WRIGHT PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OH. (AFRL PR) — Air Force Research Laboratory research sponsorship recipient, United Semiconductors, LLC (USLLC), is one of eight companies selected to work on a three-year, $21 million NASA contract to manufacture tools in space.
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HARTFORD, Conn. (Joseph Saveri Law Firm PR) — The Joseph Saveri Law Firm, one of the country’s leading antitrust firms, filed a class action complaint Friday against Pratt & Whitney and other aerospace companies, alleging those companies entered and maintained no-poach hiring agreements for nearly a decade, if not longer. Pratt & Whitney is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies Corporation.
No-poach agreements are agreements between otherwise competing employers not to recruit or hire one another’s employees. No-poach agreements are usually kept secret, creating information imbalance, and preventing employees from negotiating higher salaries and more favorable employment terms. For these reasons and others, no-poach agreements are inherently illegal under United States antitrust laws. They are detrimental to labor markets as they suppress employee compensation and reduce job mobility for workers.
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LAFAYETTE, Colo., October 20, 2021 (Blue Canyon PR) — Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies LLC (“BCT” or “Blue Canyon”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, delivered the first of four 6U CubeSats to NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The CubeSats will support a technology demonstration called Starling. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate funds the demonstration. Under the current contract agreement, in addition to designing and manufacturing the spacecraft buses, BCT will also provide engineering and support to Starling mission operations for the four flight-qualified 6U CubeSats.
“The delivery of CubeSats will allow Ames to continue with payload integration and testing of the integrated flight unit,” said Stephanee Borck, senior program manager at Blue Canyon Technologies. “A lot of hard work from both teams has gone into making it thus far in the project. We look forward to delivering the next three CubeSats and seeing what the technology demonstration can do on-orbit.”
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CENTENNIAL, Colo. (SEKR Engineering PR) — Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held SEAKR Engineering, Inc., a leading supplier of advanced space electronics. Closure of the acquisition is subject to the completion of customary conditions and regulatory approvals. SEAKR Engineering will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies and will report into Raytheon Intelligence & Space upon closing.
“Our investment strategy accelerates our agility in meeting a higher standard of performance ― the space standard ― and expands our core space business with new applications that are shaping our world,” said Roy Azevedo, president of Raytheon Intelligence & Space. “With SEAKR Engineering, we are enhancing our capability to provide qualified systems faster. SEAKR’s culture of forward-thinking innovation will complement our ability to solve our space customers’ hardest problems.”
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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, Aug. 23, 2021 (Collins Aerospace PR) – Collins Aerospace has been awarded a $2.6 million contract by an undisclosed customer for Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) that will support a mission to establish a privately owned and operated orbital outpost in low Earth orbit.
The ECLSS is a suite of technologies that enable livable conditions as low as 250 kilometers above Earth’s surface. The ECLSS includes air revitalization and pressure control systems made up of cabin fans, heat exchangers, carbon dioxide removal, trace contaminant control, valves, regulators and smoke detection. Additionally, it includes an active thermal control system to maintain optimal temperatures in space.
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The new eight-acre campus will support spaceflight, host Houston’s first space incubator
HOUSTON, May 19, 2021 (Collins Aerospace PR) – Collins Aerospace, a unit of Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX), and Houston Airports, which manages and operates Houston Spaceport at Ellington Airport, EFD, announced plans for a new eight-acre, 120,000 square-foot campus that will support spaceflight and host Houston’s first spaceflight incubator.
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WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA has awarded the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Evolution and Development (EED)-3 contract to Raytheon Company of Riverdale, Maryland.
The maximum ordering value of this cost-plus-award-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity task order contract is $275 million. The contract has a five-year ordering period from the effective date of the contract.
The purpose of this contract is to acquire services for the continued improvement, reliability, availability, functionality, operability, and performance of hardware, software, and cloud-based systems within the EOSDIS that provide science data management for the Earth Science Data and Information System Project within the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. A major activity under this contract will be the evolution and development engineering of several on-premises and commercial cloud-based systems.
The principal work will be performed primarily at the contractor’s facility in Riverdale, Maryland.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA has selected L3Harris Technologies Inc. of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Raytheon Company of El Segundo, California, for the Geostationary and Extended Orbits (GEO-XO) Imager (GXI) Phase A Study contracts. The GXI Phase A Study requirement will provide services to help meet the objectives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GEO-XO program.
The total value of each of these one-year firm-fixed price contracts is approximately $6M. The work will be performed at the contractors’ facilities in Indiana and California.
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Raytheon said it will challenge Lockheed Martin’s planned acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne on anti-trust grounds amid reports that federal regulators will extend their review of the deal. Bloomberg reports:
“They are a huge supplier to us, and if that merger actually happens, you don’t have an independent supplier on the solid-rocket-motor side. And also, I think it gives us pause as we think about the competitive landscape going forward,” Raytheon Chief Executive Officer Greg Hayes said Wednesday at the Barclays Industrial Select virtual conference.
The proposed $4.4 billion deal would have a top competitor absorb a key supplier of solid rocket motors used in Raytheon’s missile systems. Hayes said the company would relay its concerns about the deal to the U.S. antitrust authorities and the Defense Department.
Lockheed announced the acquisition in December in an effort to expand expand its foray into missile defense and futuristic space travel, targeting higher sales and cost savings as defense budgets tighten.
Reuters reports that the Federal Trade Commission is likely to extend its 60-day review of the planned acquisition, which was due to expire at midnight on Thursday.
The $4.4 billion dollar deal, announced late last year, has raised eyebrows because Lockheed would take over a company that produces 70% of the solid fuel rocket motors and other propulsion products used in everything from antiballistic missiles, to air-to-air missiles.
Lockheed’s CEO, Jim Taiclet, said the deal could put Lockheed into a strong position in the growing propulsion and hypersonic weapons market.
Still, Taiclet has said Lockheed would simultaneously remain a partner to Aerojet’s current customer base by “providing outstanding propulsion products for the entire industry.”
New small satellites to improve weather imaging day or night
ARLINGTON, Va. (Raytheon PR) — Today’s weather forecasts can help people decide whether to grab an umbrella on the way out or get ready for a big storm. A new class of small satellites in development at Raytheon Intelligence & Space could provide even better data to inform those decisions.
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The Space Development Agency has reaffirmed its decision to award contracts to build missile warning satellites to L3Harris and SpaceX following unsuccessful appeals by rival bidders.
L3Harris and SpaceX will each build four satellites to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles as part of the agency’s Tracking Layer Tranche 0 program. L3Harris received a $193.5 million contract while SpaceX’s contract is worth $149 million.
The Space Development Agency awarded the contracts in October. However, the agency placed issued temporary stop-work orders after Airbus and Raytheon filed protests with the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
SpaceNews reports that the Space Development Agency agreed to reevaluate the selection process in response to the protests. The second review reaffirmed the original decision to award the contracts to L3Harris and SpaceX. GAO has dismissed the protests filed by Airbus and Raytheon.
Raytheon and Airbus US Space and Defense have filed formal protests with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) decision to award contracts worth $342.5 million to L3Harris Technologies and SpaceX to build eight missile warning satellites.
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ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 10, 2020 (Raytheon PR) — Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Blue Canyon Technologies, a leading provider of small satellites and spacecraft systems components. Closure of the acquisition, expected by early 2021, is subject to the completion of customary conditions and regulatory approvals. Blue Canyon Technologies will report into Raytheon Intelligence & Space upon closing.
“The space market is rapidly expanding and our customers need comprehensive solutions faster than ever before,” said Roy Azevedo, president of Raytheon Intelligence & Space. “What makes Blue Canyon Technologies the right fit for our business is its agile, innovative culture and expertise in small satellite systems and technologies. This acquisition enables us to deliver a broader range of solutions to support our customers’ space missions – from sensing subsystems to mission systems integration and from launch and range support to on-orbit operations.”
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Risk reduction milestone paves way for airborne tests this year
ARLINGTON, Va. (DARPA PR) — DARPA and the U.S. Air Force (USAF) today announced successful completion of captive carry tests of two variants of the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) and are ready to proceed to first free-flight testing within the calendar year. The joint Agency and Service effort seeks to develop and demonstrate critical technologies to enable an effective and affordable air-launched hypersonic cruise missile.
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ARLINGTON, VA (NSSA PR) — The National Security Space Association (NSSA), a U.S. trade association devoted solely to the U.S. defense and intelligence space enterprise, added 8 new members to their Board of Directors today. Each appointee is a highly regarded member of their respective organization and will bring their individual experience to NSSA’s commitment to the preservation and protection of the National Security Space Community. These additions follow last month’s appointment of General (Ret.) Lester Lyles and Ms. Stephanie O’Sullivan to the Board of Directors.
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