WASHINGTON - DRS Laurel Technologies, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $51 million firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded contract N00024-22-C-5235 for Ship Self Defense System (SSDS) engineering support, other direct cost, and incidental materials requirements.

Work will be performed in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and is expected to be completed by April 2027. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Source: U.S. DoD
Associated URL: http://www.defense.gov

MCLEAN, Va. - The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has awarded QinetiQ US a five-year, $49.4 million sole source Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) with a two-year, $4.9 million task order to support ARL's enhanced AI and ML capabilities for Project Linchpin and the U.S. Army.

The IDIQ services include providing, modifying, enhancing, testing, and integrating Enhanced Opposing Force (OPFOR) Sighting Unit Kits for various vehicles and platforms. The ARL utilizes these units to support their Research and Development (R&D) mission, specifically to gather data from realistic battlefield environments. Notably, this Sighting Unit Kit is the sole system approved by Combat Training Centers (CTCs) for use on vehicles to collect crucial battlefield data.

As part of the $4.9 million task order, QinetiQ US will enhance Sighting Unit Kits to support the development and fielding of Artificial Intelligence Target Recognition (AiTR) inference hardware for operational Test & Evaluation (T&E) of AI models. Additionally, the company will help establish AiTR hardware interface and software standards allowing the enhancement of Sighting Unit Kits with "best in class" government and commercial inference models and hardware designs for T&E vetting and review by ARL.

Source: QinetiQ
Associated URL: https://www.qinetiq.com/en-us/

BEIJING - China has removed a ban on airlines taking delivery of Boeing planes after the United States and China agreed a temporary cut in steep tariffs, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Officials in Beijing have started to tell domestic carriers and government agencies this week that deliveries of aircraft made in the U.S. can resume, Bloomberg said.

Last month at least three jets at Boeing's delivery centre in China were repatriated by Boeing to the United States. Bloomberg News a month ago reported that Boeing faced a Chinese ban on imports as part of a trade war between the world's two biggest economies. Beijing has not commented on why Boeing deliveries stopped and senior industry sources told Reuters they were not aware of formal instructions against taking Boeing planes.

Boeing last month said customers in China would not take delivery of new planes due to tariffs, and it was looking to resell potentially dozens of aircraft. On Monday Washington and Beijing agreed to slash reciprocal tariffs of over 100% during a 90-day negotiation period following weekend talks in Geneva.

Beijing two weeks ago said Chinese airlines and Boeing had been severely affected by U.S.-imposed tariffs. China represents about 10% of Boeing's commercial backlog and is an important and growing aviation market. Boeing executives said during the company's first-quarter earnings call that the company had planned for 50 jets to go to Chinese carriers this year, with 41 in production or pre-built.

While Boeing had said other airlines are interested in taking rejected Chinese planes, the planemaker has hesitated to send the jets elsewhere despite being keen to bring down high inventory levels.

Chinese customers are expected to take 25 out of 30 remaining 737 MAX jets built before 2023 that have not yet been delivered, Boeing said. At least four 777 freighter planes are also in production for Chinese carriers, according to a source familiar with the matter and aircraft tracking database Aviation Flights Group.

China had already granted exemptions from the high tariffs to some aerospace equipment parts, including engines and landing gear, before Monday's agreement.

Source: Reuters
Associated URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/china-removes-ban-boeing-deliveries-after-us-trade-truce-bloomberg-news-reports-2025-05-13/