27 Jan 06. Iraq hero opens new military wing. Sandhurst is the army’s most prestigious academy Iraq war hero Pte Johnson Beharry has followed heroes such as Churchill and Montgomery by having a wing named after him at Sandhurst. The 26-year-old, who received the Victoria Cross (VC) for his bravery in Iraq, formally opens the £3.4m block at the Royal Military Academy on Friday. Current trainee officers at Sandhurst, on the Surrey-Berkshire border, include Princes William and Harry. The building is being opened ahead of the 150th anniversary of the VC. Grenada-born Pte Beharry was the first living soldier to be awarded the VC since 1969. He was given the honour after twice guiding colleagues to safety while under attack in Iraq. (Source: BBC)
30 Jan 06. Airbus North America Holdings broke ground Monday morning on its engineering “center of excellence” in Mobile. The facility will support work on the Airbus A350 aircraft as well as Northrop Grumman’s KC-30 refueling tanker.
Jan 06. If EADS North America is awarded a Defense Department contract, the company will build 322 light utility Army helicopters in Columbus, Gov. Haley Barbour and company officials announced Monday.
30 Jan 06. The U.S. Navy has dedicated a $24m facility at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., for testing of the Navy and Marine Corps’ newest jets: the Lockheed Martin F-35B and F-35C Joint Strike Fighter.
01 Feb 06. Northrop Grumman has inked a lease at a new office development in Newington. The Arlington-based company will take 63,000 square feet of space at Crown Center, a new office park with about 230,000 square feet of office and flex space. A division of Northrop Grumman Information Technology will occupy the space in Newington, which is within five miles of Fort Belvoir.
30 Jan 06. The Boeing Co. and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have come to terms on a contract for 1,500 striking IAM workers in California, Alabama and Florida. The California workers are from the Local 725, which work at Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems in Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Torrance and Vandenberg Air Force Base.
30 Jan 06. More than 200 Electric Boat workers received pink slips Monday, the first of thousands of job cuts expected this year at the submarine builder. The notices came the same day the Navy awarded the company a $1.35 billion contract for new work. (Source: AP)
30 Jan 06. The 4th Armoured Brigade, currently based in Osnabruck and Munster
garrisons in Germany, will return to Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire by 2008/09, Defence Secretary John Reid announced today. As part of the rebalancing envisaged under the Future Army Structure programme announced in Dec 2004, they will also re-role to become a Mechanised Brigade.
30 Jan 06. Air Force Reorganizes Staff Structure. TheDepartment of Defense announced today that the staff functions at Headquarters Air Force, major commands and warfighting headquarters will soon all share the same “A-staff” structure. By Feb. 1, the Air Staff at Headquarters Air Force here will adopt an organizational structure that closely mirrors the Army’s “G-staff,” the
Navy’s “N-staff,” and the joint “J-staff.” “The effort will help the Air Force
optimize internal communications and communicate more efficiently with other services”, said Brig. Gen. Marshall K. Sabol, the Air Force director for manpower, organization and resources. “This change will enhance our warfighting capability and help our communications both horizontally and vertically in the Air Force as well as with those on the joint staff and the Office of the Secretary of Defense,” Sabol said. “As we operate in deployed and joint environments, our communication will also be more effective and efficient.”
01 Feb 06. Scottish defence electronics company Pentland Systems announced major growth plans at the opening of its new headquarters and research labs in Livingston, West Lothian today (Monday). The com