17 Jan 13. Northrop Grumman Corporation is seeking innovative U.S.-based defense electronics suppliers interested in supporting its open architecture for the U.S. Navy’s Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) program. Gloria Flach, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman’s Electronic Systems sector, will host an AMDR Industry Day on Wednesday, Jan. 30, at the company’s Electronic Systems sector headquarters in Linthicum, Md., with separate half-day sessions at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. that are open to all qualified U.S. companies. AMDR represents the Navy’s next-generation shipboard radar system designed to provide ballistic missile defense, air defense and surface warfare capabilities. Northrop Grumman is competing for the AMDR program.
“Our AMDR offering features a modular, open and scalable architecture with an open business model intended to increase innovation and affordability through broader industry participation, resulting in lower total ownership costs for the Navy,” said Flach. “We are offering opportunities to industry to compete for both the hardware and software components of our AMDR solution.”
16 Jan 13. Elbit Systems C-MUSIC™ Performs Successful Test Flights Onboard a Boeing 707 Aircraft. Elbit Systems announced that its C-MUSIC™ (Commercial Multi-Spectral Infrared Countermeasure) system performed a series of successful flight tests onboard a Boeing 707 aircraft. The system, designated to protect large jet aircraft against shoulder-launched missiles (MANPADS), was proven effective, successfully performing all of the needed functions.
16 Jan 13. The U.S. Air Force approved full-rate production for Lockheed Martin’s Sniper® Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP) under the ATP-Sensor Enhancement (ATP-SE) program. Building on the technology of legacy ATP pods, Sniper pods in the new ATP-SE configuration provide expanded mission capability and recently completed stringent operational testing to confirm their maturity for fielding and full-rate production. Sniper is the only ATP-SE pod integrated and operational on the F-15E, B-1 and B-52 in addition to the F-16 and A-10. Sniper ATP provides superior detection ranges, stability and pointing accuracy while providing imagery for non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (NTISR). A video data link to ground receivers allows the Sniper pod to relay high-resolution streaming video to forward-deployed forces for rapid target coordination. Under the U.S. Air Force’s NET-T Quick Reaction Capability contract, Sniper ATP-SE enables a point-to-multipoint data link architecture that, when employed with other platforms, provides an extended range “beyond line-of-sight” capability allowing operators, analysts and decision makers access to real-time situational awareness data.
17 Jan 13. Roke Manor Research Ltd (Roke), a Chemring Group company, has developed a portable Dismounted Close Combat (DCC) simulator which delivers the ability to evaluate future technology concepts without the need to develop costly and time consuming prototypes. To bring new capability to the battlefield currently requires the evaluation of new technologies through expensive prototype development and time consuming live trials. The DCC simulator allows new technologies to be rapidly tested without the problems experienced in real situations, such as finding suitable safe locations or the availability of people to participate. Test results can be used to rapidly gauge the likely impact on military capability and determine if a further investment is justified. Roke has adapted games-based technology to create rich, realistic and configurable test and evaluation environments, providing more accurate evaluation results as it can be configured for multiple scenarios, allowing real-time changes to be made, including target and weapon updates. The use of Computer Generated Forces (CGF) to fulfil key roles in the simulation exercise also reduces the need for man-power intensive exer