SPACE reports, “NASA’s X-59 jet is on the verge of finally breaking the sound barrier as the agency looks forward to the aircraft’s first supersonic flight this month.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Tag: Lockheed Martin
Defense Firms Target Next Phase of Space Warfare With Agile Satellite Designs
Space News reports, “U.S. defense contractors BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin are accelerating internal investments in maneuverable satellite designs, betting that military advocacy for “dynamic space operations” will translate into sustained demand for spacecraft that can move, coordinate and respond in orbit. At the Space Symposium this week, both firms outlined separate efforts to fund and fly demonstration spacecraft designed to maneuver on orbit, shadow other satellites and operate as part of more networked architectures.”
Full Story (Space News)
NASA Prepares 322-Foot SLS Rocket for Artemis II Moon Flyby
The Wall Street Journal reports, “NASA’s Artemis II mission is designed to power a crew of four astronauts out to the moon, zip them around it and safely bring them back to Earth. It is a big test for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and a swarm of contractors, including Boeing, which developed the core stage of Artemis’s towering Space Launch System rocket, and Lockheed Martin, the company behind the Orion crew capsule.”
Full Story (Wall Street Journal – Subscription Publication)
NASA’s X-59 Collects Valuable Data Despite Shortened Second Flight
Lockheed Martin to Test Digital Atomic Clock on Upcoming GPS III Satellite
Aviation Week reports, “Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Space Force are testing several new technologies aboard the next GPS III satellite, including a new digital atomic clock … The 10th GPS III satellite, scheduled to launch in early 2026, will carry a new digital version, Lockheed Martin Vice President for Navigation Systems Malik Musawwir told reporters Feb. 23 at the Air and Space Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium here.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Lockheed’s AI Factory: Turning a “Digital Thread” Into a Battle-Ready Advantage
FROM THE INSTITUTE
A new AI platform that provides defense-grade security across environments is now available from Lockheed Martin, which has created a subsidiary to manage it. Astris AI provides the company’s AI Factory, offering an all-in-one operating model for all users. Companies or agencies that use it get access to the full arsenal of AI components available at the nation’s largest defense contractor.
Lockheed Delivers Record 191 F-35s in 2025 as Production Accelerates
A Half Century of Deep Space Exploration Is Just the Beginning
FROM THE INSTITUTE
For 50 years, Lockheed Martin and NASA have collaborated to advance understanding of the solar system, designing, building, and operating the spacecraft and instruments that transformed planetary science into precise, data‐driven exploration. During the “50 Years of Deep Space Exploration” session at the HUB during AIAA AVIATION Forum and ASCEND in July, Whitley Poyser, Lockheed Martin’s Director of Deep Space Exploration Mission Segment, traced this partnership from its origins in 1975 through today’s ambitious missions – and offered a glimpse of what lies ahead.
Full Story (Aerospace America)
Lockheed’s Skunk Works Unveils Vectis Stealth Drone
Breaking Defense reports, “Lockheed Martin’s secretive Skunk Works advanced development arm has unveiled a new project — a stealthy autonomous drone it calls Vectis that Lockheed intends to fly by the end of 2027. The first Vectis prototype is currently ‘in progress,’ but is envisioned as a large ‘Category 5’ reusable drone designed to be customizable to match shifts in the threat environment, said OJ Sanchez, Skunk Works’s vice president and general manager.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)
Lockheed Martin Details Challenges Implementing AI in the DOD Marketspace
FROM THE INSTITUTE
“AI will be the mainstream fabric of everything we do going forward,” John Clark, Lockheed Martin’s senior vice president of Technology and Strategic Innovation, said during AIAA AVIATION Forum. Speaking with Graham Warwick, executive editor of Technology for Aviation Week, Clark discussed a range of challenges confronting the defense aerospace sector in today’s AI race, while sharing Lockheed Martin’s specific path forward, embracing a modular deployment of AI focused on use cases and iterating fast from existing models.
Full Story (Aerospace America)
