SpaceWatch Global
• Joshua Faleti
France’s CNES has secured multi-year access to Altair, a 10-satellite Earth-observation constellation being developed and manufactured by UAE-based Orbitworks. The agreement gives the French space agency access to an AI-enabled commercial constellation while expanding Orbitworks’ institutional customer base.
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Boeing and Rheinmetall are proposing Australia-developed MQ-28 Ghost Bat as an interim platform for Germany’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft effort, arguing the unmanned aircraft could help the Luftwaffe develop operational concepts and capabilities by 2029—years before a dedicated European system becomes available.
France’s CNES has secured multi-year access to Altair, a 10-satellite Earth-observation constellation being developed and manufactured by UAE-based Orbitworks. The agreement gives the French space agency access to an AI-enabled commercial constellation while expanding Orbitworks’ institutional customer base.
The first production YFQ-44A and the start of FQ-42A manufacturing show how rapidly the U.S. Air Force is moving collaborative combat aircraft from concept toward fielding. The effort reflects a wartime-priority approach to deploying new unmanned combat-aircraft capabilities.
SpaceX plans to build factories on the Moon, with robots handling much of the heavy lifting, Elon Musk said during the company’s first-ever quarterly earnings call on Aug. 4. The comments outline a longer-term lunar industrialization concept, but provide no further detail on timing, scope or execution.
The U.S. Air Force and industry partners demonstrated a widening set of capabilities, from a YFQ-44A firing an AIM-120 and CCA prototypes flying with manned aircraft to AI-enabled P-8A–MQ-4C interoperability. Separately, a robot-formed nose panel returned a storm-damaged C-17 to service.
Recent demonstrations span automated MQ-4C Triton–P-8A Poseidon mission control, AI-enabled fighter intercepts, autonomous submarine-hunting sonar and the Pentagon’s push to scale drone production. The activity comes as the Navy again reorganizes its unmanned-systems office, underscoring continued pressure to field interoperable autonomous capabilities faster.
Paramount has completed integration of Aselsan’s ASELFLIR-500 electro-optical/infrared sensor onto the Mwari multi-role platform, adding a capability aimed at engaging slow-speed aerial threats. The integration reflects a shift in the platform’s mission focus toward counter-drone operations.
Gilat Satellite Networks says it has successfully demonstrated AI-based technology that detects and cancels interference on satellite communication links. The company characterizes the milestone as a step toward more resilient operations in contested spectrum environments, where interference can degrade link performance and communications reliability.
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