LOCATIONS
08 Aug 06. BAE Systems announced plans to expand its business operations in Louisville that will result in an increase of more than 90 jobs, many in engineering and management. The plans call for expansion of work on the company’s major naval programs, specifically supporting the U.S. Navy’s newest destroyer, the DDG 1000. The company intends to significantly increase engineering, management and production work on the Advanced Gun System, the Navy’s new 155mm gun along with its magazine and subassemblies.
09 Aug 06. SAIC announced the opening of a Cryptographic Module Testing Lab (CMTL). This new lab has been accredited by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to carry out Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-1 and 140-2 testing and will reside within SAIC’s Accredited Testing and Evaluation Labs, which are recognized as market leaders in Common Criteria (ISO/IEC15408) certification. The federal government requires that cryptographic modules be certified as compliant with FIPS 140-2 before the hardware or software they reside in can be used in federal information systems. SAIC’s CMTL will provide a range of FIPS 140 testing and support services, including FIPS 140 validation testing, initial assessments, security policy documentation guidance, FIPS 140-2 cryptographic module testing for Security Levels 1-4, and algorithm validation testing. The CMTL will also provide documentation strategy and support for security policies, user and crypto-officer manuals, design documentation, design assurance, and attack mitigation.
25 Jul 06. MoD Estate: Sales. The Junior Defence Minister said (25 Jul 06) that estate sales had realised £1,718m since 1997 [when the present Administration came to power]. Annual sales were: 1998/99 – £59m; 1999/00 – £293m; 2000/01 – £225m; 2001/02 – £185m; 2002/03 – £279m; 2003/04 – £207m; 2004/05 – £212m and 2005/06 – £258m. Comment: The value of the Defence estate world-wide, as at 31 Mar 05, was said to exceed £18,000m on an ‘existing use’ basis. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0630, 07 Aug 06)
Aug 06. HM Ships: Crew Rotation (‘Sea Swap’). The Commander-in-Chief Fleet has ordered a series of three trials which will keep ships deployed for longer, while their companies are rotated. In the South Atlantic, the ship’s company from HMS EDINBURGH will be exchanged with HMS EXETER in the UK. In the Gulf, HMS SUTHERLAND’s deployment will be extended by providing temporary relief for key Officers and Senior Ratings. Finally HMS MONMOUTH will provide a base-line for comparison by being kept in the Far East for nine months during a ‘normal’ tour. The trials are to end in Autumn 2007, with all sailors returning to their original units. Comment: The idea behind ‘Sea Swap’ is to get a better return from HM Ships by cutting down on the time spent in transit. Rotating crews, rather than ships, has been the practice in the past. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0630, 07 Aug 06)
Aug 06. Link Microtek expands waveguide manufacturing facility to create larger assembly and test area. Following a major upsurge in demand for the company’s range of in-house manufactured waveguide products, Basingstoke-based Link Microtek has expanded both the floor space and the workforce at its waveguide manufacturing facility by 50%. Booming waveguide sales in the commercial-communications and military sectors over recent months have led the company to recruit more engineering and production staff. In addition, significant investment has been made in new production machinery and microwave test equipment, including the latest Agilent PNA-L series 10MHz to 40GHz vector network analyser. To accommodate this growth, Link Microtek has now leased extra space and reorganised its manufacturing operations, creating a larger ‘clean’ area dedicated to final assembly and test.
02 Aug 06. Athena Technologies, Inc., announced the start of the company’s new 43,000-sq.-ft. cor