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15 May 14. Israel Navy ships get radar upgrade. The Israeli Navy has begun installing phased-array radars on Sa’ar 5 and Sa’ar 4.5 vessels as part of a wider weapons and electronics upgrade, according to a senior naval source. Led by the navy’s Weapons Systems Division, the programme has seen the navy and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) team up to design and develop the new radars. One of the three Sa’ar 5 corvettes has already been fitted with a fixed-array radar system. The navy declined to name the vessel, but it is not INS Hanit, which was seen in March with its original air search and fire control radars. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
21 May 14. Revision Military, a world leader in protective soldier solutions, has expanded its product portfolio with the world’s first fully integrated night vision mount and accessory rail system, expertly designed to fit ACH-style helmets. The Revision Viper Front Mount doubles as an NVG mount as well as the platform to armor up in high-threat situations with the Batlskin Visor and Mandible Guard creating a fully integrated and modular head protection system. The new Interlocking Rails provide the capability to quickly attach headborne accessories. Pairing perfectly with the new Front Mount and Interlocking Long Rails, Revision also introduces a new Batlskin Viper High-Cut helmet designed to offer a lightweight, functional shell in both traditional Aramid materials (Viper A1) and high performance Polyethylene materials (Viper P2).
19 May 14. Boeing’s Reconfigurable Airborne Multi-Intelligence System (RAMIS) aircraft has flown for more than 1,000 hours, demonstrating the reliability of the platform and systems that can be adapted for many missions. Boeing has also demonstrated the system’s intelligence-collection during several U.S. government exercises. RAMIS is a Boeing-owned and operated King Air 350 extended range aircraft modified for plug-and-play reconfiguration. The aircraft’s sensor suite can be tailored between sorties, enabling low-cost insertion of new technology as capabilities are developed or acquired. The aircraft, which has Federal Aviation Association Supplemental Type Certification, is Boeing’s latest entrant in a family of airborne tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems that includes the P-8 Poseidon and the Maritime Surveillance Aircraft.
20 May 14. Lockheed Sees Future for Ground-Based Space Situational Awareness. When the contract for the US Air Force’s space fence program is finally awarded in the coming weeks, Lockheed Martin hopes to cash in big. But Lockheed is also developing a program known as SPOT (Space Object Tracking) that it believes could be the cornerstone of a new ground-based space situational awareness capability. The SPOT program, located in Santa Cruz, California, takes three 1-meter optical telescopes and sets them on rails similar to train tracks. By moving the telescopes around, SPOT can capture numerous images of an item in the sky. Filtered through the company’s proprietary software, SPOT can assemble a clear image of items, as small as 50 centimeters, flying through geosynchronous orbit. Washington also highlighted the fact that SPOT can be operated remotely, saving the expense of sending someone to a high mountain in order to adjust the system. SPOT is already going through some activities on a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program known as Galileo. SPOT could hypothetically become part of a network of telescopes at strategic locations around the globe, Washington mentioned potentially putting one in the Southern hemisphere and another in Asia, that could add capabilities to the ground-based system. The goal, Washington said, would be to see objects down to 10 centimeters in size. The groundwork for that network is being developed by Lockheed through two