WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. Northrop Grumman’s patented hemispherical resonator gyro technology, which is used for military and commercial space applications, recently achieved a major milestone of 25 million hours of continuous operation without a single mission failure. Since February 1996, the HRG has been a vital component of Northrop Grumman’s Scalable Space Inertial Reference Unit (Scalable…

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced July 11 the award of nearly $300 million in grants that will help approximately 120,000 homeless and at-risk Veterans and their families. The grants have been awarded to 319 community agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. “With these…

NASA will use the International Space Station to test a new communications technology that could dramatically improve spacecraft communications, enhance commercial missions and strengthen transmission of scientific data. The Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science, an optical technology demonstration experiment, could improve NASA’s data rates for communications with future spacecraft by a factor of 10 to…

The U.S. is moving ahead with plans to deliver four F-16 fighter jets to Egypt despite the ongoing debate about the military overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi and whether it legally constitutes a coup that could shut off aid to the country. Defense officials say senior administration leaders discussed the delivery and decided to let…

The Air Force chief scientist addressed members of the Air Force Association about the Global Horizons study, which looks into the near and long-term application of science and technology in the force. Dr. Mica Endsley, who was recently appointed as the 34th Air Force chief scientist, focused her talk around the future of air, space,…

Through a five-year, $60.45 million (66.7 million Australian) with the Australian Department of Defence, Boeing will provide enhanced support services for Vigilare, the air defense command and control system that is giving the Australian Defence Force unparalleled ground and airborne situational awareness. Through remediation of the multiyear performance-based contract, signed on July 1, Boeing Defence…

News Hagel outlines ‘abrupt, deep’ cuts of $52 billion ahead U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said July 10 that if faced with $52 billion in automatic cuts next year, the Pentagon would do its best to “seek management efficiencies and controls on compensation growth before making cuts to force structure, modernization and readiness.” Pentagon eyes…

Subcommittee approves NASA reauthorization bill The Space Subcommittee July 10 approved a draft bill to reauthorize programs at NASA for two years, including a topline budget of $16.8 billion dollars for the agency, which is consistent with the requirements of the Budget Control Act. My goal is to ensure that Congress ñ and this subcommittee…

Lockheed Martin’s Long Range Land Attack Projectile recently completed four engineering verification flight tests, as part of the U.S. Navy’s System Design and Development program. During the tests conducted at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., four projectiles were fired at various hard and soft targets located 45 nautical miles downrange. All four targets were destroyed….