Lockheed Martin announced that the US Navy has issued a funding balance of $279 million for the construction of the future Freedom-class littoral combat ship USS Cooperstown (LCS 23). Earlier in March 2015, Congress awarded Lockheed Martin $79 million in advanced procurement funding for the future USS Cooperstown.

The United States government has recently approved of the potential sale of four Lockheed Martin Freedom-class ship variants to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia will be using these ships in order to create the core for their Royal Saudi Navy’s Eastern Fleet. This foreign military sale, which is estimated to be valued at $11.25 billion, will include four Lockheed Martin Freedom-class variants which will come equipped with five COMBATSS-21 Combat Management Systems (4 installed, 1 spare), five Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) UPX-29 (4 installed, 1 spare), five Compact Low Frequency Active Passive Variable Depth Sonar (4 installed, 1 spare), as well as many more associated systems, munitions, and weapons. All of this equipment will serve as the basis for the Saudi Naval Expansion Program II (SNEPII), which is a program estimated to be valued at $20 billion in order to update the weathered United States-built Saudi fleet which is currently operating in the Persian Gulf.

iRobot has received an IDIQ contract with the potential value of $96 million from the U.S. Navy to deliver its new MK1 robots. iRobot is a leader in providing robotic technology-based solutions. According to the first multi-year IDIQ contract (which has a total ceiling of $46.7 million), it has support services, upgrades, and spares for the Man Transportable Robotic System (also known as the MTRS) MK1 robots. The MK1 robots are modeled after the iRobot’s multi-mission’s iRobot 510 PackBot.

The United States Navy has cleared Raytheon to begin full-rate production on the AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II infrared air-to-air missile, according to reports out of Tucson.