Ericsson Microwave Systems, Sweden, and Lockheed Martin Ocean, Radar and Sensor Systems will form a partnership to make advanced airborne early warning and control systems, Ericsson said yesterday. The agreement includes future upgrades and new developments in the AEWC area. The companies are in discussion with several countries for the Ericsson Erieye system in combination with Lockheed Martin's C-130 Hercules (DAILY, June 12).
Space cadets need not apply for the job of remotely driving NASA's "Sojourner" rover once it reaches the surface of Mars next July. There's already a pool of "three or four" experienced rover operators at JPL who learned their stuff developing the 22-pound teleoperated robot. Not that the task will require quick reflexes and a deft touch.
A group of former TRW launch vehicle engineers is looking to tap the potentially huge market for low Earth orbit communication satellite launches with a large, partially reusable delta-wing launch vehicle that would fly from existing runways and be towed into the air like a glider. Kelly Space&Technology Inc. has already made a splash with its Eclipse launcher by snagging a launch contract with Motorola for its Iridium "Big LEO" satellites potentially worth $89 million, provided Kelly delivers on the 10-launch, 20-satellite arrangement.
The U.S. Air Force hit 13 targets directly and damaged three other targets in recent testing of live B-2 Global Positioning System Aided- Targeting System/GPS-Aided Munition (GATS/GAM), Air Force officials said. Three B-2s from Whiteman AFB, Mo., took part in the tests at Nellis AFB, Nev. (DAILY, Oct. 11).
The first Swiss F/A-18C fighter has completed phase one weapons system verification testing at Naval Air Warfare Center Patuxent River, Md., McDonnell Douglas reported. During three and a half months of testing at Pax River, it said, the single-seat Hornet competed 42 flights and fired AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. The plane was also used to conduct various types of weapons loads tests.
A coming glut of large space launchers means launch service providers will have to join forces to survive or face elimination as the international launch competition intensifies, the head of Europe's Arianespace consortium predicted Friday. Charles Bigot, chairman and chief executive of the Paris-based launch company, told reporters in Washington that his organization can no longer settle for head-to-head competition with the Lockheed Martin Atlas launcher for the global commercial space launch market.
NASA is preparing a set of options for continuing the International Space Station if Russia drops out or fails to perform its promised work for lack of funding. Top government and industry officials met at Station prime contractor Boeing's headquarters in Seattle last week to discuss the program's status, including what it would take for the U.S.
The U.S. Army's low-observable RAH-66 Comanche is being provisioned for active infrared and radio frequency countermeasures, but the service so far has seen no need to add the capabilities. That, however, hasn't stopped industry from promoting various systems. Brig. Gen. James Snider, the Army program director, says ITT has briefed him on its Advanced Threat Radar Jammer (ATRJ), and Lockheed Martin's Sanders unit has done the (Cont. p. 106) same with its Advanced Threat IR Countermeasure (ATIRCM) system. Each would be downsized for Comanche.
Lockheed Martin has mated the fuselage of the first F-22 fighter at its Marietta, Ga., facility. The aft fuselage section of the fighter, built by Boeing Defense&Space Group, was flown from Seattle to Marietta on Friday and mated to the previously joined forward and mid-fuselage later the same day.
PEMCO WORLD AIR SERVICES A/S of Copenhagen, a unit of Precision Standard Inc., received a contract from the Joint Aviation Authority of Europe for maintenance and modification work on Fokker 50 aircraft.
DOD acquisition chief Paul Kaminski tells Congress he is concerned about the limited supply of targets for ballistic missile defense tests. But senior officials at Army Space and Strategic Defense Command, which provides the targets, say they haven't been notified of the problem. "We are the exclusive supplier of targets for BMDO," says Dr. Dick Fisher, executive director of the missile defense science and technology center at SSDC in Huntsville. "We have a flawless target program," he says.
An Aerostat may play a role in the national missile defense mission, but that is "just an idea," Anderson says. He acknowledges that it might be somewhat limited in that role because it can't see great distances. But it could be used in NMD, TMD and cruise missile defense scenarios as a deterrent. For example, he says, if Israel was under a threat, an Aerostat could simply be put up.
"2010 and Beyond" scenario painted by the Electronic Industries Association could leave current defense industry giants out of the picture. It says the so-called "Revolution in Military Affairs" involves a future with speed-of-light weapons that render all airplanes, missiles and satellites obsolete. The genesis of the weapons isn't clear, but one EIA official notes that radical innovations rarely seem to come from large conglomerates with market dominance.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Dennis J. Reimer says he feels personnel numbers have been cut too deeply at Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). If the service's effort to digitize the battlefield yields manpower savings, he says, he would fix existing manpower needs rather than reduce force structure.
New SSDC Commander Lt. Gen. Edward G. Anderson III says he wants to hold an off-sight meeting next month to develop a vision for SSDC. He stresses service jointness will continue to be a big factor in making strides with ballistic and cruise missile defense. The Army wanted to head the NMD Joint Program Office, but it's not planned to fall under the auspices of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. "We made our case, it was not bought," Anderson says. "We will work with the BMDO JPO.
While Sojourner is set to crawl around the floor of an ancient channel that scientists believe once carried liquid water, the Mars Global Surveyor will map the planet from a polar orbit that will take it over most points on the surface 26 times during a 687-day Martian year. That will include the so-called "face on Mars" touted in the tabloids as evidence of a past Martian civilization that NASA is trying to cover up.
The Army, along with the other services, is paying a lot of attention to information dominance, but, says Gen. William Hartzog, commander of TRADOC, "there's no silver bullet that will make war a digital affair." Therefore, he says, the Army will have to continue to focus on issues like rapid force projection and self-protection.
U.S. military planners must overcome several external and internal barriers or be left behind in the "Revolution in Military Affairs" that is coming in the next century, according to an Electronic Industries Association study. The study, "2010 and Beyond," released Thursday at EIA's 32nd annual Ten-Year Forecast conference in Washington, said U.S. military planners and industry must move past the status quo or possibly fall behind enemies who face fewer barriers.
The U.S. Navy-led program to provide tactical aircraft with precision location of enemy emitters for more accurate targeting of High Speed Anti- Radiation Missiles and other weapons has dropped the EA-6B Prowler from its list of platforms, Marine Corps officials said last week.
U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command has awarded $1 million contracts for the concept definition phase of the Aerostat Development Program, envisioned as an elevated sensor system for defense against cruise missile attacks. The following contractors will conduct four-month design studies: Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and a joint venture of Hughes and Raytheon.
Continued gains in military aircraft and the stirrings of recovery at the Douglas Aircraft jetliner unit helped McDonnell Douglas yesterday turn in double-digit improvements in operating profits for the third quarter. Military aircraft segment margins fattened to more than 13%, and Douglas managed to bounce back from a $7 million loss to $23 million in profits for the period, even though it's still paying the bills to develop and launch the new MD-95 passenger jet.
If Russia's Duma fails to approve the START II treaty, it will be choosing "strategic inferiority" because Moscow probably can't afford a force of more than about 2,500 nuclear warheads, a White House national security adviser said yesterday.
The U.S. Army is trying to determine how to meet its AH-64D Longbow Apache trainer requirements after getting less than half the increase from Congress that it was hoping for, according to the service's Apache program manager.
