Seventeen nations came together to improve intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data processing through a two-week NATO exercise in June. Exercise Unified Vision, which ran from June 14-29, included an Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk and a Belgian B-Hunter remotely piloted aircraft sending data to 10 sites manned by a team of 400 participants. The exercise focused on five complex “vignettes,” including convoy protection, hostage rescue, domestic terror threat, and ballistic missile defense, according to a NATO release. US Air Forces in Europe hosted the exercise’s command post at the Warrior Preparation Center in Germany, with additional locations in Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and in the US, according to NATO.
NASA, SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance are all preparing to launch their next-gen rockets from Florida’s Space Coast, two of them before the year is out. One is expected to liberate the U.S. launch enterprise from its reliance on Russian-made RD-180 engines, while all three rockets could eventually carry astronaut crews.