The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has tapped Dynetics Inc. to conduct a demonstration in which a manned C-130 transport plane will launch and recover small unmanned aerial vehicles in mid-air. The Dynetics-led team has received a 21-month, $38.6 million contract award to carry out the test for DARPA’s Gremlins program, the Pentagon announced late April 17. By […]
When it poses a scientific problem to the world, the Pentagon’s research laboratory for spies never asks respondents to surrender their intellectual property because doing so scares off innovative startup businesses “We leave it to the inventor,” said Jason Matheny, director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, often referred to as the Defense Advanced […]
The head of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) is looking to speed up the development of hypersonic missile capabilities to meet those of Russia and China, including seeking more funding to grow the number of test facilities. DARPA is moving forward with several projects to advance flight testing and build new engines for […]
Requiring that new weapons have some degree of openness to upgrades has been a Pentagon policy for decades, but the Defense Department needs to better enforce that expectation so emerging technologies can be integrated when available and appropriate, according to a former chief weapon buyer. Frank Kendall, who was the last undersecretary of defense for […]
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has hired three firms to find ways of defeating the small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) that have become one of the most pervasive threats to the military at home and abroad. Three teams – Dynetics Inc., Saab Defense and Security USA and nonprofit development firm SRC Inc. – […]
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected ManTech International Corp. [MANT] as the main support firm for its Strategic Technologies Office (STO) with a potentially $200 million multi-year contract announced Tuesday. ManTech will provide critical analysis and risk assessment for the DARPA office tasked with researching and developing military technologies, specifically Command, Control, Communications, […]
A federal judge has told the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that it can proceed with developing a satellite-servicing spacecraft, rebuffing Orbital ATK [OA], which charged that the government program unfairly backs a competitor. Orbital ATK, which is developing its own satellite servicer, argued in a lawsuit filed in February that the DARPA program, which […]
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has picked Boeing [BA] over two other companies to design, build and test an unmanned, reusable spaceplane that could deploy small satellites, DARPA and Boeing announced May 24. Boeing edged out competitors Masten Space Systems and Northrop Grumman [NOC] to become the prime contractor for the Experimental […]
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is moving forward with its geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite servicing program despite a lawsuit that the Justice Department on Tuesday moved to dismiss. Space Systems Loral (SSL) said Wednesday it signed and executed a contract with DARPA to develop advanced capabilities for servicing and maintaining spacecraft in […]
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Aurora Flight Sciences, which are developing an unmanned, tilt-wing, vertical-takeoff-and-landing experimental airplane (VTOL X-Plane) called LightningStrike, have a achieved a significant milestone by completing flight tests of a subscale vehicle demonstrator (SVD). The tests, which ended in early March at Webster Outlying Field in Southern Maryland, demonstrated the […]
