The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded program definition and risk reduction contracts worth $10 million for work on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, known as GOES-R, to Lockheed Martin and to the team of Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. The initial contracts run for six months, but they could be extended for up to 16 months for another $20 million. GOES-R is the next-generation environmental satellite system, which is intended to monitor data for daily and long range weather forecasting and climate studies across the globe.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
