WARREN, Mich., 26 Feb. 2012. U.S. Army officials needed small ground robots to help warfighters gather situational awareness in dangerous conditions. They found their solution from iRobot Corp. in Bedford, Mass. Officials of the Army Contracting Command in Warren, Mich., announced their intention last week to issue a sole-source contract to iRobot for the Xm1216 Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) Robotic System -- a version of the iRobot PackBot tactical mobile robot.

NASHUA, N.H., Feb 27, 2012. Aerospace and defense electronics programs are seeing proposed cuts across the board in the 2013 DOD budget request, as the Pentagon digs in for some difficult choices in coming years, as John Keller reports this week in the Mil & Aero Video Blog.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., 27 Feb. 2012. Propulsion systems from Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company, powered the Centaur upper-stage rocket on its two-hundredth mission: placing the first in a series of U.S. Navy Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) communications satellites into orbit. 

CHELMSFORD, Mass., 26 Feb. 2012. Mercury Computer Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:MRCY) in Chelmsford, Mass., is introducing two Express Mezzanine Card (XMC) modules -- the Echotek series RFM-251-XMC tuner, and the wideband ACM-V-XMC digital transceiver -- to capture signals in real-time across a wide range of frequencies for electronic warfare (EW) and signals intelligence (SIGINT) applications. The XMCs are available in ruggedized versions.

MELBOURNE, Fla., 25 Feb. 2012. The DRS Technologies Inc. Tactical Systems Division in Melbourne, Fla., is introducing the company's next generation of the MRT rugged tablet computer, based on the Intel Core i7 processor, for rugged tactical computing applications in the field such as military situational awareness, command and control, communications, and targeting.

GREAT CHESTERFORD, England, 24 Feb. 2012. The manufacturer of the British border- and perimeter-security radar systems known as Blighter is working together with a South Korean company to supply Blighter radar systems for applications in South Korea. Plextek Ltd. in Great Chesterford, England, which makes the Blighter intruder-detection radar is working with Nuriplan Co. Ltd., a provider of landscape services based in Gimpo-si, South Korea, to supply Blighter radars to the South Korean market.

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala., 23 Feb. 2012. U.S. Army aviation officials are reaching out to industry for ideas on developing open-systems helicopter avionics hardware and software that will help cut costs and reduce maintenance requirements by increasing competition among defense contractors, reusing avionics components, and promoting rapid technology insertion for avionics system upgrades.

PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 22 Feb. 2012. U.S. Navy aerial warfare systems designers needed special circular antenna arrays for the AN/UPX-29(V) identification-friend-or-foe (IFF) interrogator system aboard surface warships that distinguishes friendly vessels and aircraft nearby during combat operations. They found their solution from the BAE Systems Electronic Systems Sector in Nashua, N.H.

FARMINGTON, Conn., 20 Feb. 2012. EDAC Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:EDAC), a diversified designer, manufacturer, and servicer of precision components for aerospace and industrial applications, has agreed to purchase a 181,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Plainville, Conn. The company is consolidating operations currently housed in four separate locations into a 15-acre site that formerly housed part of GE Industrial Solutions, a business unit of General Electric Company.