Industry News

Comms

Third SBIRS satellite payload deployed to Air Force by Lockheed Martin - News

July 02, 2013

John M. McHale III - Editorial Director, Military Embedded Systems Lockheed Martin

SUNNYVALE, CA. The third of four highly elliptical earth orbit (HEO) satellite payloads was delivered by Lockheed Martin to the U.S. Air Force for the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS).

Cyber

DornerWorks to develop space-qualified hypervisor for DARPA - News

June 28, 2013

Brandon Lewis - Technology Editor, Embedded Computing Design DornerWorks

GRAND RAPIDS, MI. The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) has awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 contract to DornerWorks to study hypervisors capable of supporting virtualization in satellite payloads. DornerWorks will work off of the open-source ARLX Hypervisor project, a flight-certifiable ARINC 653 partitioning environment that is based off of the Xen hypervisor and runs real-time Linux in each domain.

Unmanned

GA-ASI Predator B variant to comply with NATO airworthiness standards - News

June 27, 2013

Brandon Lewis - Technology Editor, Embedded Computing Design General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

SAN DIEGO. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI) is undertaking an Independent Research And Development (IRAD) effort to produce a variant of the Predator B Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) that complies with the airworthiness requirements of the U.S. Air Force and other anticipated NATO customers. The UAS will be a multinational certifiable platform based on the Block 5 Predator B and Advanced Cockpit Ground Control Station (GCS), and featuring enhanced capabilities for integration into domestic and international airspace.

Avionics

Army helicopter maintenance contract awarded to Lockheed Martin - News

June 26, 2013

John M. McHale III - Editorial Director, Military Embedded Systems Lockheed Martin

DALLAS. Lockheed Martin won an aircraft maintenance and logistics contract from the U.S. Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, AL, to deliver field and sustainment-level maintenance for U.S. Army helicopters.

Radar/EW

Littoral combat ship (LCS) mine countermeasure mission package integrated by Northrop Grumman - News

June 25, 2013

John M. McHale III - Editorial Director, Military Embedded Systems Northrop Grumman

BETHPAGE, N.Y. Northrop Grumman Corp. won a Navy contract worth $28 million for engineering and production planning services for surface warfare and mine countermeasures mission module components that will be deployed from, and be integrated with, the littoral combat ship (LCS).

Comms

WIN-T Increment 2 continues to use Parvus Ethernet switches - News

June 24, 2013

John M. McHale III - Editorial Director, Military Embedded Systems Parvus

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah. Parvus Corp., a Eurotech subsidiary, won follow-on orders from General Dynamics C4S, the prime contractor for the U.S. Army’s Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) program. Parvus Ethernet switches have bene used in the WIN-T tactical network for about four years. Deliveries for the latest follow-on orders - valued at $4.8 million -- are expected to happen over the next 3-5 months.

Radar/EW

Cambridge Pixel sensor fusion technology integrated with Hyperstar C2/ABI system - News

June 21, 2013

Brandon Lewis - Technology Editor, Embedded Computing Design Cambridge Pixel

CAMBRIDGE, UK. Engineers at Suritec have integrated the Cambridge Pixel SPx Fusion video and display software into the Hyperstar Command & Control (C2) Activity-Based Intelligence (ABI) system. SPx fusion enables fusing primary radar video tracks with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and Automatic Identification System (AIS) data from ship and aircraft transponders. This capability will improve target validation and reduce information on the operator display of the Hyperstar system.

Unmanned

NASA, Rockwell Collins complete integration testing for UAS in national airspace - News

June 19, 2013

Brandon Lewis - Technology Editor, Embedded Computing Design Rockwell Collins

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. NASA and Rockwell Collins recently completed the first of a series of tests that will enable Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) to safely operate in the national airspace. The data link waveform tests simulated communication between one aircraft and one ground-based pilot station, with the objective of verifying the waveform’s operation in the radio spectrum.

Radar/EW

Enhanced sensor dissemination demonstrated by GA-ASI - News

June 18, 2013

Brandon Lewis - Technology Editor, Embedded Computing Design General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

PARIS AIR SHOW. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI), has announced that a Predator B Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) surrogate used Lynx Radar to detect moving ground-based targets, which were then automatically cross-cued to the Star SAFIRE for target visual identification using the Claw payload control software. The operation took place at the annual U.S. Navy Trident Spectre experiment at the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, VA from May 8-18.

Comms

USSOCOM orders Harris Falcon III SDRs - News

June 17, 2013

Brandon Lewis - Technology Editor, Embedded Computing Design Harris Corporation

MELBOURNE, FL/ROCHESTER, NY. The U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has placed a $36 million order with Harris Corporations for Falcon III wideband AN/PRC-117G manpack and Falcon III AN/ORC152A handheld radios. The order will accelerate the deployment of advanced wideband tactical communications systems, and provide Special Operations Forces with wireless broadband capabilities in battlefield conditions.

Comms

U.S. Navy extends RTCASS contract with Boeing - News

June 14, 2013

Brandon Lewis - Technology Editor, Embedded Computing Design Boeing

ST. LOUIS, MO. The U.S. Navy has awarded a $5.5 million follow-on contract to Boeing to maintain the Reconfigurable Transportable Consolidated Automated Support System (RTCASS). RTCASS is an automated test platform that will be used to help extend the availability of the F/A-18 Hornet, AV-8B Harrier, EA-6B Prowler, and V-22 Osprey.

Unmanned

RDECOM investigates carbon nanotubes for rotor blade improvement - News

June 13, 2013

Brandon Lewis - Technology Editor, Embedded Computing Design U.S. Army

ADELPHI, MD. The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) research laboratory is conducting a study on the insertion of carbon nanotubes into helicopter rotor blades. Researchers are hopeful that the nanotubes will provide improved performance for design and fabrication of next-generation rotor blades and fixed wings.

Comms

Turret Drive Control Unit for Bradley Fighting Vehicle gets upgrade from Curtiss-Wright Controls - News

June 12, 2013

John M. McHale III - Editorial Director, Military Embedded Systems Curtiss-Wright

CHARLOTTE, NC. Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc. won a contract from BAE Systems for lifecycle management services under an obsolescence mitigation upgrade program for the Turret Drive Control Unit (TDCU) of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Engineers at the Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions business group will provide an obsolescence-free upgraded version of the Tech Data Pack (TDP) used in the TDCU.

Avionics

Army orders more than 170 CH-47F Chinooks from Boeing - News

June 11, 2013

John M. McHale III - Editorial Director, Military Embedded Systems Boeing

RIDLEY TOWNSHIP, PA. U.S. Army officials ordered 177 CH-47F Chinook helicopters from Boeing under a $4 billion contract. The Army also is holding options that could raise its total purchase to 215 aircraft. Deliveries are schedule dot start in 2015.

Cyber

Trusted Mail System from Raytheon now available - News

June 10, 2013

John M. McHale III - Editorial Director, Military Embedded Systems Raytheon Company

HERNDON, VA. Officials at Raytheon Trusted Computer Solutions (RTCS) released their Trusted Mail System cross domain solution for securing policy-enforced email exchanges and attachments between users on different networks. The software eliminates the need for switching between systems at multiple levels.