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Tag: U.S. Air Force contract

  • PlanetiQ awarded $15M US Air Force contract for GNSS-RO weather data

    PlanetiQ awarded $15M US Air Force contract for GNSS-RO weather data

    PlanetiQ has been awarded a $15 million, 48-month Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) contract by the U.S. Air Force. The program will support the development and launch of spacecraft equipped with next-generation GNSS radio occultation (GNSS-RO) and GNSS polarimetric radio occultation (GNSS-PRO) instruments and the delivery of high-value weather data to the U.S. Air Force.

    The mission will focus on advancing GNSS-RO, GNSS-PRO and GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R) capabilities. The program includes the development of advanced data assimilation techniques to integrate enhanced GNSS-PRO data into numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, improving forecast accuracy and enabling new insights into atmospheric conditions.

    After spacecraft commissioning, PlanetiQ will provide on-orbit data delivery during the contract period. This will support multiple applications across the Department of the Air Force, including artificial intelligence (AI) model training, data assimilation, and performance evaluation.

    As the largest commercial provider of GNSS-RO data, PlanetiQ operates a global constellation of satellites, including spacecraft equipped with advanced receivers capable of capturing high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) GNSS-RO and GNSS-PRO measurements. GNSS-PRO has demonstrated strong efficacy for measuring precipitation, a key capability for improving severe weather forecasting.

    This STRATFI award will enable the development of a next-generation receiver that adds GNSS-R capabilities, supporting new applications such as ocean surface wind measurement, sea state characterization, and soil moisture monitoring over land.

    “This award represents a major step forward in delivering more advanced, actionable weather information to the warfighter,” said Ira Scharf, CEO of PlanetiQ. “By combining GNSS-RO, PRO and R measurements in a single platform, we are unlocking a more complete picture of the atmosphere and Earth’s surface. We are proud to partner with the U.S. Air Force to accelerate these capabilities and bring next-generation environmental data into operational use.”

  • Raytheon to continue supporting US Air Force geospatial intelligence

    Raytheon to continue supporting US Air Force geospatial intelligence

    An MQ-9 Reaper on patrol. (Photo: Lt. Col. Leslie Pratt)
    An MQ-9 Reaper on patrol. (Photo: Lt. Col. Leslie Pratt)

    Contract to provide geospatial intelligence, infrastructure support and training for the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System

    Raytheon Intelligence & Space (RI&S), a Raytheon Technologies business, has been awarded a five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to continue geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) system mission support and training for the U.S. Air Force’s Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS).

    Under the DCGS GEOINT Field Support contract, RI&S will provide mission support and engineering services for the current DCGS weapon-system baseline as well as partnering with the Air Force to facilitate the transition to an open architecture.

    Open architecture will enable DCGS to more readily integrate data from the intelligence community and commercial providers, with the goal of using artificial intelligence to create multi-intelligence analysis.

    DCGS draws in data from airborne sensors aboard the RQ-4 Global Hawk, Mq-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper and other intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms all over the globe.

    Under the contract, RI&S will leverage its mission domain knowledge to ensure high mission availability to support end-to-end operations, from mission planning for an airborne sensor to data collection, processing and data discoverability for the DCGS Analysis Exploitation Teams in support of theater and National Command Authority.

  • LIFT Aircraft advances to Phase 3 contract with US Air Force

    LIFT Aircraft advances to Phase 3 contract with US Air Force

    LIFT Aircraft Co. has been awarded a U.S. Air Force contract to continue experimentation and flight test efforts around its HEXA copter.

    LIFT Aircraft Co. has been awarded a Phase 3 contract through the U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime Program to continue experimentation and flight test efforts around HEXA, LIFT’s all-electric, single-seat vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft.

    Since 2020, LIFT Aircraft has conducted flight testing with the support of the U.S. Air Force under a Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract.

    Working with Air Force subject-matter experts, LIFT achieved initial military airworthiness approval (military flight release) and proven transportability by moving the aircraft inside a C-130 military cargo plane. The company also explored a multitude of potential use-cases alongside the Agility Prime Test Team.

    The Phase 3 contract will continue experimentation and use-case development through a fast-paced, rigorous flight testing program. The program will begin at Eglin AFB and may expand to other locations. It includes efforts such as flight envelope expansion, acoustics testing and developmental testing of a modular cargo adaptation for the airframe.

    The aim is to accelerate and further develop HEXA for public and military applications such as emergency first response, personnel transport, base logistics and search-and-rescue missions. The development effort will also help accelerate the testing required for LIFT’s planned rollout of commercial flight locations.

    “This partnership provides continued access to the unmatched expertise of the U.S. Air Force,” said LIFT Director of Business Development, Kevin Rustagi. “We’re excited about continuing to explore and develop a unique capability to the military: an aircraft that offers air mobility at a cost point comparable with ground transportation that, in the future, with mere hours of training, allows any service member to become a pilot.”

    Testing will initially be performed at Eglin Air Force Base near Destin, Florida, alongside the 96th Test Wing and with the support of Air Force eVTOL initiative, Agility Prime.

    LIFT has already begun coordinating with Col. Doug Creviston of the 96th Operations Group, which has tested systems for the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon and A-10 Thunderbolt.

    Photo: Lift
    Photo: Lift

    “LIFT is a great example of why Agility Prime exists — to further applications of eVTOL technology for both military and civilian use,” said Lt. Col. John Tekell, Air Force Agility Prime Lead at AFWERX.

    Agility Prime has taken a flexible approach to contracting with the Phase 3 SBIR for LIFT. The contract is designed to be as agile as possible — it allows not only the Air Force, but any governmental entity to contract for flight-test activities with LIFT’s HEXA aircraft on an as-needed basis.

    “This contract was designed to enable flexible flight test as a service of multiple HEXA aircraft for any government stakeholder, location and desired experiment,” said Sterling Alley, technology transition lead and LIFT program manager at Agility Prime. “We want it to be able to serve as a contract vehicle that accelerates HEXA towards fielding not just for the USAF, but the DOD and USG in general. We have a large number of interested stakeholders looking at use-cases for the aircraft and welcome growing the community even further in the future.”

    “​LIFT’s Phase III SBIR contract award is a meaningful vote of confidence from the U.S. Air Force,” said Eric Horan, former U.S. Navy government contracting officer and founding partner of Decisive Point, a venture capital firm that invests in dual-use technology startups and has invested in LIFT. “It means the Air Force has determined LIFT’s previous development and testing contracts were successful. This is an important step towards scaling access to LIFT’s HEXA eVTOL aircraft throughout the Department of Defense and federal government at large.”

  • Raytheon to develop advanced laser systems for U.S. Air Force

    Raytheon to develop advanced laser systems for U.S. Air Force

    According to Raytheon, its HELWS uses energy to detect, identify, track and take down drones. (Photo: Raytheon)
    According to Raytheon, its HELWS uses energy to detect, identify, track and take down drones. (Photo: Raytheon)

    Raytheon Company will deploy two prototype high-energy laser weapon systems (HELWS) to troops overseas under a $24 million U.S. Air Force contract. The U.S. Air Force’s experimentation includes 12 months of in-field operation against unmanned aerial systems and operator training.

    Raytheon’s HELWS uses energy to detect, identify, track and take down drones. According to the company, the system can target a single drone with precision. The HELWS is paired with Raytheon’s Raytheon’s Multi-spectral Targeting System. Raytheon’s HELWS, which comes mounted on a Polaris MRZR all-terrain vehicle, uses invisible beams of light to defeat hostile unmanned aerial systems.

    “Every day, there’s another story about a rogue drone incident,” said Stefan Baur, vice president of Raytheon Electronic Warfare Systems. “These threats aren’t going away, and in many instances, shooting them with a high energy laser weapon system is the most effective and safest way to bring them down.”

    Raytheon, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, is a technology and innovation company that specializes in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions.