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Statement on U.S. Navy’s Undergraduate Jet Training System program

Statement on U.S. Navy’s Undergraduate Jet Training System program ST. LOUIS, June 12, 2026 – Boeing is focused on meeting our commitments, and we bid for programs where we believe we can provide the right solution tailored to our customers’ needs and requirements. After careful evaluation, we have determined the T-7A does not meet the […] The post Statement on U.S. Navy’s Undergraduate Jet Training System program first appeared on PLANEtalking .

PLANEtalkingPLANEtalking•Flight Crew12 Jun
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Project Lotus, Northrop Grumman’s Secret Autonomous Aircraft Revealed

<span>Project Lotus, Northrop Grumman’s Secret Autonomous Aircraft Revealed</span> <span><span lang="" about="/users/dan-hockensmith" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" content="hockensmithawin">hockensmithawi…</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-10-27T18:05:46+00:00" title="Monday, October 27, 2025 - 18:05">Mon, 10/27/2025 - 18:05</time> </span> <drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\node\NodeViewBuilder::renderLinks" arguments="0=4953701&amp;1=rss&amp;2=en&amp;3=&amp;4" token="MlG03c4FlgCQQM8BfoCDaOAqBmfGhZWhKjcF0Fe_WG4"></drupal-render-placeholder> <div><p>Northrop Grumman has secretly built a large new uncrewed aircraft system (UAS), dubbed Project Lotus, at the company’s Scaled Composites rapid prototyping facility in Mojave, California, a source familiar with the project tells Aviation Week.</p><p>A photo of the aircraft reviewed by Aviation Week revealed a completed, turbofan-powered aircraft parked within the Scaled Composites compound at the public airport.</p><p>The Lotus UAS design in some ways resembles features of the newly revealed Lockheed Martin Project Vectis, with a long, slender fuselage positioned forward of the leading edges of the wings, capped by a nose with swept-back edges leading to a slender point.</p><p>In many other respects, the Lotus and Vectis designs diverge. Unlike the engine inlet mounted low at mid-fuselage for the Vectis aircraft, the Lotus inlet sits high atop of the extreme aft section of its fuselage. The Lotus also sports sharply canted tails, breaking from the tailless-configured Vectis.</p><p>Project Lotus appears to represent Northrop’s candidate for the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) Increment 2 program, which is finalizing requirements for competitive prototypes ahead of a scheduled acquisition process next year. The photo reveals that Northrop has already built a demonstrator, perhaps gaining a step on Lockheed’s rival design, which is not scheduled to reach first flight until 2027.</p><p>As Northrop’s rapid prototyping arm, the Scaled Composites facility frequently builds aircraft demonstrators in secret. Scaled Composites registered a turbofan-powered, fixed-wing aircraft identified only as Model 444 earlier this year with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which granted the organization the N444LX tail number. It is not clear if the registration represents Project Lotus or another undisclosed project.</p><p>Northrop also is building the XRQ-73, also known as the Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion AiR Demonstration (Shepard), for DARPA.</p><p>In response to questions about Project Lotus from Aviation Week, Northrop avoided direct answers, but spoke generally about its internal investments in autonomous aircraft.</p><p>“Our investments prioritize production at speed and scale, without sacrificing performance or capability. The Northrop Grumman team has generated step-change advancements in production speed, weight and parts reduction, and overall cost efficiency. These advancements benefit the spectrum of autonomous capabilities we produce at Northrop Grumman for U.S. and international customers,” Northrop said.</p><p>As Lockheed’s Project Vectis design revealed in September, Northrop’s Project Lotus represents one side in a long-running debate within industry and the Air Force over the future direction of the CCA fleet between concepts that emphasize greater survivability or lower cost.</p><p>In 2024, the Air Force decided to seek a middle ground between cost and survivability with the selected competitive prototypes for the CCA Increment 1 program. The General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. YFQ-42 and Anduril YFQ-44 are large aircraft that feature some low-observable, or stealth, technology. But the aircraft are larger and costlier than, for example, the Kratos XQ-58, and lack the stealthier features of Project Vectis and Project Lotus.</p><p>In September, Air Force officials said they were considering the full spectrum of options for the Increment 2 CCA requirement, ranging from exquisite survivability to small, air-launched systems.</p><p>Project Lotus also lends new insight into how Northrop’s internal CCA concepts have evolved from previous, publicly released ideas. As the Air Force competition for CCAs heated up in 2023, Northrop showed off the SG-1 and SG-2 concepts, which appeared similar to the cranked-kite planform of the U.S. Navy-funded X-47B demonstrator. Around the same time, Northrop also unveiled the Model 437 concept, an autonomous spinoff from the crewed Model 401 Sierra demonstrator. The Model 437 finally emerged as a piloted demonstrator aircraft in 2024.</p><p>Earlier this year, Northrop announced that the aircraft had transitioned into the Beacon demonstrator, serving as a testbed for mission autonomy technology.</p></div> <div> <div>Issue</div> <div> <div><a href="/aerospace-daily-defense-report/2025-10-28" hreflang="en">Aerospace Daily &amp; Defense Report, October 28, 2025</a></div> <div><a href="/aviation-week-space-technology/2025-11-10" hreflang="en">Aviation Week &amp; Space Technology, Nov. 10, 2025</a></div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Article type</div> <div>Article</div> </div> <div> <div>Primary Category</div> <div><a href="/taxonomy/term/336" hreflang="en">Aircraft &amp; Propulsion</a></div> </div> <div> <div>Author</div> <div> <div><a href="/author/steve-trimble" hreflang="en">Steve Trimble</a></div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Content source</div> <div> <div><a href="/content/aerospace-daily-defense-report" hreflang="en">Aerospace Daily &amp; Defense Report</a></div> <div><a href="/taxonomy/term/1066" hreflang="en">Aviation Week &amp; Space Technology</a></div> </div> </div> <drupal-render-placeholder callback="flag.link_builder:build" arguments="0=node&amp;1=4953701&amp;2=favorite&amp;3=rss" token="1ivBFmu3BQe9vtfXep8ZG7255pHtMnuhOka9dzcX77w"></drupal-render-placeholder> <div> <div>Exclude from lists?</div> <div>No</div> </div> <div> <span class="font-weight-bold">Tags:</span> <ul class="list-inline"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/158601" hreflang="en">UAS</a>,</li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="/term/lockheed-martin" hreflang="en">Lockheed Martin</a>,</li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="/term/northrop-grumman" hreflang="en">Northrop Grumman</a>,</li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/158591" hreflang="en">Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA)</a></li> </ul> </div> <div> <div>Gating</div> <div> <div><a href="/taxonomy/term/871" hreflang="en">AWST-MRO</a></div> <div><a href="/taxonomy/term/35591" hreflang="en">ASD</a></div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Featured Image</div> <div> <div><a href="/media/image/2327291" hreflang="en">screenshot_2025-10-27_scaled_composites_from_gmaps.png</a></div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Secondary Categories/Subcategories</div> <div> <div><a href="/taxonomy/term/306" hreflang="en">Aerospace</a></div> <div><a href="/taxonomy/term/346" hreflang="en">Defense</a></div> <div><a href="/taxonomy/term/336" hreflang="en">Aircraft &amp; Propulsion</a></div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Is iframe in the header?</div> <div>Off</div> </div> <div> <div>Knowledge Center Featured Content</div> <div>Off</div> </div> <div> <div>Do not render ads</div> <div>Off</div> </div> <div> <div>Temporarily set to AWIN Freemium</div> <div>Off</div> </div>

Aviation WeekAviation Week•hockensmithawin@gmail.com27 Oct 2025
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Selected U.S. Military Contracts for the Week of March 6 - March 10, 2017

<span>Selected U.S. Military Contracts for the Week of March 6 - March 10, 2017</span> <span><span lang="" about="/user/1" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" content="email_registration_qPH4cFMVam">user+1@localho…</span></span> <span><time datetime="2017-03-15T01:41:00+00:00" title="Wednesday, March 15, 2017 - 01:41">Wed, 03/15/2017 - 01:41</time> </span> <drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\node\NodeViewBuilder::renderLinks" arguments="0=2657401&amp;1=rss&amp;2=en&amp;3=&amp;4" token="uKs-aR4svCks8smv44psPLZR6Pa14m66obSjnmyDsQQ"></drupal-render-placeholder> <div><p><strong>Selected U.S. military contracts for March 6, 2017</strong></p> <p><strong>U.S. ARMY</strong></p> <p><strong>Blue Storm Associates Inc.</strong>, doing business as Pemdas Technologies and Innovation, Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded a $49,500,000 order dependent contract for the Atmospheric Sensing and Prediction System. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, is the contracting activity (W911NF-17-D-0001).</p> <p><strong>Selected U.S. military contracts for March 7, 2017</strong></p> <p><strong>U.S. AIR FORCE</strong></p> <p><strong>Kelly Aviation Center LP</strong>, San Antonio, has been awarded a $1,001,978,024 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for KC-10 engine contractor logistic support. Contractor will provide engine teardown and overhaul, on-wing support/contract field teams, and engine parts and logistics. In addition, the contractor will provide all support required to fulfill this requirement, including but not limited to labor, materials, tools, equipment, parts, and transportation. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, is the contracting activity (FA8105-17-D-0002).</p> <p><strong>U.S. NAVY</strong></p> <p><strong>Avian LLC</strong>, Lexington Park, Maryland, is being awarded an $11,402,443 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide support for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division&rsquo;s Integrated System Evaluation Experimentation and Test Department (AIR-5.1). Services provided will include flight test engineering, programmatic, administrative, design, execution, analysis, evaluation, and reporting of tests and experiments of aircraft, unmanned air systems, weapons and weapons systems. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-17-C-0049).</p> <p><strong>Selected U.S. military contracts for March 8, 2017</strong></p> <p><strong>U.S. NAVY</strong></p> <p><strong>Sierra Nevada Corp.</strong>, Rancho, California, is being awarded a $30,995,905 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00174-09-D-0003) to extend the ordering period and exercise Option Year 6 for the procurement and support of the transmitting set, countermeasures AN/PLT-5, to support explosive ordnance disposal personnel.&nbsp; The AN/PLT-5 is a man-portable system in support of the Joint Service Explosive Ordnance Disposal Counter Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare program. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity.</p> <p><strong>Vector Planning and Services Inc.</strong>, San Diego, is being awarded a potential $17,910,070 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide cyberspace science, research, engineering, and technology integration. Support includes innovative technology assessment and development; rapid software development and prototyping; enabling capability training; security engineering; and cybersecurity risk management.&nbsp; This is one of four multiple-award contracts. All awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period.&nbsp; The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, is the contracting activity (N66001-17-D-0117).</p> <p><strong>Selected U.S. military contracts for March 9, 2017</strong></p> <p><strong>U.S. MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY</strong></p> <p><strong>Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.</strong>, Sunnyvale, California, was awarded a $53,052,807 competitive cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for a 36-month period with no options for the Multi-Object Kill Vehicle Technology Risk Reduction (TRR) effort. This contract represents part of the Missile Defense Agency&rsquo;s technology risk reduction strategy to improve performance and reduce risk for a gimbaled seeker assembly, integrated avionics assembly, component integration and testing, and an advanced seeker. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (HQ0147-17-C-0002).</p> <p><strong>U.S. NAVY</strong></p> <p><strong>ViON Corp.</strong>, Herndon, California, is being awarded a $34,790,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide Capacity as a Service support to Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (Spawar) Headquarters, Spawar System Center Pacific and Spawar System Center Atlantic. The Capacity as a Service acquisition model allows Spawar to more accurately scale, up and down, its information technology (IT) infrastructure to meet evolving mission requirements. Savings are realized through no up-front costs and a &ldquo;pay as you go&rdquo; acquisition model, reducing waste usually associated with overbuying of IT equipment to eventually meet an expectation of mission requirement. Under this contract, ViON is responsible for providing on-demand, on-premise computing, networking and storage solutions for a variety of systems and applications for the command&rsquo;s research, development, testing and evaluation core infrastructures, laboratory and data center environments. This contract includes options, which if exercised, would bring the maximum contract value to $49,990,000. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, is the contracting activity (N00039-17-D-0003).</p> </div> <div> <div>Content summary</div> <div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Issue</div> <div> <div><a href="/aerospace-daily-defense-report/2017-03-14" hreflang="en">Aerospace Daily &amp; Defense Report, March 14, 2017</a></div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Article type</div> <div>Article</div> </div> <div> <div>Content source</div> <div> <div><a href="/content/aerospace-daily-defense-report" hreflang="en">Aerospace Daily &amp; Defense Report</a></div> </div> </div> <drupal-render-placeholder callback="flag.link_builder:build" arguments="0=node&amp;1=2657401&amp;2=favorite&amp;3=rss" token="pLlGgyq53R0srMOj64ZIVxfOgtbBlHnfceNP76nG7m8"></drupal-render-placeholder> <div> <div>Exclude from lists?</div> <div>No</div> </div> <div> <div>Article sub-type</div> <div>Article</div> </div> <div> <div>Gating</div> <div> <div><a href="/taxonomy/term/856" hreflang="en">AWIN</a></div> </div> </div> <div> <div>Publication date</div> <div><time datetime="2017-03-14T21:41:00Z">Tue, 03/14/2017 - 21:41</time> </div> </div>

Aviation WeekAviation Week•user+1@localhost.localdomain15 Mar 2017