The Air Force on Thursday awarded more than $110 million to Raytheon, L-3 Communication, and ViaSat Inc. to demonstrate the ability to perform anti-jamming for tactical use of the Wideband Global Satellite Communications constellation. The contracts from the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center—$39 million to Raytheon, $38 million to L-3, and $33 million to ViaSat—call on the companies to demonstrate the anti-jam capability by Sept. 30, 2020, according to a Defense Department announcement. (See also: Never Assume Space is Safe, Hyten Cautions.)
Facing competition from fast-growing startups, Lockheed Martin is speeding up production of an “affordable, scalable” hypersonic glide body, dubbed the Next Generation Glide Body, the firm said in a June 24 release.