The Air Force has awarded Boeing $35 million and Rockwell Collins $42 million for work over the next two years to upgrade the data-collection capability, safety features, and additional infrastructure at USAF, Army, and Navy test ranges, the Department of Defense announced May 1. Both companies will perform risk-reduction activities and mature technologies under their respective Common Range Integrated Instrumentation System contracts. CRIIS is envisioned to replace the 1980s-era Advanced Range Data System in use today. The goal is to make the services’ ranges interoperable and increase each range’s ability to evaluate accurately and safely complex new weapon systems, such as cruise missiles, mini bombs, and high-powered microwave and laser systems, that have increasingly greater ranges and broader effects. The Air Force aims to field the first increment of CRIIS around 2015.
The Pentagon is counting on Congress to navigate a legislative tightrope and pass a party-line bill to fund nearly a quarter of its $1.5 trillion budget request for fiscal 2027, including billions of dollars for top priorities like Golden Dome, the F-35, munitions, and unmanned systems. Experts and lawmakers from…