by May 2026.…

Americas Aerospace giants Bell and Boeing have announced that the final CV-22 Osprey military transport and cargo aircraft has entered production, with the project’s Program of Record (POR) completion coming in the next few months. The final CV-22 will be completed at Bell’s assembly center in Amarillo, Texas, where it will roll out for future special operations missions that require advanced speed and range capabilities deemed too complex for other military aircraft. Following the completion of the POR, the companies’ Team Osprey is scheduled to continue support for the army by implementing sustainment and upgrades for the variant. The US Air Force’s Integrated Viper Ele…

Americas Bell Boeing Joint Project Office in Amarillo, Texas, has received an $18.3 million contract change to support additional repairs and upgrades for the Marine Corps’ MV-22 Osprey aircraft. The work is part of a program to modernize and maintain the aircraft’s readiness. Repairs will be carried out in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, and are expected to finish by July 2026. The funding includes money from both the Navy’s 2024 and 2025 aircraft procurement and operations budgets. A total of $226,800 from this year’s budget will expire if not used by the end of the fiscal year. The contract was awarded without competition by the Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, …

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $22 million modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. This modification adds scope to provide continued maintenance and sustainment operations of the US Reprogramming Laboratory facilities and partner support complex facilities and systems, to include consumables and field service representative support for the F-35 Lighting II programs for the Department of Defense (DOD), non-DOD partners and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work is expected to be completed in April 2026. This contract action was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. The US Air Force h…

Americas Global military spending reached $2.718 trillion in 2024, marking a 9.4 percent increase over 2023, the largest annual rise since the end of the Cold War, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported. This marks the 10th consecutive year of rising spending worldwide, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. The top five spenders last year were the US, China, Russia, Germany, and India. “As governments increasingly prioritize military security, often at the expense of other budget areas, the economic and social trade-offs could have significant effects on societies for years to come,” said Xiao Liang, Researcher with the SIPRI Military …

Americas The US Army and General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems have opened a new load, assemble, and pack facility in Camden, Arkansas, to produce 155mm high-explosive artillery projectiles. The facility will manage the final stage of ammunition production, where two active lines will produce about 50,000 units per month. Advanced automation, digital quality tracking, and more new manufacturing technologies will be incorporated into the new site. Saft America Inc., based in Valdosta, Georgia, has won a contract worth up to $7. 5 million to provide storage batteries for H1, Seahawk, and CH-53 helicopters. The contract is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity agr…

Americas Rockwell Collins, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been awarded a $13.7 million contract to help maintain and improve the communication systems on KC-135 aircraft. The project includes adding a second radio to the planes for better communication. The work will take place in Cedar Rapids and at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, and is expected to be finished by March 22, 2027. The Air Force is providing $7.35 million from its 2023 research and development budget to start the project. The contract is managed by the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center’s Legacy Tanker Branch at Tinker Air Force Base. The US Navy’s USS Toledo (SSN 769) has returned to service after…

Americas Overland AI has added its autonomous technology to the US Army’s SMET (Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport) vehicle, made by General Dynamics. The vehicle was upgraded with Overland AI’s OverDrive software, SPARK hardware, and OverWatch control system, allowing it to drive itself. The upgraded vehicle was tested over two weeks during Project Convergence Capstone 5, an important Army event for trying out new technologies. RTX has been approved to start limited production of the US Army’s new radar system, called the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS). This new radar will replace the old Patriot radar, which has been in use since the 1980s. LTAMD…

Americas Lockheed Martin has received the first shipment of PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) launch tubes manufactured by Polish firm WZL-1. Launch tubes serve as the main structural housing for PAC-3 MSE missiles, forming the connection between the missile and the launcher system. The delivery is part of Lockheed Martin’s partnerships program with key Polish government defense companies to develop and manufacture components of the PAC-3 missile. The launch tubes will be used in PAC-3 MSE deliveries worldwide. Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works and Spanish firm Arquimea have just dropped a major upgrade in tactical ISR — an AI-driven anomaly detection system desig…

Americas L3Harris Technologies Communication Systems has received a $10.99 million modification to a previously awarded contract to develop, test, produce, and support the AN/SRQ-4 Radio Terminal Set Common Data Link Hawklink for surface combatants. The modification also increases funding for engineering labor. If all options are exercised, the total contract value could reach $163.29 million. The contract supports both the US government (91%) and Spain (9%) under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in Salt Lake City and is expected to be completed by April 2026, or by April 2028 if all options are exercised. At the time of award, $5.76 million from…

Americas Northrop Grumman has opened a new facility in Madison, Alabama, to increase the production of crucial Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) components. The facility, named the Enhanced Production and Integration Center (EPIC), will integrate technological and digital advancements in the process to support the US Army’s accelerated modernization plan for air and missile defense. With 175,500 square feet (16,304 square meters) of production space, EPIC can manufacture up to 96 Engagement Operation Centers (EOCs), 96 Integrated Collaborative Environments (ICEs), and 192 Integrated Fire Control Network (IFCN) relays annually. The Air Force is still a few years away…

Amercias The US Army is exploring a significant acceleration in the production of 3D-printed drones capable of replicating the capabilities and behaviors of enemy systems. The push comes as the army anticipates the rollout of a program aimed at rapidly developing low-cost target drones for training exercises. According to Gen. James Rainey, head of Army Futures Command, there is a critical need to simulate unmanned aerial system (UAS) threats, particularly for preparing platoons to counter drone swarms. Conti Federal has completed the modernization of an F-35 sustainment facility at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base (NASJRB) in Fort Worth, Texas. The Maintenance Hangar…

Americas American defense firm CoAspire has test-launched its 3D-printed Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile (RAACM) from a fighter jet. The missile has the same physical dimensions as a 500-pound (227-kilogram) class MK-82 general-purpose or GBU-38 guided bomb. CoAspire explained that the RAACM is designed for compatibility with any aircraft equipped to carry a GBU-38. Company-provided images show the system configured with several platforms, including the F-15E Strike Eagle, F/A-18 Hornet, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and F-35 Lightning II. The US Army has put its precision strike capability on full display, successfully launching the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) fr…

Americas The New Zealand Defense Force has finalized the sale of four retired Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130H Hercules aircraft to American aerial firefighting company Coulson Aviation for $9 million. The deal, announced on April 11, marks a new chapter for the venerable aircraft that were officially retired from military service earlier this year. The aircraft will be prepared for flight and flown to Coulson’s Maintenance Base in Thermal, California by a commercial crew over the next few months, where they will undergo substantial upgrades and conversion to firefighting tankers. Bell Textron, based in Fort Worth, Texas, has received a contract extension worth about $1…

Americas Collins Aerospace, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been awarded a $33.5 million order under a previously issued basic ordering agreement. The contract supports the replacement of the obsolete Control Display Navigation Unit (CDNU) 900 with the updated CDNU-7000 series for the US Navy’s C/KC-130T aircraft. Work will be carried out in Cedar Rapids and is scheduled for completion by December 2027. The full contract amount will be funded by Fiscal Year 2025 Navy aircraft procurement funds, which will be obligated at the time of the award. These funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was not competitively awarded. The Naval Air Warfare Cen…

Americas Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $22.5 million contract change to continue its support for international partners in the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet program. The funding will go toward operating and maintaining special labs used by Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom to reprogram their F-35 systems. This includes providing supplies and on-site technical support. Most of the work (80%) will be done in Eglin, Florida, with the rest (20%) in Fort Worth, Texas. The project is expected to finish by April 2026. The full amount is being funded by the participating countries, not the US Department of Defense. The contract was a…

Americas Austal USA has christened the US Navy’s sixth Navajo-class towing, salvage, and rescue vessel, the USNS Billy Frank Jr. (T-ATS 11), in Mobile, Alabama. The ceremony is part of a 10-ship development program to replace the force’s Powhatan-class ocean tugs and Safeguard-class rescue vessels, which have been operational since the 1980s. The new system was named after a Nisqually tribal member and Korean War veteran awarded the Albert Schweitzer Prize for humanitarianism, Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom for more than three decades of service to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. Fairbanks Morse Defense a…

Americas The US State Department has approved the sale of M4A1 carbine assault rifles to Ecuador in a deal valued at up to $64 million. The sale is expected to strengthen Ecuador’s ground defense capabilities by providing modern, versatile weaponry to enhance the operational effectiveness of its armed forces. Along with the rifles, the deal includes Magpul PMAG M4 magazines, technical manuals, training, and program and logistics support. American Fuel Cell and Coated Fabrics Co. LLC, based in Magnolia, Arkansas, has been awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract valued at $17,144,712 for the supply of KC-135 fuel cells. This competitive …