09 May 07. Sikorsky Helo Team Comes Together; EADS Lakota Production Speeds Up. Sikorsky Aircraft has picked four subcontractors to design and build major fuselage sections for the CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter under development for the U.S. Marine Corps, the company announced May 9. Aurora Flight Sciences, EDO, GKN Aerospace and Spirit AeroSystems will share design and construction of primary and secondary fuselage structures for the CH-53K, while Sikorsky will integrate and test the completed aircraft. The CH-53K is intended to replace CH-53E Super Stallions in the Marine Corps’ inventory. The new aircraft, although externally similar to the CH-53E, will carry nearly double the payload of the older Super Stallions, which are the world’s largest maritime helicopters. Sikorsky, Stratford, Conn., is working under a $3bn System Design and Development (SDD) contract awarded by the Pentagon in April 2006. The Marines plan to purchase up to 156 of the new aircraft. Under Sikorsky’s fuselage teaming arrangement, Aurora, of Manassas, Va., and Bridgeport, W.V., will produce the main rotor pylon structure atop the aircraft’s main body. EDO, of Amityville, N.Y., and Salt Lake City, will produce the tail rotor pylon and the twin sponsons housing the landing gear. St. Louis-based GKN Aerospace will build the aft fuselage transition structure that incorporates the loading ramp, and Spirit, Wichita, Kan., will fabricate the main fuselage section containing the cockpit and cabin. (Source: Defense News)
15 May 07. Microsoft and Thales join forces to promote Comm@nder, the new integrated C4I solution. Thales and Microsoft are pleased to announce the signature of a strategic partnership agreement to jointly promote the Thales Comm@nder Computerised Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C4I) solution, for defence and security customers worldwide. Comm@nder was launched during the IDEX defence exhibition in Abu Dhabi last February, producing an immediate impact on the demand for integrated C4I solutions in the Gulf region. Comm@nder already incorporates Microsoft technology to offer a user-friendly and open solution serving decision-makers with interoperable communications, shared situational awareness, and coordinated manoeuvre and support.
09 May 07. BAE Systems has joined Northrop Grumman Corp. in a bid for the Common Army and Marine Command & Control (CAMC2) program. CAMC2 will offer battle command situational awareness by providing a common display of the battlefield. It will allow commanders to operate away from fixed command posts so they can situate themselves for optimum effectiveness.
15 May 07. Wind River, the global leader in Device Software Optimisation (DSO), and Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, the industry’s most comprehensive designer and manufacturer of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) VME, VPX, and CompactPCI products for the Aerospace and Defence (A&D) market, today announced that Curtiss-Wright’s Linux Center of Excellence, located in San Diego, California, will support Wind River? General Purpose Platform, Linux Edition and the Wind River Real-Time Core for Linux solution as their standard Linux operating environments for use on the company’s x86-based platforms. Curtiss-Wright has long offered VxWorks as its standard out-of-the-box RTOS solution for its rugged COTS board product line. As a result of this expanded strategic partnership, embedded system integrators now will be able to more easily and rapidly deploy Wind River Linux and VxWorks solutions for rugged deployed military systems, significantly mitigating their risk and speeding their time to market.
16 May 07. IEM Technologies Ltd has joined forces with internal security specialists Allen-Vanguard, The CBRN Team and Planit EOD Ltd to launch the IEM Hazard Management Consortium. The aim of the group is to be able to instantly provide the additional specialist CBRNE expertise, training and equipment that first responders requi