Los Angeles-based startup Exosonic will develop a concept for a purpose-built, supersonic unmanned aircraft system (UAS) under a 15-month, $750,000 U.S. Air Force contract, the company announced Oct. 12.

The U.S. Army and Sikorsky are in negotiations on what is expected to be the final multiyear procurement contract for the UH-60 Black Hawk, with an award expected early next year.

The Sikorsky/Boeing Defiant X demonstrator, the team’s entrant for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, has flown to a speed of 247 kt., with the engine showing some limited power left to go faster, the companies said Oct. 12.

The Pentagon’s new director of research and engineering wants more money for small businesses to mature technology to avoid the vaunted “valley of death” in acquisition and is proposing new leaders within her office to move faster on developing software and lowering sustainment costs.

A new 5,000-lb. penetrator has completed a series of release tests, paving the way for the U.S. Air Force development program to enter production later this year.

The U.S. Army needs to answer fundamental questions about itself—how it fights, what theaters it needs to focus on, and importantly how it will modernize its weapons systems specifically to counter China—and that process will not be easy, the service’s newest secretary says.

October is an important month for China, both for the People’s Republic and the Republic across the strait, Taiwan.

Israeli companies are rolling out a 600-gal. external fuel tank and a fifth-to-fourth-generation communication system as export options for the Lockheed Martin F-35.