Craig Bambrough has been appointed vice president and director of defense and intelligence strategies for the SRA Touchstone Consulting Group. John M. Miller has been named vice president and director of operations for the SRA Touchstone Consulting Group. Pat Sidhu has been appointed vice president and director of the SRA Spectrum Solutions Group. Sonu Singh has been appointed vice president and director of enterprise systems for the SRA Spectrum Solutions Group.
Data transfer rates on a test aircraft have been increased 40 times using the F-15E's existing wiring. During a Boeing-funded demonstration, the amount of time it takes to transfer the image of a target from aircraft to a Joint Direct Attack Munition on its wing was slashed to one-half second from 11-12 seconds.
European and Canadian radar satellites are providing data on side-wall stability of the largest open pit mine in Africa, which is threatened by subsidence from underground mining below the pit floor.
Lockheed Martin Corp. expects an upcoming Defense Department report to validate its Joint Common Missile (JCM) program, or at least most of the technology it developed under that effort, and lead to a resurgence in the otherwise terminated missile replacement program, a company official said.
Boeing will get at least $500 million for three big geostationary L-band communications platforms in its largest commercial satellite deal since 1997, when it sold two spacecraft to Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Ltd.
Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), a leader of congressional China and shipbuilding caucuses, said the caucuses this year will focus on the Navy's final long-term shipbuilding plan, maintaining a dozen U.S. aircraft carriers and even pushing the formation of a so-called national strategic directorate. The caucuses will examine how the shipbuilding plan provides for a reliable, stable funding stream and assures a strong work force through apprenticeships, Forbes told the Surface Navy Association's national symposium in Arlington, Va.
Lt. Gen. Brian A. Arnold (USAF Ret.) has been named vice president of National Space Programs within the Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) Strategic Systems organization.
A senior executive who played a leading role in Intelsat's privatization is leaving his post at the global satellite operator in a management shakeup. Ramu V. Potarazu resigned his post as chief operating officer this week and will leave the company next month. Kevin Mulloy, president of Intelsat Global Service Corp., also resigned.
While being generally dismissive of price creep in the U.S.'s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, a senior Australian defense official admitted that if cost goes up appreciably, the projected order of 100 aircraft could go down. That comment from Deputy Defense Secretary Shane Carmody follows revelations that the U.S. Navy and Air Force are making plans to pull funding from the JSF's F136 alternative engine program as a cost-cutting measure. The 100 JSFs are supposed to replace 71 F/A-18 and 26 F-111 strike aircraft.
ACS: Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors has been awarded a $57.3 million contract modification to provide DDG 51 Class Aegis Combat System installation, integration and testing, the Defense Department said Jan. 10. The work will be done in Moorestown, N.J.; Bath, Maine; and Pascagoula, Miss. It is expected to be finished by January 2007.
Lockheed Martin Corp. is maneuvering to become the leader in the budding maritime domain awareness (MDA) arena, a marketplace worth at least half a billion dollars, and already has persuaded Defense and Homeland Security department officials with its modeling concept.
The Defense Department wants Alloy Surfaces Co. Inc. to produce four times as many "special materials decoys" a month to help protect U.S. Army helicopters and other aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chief of naval operations (CNO), said Jan. 10 that more shipbuilding programs will come under a harsher microscope for cost savings as the DD(X) destroyer just did, including the LHA(R) amphibious assault ship, Littoral Combat Ship, Maritime Prepositioning Force-Future, the Virginia-class submarine and the proposed CG(X) cruiser. "We can't afford every new gadget, we can't afford the Star Wars version of every new idea," Mullen said. "We need to be selective and efficient."
DELIVERIES: The Boeing Co. delivered 42 FA/-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft in 2005, the company said Jan. 10. Other 2005 delivery totals from the company's Integrated Defense Systems Programs included 12 AH-64D Longbow helicopters; 16 C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft; two C-40 military aircraft; two Delta II Launch Vehicles; six F-15 fighter aircraft; three government and commerical satellites; and 10 T-45 Training System flight simulators and related equipment.
The Lockheed Martin Corp.-Northrop Grumman Corp. joint venture responsible for the U.S. Coast Guard's 25-year, $24 billion Deepwater recapitalization program is prepared to accelerate the makeover project if Congress agrees to fund the move, executives said Jan. 9. "We welcome a program acceleration," said Leo Mackay, head of the Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) joint venture. "There's no industry limitation to acceleration." ICGS Executive Vice President James Anton said, "It's really a matter at this point of funding."
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin tried to reassure the astronomical community about NASA's continued commitment to science during an address to the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Washington Jan. 10, saying that NASA does not plan "to sacrifice present-day scientific efforts for the sake of future benefits to be derived from exploration."
