Consortium formed to develop J-UCAS common operating system
Officials at the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program recently announced the establishment of the Consortium to develop a common operating system (COS) for J-UCAS. The Consortium’s members include Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., Boeing in St. Louis, and Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in San Diego. Articles of Collaboration for the Consortium were signed February 14. J-UCAS will employ its COS to integrate the system’s major components (e.g., air vehicles, sensors, weapons, communications, and human crews), providing the necessary software and services that enable system functionality and provide it broad operational flexibility. This association will enable other select technology contributors, ranging from small developers to other large defense contractors, to provide “best of breed” algorithms and software to the COS. “The business approach of creating this common solution that is separated from the development of air vehicles promises extraordinary advantages in cost, schedule and performance,” says Dr. Michael S. Francis, director of the J-UCAS program. The Consortium is the key to making the COS a reality.” The objective of the J-UCAS program is to develop, demonstrate and transition an affordable, lethal, survivable, and supportable unmanned combat air system to meet the operational needs of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. More information on the J-UCAS program can be found at www.darpa.mil/j-ucas.
Honeywell receives order from U.S. Navy for maintenance systems for CH-46 helicopters
Officials at Honeywell in Phoenix announced that the company will provide 17 of its Aircraft Integrated Maintenance Systems (AIMS) for U.S. Navy CH-46E helicopter. “The system enhances safety and reduces maintenance cost, since it can help an operator avoid a catastrophic component failure and because it can reduce diagnostic labor and flight test hours,” says Qua Le, business development leader for Honeywell’s vibration monitoring business. Honeywell has completed prototype installation and successfully performed a full functional check flight. Produced at Honeywell’s Chadwick facility in El Monte, Calif., the system performs vibration monitoring, rotor track and balance, engine performance checks, and engine monitoring functions. For more go online at www.honeywell.com.
Anteon to deliver live training ranges for the U.S. Army
Officials at the U.S. Army, Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) chose Anteon International Corp. in Fairfax, Va., for its Live Training Ranges (LTR) contract. Anteon engineers will design and install live training ranges and digital multipurpose battle area complexes that will provide real-time situational awareness and data collection to support after-action reviews. Anteon will design and install dynamic, modular, and scaleable training solutions for individual, team, and combined arms soldier training in a live fire environment. Range complexes will include the Digital Multipurpose Training Range Complex (DMPRC) and the Digital Multipurpose Battle Area Complex (DMBAX), improving the quality of training for U.S. Army Infantry and Armor units, Anteon officials say. For more visit www.anteon.com.
Northrop Grumman/Raytheon team to compete for GOES-R
Officials at Northrop Grumman Corp. in Redondo Beach, Calif., and Raytheon Co. of Waltham, Mass., have teamed to compete to build the next generation geostationary weather and environmental system for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Geostationary operational environmental satellites (GOES) provide environmental data products to the commercial, education, and public sectors. The next-generation GOES-R will deploy new technologies and data products to monitor the Earth’s environment with improved spatial, spectral and temporal resolution, producing about 50 times the amount of data than is provided by the current GOES spacecraft and serving as the basis for new environmental products and services.
