24 Sep 04. Northrop Grumman Corporation has been selected by the Naval Air Systems Command to develop and demonstrate an electronic combat support system that covers numerous platforms as well as all U.S. military branches and several NATO coalition partners. Under the terms of the $26.7m contract, Northrop Grumman’s Defensive Systems Division will complete development and demonstrate four prototype units of the company’s Agile Rapid Global Combat Support (ARGCS) system. ARGCS is intended to support complex avionics and other electronics on numerous platforms, specifically, the U.S. Navy F-18 and E-2C aircraft; U.S. Army Paladin, Apache helicopter and M-1 battletank; U.S. Marine Corps light armored vehicles, and U.S. Air Force F-15 aircraft.
27 Sep 04. USSOCOM Buys SnowGoose UAV System. Now designated as the CQ-10A SnowGoose, this propeller driven UAV is capable of carrying up to 600 pounds in six bays, which can include a combination of cargo, surveillance and sensor equipment, communications links or other devices, offering mission commanders enhanced aerial flexibility and performance with a single multi mission and multi task system. Once deployed from air, land or sea, the SnowGoose can climb to greater than 18,000 feet above mean sea level (AMSL), and can steer and navigate autonomously. The onboard, multiple-mission guidance system can be reprogrammed by satellite or line of sight data link during flight. It has a flight endurance of up to 20 hours or a maximum cargo capacity of 600 lbs.
24 Sep 04. Homeland security UAV’s. The $4 million lease on two unmanned aerial vehicles ends Sept. 30, at which time the UAV’s will be evaluated. Two Israeli-built Hermes 450 unmanned aerial vehicles had flown more than 475 hours through mid-September and were credited for more than 780 apprehensions, 11 drug detections including one seizure of more than 500 pounds of marijuana, and assistance in several rescues.
24 Sep 04. Honeywell has been selected by The Boeing Company to supply the Supplemental Electrical Power System (SEPS) for the U.S. Air Force E-10A aircraft. The SEPS will supply electrical power for the new Multi Platform-Radar Technology Insertion Program radar (MP-RTIP) and the Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) system to be installed on the E-10A. The Boeing 767-400 aircraft includes radar and communications systems that provide near real time images over a wide area of the battlefield. It is part of the U.
S. Air Force MC2A (Multi-sensor Command and Control Constellation) network centric warfare concept.
24 Sep 04. Northrop Grumman Corporation has been awarded a five-year, multi-million dollar contract by the U.S. Air Force to manufacture and integrate a voice, data and multiplexing communications infrastructure. The Company received an initial equipment order for more than $18m. The Theatre Deployable Communications (TDC) modules and kits program is a ground-to-ground communications infrastructure designed to transmit and receive voice, data and video communications securely, to or from wireless, satellite, or hard-wired sources.
27 Sep 04. The US DoD JTRS Joint Program Office has awarded ITT Industries Aerospace/Communications Division $7.3m to continue work on making America’s and Britain’s newest tactical communication systems interoperable. The effort is part of a broad initiative on interoperability between the two nations. Recent proof of concept tests with ITT JTRS testbed radios and a British production Advanced Digital Radio have successfully demonstrated interoperability using five modes of the BOWMAN VHF waveform. Waveforms are the software that allows radios to receive and process information. Most military radios use waveforms that are “country” unique. Under terms of this contract, ITT Industries Aerospace/Communications Division will develop and deliver 13 modes of the BOWMAN waveform to be installed on U.S. JTRS radios. Once the JTRS Technology Laboratory certifies the