In brief

Jan. 1, 2007

Boeing Awarded JDAM contract

The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a $296 million contract for 12,889 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kits. Boeing will deliver the Lot 11 JDAM kits in 2008 and 2009. Known as the world’s most accurate bomb, JDAM is a GPS-aided, near-precision weapon that the U.S. Air Force and Navy have used extensively in global combat operations, including Afghanistan and Iraq. JDAM guidance kits are capable of guiding 500- to 2,000-pound inventory warheads. Since 1998, Boeing has produced more than 160,000 tail kits.

DRS Technologies to develop high-speed electric generator for Navy

DRS Technologies Inc. in Parsippany, N.J., received $6 million to develop a High-Speed Permanent Magnet Electric Generator prototype for the U.S. Navy, bringing the total value of the generator contract to approximately $12 million. The resulting prototype will be scalable in power output and applicable to multiple platforms for the support of main and auxiliary power generation. Generators based on this technology to be developed in the future by DRS will be targeted for U.S. Navy multimission surface combatants, submarines, and advanced naval propulsion system applications. The Office of Naval Research in Arlington, Va., awarded the contract to DRS. For this award, DRS will design, manufacture, and test a 7,000 rpm 10.6 megawatt Permanent Magnet Generator, scalable to 25 megawatts. Work for this award will be accomplished by the company’s DRS Power Technology unit, located in Fitchburg and Hudson, Mass. Upon completion, the generator will be delivered to the Navy’s land-based test site in Philadelphia. The goal of the program is to achieve at least a three-time reduction in the size and weight of current generators.

Lockheed Martin’s 100th Aegis weapon system ready for duty

Lockheed Martin in Moorestown, N.J., delivered the 100th Aegis Weapon System to the U.S. Navy during a ceremony in which Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen announced that the destroyer receiving the system would be named Wayne E. Meyer, after the retired rear admiral who is widely regarded as the “father of Aegis.” Aegis is the most successful air-defense weapon system and multimission combat system in the history of the U.S. Navy, Lockheed Martin officials say. Aegis delivered revolutionary capability to the fleet immediately upon its introduction in 1983 and the periodic delivery of progressive spiral development upgrades has since maintained the Aegis Weapon System at a state-of-the-art technology level to take on new, more-complex threats. For example, Wayne E. Meyer (DDG-108)’s Aegis Weapon System has eight times more computing power and costs 66 percent less than the first Aegis baseline. In addition to 13 U.S. Navy Aegis-equipped ships now under construction, the U.S. Navy is currently modernizing Aegis-equipped cruisers first delivered in the 1980s with Aegis Open Architecture (Aegis OA), which will add 20 to 25 years of front-line service. The first modernized cruiser with Aegis OA will be delivered in 2008.

Altera and White Electronic Designs partner on specialized FPGA packaging

Altera Corp. in San Jose, Calif., and White Electronic Designs Corp. in Phoenix, Ariz., are joining hands to provide military and aerospace customers access to a broad variety of packaging options for field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) that meet the rigorous requirements of defense applications. This is the first cooperative packaging agreement of its kind in the programmable logic industry, Altera officials say. White Electronic Designs will package Altera FPGA die in packaging types that will include small form-factor monolithic plastic and ceramic, chip-on-board, multichip modules, stack, and system-in-a-package (SiP). The packaging options will support Altera’s 90 nm Stratix II and Cyclone II FPGA families. Support for Altera’s next-generation, 65 nm FPGAs is also planned. WEDC’s secure facilities and technologies for defense-related programs will ensure the security of customers’ designs when they send their die for packaging. “It brings FPGA capabilities to military systems designers in smaller form factor packaging for applications requiring greater density and design flexibility than standard packaging allows,” says Jack Bogdanski, director of marketing for defense microelectronics products at White Electronic Designs. For more on White Electronics Designs, visit www.wedc.com. For more on Altera, visit www.altera.com.

General Dynamics deploys ‘Command Post of the Future’ systems to U.S. Army

General Dynamics C4 Systems in Scottsdale, Ariz., has deployed more than 500 Command Post of the Future (CPOF) systems in support of the U.S. Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom. CPOF is part of a program to insert technology into the Army’s Battle Command System (ABCS), a suite of networked digital systems that enable interoperability at all levels across the battlespace. CPOF enables commanders and their staffs-more than 200 simultaneous users-to collaboratively develop operational plans, then monitor plan rehearsal and execution from geographically dispersed headquarters. The system runs on a commercial-off-the-shelf computer workstation with three screens that provide a user-friendly, shared environment that rapidly displays and manipulates current operational information about friend and foe units. Information, including images and data, is seen in two and three dimensions across the distributed workspace.

Northrop Grumman plays role in U.S. Air Force simulation exercise

Using its modeling and simulation capabilities, Northrop Grumman Corp. in El Segundo, Calif., played a major role in a recent computerized U.S. Air Force exercise that used realistic combat scenarios to explore advanced battle concepts. For this “advanced concepts event,” or ACE, Northrop Grumman utilized its Cyber Warfare Integration Network (CWIN) to provide virtual, real-time combat simulations to allow evaluation of potential new weapons systems and tactics. Northrop Grumman demonstrated its integrated network-centric warfighting concepts across a distributed, virtual modeling, and simulation network. The Nov. 16-17 event was directed by the Air Force’s Distributed Mission Operation Center (DMOC) at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. Participants included the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Directed Energy Directorate, as well as other defense contractors and joint warfighters from the Air Force, Army and Navy. ACE participants conducted a series of experimental exercises that provided the intensity of real-time combat, allowing them to determine the value to the warfighter of future technologies, tactics, and procedures. For example, some exercises demonstrated the capabilities a high-energy, solid-state laser system could bring to the B-2 stealth bomber or other stealthy platforms, particularly the optics for “positive combat identification.” In a self-defense function, the laser system could protect the aircraft against missiles and other aircraft.

BAE Systems flight-control computer flies on Taiwan’s newest fighter

BAE Systems’ 32-bit digital flight-control computer recently completed its first flight aboard the Taiwanese air force Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) C/D version, also known as the Shiang-Seng Fighter. The new flight-control computer represents a substantial advance in processing power and control capability over the obsolete 16-bit computer it replaces. “This design provides important performance improvements over its predecessor that will result in a safer, higher-performing aircraft,” says Butch Hsu, senior vice president of Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC). “With this system, BAE Systems brings the state-of-the art 32-bit PowerPC-based processor to the flight-control marketplace,” says Albert Lin, program manager for IDF flight-control systems for BAE Systems in Los Angeles. “In addition to faster processing and computing capability and higher reliability, the new computer also integrates easily with the aircraft’s air data, avionics, and head-up display systems.” Taiwan’s air force will use the computer to upgrade existing fleets and on new-build aircraft. The upgraded flight control is part of an overall aircraft system performance upgrade that includes increased range and enhanced radar target acquisition, firepower, and flight control performance.

Raytheon technology to help NASA track astronauts, robots on the Moon

Raytheon in Marlborough, Mass., in partnership with Hamilton Sundstrand, successfully demonstrated the capabilities of its MicroLight networked, communications and navigation system at NASA’s recent desert research and technical studies annual demonstration. Raytheon’s MicroLight radio provides voice, data, and situational awareness information to all users on its network. One feature of the system enables each user on the network to know the location of other users at all times.

Lockheed Martin to provide Army with improved signal-location systems

The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin Systems Integration-Owego in Owego, N.Y., a $42 million contract to provide surveillance aircraft with next-generation technology that will enable them to precisely locate the source of modern communication signals. Called Communications High Accuracy Location Sub-systems-Compact (CHALS-C), the system features improved processing speed, enhanced capability, and is substantially smaller and lighter than the current systems. “CHALS-C greatly expands our previous technology and provides the next-generation of precision location systems,” says Louis J. DeSantis, vice president of Systems Solutions at Lockheed Martin Systems Integration-Owego. “The system significantly enhances situational awareness and provides real-time information for battlefield commanders.” The system’s increased processing speed enables CHALS-C to detect multiple signal types simultaneously. Earlier generation systems could only process one signal sequentially. CHALS-C also uses a common data exchange format that enables interoperability with other precision location systems on a variety of platforms in search of signal emitters, Lockheed Martin officials say. When flown simultaneously aboard two or more surveillance aircraft, CHALS-C can pinpoint the locations of signal emissions by measuring the difference of arrival time and frequency shift at each platform. Lockheed Martin will provide 40 CHALS-C units to the U.S. Army by 2009.

Data Link Solutions awarded Link 16 contract for Saudi Arabia

The U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center awarded Data Link Solutions in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a $16 million contract from to provide Link 16 capability to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Link 16 provides real-time data communications, situational awareness and navigation, and in some cases digital voice, all in a jam-resistant, crypto-secured package. The contract marks the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s first purchase of Link 16 capability and will include deliveries of the Joint Information Distribution System to be incorporated on the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System. Data Link Solutions currently provides all of the high-power Link 16 terminals for command and control aircraft, ships, and fixed and mobile ground sites for U.S. and coalition forces across the globe. With Link 16, participants gain situational awareness by exchanging voice and digital data over a common communications link that is continuously and automatically updated in real time by all. Today, various types of Link 16 terminals are providing interoperable communications aboard tactical fighter aircraft, command and control aircraft, ships and fixed and mobile ground sites for U.S. and Coalition forces. Work will be performed in Wayne, N.J., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Data Link Solutions was established in 1996 by BAE Systems and Rockwell Collins to pursue next-generation Link 16 applications.

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