Saturday, October 17, 2026

Did AI blow a $450M Army contract decision? Company lawsuit says yes

Trax International Corporation is asking the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to direct the Army to reevaluate bids for mission support services at White Sands Missile Range — in part because the department allegedly misused AI to determine the contract award. Trax's complaint, filed in late July, alleges that the Army used AI that hallucinated multiple…

Boeing wins first production contract for jet-powered JDAM

The U.S. Air Force has committed $75 million to an initial production run of a jet-powered guided bomb that can fly more than 300 nautical miles, Boeing said Wednesday. Boeing’s BSU-111/B Payload Delivery Unit is a wing-and-turbojet engine kit that converts a 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) into a long-range JDAM (JDAM LR) dubbed…

Rheinmetall scales down 2026 sales outlook on scrapped frigate program

German defense company Rheinmetall lowered its 2026 sales outlook on Thursday after the German government canceled a delayed frigate program that the company had been widely expected to win.Rheinmetall now expects sales in the range of €13.7 billion to €14.2 billion ($15.8 billion to $16.4 billion), down from €14.0 billion to €14.5 billion previously, based…

Can an Alaskan spaceport ease Pentagon’s launch bottleneck?

Rocket Lab’s announcement that it would launch suborbital rockets from Alaska could ultimately give the Pentagon a much-needed new option for national-security launches, the company and space experts told Defense One. Last week, the Space Force’s acquisitions arm announced a $266 million, multi-launch contract with the California-based rocket company. That will cover 12 to 18…