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.

WASHINGTON, 17 Feb. 2012. Electronic warfare and electro-optics-related countermeasures are shaping up to be among the few real growth areas of the Pentagon's fiscal 2013 budget, which the Obama Administration submitted to Congress this week. Leaders of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) plan to spend $4.95 billion next year for electro-optic and electronic warfare work, which represents growth of 7.6 percent over the $4.6 billion DOD has budgeted for electronic warfare and electro-optics countermeasures this year.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., 17 Feb. 2012. Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) in Santa Clara, Calif., is introducing the Genesys 2012 software, the latest release of the company's RF and microwave board design application. The updated software provides enhancements in RF system simulation -- including electromagnetic, circuit and statistical simulation -- and features to help designers improve the reliability of their systems, Agilent officials say.

WASHINGTON, 15 Feb. 2012. Leaders of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) plan to spend at least $31.6 billion next year for activities related to command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR), according to Pentagon budget documents released this week. The $31.6 billion the military plans to spend on C4ISR in fiscal 2013 is down 10.92 percent from the $35.47 billion in the Pentagon's current-year budget, and is down 16.8 percent from 2011 C4ISR spending levels.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., 14 Feb. 2012. Military communications designers at the Harris Corp. RF Communications Division in Rochester, N.Y., are introducing two software-defined radio (SDR) waveforms for the company's Falcon III RF-7800V VHF tactical handheld combat net radio. The waveforms -- essentially computer programs to help software-defined radios perform specific tasks -- are designed for enhanced information security and electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM).

ANNAPOLIS, Md., 12 Feb. 2012. Radio communications experts at ARINC Inc. in Annapolis, Md., are using supercomputers to help systems integrators design and analyze the performance of complex antennas. Complex Antenna Engineering and Analyses. The ARINC Advanced Systems Engineering and Integration Division has installed a Linux-based supercomputer to support engineering analyses for ARINC’s external customers. The company’s previous supercomputer also remains available.

ANNAPOLIS, Md., 12 Feb. 2012. Commercial aircraft operators may start using an air traffic management (ATM) communications technology called the FANS 1/A over HFDL (FOH), after officials of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved FOH as a viable means of Air Traffic Service (ATS) communications. This means commercial aircraft may start using the global High Frequency Data Link (HFDL) network to communicate with air traffic controllers.

ARLINGTON, Va., 10 Feb. 2012. Military communications experts at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., are asking for industry's help in providing pervasive, high-throughput military communications to deployed military units by using a mobile backbone that provides communications over long distances to military units on the move.

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS, 8 Feb. 2012. Systems designers and systems integrators have openly admitted to treating connectors as something of an afterthought in years past. Today, however, connectors are often a central focus and concern for engineers championing efficient, effective, and innovative electronic systems for aerospace and defense applications.

SPECIAL REPORT, 7 Feb. 2011. Despite budget cutbacks and a lack of support, U.S. military officials have pushed through upgrades and technology insertion for the nation's land- and sea-based atomic missiles, as well as for the nuclear arsenal's multi-layer command-and-control systems.

SPECIAL REPORT, 7 Feb. 2011.Overall control of the U.S. arsenal of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), its submarine-launched ballistic missiles, as well as its nuclear-capable bomber aircraft, comes from the Nuclear Command and Control System (NCCS), which describes an infrastructure of fixed-site locations, aircraft, and land vehicles -- all with strategic radiation-hardened communications capability.

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala., 6 Feb. 2012. Officials of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., are looking to the Lockheed Martin Corp. Space Systems segment in Sunnyvale, Calif., provide systems upgrades and technology insertion for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ballistic missile-defense system under terms of a potential $515.4 million contract announced Friday. Lockheed Martin is the THAAD prime contractor. THAAD is an MDA system designed to shoot down short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missile warheads as these weapons are in their final phases of flight.

WASHINGTON, 6 Feb. 2012. NASA officials overseeing the Edison Small Satellite Demonstration Program have issued a broad agency announcement (BAA) seeking low-cost, flight demonstration proposals for small satellite technology. The solicitation is limited to demonstrations of communications systems for small satellites, proximity operations with small satellites, and propulsion systems for CubeSat-scale satellites. The goal is to increase the technical capabilities and range of uses for the emerging category of spacecraft.

ZUG, Switzerland, 6 Feb. 2012. Teseq Holding AG, a developer and provider of instrumentation and systems for EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) emission and immunity testing, has acquired MILMEGA Ltd., a U.K,-based specialist in the design and manufacture of solid-state, high-power microwave and radio-frequency (RF) amplifiers. The acquisition is intended to strengthen Teseq capabilities in military, commercial, industrial, automotive, and communications applications.

SAN DIEGO, Calif., Feb. 2, 2012. The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) a $47.2 million contract for the purchase and integration of two more Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) payloads on two existing Block 20 Global Hawk aircraft.

BANNOCKBURN, Ill., 2 Feb. 2012. Year-over combined orders for rigid printed circuit boards and flexible circuits manufactured in North America dropped for the 12th consecutive month in December, say analysts at IPC, the Association Connecting Electronics Industries in Bannockburn, Ill. Orders of U.S. and Canadian circuit boards and flexible circuits in December decreased 2.8 percent from the same month one year ago. Compared to the previous month, however, combined industry orders of North American circuit boards and flexible circuits in December were up by 8.7 percent, IPC analysts say.

HANSCOM AFB, Mass., 1 Feb. 2012. Radar experts at the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center (ESC) at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., are reaching out to industry in the beginning of what may become a long-term project to modernize and upgrade three ageing ground-based ballistic missile warning radar systems -- PAVE PAWS, which is short for Phased Array Warning System; the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS); and the Perimeter Acquisition Radar Attack Characterization System (PARCS).

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 1, 2012. Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] and Raytheon Company [NYSE: RTN] are teaming to compete for a U.S. Navy contract that will upgrade the fleet’s capability to electronically attack anti-ship missiles.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, Jan. 31, 2012. Rockwell Collins has launched work on Phase 2 of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) research contract valued at $5.3 million. The goal is to increase the capability of digital software defined radios.