Rapid Fire 2011-12-02: NAVAIR Procurement Management System

• JSF PEO Vice Admiral David J. Venlet said in an interview with AOL Defense that ramping up production quickly while completing tests was a “miscalculation” but he has to live with concurrency, though he questions the delivery pace.

• Northrop Grumman’s 3-year, $8.9M Microscale Power Conversion contract could lead to higher-power radars with wider frequency ranges, without increasing their size. It’s an outgrowth of DARPA’s R&D into Gallium Nitride (GaN) circuits, and is one of several GaN-related contracts Northrop has received.

• MASTERing the CHIRP. What goes with the USAF’s ground-breaking Commercial Hosted Infrared Payload? Why, a MASTER ground control architecture that can expand to hosted payloads on other commercial satellites.