The Space Force awarded SpaceX a $2.29 billion Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement for the Space Data Network (SDN) Backbone, formerly known as MILNET, with a requirement to deliver a fully operational prototype by the end of 2027. The constellation will serve as the Pentagon's primary space-based communications layer, providing high-capacity, low-latency data transport to the joint force.

The SDN Backbone is a foundational enabler for two of the Pentagon's most consequential programs: Golden Dome missile defense and Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2). The Space Force is simultaneously zeroing out funding for Space Development Agency Transport Layer Tranche 3 in fiscal year 2027, planning to transfer those requirements to the SDN Backbone.

The Space Force used OTA authority to accelerate development and established a broader consortium of industry partners to handle integration and technical challenges across the full SDN architecture. Officials said the approach is designed to deliver both commercial innovation and diversification of the industrial base without trading speed for scale.

Massachusetts-based Tycho.AI unveiled Halley, a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drone capable of reaching 320 kilometers per hour, traveling up to 40 kilometers, and deploying from storage in under 30 seconds through a zero-tool assembly design. The compact platform supports intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, one-way attack operations, and counter-drone swarming via either a first-person-view interface or full autonomy.

At the core of the system is Voyager, Tycho.AI's autonomy stack, which combines visual-inertial odometry with satellite-image matching to navigate without relying on GPS signals. The stack also uses foundation visual models for real-time obstacle detection, avoidance, and 3D mapping, allowing the platform to operate effectively in degraded, denied, and contested environments.

Halley is built on a modular, open-systems architecture, compatible with additive manufacturing and designed for rapid field repair and flexible payload integration. Having completed flight testing across a range of conditions, the platform is now moving from prototype development into full-rate production.

The U.S. Army successfully trialed a TRV 150 resupply drone fitted with a three-shot launcher carrying BAE Systems' Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS), capable of firing 70mm rockets, at Fort Rucker. The demonstration assessed how the platform's flight control software performs during rocket firing from a horizontally mounted launcher, and the Army declared the test a success.

APKWS is currently deployed from Apache helicopters and other high-end platforms; integrating it onto the 150-pound-capacity TRV 150 is intended to push precision strike capability down to battalion level and below. Survice Engineering's vice president said the goal is a more expeditionary configuration that different units can adapt to their own operational concepts.

The demo was entirely industry-funded: Survice Engineering self-financed the concept rather than waiting for a formal government requirement. The effort involved collaboration with the Army's Combat Capabilities Development Command, the Armaments Center, and the Aviation Center of Excellence, with officials calling it a proof of concept that could reshape how the service employs precision munitions.

Hermeus completed the first supersonic flight of its Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 aircraft, reaching Mach 1.21 over the White Sands Missile Range during a test at Spaceport America. The milestone arrived less than three months after the aircraft's first flight and 364 days after the debut of the initial Mk 1 variant.

The Mk 2.1 is powered by a Pratt & Whitney F100 engine and is comparable in size to an F-16, making it the first of three planned supersonic aircraft variants in Hermeus's development roadmap. The company's CEO said Department of War customers are closely tracking the program's pace as evidence of an unusually fast development cycle for modern aviation.

Hermeus is already building and testing Mk 2.2 with Mk 2.3 to follow, each designed to push performance further toward the goal of continuous high-speed flight. The program operates under a $60 million partnership agreement with the U.S. Air Force signed in 2021.

Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, through their Javelin Joint Venture, delivered the first Lightweight Command Launch Units (LWCLU) to the U.S. Army, replacing the legacy Javelin launcher. The new unit features modern infrared camera technology that doubles the target detection and recognition range while reducing the launcher's size by 30 percent and its weight by 25 percent.

The LWCLU maintains backward compatibility with both old and new Javelin missiles, making it a drop-in upgrade for existing inventories rather than a clean-sheet procurement. The improved design reduces the physical burden on infantry and is intended to enhance survivability in the dense, contested close-combat environments the Army anticipates in conflicts against near-peer adversaries.

The delivery follows years of delays: the Army originally targeted mid-fiscal year 2025 fielding, and a software fault identified during 2023 operational testing was not resolved until 2024. Pentagon testing documents confirm the fix is in place, and urgent fielding is expected to continue through the second quarter of fiscal year 2026.

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