“Aether Spy will enable significant improvements in surveillance and battle management missions in the future battlespace,” AFRL technical advisor for sensor subsystems Thomas Dalrymple said.

The new partnership combines Boeing's expertise in beam directing with General Atomics' distributed gain laser technology.

The live-fly demonstrations for the Three-Dimensional Long-Range Radar (3DELRR) keeps the program on track for a follow-on integration and production contract early next year.

The Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node is expected to play a key role in the Army's future concept of operations.

The Pentagon has distributed its first-ever data strategy, which is integral for the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept that will link military equipment across the future battlefield.

The U.S. Air Force had already run Kubernetes in ground-based aircraft tests, but the Sept. 22 flight aboard a U-2S marked a new landmark in advanced software applications for military aircraft.

An electronic-intelligence aircraft converted from a Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) C-2 airlifter prototype moved to a tactics development unit on Oct. 1, bringing new but undisclosed signals-interception capabilities closer to operation for Japan.

Depending on the results of a planned demonstration in 2022, U.S. Special Operations Command could initiate a follow-on development program for an operational, 60-kW laser on an AC-130J.