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30 Jul 08. A Briton accused of hacking into top secret military computers has lost a Law Lords appeal against being extradited to stand trial in the US. Glasgow-born Gary McKinnon could face life in jail if convicted of accessing 97 US military and Nasa computers. He has admitted breaking into the computers from his London home but said he was seeking information on UFOs. The 42-year-old’s lawyers said they would apply to the European Court of Human Rights to prevent his removal. Mr McKinnon first lost his case at the High Court in 2006 before taking it to the highest court in the UK, the House of Lords. American officials involved in this case have stated that they want to see him ‘fry’. (Source: BBC)
Jul 08. American Eurocopter LLC, a subsidiary of EADS North America, has been awarded a contract with the Department of Homeland Security to provide U.S. Customs and Border Protection with additional AS350B3s. This contract is an Indefinite Quantity/Indefinite Delivery contract with a base year and four-one year options. American Eurocopter expects orders of up to 50 additional AS350B3s to the U.S. CBP through the life of the contract. CBP already has an impressive Eurocopter fleet which includes 48 AS350s and 15 EC120s, with five additional EC120s on order.
25 Jul 08. Raytheon Company demonstrated its third generation infrared sensor technology to the Army last month at the Network Centric Systems production facility in McKinney. The demonstration illustrated both the technical maturity of the third generation IR sensor and its ease of application in existing sensors. The assembly was integrated in a company-owned medium-range electro-optical infrared sensor module for the demonstration. NCS’ Raytheon Vision Systems, based in Goleta, Calif., developed the third generation IR module under a research and development contract with the Army’s Night Vision & Electronics Systems Directorate. The system is described as a staring, two-color, mediumwave infrared (MWIR) and longwave infrared (LWIR). It provides warfighters with the long-range observation capability typically associated with the MWIR and the robust battlefield obscurant penetration of the LWIR. It can also provide the Aided Target Recognition system with improved target and clutter discrimination capability.
29 Jul 08. Raytheon Company has completed two significant milestones for the U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System (GPS) next-generation Control Segment (OCX), which establishes a solid foundation and roadmap to keep the program on track and on schedule. Raytheon completed the integrated baseline review (IBR) and subsequently completed the standard Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) appraisal method for process improvement (SCAMPI-B) in late June 2008. “The completion of the IBR and SCAMPI-B milestones demonstrates the Raytheon OCX team’s commitment, maturity and readiness to deliver a robust system for fielding,” said Bob Canty, vice president and program manager of GPS OCX for Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems. “Raytheon’s OCX team will deliver a superior, low-risk and on-time solution to the government.” The IBR validated the Raytheon OCX team’s earned value management system, established the credibility of the technical, schedule and cost baselines and developed a mutual understanding of program risks. The SCAMPI-B was a systematic appraisal of the Raytheon OCX team’s processes and the maturity level of the team executing these processes. The completion of the integrated baseline review and SCAMPI-B is an accomplishment of Raytheon, Boeing, ITT Industries, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Braxton Technologies, Infinity Systems Engineering and SRI International.
30 Jul 08. NetFires LLC, a joint venture between Raytheon Company’s Missile Systems and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, successfully launched another Non Lin