Military Satellite News (March & April 2009)Visit
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April 30, 2009
Japan to Launch Military-Purpose Satellites
The Japanese government could launch an early warning satellite that can detect missile launches abroad by 2013.
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Middle East Report: Indo-Israeli Defense Ties and Corruption Probes
By Dominic Moran and Animesh Roul in Tel Aviv and New Delhi for ISN Security Watch — In a major boost for bilateral strategic ties, the Indian and Israeli defense industries signed two major deals ahead of this month's Israeli-built spy satellite launch.
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Drone-ing On — Next Gen Revelations in Iraq and Afghanistan
Three 'unofficial' successful tests may have revealed the successor to the U.S. Air Force's MQ-9 Reaper — General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, the same company that developed the Reaper and MQ-1 Predator, is responsible for developing the Predator C Avenger unmanned aerial vehicle.
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Japan Looking To Initiate An Early Warning Satellite Program + Unmanned Lunar Expedition
A Japanese government task force has suggested the introduction of an early warning satellite that can detect missile launches, in its draft of the nation's first basic plan on the development and use of space, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
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Unmanned Aircraft Development Finds Two New Projects From DoD
The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded two contracts to Northrop Grumman and Boeing for two, as of yet, unpublished UAV development programs.
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April 29, 2009
Lockheed Martin Gets Big Air(ship) Contract
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected Lockheed Martin to guide an industry team to design, build, test and fly a 1:3 scaled model of an airship for the third phase of the ISIS (Integrated Sensor Is Structure) program, enhancing the new low-power density radar built by Raytheon Company — the contract is worth about $400 million.
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Validation — U.S. Generosity Is Urged to Make Space Situational Awareness Priority
One of space's areas of concern is space debris, a current and growing threat to U.S. exploration activities.
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Pentagon May Reach Satellite Analysis Goal Early
The U.S. military may reach its goal of doing collision analysis on 800 maneuverable satellites before October, and is examining the possibility of tracking 500 more satellites that cannot be maneuvered, a top Air Force general said on Tuesday.
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Harris Tactical Radios To Upgrade Polish Forces' Comms
Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS)n has been awarded a contract totaling $20 million from the Polish Ministry of National Defense (MoND) to deliver a combination of multiband and HF tactical radios for Poland's Land and Special Operations Command Forces.
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U.S. Army's First SatDevelopment Project Since 1960 Gets NanoSats From Miltec
Ducommun Incorporated (NYSE: DCO) has announced that their Miltec Corporation (Miltec) subsidiary delivered flight-ready nanosatellites to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT) in Huntsville, Alabama on April 28, 2009.
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April 28, 2009
Lockheed Martin Celebrates Celestial Constellations' Golden Anniversary
Significant anniversaries are worth noting, especially when providing service above and beyond the anticipated lifespan.
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International Space University’s Students' Suggestions for Space Traffic
Shared at Strasbourg, France, this week during the International Space University’s recently completed symposium on "Space for a Safe and Secure World,” the 2007 student study on Space Traffic Management recommended ways to prevent space collisions was released.
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Tackling The Unmanned Systems Market Is New SMi Conference In London
Following the success of their UAV conference, SMi is delighted to announce their latest Unmanned Systems event which occurs next month in London — Unmanned Systems, Tomorrow's World, Today.
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Up To Bat — Northrop Grumman's Newly Acquired UAS
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has announced their Bat line of small unmanned air systems (UAS), with wingspans ranging from 6.5 to 33.2 feet.
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Load, Lock + Launch for Canadian Navy
The Canadian Centre for Unmanned Vehicle Systems (CCUVS) has announced that it will be deploying the Robonic MC2555LLR Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) Launcher on its first operational mission since acquiring the launcher earlier this year.
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This Thales U.K. Product Is Not A Timepiece — WATCHKEEPER Warrior
The U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD) has extended Thales U.K.'s H-450 unmanned air system (UAS) contract.
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NASA's Nanosatellite Flies For Fungus
The greatest thing since sliced bread may now be NASA's small satellite that is about the size of a loaf of bread, weighs about 10 pounds, and could help scientists better understand how effectively drugs work in space.
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Milstar Manages 50 Years Of MILSATCOM Ops
A U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] team has announced that the five-satellite Milstar constellation has accumulated 50 years of combined on-orbit operations and continues to provide secure, reliable and robust communications to U.S. and Allied Forces around the globe.
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Profit From Military Myopia
"Armies always prepare to fight the last war."— Anonymous
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April 27, 2009
TIA Turns Out Turkish Tiha Winged Weaponry
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has made known additional details regarding its Medium-Altitude, Long-Endurance Unmanned Air Vehicle project, Tiha-A and Tiha-B, with these two variants to be delivered in short order to the Turkish armed forces.
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Russians Offer Satellite Launches To North Korea — Disarmament Is The Reasoning
Russia is interested in hosting North Korean satellite launches, which is rather enlightening, given the worldwide condemnation of such a launch last month — another useless offer on the table in hopes of altering the North Korean mind set regarding nuclear weaponry.
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UAV Underpinnings For Turkey Reside With Germany... Perhaps!
Turkey and Germany will sign an agreement over cooperation in defense equipment research, development, production, procurement, support in training, and industrial cooperation.
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Intelsat Gets In Down Under With ADF + Intelsat 22
Intelsat, Ltd. has announced the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has agreed to purchase a specialized UHF communications payload aboard an Intelsat satellite scheduled for launch in 2012.
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Report From the Field: The 'Eye in the Sky' Keeps Soldiers Out of Harm's Way
FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARRIOR, Kirkuk, Iraq — 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs RSS.
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GEO-2 Going Good — Promised Payload Packed + Promptly Posted
Northrop Grumman Corp. has delivered the second geosynchronous orbit (GEO) payload to prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. in Sunnyvale, California, for integration into the spacecraft and final system-level testing.
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Juniper Jumps In With WIN-T MILCOM Expertise + Support
Juniper Networks will support General Dynamics C4 Systems, the prime contractor developing the U.S. Army's Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) program.
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Hardened C-RAM Crafted For Space Service
BAE Systems has developed a new chalcogenide random-access memory product for spacecraft.
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April 24, 2009
SPECIAL REPORT: Air Collision Fears Slow Expansion of US Drone Use
WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaps in unmanned aircraft technology have military authorities clamoring to use more drones for everything from coastal patrols and border surveillance to tracking natural disasters. But fears of midair collisions are slowing any broad expansion of their domestic use.
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April 23, 2009
MILSATCOM Transceivers Enlist Comtech's Expertise
Telecommunications Corp. (Nasdaq:CMTL) announced that its Maryland-based subsidiary, Comtech Mobile Datacom Corporation, received an $8.0 million order under its IDIQ contract with the U.S. Army Communications Electronics Command (CECOM) — total orders received to date against this $216.0 million contract increased to $211.3 million.
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ScanEagle's Pirate Patrol Proves Potency Of UAV
From The Enterprise (White Salmon, Washington), written by Jesse Burkhardt, comes the story of how local company Insitu's "ScanEagle" drone aircraft contributed to the successful military operation on April 12th that freed American ship captain Richard Phillips who was being held hostage by Somali pirates and then enduring the ensuring four-day standoff.
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U.S. Army Selects Lockheed Martin As One Of Six For Battle Command Products
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] is one of six companies selected by the U.S. Army to compete for future task orders across the Battle Command Family of Products, an indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract.
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Well MET, Harris
Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) has been awarded a 10-year, $600 million contract for the U.S. Army's Modernization of Enterprise Terminals (MET) program. The nexgen military satellite communications terminals developed for the MET program will provide the worldwide backbone for high-priority military communications and missile defense systems.
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SATCOM Global Sets Sail as Stronger and More Secure Partner on the Seas
As of April 15th SatCom Global has been awarded full Distribution Partner status by Inmarsat for its FleetBroadband services, and joins a group of 12 FleetBroadband Distribution Partners worldwide who have built a solid long-term relationship with Inmarsat.
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India Will Receive Phalcon AWACS on May 18
India will get its first 'eye in the sky', the Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS), aircraft on May 18, which will provide the IAF means to track incoming missiles and look deep into the neighbouring countries without violating any air space.
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Thales' Liberty Liberates Comes Through Clearly for Certification
Thales Communications, Inc., develops, manufactures, and supports multiband, software-defined radio (SDR) equipment, announces that its LibertyTM multiband land mobile radio (LMR) has received U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certification.
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Politicians Say One Thing, The U.S.A.F. Another, Regarding UAV Maintenance
The Air Force states it has not yet decided who will maintain two unmanned aerial vehicles called the Predator and Reaper, this according to the Air Force Times.
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April 22, 2009
The Melding Magic Beings — NGC's Payload + USAF's GEO-2
The Space and Missile Systems Center's Space Based Infrared Systems Wing has duly noted that the second Geosynchronous Earth Orbit payload from Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, Azusa, California, has now arrived at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Sunnyvale, Californa, for integration into the GEO-2 space vehicle.
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ViaSat Stays Inline For Encryptor Interoperability Spec
ViaSat Inc. (Nasdaq:VSAT) has received certification from the National Security Agency (NSA) for its High Assurance Internet Protocol Encryptor Interoperability Specification (HAIPE IS) V3.0.2 for the programmable ViaSat AltaSec? KG-250 Inline Network Encryptor (INE).
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CNN Captures The Moment With SES Capacity Deal... + So Does DRS Technologies
SES AMERICOM-NEW SKIES, a division of SES S.A.SES , has signed a five year distribution and contribution agreement with Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) for CNN delivery to and from Europe and the Middle East.
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April 21, 2009
National Phenomenon — Brazilian Hijacking of U.S. Military Satellites
Reports are in from the Brazilian Federal Police who are attempting to halt the hijacking of U.S. military satellites — an illegal act that has become a "national phenomenon."
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Northrop Grumman's Second GEO Payload Takes Final Test
Northrop Grumman Corp. the payload integrator for the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS), the nation's next-generation missile warning system, has delivered the second geosynchronous orbit (GEO) payload to prime contractor for integration into the spacecraft and final system-level testing.
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Avanti Communications Does Good x 4 Telecoms
Avanti Communications Group plc [AIM: AVN], the broadband satellite operator, has signed contracts to supply broadband products to four separate telecoms service providers in the UK.
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Raytheon Takes Risks for the U.S. Air Force With Next-Gen GPS
The U.S. Air Force liked what the Raytheon Company was doing for them, and so to validate this confidence Raytheon received a contract extension to perform additional risk-reduction activities for the U.S. Air Force's next-generation Global Positioning System Operational Ground Control Segment, or GPS OCX. Raytheon will identify and mitigate program risk to create a roadmap to keep the program on budget and on schedule.
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Britain Reviews Role of Reconnaissance Satellites After Israel's Assault on Gaza
According to the U.K.'s foreign minister Britain will review of all its weapons' exports to Israel after the country's assault on the Gaza Strip.
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April 20, 2009
India Launches Israeli-Built Spy Satellite
India has launched an Israeli-built spy satellite to boost its surveillance capabilities after last year's Mumbai attacks exposed glaring holes in its defense apparatus.
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Ciao! As Italian Defense Satellite SICRAL 1B Launches
The launch of the SICRAL (Italian Reserved Communications and Alarm System) 1B satellite took place this morning at 10:16 am CET (8:16 am GMT) from a Sea Launch platform in the Pacific with a Zenit-3SL launcher.
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MotoSAT Sends a Messenger to NAB
MotoSAT debuts its Messenger™ series antenna, described as the most advanced mobile VSAT system to date that was designed specifically to meet the technical and environmental demands of the digital satellite news gathering (DSNG) industry at this year’s National Association of Broadcasters Convention (NAB 2009) in Las Vegas at booth OE430.
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April 19, 2009
Sky-High Over Sky-Y
With five missions, the Sky-Y, Alenia Aeronautica’s unmanned technological demonstrator, has completed its first series of tests in Italy.
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The Avenger — A UAV Designed To Dominate
UAV manufacturer General Atomics began flight testing of a larger, stealthier UAV named Avenger.
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April 17, 2009
Satcom Direct Distributes for Inmarsat SwiftBroadband
Satcom Direct has become a Distribution Partner (DP) for the Inmarsat SwiftBroadband service for the corporate, government, and military aviation industries.
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Vizada and Inmarsat Renew Relationship
Not many people or companies can boast of a 30-year partnership, but such is so with Vizada and Inmarsat who announced that they have concluded final negotiations for Vizada’s distribution of Inmarsat services over the next five years.
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April 16, 2009
What's Next For UAV Control? How About An X-Box 360?
David Hambling writes in Popular Mechanics regarding a new Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System — controlled using an adapted Xbox 360 controller!
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April 15, 2009
New Imagery Center For Harris' Ongoing NGA + Feds Support
Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) has opened a facility in St. Louis for production and quality assurance of high-resolution imagery-derived geospatial data for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and other federal agencies in the area.
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Battlefield Betterment Of SATCOM With Comtech SatModem Award
Comtech EF Data Corp. has won a $2.1 million order from the U.S. military for satellite communications equipment that will be used to upgrade existing battlefield systems to operate on the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) system.
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April 14, 2009
Hours + Hours Of ISR Success With ScanEagle UAS
The ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system (UAS), a joint effort of The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and its subsidiary Insitu Inc., last week flew its 150,000th hour in service with the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Forces, U.S. Navy, U.S. Special Operations Command, Australian Army and Canadian Forces.
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digiGO! NAB — Harris Speaks Out
Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) has several technical experts from the company who have been selected as speakers for the new, three-day summit to examine advanced video technologies for defense and emergency response providers. The Military and Government Summit is being held April 21-23 during the 2009 NAB Show in Las Vegas.
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AEHF Thermally Vacuumed By Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has successfully completed thermal vacuum testing of the second Advanced Extremely High Frequency (EHF) military communications satellite, a major program milestone that proves spacecraft performance and functionality in a complete test-like-you-fly environment.
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April 13, 2009
San Diego Is Host Location For ISCe 2009
Hannover Fairs USA, Inc. announced the conference program and keynote speakers for the 8th annual ISCe Conference.
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Northrop Grumman Brings UAVs and More To Latin American Show
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) will highlight a wide range of naval and airborne capabilities at the 2009 Latin America Aerospace and Defence (LAAD) show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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April 12, 2009
Comtech AeroAstro's Birthday Bonanza With STPSat-1
Comtech AeroAstro, a wholly owned subsidiary of Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ:CMTL) has announced today their satellite STPSat-1, built for DoD’s Space Test Program (STP), has completed its second year of successful on-orbit operation.
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Marshall Delves Into Warfighter Issues @ DISA + NAB Conferences
Marshall Communications Corporation (MARSHALL), a provider of Digital Video Broadcast, Return Channel via Satellite (DVB-RCS/S2) services for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), will be, once again highlighting Full Motion Video to the Warfighter at the upcoming DISA Customer Partnership Conference slated to take place April 20-22 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.
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April 9, 2009
LMC's SMC SBIRS PDR OK
The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) team has submitted its proposal for the program's follow-on production phase and has completed a major Preliminary Design Review (PDR) milestone with the U.S. Air Force.
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April 8, 2009
Multiple Wins For KVH Industries' Products
KVH Industries, Inc., (Nasdaq: KVHI) has received a total of $3.8 million in new orders for its precision fiber optic gyro (FOG) systems, three international prime contractors have now placed a total of $1.3 million in new orders for tactical navigation systems, and the Company's Persian Gulf contract is now operational.
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MDA Goes Solo — RapidEye Agrees
A vote of confidence from RapidEye was validated in a new contractual agreement with MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA), in which MDA will be the sole supplier of direct downlink solutions for RapidEye's international ground station customers.
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April 7, 2009
Russia Apparently Bringing IAI UAVs To Armed Forces
Russia's Defense Ministry has decided to buy three types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from Israel for $50 million, a respected Russian business paper reported on Tuesday.
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Boeing's Simultaneous ScanEagle Success
Back on March 16th, Boeing [NYSE: BA] successfully demo'd simultaneous command and control of three ScanEagle unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) from a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Wedgetail 737 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft flying over Washington state.
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Battlefield Ops Gain MILSATCOM MobiLink From DataPath
DataPath, Inc. is providing MobiLink™ Technologies communications on-the-move (COTM) systems to a deployed U.S. Army unit in support of battlefield operations.
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April 6, 2009
Boeing Reports Healthy Communications and Strong Pulse from WGS-2
First the launch on April 3, and now the first on-orbit signals from the second of six Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellites have been acknowledged by Boeing [NYSE: BA].
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UAVs To Receive An Increased Ingestion Of DoD Budget Support
The chopping block — that's where the F-22 Raptors, the Prez chopper, and some armored vehicles have ended up within Defense Secretary Gates' new budget plan for the Department of Defense (DoD).
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SIMCLAIRS Start Soon — UAV Improvements The Goal
The European Defence Agency (EDA) signed the contract on the Studies for Integrated Multifunction Compact Lightweight Airborne Radars and Systems (SIMCLAIRS) on March 31, 2009, an ad-hoc category B project, with a consortium consisting of national industrial companies from three EDA participating Member States: France, Sweden and United Kingdom.
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Canada Makes Support Services Selection For SUAVs
The Minister of Public Works and Government Services, the Honourable Christian Paradis, and the Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, the Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay, as well as the Minister of Industry, the Honourable Tony Clement, announced that the Government of Canada has awarded a contract to Insitu Inc. of Bingen, Washington, USA, to provide small unmanned aerial vehicle (SUAV) services to support the Canadian Forces.
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U.S. Northern Border To Be Watched By Predator UAV
Building upon the success of conducting US-Mexico border surveillance with Predator UAVs, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced plans to use one of the unmanned aircraft to patrol the border between Michigan and Ontario, Canada.
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Harris Is a Hero to Wounded Warriors
The best and the brightest are unfortunately the ones, who when defending their country, are the first to suffer horrible injuries.
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April 5, 2009
ULA and USAF Launches WGS-2 — Enhanced Communications For Warfighters
Pure beauty, and it's GO! at last — United Launch Alliance and the U.S. Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center (USAF/SMC) achieved a launch of the WGS-2 mission, which marks the fifteenth Atlas V launch and the third launch of an Atlas V 421 configuration.
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North Korean Satellite Splashed Down But Missile Made The Grade
On the morning of April 5th, the North Korean government launched a missile over Japan, a missile whose payload was alleged to be a small satellite.
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Nishant Is Nigh — UAV Flight Successful
A news report in the online Sindh newspaper, SindhToday.net reports on the successful flight of Nishant, the indigenous unmanned air vehicle (UAV), starting a new chapter in the annals of Indian Aviation.
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April 3, 2009
Happy Birthday, SDL — 50 Years Of Solutions
Celebrating their 50th anniversary is Space Dynamics Laboratory, providers of space-based and terrestrial solutions for commercial, civil, and defense customers.
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April 2, 2009
A Strategic Command Decision For the U.S.A.F.
The Air Force has announced Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, is the preferred alternative for the permanent location of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) headquarters, a new major command focused on the nuclear and global strike mission.
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Raven UAS Is Persistent @ Roberts Demo
The U.S. Army Product Manager for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) and AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) (NASDAQ: AVAV) recently conducted a continuous 30-hour demonstration of persistent surveillance of a point target using AV’s RQ-11B Raven small unmanned aircraft system.
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Waveform Accomplishment By ITT
ITT Corporation's (NYSE:ITT) Communications Systems has announced the qualification and release of the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) 1.0C waveform.
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Nansen Frigates To Receive Overwatch SATCOM Antennas
Overwatch Tactical Operations, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. company (NYSE: TXT), has announced their Communication Systems business area has received an award from Thales - France to provide five sets of Ka/Ku multiband satellite communications (SATCOM) antennas for use on the Royal Norwegian Navy’s Nansen-class frigates.
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Supply Chain Comm — Impeva Supports AAFES
Impeva Labs, Inc. is providing support to the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) for selected high-value shipments bound for Iraq.
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April 1, 2009
Space Foundation Reveals Hopes and Satellites are HIGH!
The SatNews team has been in Colorado and the returns from the Space Foundation's annual symposium revealed that the space industry boosted revenues by $6 billion to $257 billion in 2008, up from $187 billion three years ago.
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U.S.A.F. Wideband Global SATCOM-2 Is On Again . . .Hopefully
Weather and other issues have been frustrating factors in the launch of the Air Force’s Wideband Global SATCOM-2 satellite aboard an United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, that is now officially scheduled on the Eastern Range for April 3.
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Rockwell Collins Sets a Straight Path to Purchase DataPath
Announcement comes today from Rockwell Collins, Inc. [NYSE: COL] of its intent to acquire DataPath, Inc., a creator of satellite-based network communication solutions.
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