The U.S. Navy has named the winners of four prize challenges for mission payload design concepts as part of a program to develop a ship-based unmanned aerial system for Marine Air Group Task Forces.

On Tuesday, Potomac Officers Club (POC) hosted its Unmanned Systems in the Future Fight Forum featuring Maj. Gen. Peter Gersten, special assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs (AF/A5/8) for the U.S. Air Force, as the keynote speaker. In addition, an expert panel featuring Jim Thomson …

Sanjay Parthasarathy, a more than 25-year business development professional, has joined Leidos’ (NYSE: LDOS) defense group as vice president of business development and strategy for logistics and mission support operation.

Six companies have received separate contracts from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to  develop autonomous underwater robots for deep-sea exploration. L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX), Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), SoarTech, EdgeTech and Kitware will build the systems as part of DARPA's Angler program.

Dan Azmon, vice president, controller and principal accounting officer at L3 Technologies, has been appointed chief financial officer of CPI Aerostructures.

Four companies have won separate contracts from the Missile Defense Agency to come up with payload design prototypes for the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor Program. The Department of Defense said Tuesday Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) each received a $20M firm-fixed-price contract, which includes risk-reduction demonstration for signal-chain processing.

MicroTech has received an authority to operate from the General Services Administration after the Tysons, Va.-based company completed security tests under the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract vehicle.

Gavin Greene, a two-decade industry veteran, has joined Chantilly, Va.-based technology services contractor Centauri as vice president of business development for space and airborne engineering business.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) has formed an industry team that will support the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile weapon system for the U.S. Air Force.

Beth Skoletsky, a more than 20-year human resources executive, has joined Reston, Va.-based risk management and operational support services contractor Constellis as chief HR officer.