The first RQ-4 Global Hawk outfitted with the battlefield airborne command node (BACN) to serve as an aerial communications relay platform makes its maiden flight, flying from Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, Calif., facility to Edwards AFB, Calif.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.

