09 Aug 07. Boeing Co. announced the addition of Spirit AeroSystems Inc. to the team developing the new P-8A Poseidon submarine-hunter aircraft. The jet is based on Boeing’s 737-800 commercial jet. Spirit currently builds 75 percent of the 737 airframe that is shipped to Boeing for final assembly. Spirit will build the aircraft’s fuselage along with airframe tail sections and struts in its Wichita production facility. The U.S. Navy plans to buy 108 P-8As to replace its fleet of aging P-3 Orion turboprop aircraft. The first jet is scheduled to start flight testing in 2009 and go into operation in 2013.
09 Aug 07. Harris Corporation has added General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies to its team to compete for a potential 15-year, $600m U.S. Army Modernization of Enterprise Terminals (MET) program to provide the next generation of global military satellite communications terminals. The contract is expected to be awarded in May 2008. The first terminal is scheduled to be fielded in 2010, and the program completed in 2020. Harris is acting as the prime contractor in the pursuit, with General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies adding its experience in developing and providing successful X and Ka-band satellite communications products. The MET program will replace up to 80 aging AN/GSC-52, GSC-39, FSC-78 and other strategic satellite communications terminals around the world with new, X- and Ka-band capable terminals that will work with the new Wideband Global Satellite constellation as well as legacy satellite systems. The program terminals will range in size from a transportable 6-meter antenna to a fixed, 11-meter antenna version. Many of the terminals will be used by the Missile Defense Agency and will be designed with full electromagnetic pulse protection. These terminals will operate with legacy satellite constellations, such as Defense Satellite Communications System, XTAR, and Wideband Global Satellite system, as well as support Teleport and Standardized Tactical Entry Point locations across the globe. (Source: ASD Network)
15 Aug 07. Inventory Locator Service,® LLC (ILS), the world’s premiere e-marketplace for the aviation, defense and marine industries, announced that MAN Diesel has signed a three-year license for access to its e-marketplace. MAN Diesel, the world’s largest provider of large-bore diesel engines for marine and power plant applications, will use ILS within its service and sales operations in facilities around the world, including: Holeby, Hamburg, Colchester, Stamford, Stockport, Saint Nazaire, Augsberg, Frederikshavn, Shanghai, Singapore, and Copenhagen. This is one of several agreements that ILS has signed in recent months. Similar agreements with OEMs such as Wartsila, Alfa Laval, and ABB have gone into effect allowing ILS to further expand its services worldwide.
12 Aug 07. A Sri Lankan company is involved in providing logistics support to a Norwegian company. IFS Sri Lanka is providing the R&D for an agreement signed between the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation (NDLO) and IFS in a US$8m deal to upgrade its existing maintenance and logistics solutions for the air force and navy. The Norwegian Armed Forces has been an IFS customer since 1997, where they have delivered an integrated solution for logistics and maintenance, among other things, for aircraft and ships by IFS whose main targeted market segments is aerospace and defence. “The armed forces’ most complex material plays a crucial role in many operations, at home and abroad, and we are dependent on consistently efficient IT support. (Source: Google)