CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., 9 Sept. 2010. Command and control systems designers at General Dynamics C4 Systems in Scottsdale, Ariz., needed CompactPCI Ethernet switches for the communications hub for command and control systems deployed as part of the U.S. Army's Brigade Combat Team Modernization (BCTM) program. They found their solution in the rugged NETernity CP923RC-M switches from GE Intelligent Platforms in Charlottesville, Va.

ARLINGTON, Va., 8 Sept. 2010. Laser weapons experts at the Boeing Co. Defense, Space & Security segment in Huntsville, Ala., are developing 100-kilowatt free electron laser weapon technology as a foundation on which to develop a next-generation megawatt class free electron laser weapon for use aboard U.S. Navy surface warships under terms of a $23.7 million contract announced Tuesday.

ST. LOUIS, 8 Sept. 2010. Boeing [NYSE: BA] announced changes within its Boeing Military Aircraft (BMA) business, including consolidating the organization from six divisions to four, to continue to position the company for growth in the current business environment. The realignment of the organization will take effect on Oct. 1.

ARLINGTON, Va., 7 Sept. 2010. BAE Systems (LSE: BA) in Arlington, Va., is acquiring electro-optical systems and multispectral sensors specialist OASYS Technology LLC in Manchester, N.H., to complement existing electro-optical capabilities, technologies, and product offerings at BAE Systems, company officials say. Terms of the deal were not released.

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., 5 Sept. 2010. The U.S. Army is surveying industry to find companies able to design and build an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) about the size of a compact car that can carry as much as 1,200 pounds of overhead cover, sandbags, small arms ammunition, food, water, heavy weapons, medical supplies, and other supplies to support small-unit infantry operations.

WASHINGTON, 4 Sept. 2010. A Northrop Grumman-built NASA Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) observed Hurricane Earl, days after it studied Tropical Storm Frank, as part of NASA's Genesis and Rapid Intensification Process (GRIP) experiment. GRIP is a NASA program designed to better understand how tropical storms form and develop into major hurricanes.

NASHUA, N.H., 3 Sept. 2010. Infrared sensor specialists at the BAE Systems Electronic Solutions sector in Nashua, N.H., are developing the advanced processor for a military nighttime persistent surveillance system of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., that uses staring infrared sensors for long-term persistent surveillance battlefields and in urban areas from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

LAKEHURST NAS, N.J., 2 Sept. 2010. Persistent surveillance experts at the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Lakehurst at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, N.J., needed technology solutions for persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) on small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). They found their solution from Trident Systems Inc. in Fairfax, Va.

ARLINGTON, Va., 1 Sept. 2010. Military radio communications experts at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., are asking industry to design extremely efficient monolithic signal-recognition integrated circuits (ICs) for next-generation military cognitive radio communications, radar, and electronic warfare.

CRANE, Ind., 31 Aug. 2010. U.S. Navy ship systems designers needed electro-optical sensors for the Shipboard Protection System (SPS), which helps protect Navy surface vessels from terrorist attacks while moored to piers, at anchor, or during restricted maneuvering. They found their solution from FLIR Systems in Wilsonville, Ore. FLIR will provide the Navy with Star SAFIRE series electro-optical sensor (EOS) systems, containing forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensor and laser detection and ranging tracking system under terms of a $27.1 million contract, announced Monday. Awarding the contract is the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Division in Crane, Ind.

MILWAUKEE, 30 Aug. 2010. Derco Aerospace Inc., a Sikorsky Aerospace Services Company, has signed a distribution agreement with Universal Synaptics Corp. to distribute its line of Intermittent Fault Detection (IFD) products. The company’s IFD tools identify intermittent faults in aircraft electrical components. Sikorsky Aerospace Services is the worldwide aftermarket business of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., 29 Aug. 2010. BAE Systems Land & Armaments Inc. in Arlington, Va., has established an armored combat vehicle design and prototyping center in suburban Detroit as part of a $58.4 million military land vehicles design, development, and manufacturing campus in close proximity to one of its major customers -- U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC). BAE Systems is opening its state-of-the-art design and prototyping center in Sterling Heights, Mich., which is one town over from Army TACOM LCMC, which is in Warren, Mich., just south of Sterling Heights.

DENVER, 28 Aug. 2010. In recent flight tests on the Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (TUAS), Rockwell Collins demonstrated a new technology that is able to perform real-time data monitoring and analysis while in flight to alert unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators of impending maintenance needs. The new capability, also known as the real-time Condition-Based Monitoring (CBM) system, is designed to improve UAS reliability, while reducing costs and extending the UAV life cycle.

DENVER, 28 Aug. 2010. Two U.S. Air Force installations and one Air National Guard site received six additional Predator Mission Aircrew Training Systems (PMATS) and associated support equipment from by L-3 Link Simulation & Training (L-3 Link) in Arlington, Texas.

DENVER, 27 Aug. 2010. iRobot Corp. in Beford, Mass., chose the DeepSea G3 Embedded Vision System (EVS) from TYZX in Menlo Park, Calif., to provide real-time vision and depth perception for selected new developments in autonomous military robots.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., 27 Aug. 2010. Industry and academia are joining hands to develop autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) technology for persistent surveillance of marine environmental conditions in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic -- particularly in the region of the recent BP oil spill resulting from the 20 April explosion of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig. AUV experts from Bluefin Robotics Corp. in Cambridge, Mass., are working together with Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, Fla., to develop a research and operations center to support the Bluefin Spray Glider AUV for persistent environmental monitoring and data collection.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., 26 Aug. 2010. Boeing [NYSE: BA] teamed with Bolduc Technology Group, LLC in Augusta, Maine, to design, develop, integrate, test, manufacture, and sustain agnostic autonomous-navigation kits for ground vehicles. The kits would enable human-driven vehicles to be converted into autonomous or remotely operated vehicles for commercial or military use.

DENVER, 25 Aug. 2010. Goodrich Corp. (NYSE: GR) in Charlotte, N.C., introduced a small SWaP (size, weight, and power) shortwave infrared (SWIR) camera for unmanned vehicles. The camera weighs less than four and a half ounces and has a total volume of less than 4.9 cubic inches, making it suitable to fit on board almost any unmanned aerial or ground vehicle. Currently it is installed in the nosecone of a Raven hand-launched unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

DENVER, 25 Aug. 2010. British Army leaders needed hand-launched unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for persistent surveillance in the global war on terror. They found their solution from the Lockheed Martin Corp. MS2 Tactical Systems segment in Eagan, Minn. The announcement was made this week at the AUVSI Unmanned Systems North America trade show in Denver. The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) in London awarded Lockheed Martin a $5.1 million contract for Desert Hawk III hand-launched UAV and control units.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., 24 Aug. 2010. Military SATCOM experts at the Boeing Co. Defense, Space & Security segment in El Segundo, Calif., are starting work to build the seventh Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite under terms of a $182 million contract from the U.S. Air Force. The contract has options for Boeing to build as many as six WGS spacecraft, which represent the highest-capacity military satellite communications capability in the U.S. Department of Defense’s arsenal, Boeing officials say.