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LOCATIONS
LAND
30 Jun 11. The southwest bay of the L-10 hangar here at the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta was opened today. Aircraft 0035, inducted earlier this month, tore the ribbon as the first aircraft to be modernized in the southwest bay. The new equipment used for modernization greatly enhances safety, ease and speed of the work accomplished on the aircraft. The modernization program includes more than 70 improvements to include brand-new, fuel-efficient engines. This aircraft is stationed at Dover Air Force Base, Del. and is assigned to be flown by both active duty and reserve airlift wings there.
MARITIME
29 Jun 11. The last of three corvettes under construction by BAE Systems
for the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO) was formally named in a launching ceremony at Portsmouth Naval Base today. Employees and guests, including senior representatives from the RNO and UK Royal Navy, gathered at the naval base to watch Lt General Hassan Mohsin Al Sharaiqi, Inspector General of the Police and Customs of the Sultanate of Oman, formally name the RNO’s newest vessel, Al Rasikh. (Source: ASD Network)
29 Jun 11. The guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110), the 60th Arleigh Burke class destroyer, was built in Pascagoula, Miss. and commissioned during a ceremony at the Alabama State Docks in Mobile, Ala. June 4. After commissioning, the ship departed Mobile and sailed through the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean on its voyage to its homeport of San Diego. Cmdr. Thomas R. Williams II is the first commanding officer of the 9,200-ton warship’s 280-person crew. (Source: ASD Network)
29 Jun 11. QEC aircraft carrier build: Goliath crane commissioned. The largest lift capacity crane in Britain completed commissioning at Babcock’s Rosyth dockyard. The Goliath crane is to be used in the assembly and integration of the UK’s new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers by Babcock at its Rosyth dockyard and will see its first operational use in the autumn following a series of proving trials. The partially-erected crane arrived at Rosyth earlier this year from China, where it was manufactured. The last four months have seen a busy programme to erect, test and commission the crane, involving around 100 people. The massive crane stands at a height of 68 metres to the underside of the main beams, with a span of 120 metres to straddle the construction area of the new carriers, and a lift capacity of 1,000 tonnes. It will be used to lift and place the carrier sub-blocks and components (including upper block and sponsons, bow block, islands and aircraft lifts) without disrupting the dockside area adjacent to the ship. The blocks are being constructed at shipyards around Britain and shipped to Rosyth for final assembly and integration by Babcock on behalf of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance. The crane’s 1,000 tonne lifting capacity is provided by three hooks. The individual capacity of each provides a valuable degree of flexibility in lifting some awkward loads with difficult centres of gravity, and allows units or blocks to be turned over, up to a unit load of 500 tonnes. Two of the hooks are suspended from an upper trolley (each hook having a 300 tonne capacity) and one from a central, lower, trolley with a 500 tonne capacity. While the three hooks have a greater cumulative lifting capacity than 1,000 tonnes, the total capacity is defined by the crane structure. The crane was constructed in China by specialist manufacturer Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co Ltd (ZPMC), with Babcock undertaking rigorous quality control management during the course of the two year build. It was de