Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, Mass., has added a system called Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below to the repertoire of the E-8 Joint STARS to enable the ground surveillance aircraft to “see” friend vs. foe. The Army uses the system to get updates on the location of friendly troops in near real time by continuously transmitting actual locations over the network, and then sends progress reports to a tactical operations center. Five Joint STARS aircraft now have laptop computers that will receive regular updates from the FBCB2 system. Using special software, the laptops will send the data to the E-8 mission operator consoles. ESC plans to outfit the remainder of the fleet, starting this spring.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.