Raytheon finishes software integration for new combat ship
Engineers at the Raytheon Co. Integrated Defense Systems unit in Tewksbury, Mass., finished land-based software integration testing of the integrated ship electronic suite for the amphibious transport dock USS San Antonio, the first vessel of a new class of combat ships. Completion of the design integration test authorizes installation of the suite aboard the ship, and moves the San Antonio one step closer to its July 2003 christening, Raytheon officials say. Raytheon is the ship systems integrator for the San Antonio, and is under contract to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems to develop the vessel's shipboard wide area network, all software development, integrated product data environment, total ship information management, integrated ship electronics architecture, and life cycle engineering support.
Fiberstars to help develop next-generation lighting for military ships
Fiber-optics specialists at Fiberstars Inc. of Fremont, Calif., and partner Advanced Lighting Technologies Inc. of Solon, Ohio, are developing a new arc discharge light source for ships and other military applications. Engineers from the two companies are working under terms of a $2.7 million contract from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, and will work under supervision of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on the agency's High-Efficiency Distributed Lighting project, better known as HEDLight. The project involves development of new light sources, optics luminaire, and integrated illuminator technologies. For more information contact Fiberstars Inc. by phone at 510-490-0719, by fax at 510-490-3247, by post at 44259 Nobel Drive, Fremont, Calif. 94538, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.fiberstars.com/.
Amrel unveils light version of its Rocky rugged tablet computer
Officials of Amrel Corp. in Arcadia, Calif., are introducing the Rocky Patriot IV rugged military-grade tablet computer for military and government application. Company officials are touting the 3.7-pound machine as "the lightest, fully rugged Windows XP platform tablet on the market." It meets MIL-STD 810F and Industrial Standard IP 54 for water, dust, shock, vibration, and temperature extremes, as well as MIL-STD 461D for electromagnet emissions shielding. The machine comes in a military-green magnesium case, military AC connector, resistive touch screen, internal vehicle adapter, precautionary port covers, hot-swappable batteries, programmable function keys, 500 MHz Intel Pentium III microprocessor, and 40-gigabyte removable hard drive. For more information contact Amrel by phone at 626-303-6688, by post at 11801 Goldring Road, Arcadia Calif. 91006, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.amrel.com/.
Army depot personnel train to upgrade survival radios
Technicians at the Tobyhanna Army Depot in Tobyhanna, Pa., have received training to install upgrade kids in the U.S. AN/PRC-112 personal survival radio. Tobyhanna is a subcontractor of Engineering and Professional Services (EPS) in Tinton Falls, N.J., and will install and test the upgraded kits. EPS is the prime contractor responsible for program management. "The radios they trained on are actual production units and will be shipped to the users," says George Bellas of Tobyhanna Army Depot. The upgrade combines beacon, radio, and transponder capabilities, as well as new erase and sleep-mode features and three-color LED battery status indicator.
Austin Semiconductor receives DSCC qualification for space parts
Officials of Austin Semiconductor Inc. in Austin, Texas, have received qualification from the U.S. Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC) in Columbus, Ohio, for the DSCC Space/V-Level manufacturing flow. Company officials applied for this qualification during their DSCC Qualified Manufacturing List (QML) audit last February. Officials from DSCC and the Aerospace Corp. in Los Angeles performed the audit. Austin Semiconductor is QML certified, Level Q, and Level H, and provides integrated circuits for military and aerospace applications. For more information contact the company by phone at 512-339-1188, by fax at 512-835-8358, by post at 8701 Cross Park Drive, Austin, Texas 78754-4566, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.austinsemiconductor.com/.
Computer Dynamics unveils sunlight-readable flat-panel computer
Leaders of Computer Dynamics Inc. of Greenville, S.C., are offering a 15-inch sunlight-readable corrosion-resistant computer for use in harsh industrial environments. The Survivor-WildCat, which is approved for hazardous locations, is for applications such as oil exploration and processing, chemical industries, discrete manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and food processing, company officials say. The NEMA 4 environmentally sealed aluminum enclosure enables the computer to operate in temperatures from -40 to 55 Celsius, and has a thermal management system with status light indicator that heats the backlight tubes and other electronics to a safe starting temperature. The machine has a 1 GHz Pentium II processor with as much solid-state memory as 512 megabytes of SDRAM. It also has a 40-gigabyte hard drive, two PCMCIA slots, and 100 dB alarm horn. For more information contact Computer Dynamics on the World Wide Web at http://www.geindustrial.com/industrialsystems/.
GE Fanuc acquires embedded computer designer RAMiX
GE Fanuc Automation North America Inc., an affiliate of GE Industrial Systems, has acquired Ventura, Calif.-based RAMiX Inc., a supplier of embedded computing, storage and memory systems for military, aerospace, telecommunications, and medical applications. "Embedded computing technologies will help us offer new innovative solutions for customers in such areas as energy management, automation, and security, including trace detection systems," says Lloyd Trotter, president and chief executive officer of GE Industrial Systems. RAMiX manufactures embedded switches; 10/100/1000-based Ethernet cards; network processors; server blades; serial I/O; PMC expansion devices; and a variety of PCMCIA, memory and storage modules. For more information contact the company on the World Wide Web at http://www.ramix.com.
BAE to develop guidance section of new U.S. Army missile
Engineers at the BAE Systems Information and Electronic Warfare unit in Nashua, N.H., are set to build the guidance section of the U.S. Army's Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, otherwise known as APKWS Block 1. BAE is working under contract to APKWS prime contractor General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products of Burlington, Vt. BAE will use a semi-active laser guidance system that integrates into the 70 mm APKWS rocket, which is an inexpensive precision munition for soft or lightly armored targets. APKWS adds guidance to the Army's Hydra rockets that typically are in use aboard combat helicopters.
