Intel Foundry Services launched a strategic addition to its design ecosystem accelerator program. The new USMAG (United States Military, Aerospace, and Government) Alliance aims to bring together a trusted design ecosystem with U.S.-based manufacturing to enable assured chip design and production on advanced process technologies and meet the stringent design and production requirements of national security applications. The program’s initial members include Cadence, Synopsys, Siemens EDA, Intrinsix, and Trusted Semiconductor Solutions. BILLERICA, Mass. — Teledyne FLIR Defense secured a $48.7 million firm-fixed price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide Maritime Forward Looking Infrared (MARFLIR) II sensors as well as multiple variants of its SeaFLIR 280-HD surveillance for use by the U.S. Coast Guard. Work will be performed at Teledyne FLIR’s facility in Billerica, Mass., and is expected to be completed by March 2027. Teledyne FLIR Defense won a $48.7 million contract to provide Maritime Forward Looking Infrared II sensors as well as multiple variants of its SeaFLIR 280-HD surveillance systems for use by the U.S. Coast Guard. Courtesy of BusinessWire. AUSTIN, Texas — GXC, previously known as GenXComm, a developer of optical computing and cellular mesh networks, was awarded a follow-on project under the federal Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) Microelectronics for Artificial Intelligence (MicroE4AI) program. The second phase will provide IARPA with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and machine learning compute capabilities using GXC’s photonics tensor core architecture. The project is designed to facilitate the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capable devices and edge computing applications that will support the U.S. intelligence community mission by creating efficient and cost-effective smart sensors, as well as autonomous and adaptable computing capabilities. SAN DIEGO — General Atomics Aeronautical Systems completed an air-to-air laser communication link between its laser airborne communication terminals integrated onto two company-owned King Air aircraft. Laser communication is desirable for military applications due to its low probability of intercept/low probability of detection and anti-jam capability that can support much higher data rates than radio frequency systems. During the flight test, the team maintained a link at 1 Gbit/s and exchanged data including real-time navigation, video, and voice data. THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Via a wholly owned subsidiary, Teledyne Technologies entered into an agreement to acquire ETM-Electromatic (ETM). ETM, headquartered in Newark, Calif., designs and manufactures high-power microwave and high-energy x-ray subsystems for cancer radiotherapy, defense, and x-ray security applications. Teledyne will also acquire ETM’s purpose-built manufacturing facility from an affiliate of ETM and its owners. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed. JENA, Germany — ZEISS Medical Technology established a strategic partnership with the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS). The company aims to support the training and further education of neurosurgical specialists, to promote sharing of experiences between users and medical technology manufacturers, and to advance scientific progress in the field of neurosurgery. As a sponsor of the EANS Research Fund, ZEISS will contribute to scientific progress in the field of neurosurgery and promote the formation and propagation of knowledge within the neurosurgical community. REDONDO BEACH, Calif. — Northrop Grumman Systems was awarded a $7.76 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Modular Efficient Laser Technology (MELT) program. MELT seeks to develop a laser tile as the building block for compact, scalable, panelized high-energy laser (HEL) sources. LUXEMBOURG — LuxSpace, a subsidiary of space and technology group OHB SE, and the Universität der Bundeswehr München (University of German Armed Forces Munich) signed a contract for the dtec.bw SeRANIS (Seamless Radio Access Network for Internet of Space) small satellite mission. The mission provides the world’s first “publicly accessible” multifunctional experimental laboratory in orbit and will use the LuxSpace built Triton-X Heavy platform. MOBARA, Japan — Optoelectronics technology company Futaba entered into a business partnership agreement with RiTdisplay Corp., an OLED display manufacturer. The partnership seeks to handle the cost competition with overseas manufacturers, which has become more severe due to the sharp increase in raw material and energy costs. It will expand the production consignment of Futaba’s OLED products to RiT, as well as establishing a technical partnership on OLED displays and a partnership on sales activities. HEERBRUGG, Switzerland — Hexagon’s Geosystems division and LocLab, a leader in 3D digital twin content creation, partnered to empower industries with smart digital realities in their design, construction, and operations processes. The partnership is focused on increasing the automation of 3D digital twin creation by leveraging reality capture solutions and making digital twins seamlessly accessible to customers by connecting them with HxDR, Hexagon’s cloud-based storage, visualization, and collaboration platform for reality capture and geospatial data. SAN JOSE, Calif. — Lidar technology company Cepton entered into a binding investment agreement for a $100 million investment from its long-term automotive Tier 1 partner and current shareholder Koito Manufacturing. The investment will be used to fund Cepton’s next stage of growth as it scales its lidar solutions for mass deployment.