The US military is raising the stakes – and expanding the field – in the high-profile competition for Space Force mission contracts.

The Space Force plans to purchase more rocket launches from companies in the coming years than previously expected, giving more companies a chance to secure billions in potential contracts.

“This is a huge deal,” Doug Pentecost, deputy program executive officer at the US Space Force’s Space Systems Command, told reporters during a briefing this week.

Earlier this year, the Space Force began the process of purchasing five years’ worth of launches, under a lucrative program known as National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase III.

The United States sees increasing momentum to improve its military capabilities in space, spurring the need to nearly triple the number of third-stage launches it has purchased in second-stage in 2020.

“It just amazes me,” said Pentecost. “We only estimated 36 missions for Phase 2. For Phase 3, we estimate 90 missions.”

In February, the Space Force outlined a “mutual fund” strategy to purchase launches from the companies. NSSL divided Stage 3 into two groups. Track 1 is the new approach, with lower requirements and a more flexible bidding process that allows companies to compete as rockets debut over the coming years. Path 2 represents the current approach, in which the Space Force plans to select a select number of companies for missions that meet the most demanding requirements.

Pentecost said the Space Force hosted an industry day in February to review details of the program and 22 companies attended. Since then, Space Force has made a number of tweaks to Phase 3. It has added more missions, introduced a price cap, expanded Path 2, and established an annual schedule of missions.

The government weighs bids according to a company’s “gross estimated price” to launch. This is broken down into “launch service,” which means the cost of building and launching a missile, and “launch service support,” which covers special requirements the military might have for a launch. The maximum launch service subsidy amount is $100 million per year, per company.

“We’ve implemented some cost constraints so we don’t get inflated. We don’t want to [a situation where] Everyone gets a mission—you get a mission, you get a mission, you get a mission—because there’s no real competition after that,” Pentecostals said.

“We believe all of our partners in the industry want to be the first man, so we think that will provide competitive pricing to keep our costs down,” he added.

While track 1 is expected to attract the most bids and award 30 missions, track 2 is the big show.

With Lane 2, the Space Force awards the most valuable contracts to launch national security satellites at the highest stakes.

“These are billion dollars [satellite] “The payload going into unique orbits,” said Pentecost.

Not only has Lynn 2 seen an increase in the number of missions available for grabs — it’s currently estimated at 58 launches, up from 39 in February — but Space Force also made the decision to expand the slots available for final prizes to three companies, rather than limiting them to two.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, the joint venture of Boeing And Lockheed MartinThey were supposed to be the main contenders for Lane 2, but now there’s an open door for another company like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

Space Force will allocate 60% and 40% of the 51 missions to the two largest bidders, respectively, and the remaining seven launches will go to the third-place bidder.

Regardless of where a company ranks, it must demonstrate that it can meet all of Track 2’s requirements, which include having launch sites on both the East Coast and West Coast, and the ability to reach nine high-accuracy “reference” orbits, many of which are much farther from Earth than the LEO requirements of Track 1.

Asked by CNBC how many companies are developing missiles that can meet these requirements by the launch deadline, a Space Force spokesperson declined to specify, saying the Army is “tracking several” that are “expanding their launch capabilities into most of these orbits.”

“Hopefully, not only will ULA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin compete for that, there are others who have interest in the past.” Chad Mellon, chief of procurement and integration at Space Systems Command, said during the briefing.

Space Force presents an annual festival for the month of October. 1 Deadline for assignment of tasks to companies that have won a contract.

Pentecost clarified that the first missions will end in October 2025, but the aforementioned contracts do not guarantee assignments, which protects the Space Force from delays that companies may experience in developing and flying missiles.

“You could have won the contract already, and you had this great plan about how you were going to fly [fiscal year] 2027. But since you haven’t flown yet, and I have a satellite that needs to fly in a couple of years, we’re not going to give you that task—we’re going to pass it on to the other person,” Pentecostal said.

Space Force aims to finish its solicitation for bidders by September and then submit all proposals by December, with contracts awarded in October 2024.

The main driver for this push, Space Force officials said, is “capacity assurance,” since there are “a lot of other companies” trying to buy satellite launches and the Space Force needs to close their orders.

“We wanted to make sure that we basically hedged against the scarcity of launches that could happen because if there is absolutely too much demand and everyone is [buying]”The prices can be very high,” Mellon said.

But despite that fear, Pentecost said that 2026 “looks like the sweet spot” when a number of the companies’ rockets will be developed and ready to fly. And the companies that stay on the right track will have the upper hand in the third phase of the NSSL.

“If you fly before then, or if your schedule shows you will fly before then, you will have significant strengths, which will put you in a better position to win the best provider or second best in this competition,” said Pentecost.

Artificial intelligence is having a huge impact on the automotive industry.

Revenue from sales of self-driving cars is expected to reach $70 billion by 2033, according to Future Market Insights. But AI self-driving cars aren’t the only change – AI technology has already been integrated into car production.

As part of this industry-wide trend, the BMW Group is now shifting gears to rely more on artificial intelligence to create a leaner and more efficient manufacturing process.

Over the past few years, BMW has She upgrades her Spartanburg, South Carolina factory to include new AI capabilities. The plant spans over 8 million square feet and produces approximately 60% of all BMW vehicles sold in the United States which amounts to more than 1,500 vehicles produced daily.

At The Body Shop, robots weld between 300 and 400 metal studs into the frame of each SUV. That’s about half a million studs a day that are applied by machines and now run by AI.

On top of that, AI technology checks to make sure each bolt is precisely positioned, according to BMW Group Principal Curtis Tingle. If a stud is out of place, the system tells the robots to correct it. No human intervention needed.

“It’s a complete closed loop,” Tingle told CNBC. “[AI] It removes human thinking, human manual intervention, right out of the equation.”

Tingle said the new technology has greatly improved efficiency. “We are achieving five times more than we thought possible even before, with what AI is achieving now.”

According to Tingle, the AI ​​nail correction laser has already saved the company more than $1 million annually. He said the new technology allowed BMW to remove six workers from the line and redeploy them to other jobs at the plant.

BMW told CNBC that the AI ​​technology is patent pending and developed within the Spartanburg plant.

On the factory floor, Camille Roberts, Project Head of IT at BMW Group, explains that the new artificial intelligence software is helping speed up the carmaker’s existing inspection process.

Even SUVs are moving down the line, 26 different cameras around the grounds are taking pictures. That’s when, according to Roberts, “the AI ​​kicks in, identifies problems and reports them for a human to fix,” thus preventing the imperfect car from being shipped.

Roberts told CNBC that prior to the new AI upgrade, human workers could not inspect every vehicle as often as they can now, adding, “It’s not really possible to inspect every vehicle. … Production numbers are not going to meet global demand.”

There is still room to run for BMW’s AI technology, said Oliver Bilstein, BMW Group Vice President for Logistics and Production Control.

Workers at the plant wear what Bilstein calls factory scanners that take high-resolution measurements and images of every centimeter of the plant.

These images are used to build a 3D “digital twin” of the plant, Bilstein said, allowing BMW to instantly make adjustments and understand how they affect production before it implements a change in the real world. BMW plant planners around the world can access these detailed plans online.

With the help of the new AI software, Bilstein said, the scanning process now takes days instead of months.

Ultimately, this kind of AI technology will be able to learn, on its own, how to discover and recommend new ways to make the BMW Group’s automated assembly line more efficient, he said.

American And Jet Blue One will stop selling seats on flights next Friday, two months after a federal judge ruled that the Northeast airline partnership violated antitrust laws.

The judge ordered the airlines to end their partnership of more than two years, which allowed them to share passengers and revenue, and coordinate schedules in the northeastern United States. Delta And united In busy airports serving New York and Boston.

The Department of Justice, six states, and the District of Columbia sued to block this partnership, winning their case on May 20.

““We are disappointed to end popular benefits such as codeshare and mutual loyalty benefits,” Dave Fintzen, JetBlue’s vice president of Northeast Alliance, said in a statement. With the recent court ruling and the termination of the NEA, we have to go down I say in short order.”

JetBlue said last week it would not appeal the ruling, so it could focus instead on its $3.8 billion acquisition. Spirit Airlines, a deal also challenged by the DOJ, though JetBlue said it did not agree with the judge’s ruling on the Northeast alliance. However, America said it still plans to appeal the ruling on the Northeast Alliance.

Earlier this week, airline websites still offered flight options on each other’s airlines during the year-end holidays, but those sales will only last through July 20.

Both airlines said they will work with customers who have existing reservations so that their plans are not disrupted.

“This is only the first step in the truce process that will take place over the coming months,” American said in a statement. “We will continue to work with the JetBlue team to ensure that customers with existing codeshare reservations can travel smoothly without disrupting their travel plans.”

Thursday is also the last day customers can use their American AAdvantage frequent flyer miles to book flights on JetBlue.

Manufacturer of spacecraft engines and builder of small rockets Astra It intends to conduct a reverse stock split of 1 to 15, the company disclosed in a securities filing on Monday.

The request said Astra was also seeking to raise up to $65 million through an “on-the-market” placement of ordinary shares.

Astra shares were little changed in after-hours trading, closing at 40 cents a share. The company went public in July 2021 through a SPAC deal, at a valuation of nearly $2 billion, before the stock began to crash after launch failures and development setbacks.

The reverse stock split is expected to take place on or before October 2, Astra’s filing said, after its board of directors approved the plan on July 6. The company previously scheduled a reverse split as part of its plan to avoid delisting by the Nasdaq.

A reverse split does not affect the fundamentals of the company, as it does not dilute the value of the stock nor change the valuation of the company, but it will raise the share price through the combination of shares. A reverse split can be seen as a sign that a company is in distress and is trying to “artificially” increase its share price, or it can be seen as a way for a viable company with crumbling shares to continue its operations on a public stock exchange. Functionally, the reverse split, often done as 1 for 10, means that a stock worth, say, $3 will become $30 a share.

Flight disruptions piled up at airports across the country ahead of the Fourth of July weekend, but airline investors have largely ignored it.

More than 63,000 flights operated by US airlines, or 30% of their schedules, have been delayed between June 24 through July 2. More than 9,000 flights have been cancelled, or 4.2%. Both percentages are above the averages for turbulence so far this year, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.

On Tuesday, disruptions eased with nearly 2,500 US flights delayed, half the number that were delayed on Monday, though thunderstorms continued to disrupt flights at major airports such as Newark and Denver.

The recent delays have been mostly driven by a series of rolling storms along with other issues such as a shortage of air traffic controllers in the crowded airspace around New York and other areas, which has derailed the travel plans of thousands of customers. An end to what was mostly a quiet spring for travellers.

But very high travel demand continues to keep airline stocks higher, With many reaching multi-year highs.

The Transportation Security Administration said it screened nearly 2.9 million people on Sunday, a record for a single day. It is the clearest sign yet of the continued demand for air travel, as passengers book flights or collect rewards points and make up for lost time after the Covid pandemic halted flights.

American Airlines And Delta Airlines It recently raised its earnings forecast thanks to strong bookings. Lower fuel prices than a year ago continue to be a tailwind for the industry, too.

The airlines publish second-quarter results and will provide full forecasts for the summer starting in mid-July, reports that are likely to include the financial impact of the late-June and early-July disruptions.

The gains in stocks of major US airlines this year have far outpaced the broader market.

United Airlines Both Delta are up 46% so far this year through Monday, while American Airlines is up 42%. For comparison, the Standard & Poor’s 500 It gained 16% over the same period. Delta and United recently touched their highest levels since June 2021.

Southwest Airlineswhose collapse at the end of 2022 led to a first-quarter loss, it’s up 10% this year.

Even during the past week, as travel chaos hit operations, several airline stocks topped the S&P 500. United Airlines was an exception. Its stock fell 1.7% as the carrier struggled to stabilize its business while storms continued to pass through its hub at Newark Liberty International Airport.

From June 24 to July 2, United had the highest number of delays for US airlines, accounting for 42% of its major airlines’ schedule, according to FlightAware.

At the beginning of last week, the FAA lowered the departure rate in Newark, CEO Scott Kirby said, leading to a backlog of delays. When planes can’t leave, arriving flights have nowhere to park, so turbulence can easily build up.

“Airlines, including United, are simply not designed to have their largest hub and capacity severely limited for four consecutive days and still operate successfully,” Kirby said in a note to employees this weekend.

He said the airline would have to reduce its schedule in Newark, especially during spring and summer thunderstorms to avoid crowds unless there was more capacity at the airport.

Thunderstorms are difficult for airlines because they can appear with little warning and are more difficult to predict than other types of weather such as hurricanes or winter storms.

More often than not, airlines will delay flights waiting for thunderstorms to clear and airspace to open, but crews can hit federally mandated workday limits, adding to the disruptions.

David Neilman, Founder and Former CEO, Inc JetBlue Airways And the chief executive of Breeze Airways, said there’s not much an airline can do when there are such steep cuts in airline access fares.

He said airlines could cancel preemptively just for the weather to improve.

shares Rivian Motors It jumped 17.4% on Monday after the electric car maker beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly delivery.

On Monday, Rivian reported deliveries of 12,640 vehicles during the second quarter, up 59% from the previous quarter and exceeding analyst expectations of 11,000 vehicles, according to estimates compiled by FactSet.

The automaker, which makes R1T electric pickups and R1S consumer SUVs, reiterated its annual production target of 50,000 units. Rivian produced nearly 23,400 vehicles during the second quarter, including electric delivery vans and consumer models.

Monday’s stock price increase pushed Rivian stock into the green for the first time since late February. The stock is up about 5% in 2023. Rivian stock closed Monday at $19.56 a share — its highest closing price since February.

The company has taken longer than expected to build its electric vehicles. It also worked to reduce its spending to preserve liquidity.

Rivian’s results come a day after the EV Commander’s debut Tesla It said it delivered 466,140 vehicles globally during the second quarter, also exceeding analysts’ expectations.

Better-than-expected deliveries for both automakers are good signs for investors optimistic about emerging EV stocks and vehicle adoption.

Stocks of embattled EV startups such as LucidAnd Kano Other prices rose after Tesla and Rivian reported delivery numbers.

DETROIT — Let’s set the scene: A pickup truck driver and their wife, the truck in reverse, try to align the truck’s tow ball with the coupler on the trailer. “A little bit left. No, your left. No, your left. Okay, now a little bit to the right. Never mind. Let’s try it again.”

This familiar headache, among other things, is to blame Ford Motor It improves the technologies in its most expensive trucks to make the vehicles more manageable for new owners and alleviate major pain points for seasoned truck drivers.

The Detroit automaker is adding features to the 2023 Ford Super Duty lineup to boost transaction pricing for trucks and ease difficulties with some of the vehicle’s most important functions: towing and hauling/hauling.

“It’s really about making the truck safer for our customers, for the equipment, for everything you tow. It’s about productivity. It’s about ease. It’s about saving marriages,” said Tim Baughman, general manager of business for Ford. “With our new trailer towing features, I’m sure we’ll save some marriages based on what he can do now.”

According to Ford, many owners of pickups, especially newer ones, face such headaches as determining how much weight they can safely put in their vehicles or hitch trailers to their trucks.

The last challenge, specifically, can cause relationship problems, as it can take two people and many tries to get the correct positioning of trucks and trailers for towing—as in the very common but fanciful scenario above.

“Our team is obsessed with our customers,” Baughman said. “It’s about understanding customers and customer obsession. And everything about this truck is purpose-built.”

Ford says 96% of its customers tow its F-250 trucks to the F-450 Super Duty, which are bigger siblings to its well-known F-150 trucks. The majority also use vehicles to haul heavy loads in vehicle beds, which start at around $44,000 and can run more than $103,000, depending on the model.

To help with hitching and hauling, Ford is using technologies like new camera features, automated assistance, and smart taillights.

Ford’s new “Pro Trailer Hitch Assist” takes the hassle out of the process. The truck automatically backs up and aligns the hitch ball with the trailer receiver. The feature is standard or available on many models, starting at $1,035.

“It’s to help take the pain out,” said Aaron Brisky, Ford Super Duty chief technology officer. “People have to run for fun and for work, and the more we can get rid of the pain, the more natural it becomes.”

2023 F-Series Super Duty trucks can tow between 14,000 and 40,000 pounds, depending on the truck.

Besides towing or hauling, Ford Super Duty trucks can tow a lot, up to 8,000 pounds, depending on the model. This includes all people, cargo, and any items that may be in the truck bed.

But having to guess or calculate how much you’re towing can be difficult, especially when you have passengers in the car or don’t know how much your load weighs.

Ford’s answer to this problem is something it calls “Onboard Scales with Smart Hitch,” which debuted on the 2021 F-150. The system uses in-vehicle scales to determine the gross payload/vehicle weight.

Drivers can use the car’s infotainment screen or app to select payload, but Ford also offers a unique way to do so. The vehicle’s tail lights illuminate at different levels to let the owner know how close they are to reaching the vehicle’s maximum gross payload.

If the vehicle exceeds its approved load, the top bar will flash, alerting the owner that they may need to rethink what they’re hauling or let go of a passenger or two.

Taillights can also be used to balance a trailer with a vehicle, which is also known as a trailer tongue weight.

Onboard scales with Smart Hitch are available for $650 on Lariat models and standard on higher-end trucks.

The simplest new feature is the rearview camera, which is mounted at the top of the car’s tailgate. While pointed skyward when the gate is up, it provides a clear view of what’s behind the vehicle when the tailgate is lowered, providing an extra set of eyes when the owner pulls something taller into the vehicle bed.

While all new cars require rear-view cameras, Ford is the first to use such a camera that comes in handy when the tailgate is down. Standard rear-view cameras on American pickup trucks point toward the ground when the tailgate is lowered.

The option also comes with built-in sensors that work with the camera to notify drivers when the lowered tailgate is approaching an object.

A new backup camera and sensors are standard on higher-end models but not available on entry-level and lower-priced trucks.

Southwest Airlines The pilots union said Thursday it is seeking a release from federal mediation of a new employment contract, laying the groundwork for a possible strike because talks with the carrier have yet to result in an agreement.

The airline and Etihad, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, have been in contract talks for more than three years and negotiations have been tense. Pilots of the Dallas-based airline voted to allow the union to call a potential strike last month, a poll the union called for in the wake of last year’s weekend breakup.

Riven, the chairman of the negotiating committee, wrote to the National Mediation Board on Thursday, according to a letter seen by CNBC.

The union said Southwest refused to engage in “substantive discussions or make credible proposals” on issues such as improving pay and work rules, improving quality of life and alleviating fatigue, according to a letter sent by the union to the National Mediation Board.

Southwest did not immediately comment.

Pilot strikes in the United States are extremely rare, and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association’s request does not mean that a strike is imminent due to procedures under US labor law. There was the last major American passenger airline strike in the country Spirit Airlines in 2010.

There are several alleged cooling off periods if the National Mediation Board announces a deadlock between Southwest and the pilots’ union. Which last 30 days for each individual, which gives time for a potential agreement.

Delta Airlines On Tuesday it raised its forecast for second-quarter and full-year adjusted earnings of $6 per share, at the high end of the estimates it provided last April, as strong demand for travel and swaps for more expensive price categories continues to drive growth.

Delta forecasts adjusted earnings per share of $2.25 to $2.50 for the second quarter, up from the previous range of $2 to $2.25 per share. CEO Ed Bastian said the company’s second-quarter earnings, which are set to report next month, could be its highest ever for the April-June period.

“Demand, as any traveler knows, is off the chain,” Bastian said in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

Shares of Delta rose 6.8% Tuesday to $46.09, the highest level in more than two years.

In a presentation to Investor Day Tuesday, the airline also raised its estimate for free cash generation this year to $3 billion from $2 billion. Delta redistributed its quarterly dividend earlier this month.

Delta and its competitors are reporting strong demand for travel, particularly for international flights, while other sectors are struggling while consumers grapple with inflation and other challenges. The airline industry also faced growth constraints due to lack of air traffic controllers, delays in new aircraft, and lack of new pilots, which helped stabilize prices.

But in addition to elastic demand, airlines are also enjoying jet fuel prices, which are down about 30% from a year ago.

Delta on Tuesday forecast that revenue per available seat mile, a measure of how much money the airline makes for the amount it flies, will rise as much as 18% year-over-year, up from a previous forecast of 15% to 17% growth.

The airline has repeatedly promoted customers’ willingness to buy more expensive seats, from extra legroom seats to first class. Premium revenue will be around $19 billion this year, accounting for 35% of total revenue, up from 24% in 2014.

The company also said its profitable partnership with American Express credit cards continues to grow, bringing in an estimated $6.5 billion this year compared to $4 billion in 2019.

Southern Norfolk Supervisors did not address the engineers’ safety concerns before a train laden with toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio in February, according to to preliminary findings released Thursday from the National Transportation Safety Board investigation.

The day before the train derailed, an engineer in Decatur, Illinois, expressed concern about the size of the train to the train operator, according to the NTSB. The results showed that the engineer told the agency he was told, “Well, that’s what they want.”

“If you talk to the manager, they say this train is 100 percent compliant with the rules. For me, in my opinion, you know, I got 32 percent weight on port. 20 percent weight on the middle and 40 percent weight on the port,” said the Decatur engineer.

Norfolk Southern responded by saying that the Federal Railroad Administration had not established regulatory requirements for train configuration, and that the train had met its internal policies regarding train configuration at the time of the East Palestine derailment.

“Every accident is a learning opportunity,” South Norfolk spokesman Conor Spellmaker told CNBC. “We are collaborating with labor leadership and our craft staff to enhance safety, we’ve brought on an outside safety advisor, and we are committed to leading the industry.” in a letter.

The NTSB released its findings before it began a two-day hearing on the derailment Thursday. The hearing is intended to address preparedness during initial emergency response, the decision-making process regarding venting and incineration of vinyl chloride tank cars, and an examination of the failure modes of bearing freight and roadside detection systems.

in feb. 3, A Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed, releasing toxic chemicals into the environment near Ohio’s border with Pennsylvania. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw pledged support to the residents of East Palestine, Ohio, though critics said he didn’t go far enough.

The Transportation Communications Association told the NTSB in a separate statement that three minutes to three minutes and 45 seconds is enough for maintenance personnel to check a train car. But the union said Norfolk Southern has cut average inspection time to about one minute by following the company’s new train scheduling strategies, which TCU believes are insufficient to conduct a thorough inspection of every train.

The company replied that it does not have a policy specifying when cars are inspected.

Norfolk Southern has made another exception to the union’s claim, saying the current average time to check a vehicle is roughly two minutes. It is a minute longer than the average set by professional rail drivers who carry out the same check and serves as a guide to rail crews, the company said.

“It is not accurate to say that NS has ‘cut down’ the standard amount of vehicle inspection time since implementing the PSR. What we’ve done is document and standardize what the proper inspection would look like, and the time it should take a railroad to complete that inspection,” said Spielmaker.