* Run down: The Balisle Report offers an alarming picture of a US Navy whose readiness and reliability issues extend far beyond just its new multi-billion dollar LPD-17 program. * Help Wanted: President Obama calls on the private sector to take on more of the civilian...
USA Articles
Rapid Fire 2010-07-01: Wind Farms Delayed
* Show Me the Money: Boeing is offering to buy Argon ST, a Fairfax, VA-based supplier of military C4ISR systems, for $34.50 per share, or $775 million, in an all-cash deal. * In other news, Boeing averted a strike in St. Louis when workers voted to approve a new...
Raytheon’s Lot-10 AIM-9X Missile Orders
F-16 launches AIM-9X(click for AIM-9X zoom) The AIM-9X is the USA's newest short-range air-to-air missile, using an advanced array seeker that widens the missile's "boresight" cone, and allows a TV-like "imaging infrared" picture that's much harder to fool with...
China’s K-8 Jets: A Killer for Myanmar
K-8, Zimbabwe(click to view full) Burma's air force relies heavily on Chinese weapons. A handful of Russian MiG-29s will grow to 30 in the wake of a 2009 order, but the rest of its fighter fleet is made up of Chinese MiG-21 (60 J-7s) and MiG-19 (12 J-6 and 36 Q-5)...
PanSTARRS: Astronomy & Asteroid Assessment
Bruce Willis missed...(click to view full) Kirkland AFB, NM recently entered into a cooperative effort with the University of Hawaii of Honolulu, Hawaii under the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (PanSTARRS) multi-year program. PanSTARRS will...
Rapid Fire: 2010-06-30
* Pentagon acquisition chief Carter issues guidance for "acquisition professionals" to reduce overhead costs associated with the $400 billion per year spent on contracts. * Can We Talk?: In response to the Carter memo, the Aerospace Industries Association called on...
Carnegie Mellon Contracted for Software R&D
Carnegie Mellon has long been one of the USA's best universities for computer science, and was well known in those circles long before Prof. Randy Pausch's Last Lecture made it more broadly famous around the world. Platforms like Alice are gaining wide traction for...
BAE Contracted for a Persistent Battlefield Infrared Stare
BAE Systems in Arlington, VA received a $49.8 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to develop an infrared system "that provides a real-time, high-resolution, wide area video persistent surveillance capability that allows joint forces to keep critical areas of interest...
Common Transponders Perform Uncommon Role in Preventing ‘Friendly Fire’
APX-117, APX-118 transponders Article closed. Identification friend or foe (IFF) systems enable forces to recognize friendly aircraft, surface vessels, and submarines to avoid inadvertent firing on friendly forces. The technology, in use since World War II, has two...