This will be the eighth mission for the Boeing-built space plane, which has served as an on-orbit, experimental testbed for emerging technologies being developed by the Pentagon and NASA. The platform is designed to conduct long-duration flights before returning to Earth, where it can be repurposed for future missions. The system has already spent more than 4,200 days in space, according to Boeing.

Personnel are currently preparing the vehicle — which will fly with a service module — for another launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, according to a press release issued Monday. Mission partners for OTV-8, as the effort has been dubbed, include the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Silicon Valley-headquartered Defense Innovation Unit.

The service module will expand capacity for laser comms demonstrations, per the release.

Laser communications demos in low-Earth orbit “will contribute to more efficient and secure satellite communications in the future. The shorter wavelength of infrared light allows more data to be sent with each transmission,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman wrote in post on X.

“We’re also demoing the world’s highest performing quantum inertial sensor ever used in space. Bottom line: testing this tech will be helpful for navigation in contested environments where GPS may be degraded or denied,” he added.

According to Boeing’s press release, the mission will include the first in-space demonstration of a “strategic grade” quantum inertial sensor.

“OTV 8’s quantum inertial sensor demonstration is a welcome step forward for the operational resilience of Guardians in space,” Space Delta 9 Commander Col. Ramsey Hom said in a statement. “Whether navigating beyond Earth-based orbits in cis-lunar space or operating in GPS-denied environments, quantum inertial sensing allows for robust navigation capabilities where GPS navigation is not possible. Ultimately, this technology contributes significantly to our thrust within the Fifth Space Operations Squadron and across the Space Force guaranteeing movement and maneuverability even in GPS-denied environments.”

The launch date is targeted for Aug. 21, according to Saltzman.

During the space plane’s most recent mission, which started in 2023 and wrapped up earlier this year, efforts included experimenting with operating in new orbital regimes, testing space domain awareness technologies and investigating radiation effects, according to officials.

For the mission before that, the X-37B spent a whopping 908 days in orbit.

The post Next X-37B space plane mission will test laser communications, quantum sensor for US military appeared first on DefenseScoop.

Boeing beat out Northrop Grumman for the contract, which includes design and delivery of the first two satellites for the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications program and options for two additional birds in the future. The award supports initial operational capability for the ESS program and is the first step to a “phased approach to rapidly proliferate a diverse satellite constellation” that can conduct strategic command and control, SSC said in a statement.

The ESS space vehicles will eventually replace the nuclear mission of the service’s current Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system, comprising six satellites in geostationary orbit that provide encrypted communications for both strategic and tactical operations. The constellation will include satellites stationed across multiple orbits, and use highly protected waveform and other classified capabilities to provide secure NC3 to warfighters.

“The U.S. needs a strategic national security architecture that works without fail, with the highest level of protection and capability,” Kay Sears, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space, Intelligence and Weapon Systems, said in a statement. “We designed an innovative system to provide guaranteed communication to address an evolving threat environment in space.”

Boeing and Northrop Grumman built prototype systems under Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) contracts awarded to both companies in 2020.

Work performed under the new contract is expected to wrap up in 2033, according to the Space Force.

In addition, the service expects to purchase additional satellites as part of its larger $12 billion ESS Space Segment program that “may be awarded as sole source to support full operational capability and attain global coverage, including enhanced Arctic capability,” the service noted in a press release. 

The ESS program is one piece of a comprehensive effort at the Defense Department to modernize all elements of its NC3 enterprise, which includes dozens of capabilities across all warfighting domains. The complex system provides senior defense leaders situational awareness, planning, decision-making and force management capabilities for nuclear operations.

Along with the ESS space vehicles, the Space Force is developing a new ground segment for strategic ops under the Ground Resilient Integration & Framework for Operational NC3 (GRIFFON) program. Lockheed Martin is building GRIFFON under a Software Acquisition Pathway contract awarded earlier this year.

“It’s a critical time to advance U.S. space capabilities to ensure peace through strength,” Cordell DeLaPena, program executive officer for the Space Force’s Military Communications and Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Directorate, said in a statement. “The strategic communication mission requires protection, power and always-available capability, even through adversary attempts to interrupt our connectivity. These satellites will provide connectivity from space as part of a refreshed NC3 architecture for our nation.”

The post Space Force awards Boeing $2.8B deal to deliver next-gen nuclear communication satellites appeared first on DefenseScoop.

The Trump administration announced in April that it awarded a contract to Boeing to build the F-47, a sixth-generation platform that’s part of the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance initiative. Officials haven’t publicly disclosed how much Boeing received for the award due to classification of the project.

The DOD hasn’t publicly released full documentation for its 2026 budget request yet. But at a House Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other Pentagon leaders discussed some of the department’s plans for key programs.

The budget allocates $3.5 billion for the F-47, Hegseth told lawmakers.

The system is being built “to dominate the most capable adversaries and operate in the most perilous threat environments imaginable,” he said in written testimony to the committee.

The platform will have significantly longer range, more advanced stealth, be more sustainable and supportable, have higher availability, and take less manpower and infrastructure to deploy than the U.S. military’s fifth-gen fighters, he told lawmakers.

“The F-47 will significantly strengthen America’s air power and improves our global position. It will keep our skies secure — even as it ensures we are able to reach out adversaries wherever they may hide,” he said.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in written testimony to the committee that the jet is the world’s first sixth-generation fighter and will offer superior “adaptability” compared to platforms that are currently in the fleet. He asserted that it would ensure “continued U.S. air dominance for decades.”

A graphic shared last month by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin on the social media platform X, indicated that the F-47 will have a combat radius greater than 1,000 nautical miles and a top speed higher than Mach 2. In comparison, the fifth-gen F-22 and F-35A stealth fighters have combat radiuses of 590 nautical miles and 670 nautical miles, respectively. The F-22 has a top speed greater than Mach 2 and the F-35A has a top speed of Mach 1.6, according to the chart.

The service plans to buy upwards of 185 F-47s over the course of the program.

Hegseth also told lawmakers Tuesday that the 2026 budget will “fully fund” the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, which aims to field high-speed, next-generation drones that can fly with manned fighter jets like the F-47 and perform air superiority missions.

“We believe in the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the loyal wingman concept, this idea that you project power more robustly through autonomous [and] semi-autonomous systems … that amplify our lethal effect,” he said.

Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell, who is performing the duties of Pentagon comptroller and chief financial officer, said the 2026 budget request includes $804 million for CCA.

The Air Force has given fighter designations to the CCA prototypes that General Atomics and Anduril are developing, referred to as YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A, respectively. Both companies have started ground testing of their systems, and senior defense officials on Tuesday said first flights are expected to take place before the end of this fiscal year.

According to the graphic shared by Allvin last month, CCAs will be stealthy and have a combat radius greater than 700 nautical miles. Their top speed is classified.

The Air Force plans to buy more than 1,000 of the next-gen drones in increments.

Last week, the service announced that an Experimental Operations Unit for CCA was elevated to a “fully operational squadron equivalent” during a June 5 ceremony at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

According to a press release, the unit will integrate into the Virtual Warfare Center and the Joint Integrated Test and Training Center Nellis to “conduct realistic simulations and refine non-materiel considerations of CCA employment concepts in a virtual environment.” It also plans to conduct “live-fly experiments to verify simulation results and optimize tactics, techniques and procedures.”

“Our experimental operations will ensure that CCA are immediately viable as a credible combat capability that increases Joint Force survivability and lethality,” Lt. Col. Matthew Jensen, EOU commander, said in a statement.

The Air Force aims for the F-47 and CCA drones to be operational before 2030.

The post Pentagon’s 2026 budget plan includes more than $4B for next-generation Air Force fighter jets appeared first on DefenseScoop.

Boeing beat out Lockheed Martin for the contract of the platform — which will be designated as the F-47, President Donald Trump announced during a press conference held in the Oval Office. Northrop Grumman was also in the running to develop the NGAD platform until 2023, when the company publicly announced it was exiting the competition.

The Air Force did not share how much Boeing received for the award due to classification of the program. The service is now on a path to field the NGAD platform sometime in the 2030s.

“The F-47 will be the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built,” Trump said. “An experimental version of the plane has secretly been flying for almost five years, and we’re confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation.”

The NGAD contract is a critical win for Boeing and revitalizes its stealth aircraft business. The company has bet billions of dollars in standing up advanced manufacturing facilities at its fighter production hub in St. Louis, Missouri, where the legacy F/A-18 Super Hornet line is expected to end in 2027.

The award also gives Boeing a much-needed boost after its other defense programs — such as the KC-46 Pegasus aerial refueler and new Air Force One jets — have racked up billions in financial losses.

“We recognize the importance of designing, building and delivering a 6th-generation fighter capability for the United States Air Force. In preparation for this mission, we made the most significant investment in the history of our defense business, and we are ready to provide the most advanced and innovative NGAD aircraft needed to support the mission,” Steve Parker, interim president and CEO at Boeing Defense, Space and Security, said in a statement.

The sixth-generation fighter jet is intended to replace the F-22 Raptor and is envisioned as a long-range crewed aircraft equipped with advanced sensors and weapons payloads designed to operate in highly contested environments in the Indo-Pacific.

Lockheed Martin’s loss marks an end to the defense giant’s relative monopoly in the stealth fighter manufacturing business. According to a report from Breaking Defense, the company is no longer vying for the Navy’s sixth-generation fighter jet program known as the F/A-XX because its proposal did not meet the service’s criteria.

The F-47 platform is the centerpiece to the Air Force’s NGAD family of systems concept, which also includes the service’s future loyal wingman drones known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) and other advanced command-and-control technologies. The aircraft will be powered by an engine being developed under the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) program — another ongoing competition between GE Aerospace and RTX subsidiary Pratt and Whitney. 

Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David Allvin said Friday in a statement that over the last five years, the service has been flying X-planes for the F-47 aircraft to test future concepts and proving out its technology. He noted that the experimental work will allow the NGAD aircraft to fly sometime during Trump’s administration.

“With the F-47, we are not just building another fighter — we are shaping the future of warfare and putting our enemies on notice,” Allvin said. “This platform will be the most advanced, lethal, and adaptable fighter ever developed — designed to outpace, outmaneuver, and outmatch any adversary that dares to challenge our brave Airmen.”

The announcement comes after the Air Force decided to pause the selection process for the NGAD platform last summer to reevaluate the service’s design concept against predicted threat environments, as well as attempt to lower the platform’s cost. The service initially planned to award the NGAD contract before the end of last year, but ultimately decided in December to push the decision to the Trump administration.

During the pause, former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said the service was “taking a hard look” at the platform’s design to ensure the stealth fighter jet would be able to address new and emerging threats. China’s arsenal of advanced weapons and NGAD’s survivability on large airfields were some of the elements considered during the evaluation, he said.

In a statement, Allvin said “the F-47 has unprecedented maturity. While the F-22 is currently the finest air superiority fighter in the world, and its modernization will make it even better, the F-47 is a generational leap forward. The maturity of the aircraft at this phase in the program confirms its readiness to dominate the future fight.”

Budget constraints also influenced the service’s decision to pause NGAD’s selection process. Original estimates for the sixth-gen aircraft were predicted to be around $300 million per unit, but Kendall said last year his ideal price point would be similar to the F-35 Lightning II — about $100 million, depending on the variant.

Allvin said in a statement that the F-47 will have a lower price tag than an F-22 — which has a unit cost of around $143 million. The Air Force requested $2.7 billion for the platform in its budget request for fiscal 2025, indicating that it planned to spend $19.6 billion on the aircraft over the next five years. 

“Compared to the F-22, the F-47 will cost less and be more adaptable to future threats — and we will have more of the F-47s in our inventory,” Allvin said. “The F-47 will have significantly longer range, more advanced stealth, be more sustainable, supportable, and have higher availability than our 5th generation fighters.”

Updated March 21, 2025, at 2:35 PM: This story has been updated to include a statement from Steve Parker, interim president and CEO at Boeing Defense, Space and Security.

The post Boeing wins contract for Air Force’s NGAD stealth fighter jet — now known as the F-47 appeared first on DefenseScoop.

Deasy served as the Pentagon CIO during the first Trump administration starting in May 2018 and oversaw a variety of high-profile modernization initiatives.

He was at the helm when the department moved to large-scale telework as employees adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic. He established the COVID-19 Telework Readiness Task Force — which included officials from U.S. Cyber Command, Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network (JFHQ-DODIN), the National Security Agency, Defense Information Systems Agency, Joint Staff, the military services and the CIO’s office — to boost network capacity and deal with what he called an “unprecedented demand for new equipment ranging from tablets, laptops and network equipment to secure devices.”

Those efforts included rolling out tools such as the Commercial Virtual Remote Environment.

During his tenure, the Pentagon stood up the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) to help accelerate the adoption of AI by the Defense Department. The JAIC was later folded — along with several other organizations — into a new Chief Digital and AI Office (CDAO) during the Biden administration.

The department also adopted a set of AI ethical principles in 2020 while Deasy was CIO, which stated that the U.S. military’s tech in this area must be “responsible, equitable, traceable, reliable and governable.”

At the time, he suggested that those principles could also be relevant to the private sector.

“Having been on both sides, there is nothing in these principles as you read them that are uniquely and only specific to the DOD. Any one of these is absolutely applicable to the private industry as well,” he told reporters during a February 2020 press briefing, according to a DOD transcript. “Am I trying to suggest that we are going to be the leaders in driving out in the corporate world? No. The corporate world will pick up at that and deal with it in the appropriate way. But I think the application of how you could apply these are very applicable to private industry.”

Deasy was an advocate for enterprise cloud efforts, but the department’s ill-fated Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) initiative fizzled during his tenure. The Pentagon later replaced it with the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) program.

When officials released a new data strategy in October 2020, Deasy likened data to “ammunition,” saying in a statement that it was “increasingly central to warfighter advantage on and off the battlefield” and needed to be “persistently available to the men and women of the DOD regardless of echelon or geographic location.”

After leaving the Defense Department in 2021, Deasy started his own advisory company, served on corporate boards and was an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University, according to his LinkedIn profile.

John Sherman succeeded Deasy as Pentagon CIO and served in that position during most of the Biden administration. Last year, Sherman left the department to become dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. Leslie Beavers is currently serving as acting DOD CIO.

Prior to his time at the Pentagon, Deasy worked in corporate leadership positions, including in CIO roles for JPMorgan Chase & Co., BP, General Motors, Tyco International and Siemens AG.

In his new role at Boeing, he’ll “oversee all aspects of information technology, information security, and data and analytics” and serve on the firm’s executive council, the company said in a press release.

Boeing is an aerospace giant and a contractor for a variety of major DOD programs.

Deasy will report to Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s president and CEO.

“Dana is a well-respected, global technology leader who has a track record of delivering on innovative technologies across large and complex organizations,” Ortberg said in a statement. “With the need to stay vigilant to protect against cyber threats, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence playing a larger role across all industries, our IT team will have a key role as we focus on meeting our safety and quality goals, delivering reliably for our customers and positioning ourselves for the future.”

The post Former Pentagon CIO appointed to senior position at Boeing appeared first on DefenseScoop.

The two firms beat out defense giants Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing for the development-for-production phase of the drone program. According to an Air Force release, the service plans to make a competitive production decision for the first increment of CCAs in fiscal 2026 and is on track to field the systems before the end of the decade.

“We executed an acquisition and funding strategy for CCA with early operator, technologist, acquirer, and industry teaming to quickly iterate requirements given our fielding timelines,” Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said in a statement. “Continuous competition is a cornerstone at every stage of this program. The transparency and teamwork between industry and government really accelerated how quickly we could mature the CCA program.”

As part of the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems, the CCA drones are intended to fly alongside the service’s sixth-generation fighter jets and current fifth-generation platforms to augment its manned aircraft fleet. The drones will carry equipment for a range of missions — including offensive strike and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The Air Force plans to field CCAs in increments, and General Atomics and Anduril will now work to create the final design for the first iteration known as Increment 1. During the annual AFA Warfare Symposium in February, Kendall told reporters that the Air Force initially wanted to move three vendors into the next phase of Increment 1, but the current budget would only support two.

The service is requesting $557 million for program in its fiscal 2025 budget request and plans to spend almost $9 billion on the effort through fiscal 2029. The Air Force is expected to eventually buy at least 1,000 systems for around $30 million per drone.

According to the release, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and others will all be able to compete for the upcoming Increment 1 production contract — albeit likely with their own research-and-development dollars. There are currently more than 20 companies in the potential pool of vendors that can compete for future CCA efforts.

“As we navigate the next phase of CCA development, our collaboration with both current and potential industry partners remains pivotal. Their expertise, innovation, and resources are instrumental in driving this initiative forward, ensuring its success and impact on future operations,” Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said in a statement.

General Atomics’ CCA prototype is based off its XQ-67A drone, which had its first successful flight in February as part of the Air Force Research Lab’s Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft Platform Sharing (LCAAPS) program. Through the next phase of the CCA program, the company plans to complete autonomy and mission system tests on both the XQ-67A and its MQ-20 Avenger prototype, according to a press release.

“Throughout our 30-year history, GA-ASI has been at the forefront of rapidly advancing unmanned aircraft systems that support our warfighters,” GA-ASI President David Alexander said in a statement. “The USAF is moving forward with GA-ASI due to our focused commitment to unmanned air-to-air combat operations and unmatched UAS experience, ensuring the production of the CCA aircraft at scale to deliver affordable combat mass for the warfighter.”

While Anduril did not immediately provide details on its CCA prototype, the relatively new company has recently inked multiple defense contracts to develop and build unmanned systems for the U.S. military.

“With the CCA program, Secretary Kendall and the Air Force have embraced a fast-moving, forward-looking approach to field autonomous systems at speed and scale,” Brian Schimpf, Anduril CEO and co-founder, said in a statement. “We are honored to be selected for this unprecedented opportunity, which signals a demand for continued expansion of the defense industrial base. Anduril is proud to pave the way for other non-traditional defense companies to compete and deliver on large scale programs.”

Air Force officials also indicated that they’re looking at how international partners can participate in the CCA program as a way to offer “affordable mass at scale” and promote international integration and interoperability. That includes potential foreign military sales, per the release.

As for Increment 2, planning for development is still underway and the Air Force intends to begin “initial activities” before the end of the year. As the capabilities in each increment are being determined by the technology available within the service’s fielding timelines, it is possible that Increment 2 will have different requirements compared to Increment 1.

The post Anduril, General Atomics move into next phase of Air Force CCA drone program appeared first on DefenseScoop.

The Orca unmanned undersea vehicle is an “85 ton, 85-feet-long unmanned diesel-electric submarine. They don’t like me to call it that. It’s an extra-large UUV [XLUUV]. But let’s be honest, it’s 85 tons — it’s an unmanned submarine,” Capt. Scot Searles, program manager for unmanned maritime systems, said during a briefing this week at the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium.

Boeing delivered the first system to the Navy in December.

The service wants to field a high-endurance undersea drone with a modular payload bay that can travel long distances autonomously and lay mines or perform other missions without putting sailors in harm’s way.

In a statement, Ann Stevens, Boeing’s vice president of maritime and intelligence systems, described the Orca as a “first-of-its-kind capability” for the U.S. military.

The platform went through at-sea testing, including above- and below-surface maneuvers, before the system was delivered last month. But that’s not the end of it.

“Very complex piece of equipment. Very hard work to get where we’re at today … Got it through all of its risk reduction trials and got it delivered. It’s in the Navy’s hands now. It’s down at Huntington Beach [in California] right now, getting ready to go back into the water and continue testing later this month. It’s got 15, 16 more trials planned. So, it’s 16 test periods … focusing on a bunch of different things — obstacle avoidance, just a whole litany of things that it’s got to do [for] mission profiles,” Searles told DefenseScoop at the SNA symposium.

“It’s going to go test every single sensor that was on board, the performance of every sensor that’s on board, and then is it behaving as it needs to in a tactical operating environment? So going beyond just we know all the surfaces work, we know the propulsion works, we drive it around, we can set a new mission [and] it can drive itself autonomously. Check. Now give it to me, now let me go play with it in the real environment. So, all of that’s risk reduction,” he said.

The system that was just delivered is an engineering development model, according to Searles. Boeing is expected to deliver another five vehicles to meet what the Pentagon calls a “joint emergent operational need” (JEON).

“The five JEON vehicles are still on track for delivery at the end of this year. We do have some schedule pressure there. I’ll be completely transparent. You know, it has been a challenge with some of the quality issues we’ve had along the way. We’ve learned a lot. There’s a lot of titanium built into these vessels, and that’s not a forgiving material to work with,” Searles said.

However, “I will tell you … we’re very thrilled with our prime [contractor]. It’s been very aggressive in getting after correcting everything we found. So very happy with how Boeing’s been doing it. I as much as anybody, would have liked to have not had any of those problems. But when you do have them, what you do expect is for industry to go figure it out and fix it. And I would tell you Boeing has done a fantastic job getting after it,” he added.

The first Orca platform, which the Navy has designated XLE0, will be headed out to an operational area off the coast of southern California later this month, according to Searles.

“We’re super excited to have one now in our own hands,” he said.

The design of the platform was inspired by Boeing’s Echo Voyager, which has a range of up to 6,500 nautical miles and can accommodate a modular payload section up to 34 feet in length, as well as external payloads, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

However, the Orca will differ in some respects to meet military requirements, it noted.

The Echo Voyager is 51 feet long and has a weight in the air of 50 tons, according to the CRS report. Searles’ comments about the Orca weighing 85 tons and being 85 feet long seem to indicate that the Navy system is significantly larger than the Echo Voyager.

DefenseScoop asked Rear Adm. Kevin Smith, program executive officer for unmanned and small combatants, when the Orca might be integrated into larger exercises — such as the Integrated Battle Problem series conducted by U.S. Pacific Fleet — or conduct transoceanic voyages like some of the unmanned surface vessel (USV) prototypes that the Navy has been operating.

“The five that we have in production besides the prototype we just launched, they’re going to be delivered in … 24, ’25. So, I can’t really comment per se on some of the stuff that the fleet is going to do. But not long after some of those deliveries, there’s going to start being even more [activity]. You know, still working on the [concept of operations] and all those kinds of things, but you know it’s right on the heels of that,” he said.

Fabrication awards for additional XLUUVs are planned for fiscal 2026, and the service anticipates “gradually ramping up quantities in future fiscal years, depending on the progress from the first five systems,” according to Navy budget documents.

In a keynote speech at the SNA symposium, the new Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said she sees uncrewed systems as a key element of her vision of the future force that will contribute to a broader “warfighting ecosystem.”

Smith, the PEO, specifically mentioned the Orca during a panel at the conference.

“That’s going to bring a lot of capability to the fleet. More players on the field,” he said.

The post What’s next for the Navy’s Orca unmanned submarine? appeared first on DefenseScoop.

The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket hoisted the unmanned space plane into orbit Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after unspecified ground equipment issues and bad weather forced the company to push back the launch, which was originally scheduled for Dec. 7.

Although details about the latest mission have been largely kept behind closed doors, the Space Force said in November that some tests will include “operating in new orbital regimes, experimenting with space domain awareness technologies and investigating the radiation effects to NASA materials.”

“This was a very important mission and our teams worked shoulder-to-shoulder to ensure a successful launch,” Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, commander of Space Launch Delta 45, said in a statement. “Our national security space missions are the most stressing within our launch portfolio, and we have multiple world class organizations that come together to make the magic happen.”

First launched in 2010, the Boeing-made X-37B has served as an on-orbit, experimental testbed for novel technologies being developed by the Pentagon and NASA across six missions. The reusable space plane is able to conduct demonstrations during its years-long flights before landing back on Earth, where it can be repurposed for future missions.

Its most recent flight lasted 908 days, after which it returned to Earth in November 2022.

“The technological advancements we’re driving on X-37B will benefit the broader space community, especially as we see increased interest in space sustainability,” Michelle Parker, Boeing’s vice president of space mission systems, said in a statement. “We are pushing innovation and capability that will influence the next generation of spacecraft.”

Thursday’s launch marks the first time an X-37B has been carried to space by SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket — an ultra powerful launch vehicle that could lift the military plane into higher orbital regimes than previous flights. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 system was used for the X-37B’s sixth mission, while the previous five leveraged the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket.

Previous X-37B flights have tested space-to-ground solar energy technology developed by the Naval Research Laboratory and how organic materials react to exposure in space over long periods of time.

The post Space Force launches X-37B robotic space plane for new round of classified experiments appeared first on DefenseScoop.

The service is pursuing extra-large unmanned undersea vessels (XLUUV) that can travel long distances and lay mines without putting sailors in harm’s way. The initiative is part of a broader push to acquire new robotic platforms for the fleet. The Navy is also acquiring and deploying a variety of unmanned surface vessels and unmanned aerial systems.

In a press release, Boeing described Orca as “a new class of autonomous submarine that can perform long duration critical missions to achieve undersea maritime dominance in changing environments and contested waters.”

“This is the culmination of more than a decade of pioneering work, developing a long-range, fully autonomous undersea vehicle with a large payload capacity that can operate completely independently of a host vehicle,” Ann Stevens, vice president of maritime and intelligence systems at Boeing, said in a statement. “I’ve had the distinct pleasure of witnessing our team bring this first-of-its-kind capability to life, and I’m proud of their innovation, perseverance and unwavering commitment which has yielded the most advanced and capable UUV in the world. With the Navy’s partnership, we look forward to continuing to deliver this game-changing vehicle to the fleet.”

The Navy defines XLUUVs as unmanned underwater vessels with a diameter of more than 84 inches, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

In 2019, the Navy tapped Boeing to fabricate, test and deliver the first five Orcas. It’s part of an effort to address what the Pentagon calls a “joint emergent operational need.”

“Orca XLUUV is a multi-phased accelerated acquisition effort to rapidly deliver capability to the Fleet,” according to Navy budget documents. “Fabrication awards of additional Orca XLUUV systems are planned for [fiscal 2026] and out, gradually ramping up quantities in future fiscal years, depending on the progress from the first five systems. XLUUV will have a modular payload bay, with defined interfaces that current and future payloads must adhere to for employment from the vehicle.”

The initiative will integrate “the currently required payload, and potential future payloads will be developed, evaluated, and preliminarily integrated leveraging the Core Technologies Program Element 0604029N. Additional XLUUV technologies/capabilities risk reduction will occur in parallel, leveraging the competitive Industrial base,” per the documents.

The Navy requested $104 million for fiscal 2024 for advanced undersea prototyping for the effort.

Orca was put through its paces during multiple phases of at-sea testing, including above- and below-surface maneuvers, before the first system was delivered this month, according to Boeing.

The post Navy receives first Orca unmanned submarine from Boeing appeared first on DefenseScoop.

On Sept. 8, the Department of Defense announced that the company was awarded a $70.6 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, excluding one unexercised option, for phase two of the project, but didn’t provide much additional detail.

In a release Monday, Boeing said the firm will “develop and test technologies for a hypersonic interceptor prototype” and “perform computational fluid dynamics analysis, wind tunnel testing and evaluation of aerodynamic jet interaction effects during flight tests.”

It is expected to be a four-year effort, per the release.

Hypersonic missiles pose a unique challenge for U.S. and allied air-and-missile defenses. They are designed to fly faster than Mach 5 and be extraordinarily maneuverable. U.S. adversaries such as China and Russia are developing these types of systems, and the Pentagon is looking for additional tools to counter them.

“This phase of the Glide Breaker program will determine how factors like hypersonic airflow and firing jet thrusters to guide the vehicle affect system performance at extreme speed and altitude in a representative digital environment,” Gil Griffin, executive director of the Boeing Phantom Works advanced weapons office, said in a statement. “We’re operating on the cutting edge of what’s possible in terms of intercepting an extremely fast object in an incredibly dynamic environment.”

Developments associated with Glide Breaker are intended to inform a future program of record as the U.S. military looks for ways to shoot down hypersonics in their glide phase of flight where they may be more vulnerable to intercepts.

The Pentagon is looking for an interceptor that could be launched from an Aegis MK-41 vertical launch system and take out adversaries’ missiles with a kill vehicle enabled by a “divert and attitude control system,” according to a broad agency announcement for the effort released last year.

Phase two of the Glide Breaker program “seeks to develop the knowledge required to enable a DACS-propelled [kill vehicle] to intercept threats during glide phase in the presence of [jet interaction] effects,” per the BAA. Phase one “was a critical step, but did not address endoatmospheric effects such as controlling the [kill vehicle] in the presence of [jet interaction] between the DACS jets and the hypersonic cross flow.”

Meanwhile, DARPA isn’t the only Pentagon component working on counter-hypersonics tech.

In April, the DOD announced that the Missile Defense Agency had extended ongoing contracts with Raytheon and Northrop Grumman to separately refine their Glide Phase Intercept concepts.

And just last month, the U.S. and Japan announced that they will team up to jointly produce a new weapon that can counter emerging hypersonic threats in the Indo-Pacific region, via a Glide Phase Interceptor cooperative development program. Washington and Tokyo are particularly concerned about China’s advancements in hypersonic missile technology.

The U.S. military is also pursuing its own offensive hypersonic missiles, including an Army ground-launched Dark Eagle (formerly known as the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, or LRHW), a Navy sea-launched Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) weapon, and the Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM).

Additionally, DAPRA has a program known as More Opportunities for Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (MoHAWC). In July, the Department of Defense announced that it selected Raytheon and its partner Northrop Grumman to continue the development and maturation of a scramjet-powered hypersonic missile. The new effort is a follow-on to the HAWC program — a joint initiative between DARPA and the Air Force that wrapped up in January with its final successful flight test.

The post Boeing wins $70M contract award for Glide Breaker counter-hypersonic weapons tech appeared first on DefenseScoop.