Application Briefs

Defense

C-UAS Tactical Vehicle Testing

American Rheinmetall recently conducted a live-fire demonstration of its Ultra-Short Range Air Defense counter-uncrewed aerial system system integrated onto a tactical vehicle during testing at the Big Sandy Range in Arizona. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Defense

Marines Evaluate Fiber-Optic FPV Drones

U.S. Marines with Marine Expeditionary Force partnered with the Defense Innovation Unit and industry professionals during a three-day event in January to evaluate first-person view small uncrewed aerial systems that use fiber optic cables, marking the U.S. Marine Corps’ first field evaluation of the technology for sUAS employment in contested environments. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Manufacturing & Prototyping

A Shipping Container That Builds 50 Interceptor Drones a Day

Sensofusion has developed the Tactical Drone Factory: a fully self-contained drone manufacturing facility built inside a standard shipping container. Equipped with industrial 3D printers, an electronics assembly station, and a complete parts inventory, a single Drone Factory can produce approximately 50 interceptor drones per day. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Weapons Systems

Third-Generation Modular Directed Energy Weapon System

AeroVironment announced the release of LOCUST® X3, the third generation of AV’s high-energy laser weapon system that delivers precise, speed-of-light engagement for rapid defeat of uncrewed aerial threats. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Defense

Draper Liquid Rocket Engine’s First Flight

The Air Force Research Laboratory and Ursa Major recently executed a flight of the Affordable Rapid Missile Demonstrator powered by the Draper liquid rocket engine, achieving supersonic speeds and demonstrating concepts of operations. Read on to learn more about it.

Application Briefs

Manned Systems

Talon IQ Flight with Shield AI’s Hivemind Software

Northrop Grumman’s Talon IQ™ testbed completed its first partner mission autonomy flight with Shield AI’s Hivemind software, showcasing a ready to fly platform that accelerates innovation, cuts development costs and eliminates the need to build a dedicated airframe for every new autonomy solution. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Defense

Airbus Equips Kratos Drones for German Air Force UCCA System

Airbus is working to offer the German Air Force an operational Uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft system by 2029. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Unmanned Systems

The Drone Equation: Proportional Response to the UAS Threat

Drones do not follow predictable patterns. They can fly high and fast or low and slow with minimal radar signatures, attacking individually or in swarms from kilometers away or at the fence line. This operational flexibility demands layered defense architecture. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Robotics, Automation & Control

Can Multi-Fingered Robots Transform Shipboard Operations and Autonomous Maintenance?

In dynamic, unstructured environments like ship decks and even home kitchens, robots today still struggle to perform precision tasks such as tightening bolts or handling wires. This makes critical ship maintenance tasks difficult. USC researcher Erdem Bıyık aims to advance robots’ finger manipulation and integrate human feedback to enable realtime learning for robots in an upcoming three-year, $750,000 project. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Unmanned Systems

Army Researchers Design 3D-Printed Soldier Portable Autonomous Reconnaissance Transitioning Aircraft

Researchers at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory harnessed bottom-up Soldier innovation to develop an experimental 3D-printed small unmanned aerial system that was demonstrated at the inaugural U.S. Army Best Drone Warfighter Competition in Huntsville, Alabama. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Software

RPI Researchers Harness Agentic AI for Smarter, Faster Aerospace Design

A Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute engineering professor, Shaowu Pan, Ph.D. and his team of students have integrated agentic AI into computational fluid dynamics to optimize the aerospace design process and alleviate bottlenecks. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Aerospace

Teaching Robots to Fly Like Birds

A bird banking in a crosswind doesn’t rely on spinning blades. Its wings flex, twist and respond instantly to its environment. Engineers at Rutgers University have taken a major step toward building birdlike drones that move the same way. Read on to learn more about it.

Briefs

Aerospace

Virginia Tech Experts Accelerate Skydio Drone Flights Over People and Vehicles

Operators using a drone from the leading manufacturer in the U.S. can now conduct missions over people and vehicles much easier and with even greater confidence in their safety. Read on to learn what this means.

Products

Software

New Products

See the new products, including Signal Hound's VSG200, a 20 GHz vector signal generator offering 40 MHz of realtime streaming bandwidth; LK Metrology's innovative COREX 250; Aerotech Inc.'s launch of its AGV-CPO CORE Performance 2-Axis Laser Scan Head; VPT, Inc.'s release of the VSCPL1210SG, the first point of load DC–DC converter in its award–winning VSC Series of space–grade COTS power supplies; and more.

Articles

AR/AI

Leonardo DRS Expands Production Capacity to Advance Naval Power, Sensors, and AI-Driven Mission Systems

Leonardo DRS has opened a new naval power and propulsion manufacturing and testing facility in Charleston, South Carolina, expanding its role in delivering next generation electric propulsion, integrated power systems, and high energy payload support for U.S. Navy surface and undersea platforms. Read on to learn all about it.

Articles

Software

Why CFD is Stuck in the File Era

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) workflows are stuck in the file era — results disconnected from their geometry, provenance tracked in spreadsheets, certification evidence scattered across email threads. Flexcompute is building Flexcompute Thread: artifact-native simulation where every result you would normally save to result.png becomes a traceable asset that knows where it came from, automatically. Read on to learn more about it.

Articles

Unmanned Systems

Success at Sea: NIWC Atlantic Uncrewed Surface Vessel Completes Fastest Transatlantic Crossing

Scientists with Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic’s Unmanned Naval Innovation Team reached a historic milestone on Sept. 9, 2025 when they recovered a U.S. Navy-sponsored Lightfish uncrewed surface vessel (USV) in Troia, Portugal, following its harrowing — and completely solo — transatlantic crossing. This fully autonomous vessel accomplished the journey in just over two months, nearly 12 days faster than the last known previous attempt of its kind. Read on to learn more.

Articles

RF & Microwave Electronics

Undetectable Ship-to-Ship Laser Communications

Astrolight recently demonstrated undetectable, unjammable, and high-bandwidth laser-based ship-to-ship communication with its POLARIS terminal during REPMUS’25, NATO’s largest unmanned maritime exercise. Read on to learn more about it.

Articles

Manufacturing & Prototyping

High-Speed Spindles Unlock Five-Axis Machining Innovation with Smaller Tools

For any shop working in aerospace, defense, electronics, or mold-making, especially those handling small diameter tooling, tight tolerances, or exotic materials, the case for high-speed spindle upgrades is increasingly clear. Read on to learn more.

Articles

Electronics & Computers

Accurate and Resilient GNSS Timing Modules for Critical Infrastructure

Precise time synchronization is the backbone of today’s connected world, keeping telecom networks, data centers, and financial systems running seamlessly. Without accurate timing, our digital infrastructure would quickly fall out of sync. Septentrio designs and manufactures world recognized Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) timing receivers for critical infrastructure and leading industry organizations. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Weapons Systems

Apache’s New 30mm Proximity Ammunition

The Apache Attack Helicopter AH-64 has reached a new milestone in battlefield capability with the successful live fire test of the 30x113mm XM1225 Aviation Proximity Explosive (APEX) ammunition at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Defense

Autonomous Undersea Gliders for Anti-Submarine Warfare

Teledyne Technologies Incorporated — from January 17 through January 22 — conducted an Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) demonstration in Icelandic waters using its series of autonomous underwater vehicles. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Defense

New Autonomous Undersea Vehicle Can Recharge Other Vessels

Lockheed Martin has unveiled the Lamprey Multi Mission Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (MMAUV), a breakthrough “plug-and play” submersible that gives U.S. and allied warfighters technological and strategic advantages in today’s contested maritime arena. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Software

Nanoscale Thermal Prediction for Real-World Chip Design

DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office launched the Thermal Modeling of Nanoscale Transistors (Thermonat) effort, which aims to combine the accuracy of atom-level physics with the speed required for industry design timelines, targeting predictions within 1°C of ground truth and reducing computation time by more than 1,000x. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Manufacturing & Prototyping

NightTrain Autonomous Vessel Reaches Critical Design Milestone

BlackSea Technologies marked a key milestone in the development of its NightTrain autonomous surface vessel with a keel-laying ceremony. Read on to learn all about it.

Application Briefs

Manned Systems

Navy Declares IOC for Small Diameter Bomb

The U.S. Navy recently declared initial operational capability for the Small Diameter Bomb II on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, marking a significant advancement in the fleet’s precision-strike technology. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Defense

The Navy’s New Advanced Lightweight Torpedo Program

Northrop Grumman will manufacture and deliver to the U.S. Navy a new advanced lightweight torpedo with a custom-designed warhead to increase its lethality. Northrop Grumman will draw upon decades of production expertise to deliver a weapon that fires from multiple naval platforms. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Materials

New 3D-Printing and Manufacturing Techniques Grant More Control Over Energetic Material Behavior

Because any small tweaks or environmental changes can dramatically alter how energetic materials function, Purdue University engineer Monique McClain is developing state-of-the-art tools and methods to control these materials’ behavior throughout the manufacturing process and down to the particle level. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Vortex Research to Solve Aviation’s Efficiency Tradeoff with Active Strakes

For decades, aircraft have carried a fundamental compromise between their engines and wing flow interactions by using strakes. These are small fins attached at the sides of engine nacelles that generate helpful vortices during takeoff and landing that boost lift and avoid stall, but create unwanted drag during cruise flight. Now, seven William E. Boeing Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics (A&A) undergraduates have advanced a solution that improves this trade-off. Read on to learn more.