November 17th, 2008
Source: Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) today conducted a successful static fire test of the Kinetic Energy Interceptors (KEI) first stage rocket motor that verified performance of key components in their flight configuration.
The test was the fourth of five planned static fire tests of the first stage motor by the Northrop Grumman-led KEI industry team. Conducted at teammate Alliant Techsystems (NYSE:ATK) facility in Promontory, Utah, the test also represented the first of two planned flight configuration tests, which focused on the performance of the onboard thrust vector control (TVC) subcomponents, and the motor’s thrust and ballistics outputs. Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) oversaw the test as the team’s lead for interceptor development.
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November 17th, 2008
Tony Osborne, London
The first photographs of the Royal Air Forces’s (RAF’s) new Beech 300 Super King Air ISTAR aircraft have appeared on the internet. The first aircraft, registered G-JENC, but shortly to become ZZ416 on the British military register was photographed at Hawarden airfield where the aircraft is being fitted out by Raytheon Systems.
Four aircraft have been ordered by the MoD and were delivered ‘green’ earlier this year. Now the aircraft have sprouted a number of antennae and an underfuselage pod. Few details about these new aircraft has been released, but it is understood they will be operated by 5 Sqn at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire alongside the RAF’s five-strong fleet of Sentinel ground surveillance system aircraft.
Link to the picture at: http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1141912/
November 14th, 2008
Peter Donaldson, Portsmouth
In a building that resembles a large chunk of warship superstructure sitting on a hill north of Britain’s main naval base at Portsmouth, is a virtual flight deck launching simulated F-35 strike fighters and helicopters on missions that represent what the Royal Navy expects its big new aircraft carriers to be able to take on when the first ship, HMS Queen Elizabeth, enters service in 2014.
Here in the Maritime Integration Support Centre (MISC) at Portsdown Technology Park, a team of engineers and managers from industry, the UK MoD and naval personnel with current operational experience in RN carriers are engaged in an immersive Visualisation and Experimentation (V&E) effort designed to remove as much risk as possible as early as possible from the CVF programme.
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November 14th, 2008
Source: Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE:NOC) E-2D Advanced Hawkeye System has completed its Operational Assessment (OA), flying out of the Northrop Grumman East Coast Manufacturing and Flight Test Center in St. Augustine, Fla. With completion of OA, the flight test program has accumulated more than 600 flight hours, over half involving in-flight radar testing.
“This is another significant milestone for the E-2D program,” said Tom Vice, Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems Eastern Region sector vice president. “This achievement demonstrates the commitment of the Northrop Grumman team to working together with the U.S. Navy to deliver this state-of-the-art weapons system to the warfighter.”
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November 14th, 2008
Source: Boeing
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] achieved numerous network-centric successes this summer during the U.S. Army’s C4ISR On-The-Move (OTM) Event 08 at Fort Dix, N.J. The event marked the Army’s largest-ever Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) and networking technology demonstration.
“The Fort Dix demonstration showed that we can combine our platform expertise with next-generation, communications-on-the-move capabilities today,” said Phil Dunford, vice president of Operations for Boeing Rotorcraft Systems. During the event, Boeing demonstrated several advancements in network-centric operations:
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November 14th, 2008
Source: Lockheed Martin
The first Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO-1) payload and ground system, built by a Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] team, has been accepted for operations by the U.S Air Force. SBIRS is designed to provide early warning of missile launches, and simultaneously support other missions including missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace awareness.
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November 14th, 2008
Source: Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) today introduced the FIRESTRIKE laser, a ruggedized, high-energy, solid-state laser designed as a line replaceable unit (LRU) for battlefield applications, ready for order now.
The FIRESTRIKE laser offers warfighters a 15 kilowatt (kW) fieldable laser as well as a combinable LRU building block for much higher power, based on a laser beam combining architecture validated by Northrop Grumman over many years with the Joint High Power Solid State Laser program, Vesta and Vesta II.
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November 13th, 2008
Source: The Shephard Press Ltd
The first issue of Digital Battlespace, the new bi-monthly magazine for the C4ISTAR community has now been published in both printed and digital formats. Along with comment and news analysis, this first issue contains feature articles on:
· key NATO soldier modernisation programmes
· field trials of US Future Combat Systems Spin Out 1 elements
· Israeli net centric warfare developments
· Thales’ Battlespace Transformation Centres
· COTS computers and real time operating systems in submarines
· X-band satcom developments for the US military
· An interview with Richard Deakin, boss of Thales Air Systems
· Boeing’s 737-based contender for the US Navy EPX programme
· B2 Spirit stealth bomber communications
· The development of Royal Navy Communications ESM
· An interview with Gen Kevin P Chilton, head of US Strategic Command.
Download the digital edition here.
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November 13th, 2008
Source: Lockheed Martin
The Lockheed Martin [NYSE:LMT] Pathfinder flight team has successfully completed the first flight of its fully integrated Pathfinder advanced pilotage system on an Army HH-60L Black Hawk medevac helicopter at Felker Army Airfield, Fort Eustis, VA. This first flight marks the beginning of the developmental test phase for this state-of-the-art cargo and utility aircraft pilotage system, derived from the AH-64D Apache’s Modernized Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-PNVS). Test pilots and flight engineers from the U.S. Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate are evaluating Pathfinder’s technical readiness level for application on cargo and utility aircraft.
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November 13th, 2008
Source: Thales
On 8 October, TDA, a Thales subsidiary specialized in combat systems and munitions, successfully fired its first laser-guided rocket, as part of a DGA (French Defense Procurement Agency) assessment program. Conducted at the CELM1 test center, the test firing was the first of a series planned for 2008 and 2009. The operational objective for the French armed forces - Army and Air Force - is to have, by 2013, a 68mm rocket that can hit targets with “metric precision” and reduced collateral effects.
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