COMSAT BOUGHT: Norway's Telenor has completed its acquisition of Lockheed Martin's COMSAT Mobile Communications operations, the company announced Jan. 14. Telenor has gathered all its mobile satellite activities under the new business name Telenor Satellite Services. COMSAT Mobile will be the U.S. subsidiary of Telenor, under the name Telenor Satellites Services Inc.
WARTON, Lancashire - BAE Systems Military Air Solutions & Support (MASS) has re-delivered 107 of 142 Royal Air Force ground-attack/reconnaissance Tornadoes after upgrading them from GR.1/1As to GR.4/4As. The work is being done under a 1.2 billion pound ($1.73 billion) Ministry of Defence contract awarded in 1994. The mid-life upgrade (MLU) program is scheduled to be complete by March 2003, and aircraft are being re-delivered every eight working days.
El Al Israel Airlines has selected Sanctum Inc.'s AppShield 3.1 firewall software to enhance the security of the company's Internet-based data and operations, Sanctum announced Jan. 14. Particularly since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, El Al is taking very seriously any illegal access to data or transactions through the company's website, according to David Yaacobi, the airline's manager of information systems security.
GKN Westland, an Anglo-Italian helicopter joint venture, announced last week it will lay off 950 of its 5,250 workers and close its West-Super-Mare factory. The cutbacks come even though the company has a $6.5 billion order backlog and got recent contracts for 26 EH101s from Denmark and Portugal and eight Super Lynx anti-submarine warfare helicopters from Malaysia and Thailand.
The Air Force Research Laboratory is asking industry to help it develop technologies for "Sensorcraft," a projected unmanned airborne vehicle platform that would host a variety of active and passive sensors, or that would lead to integration of new technologies into existing or planned vehicles.
The U.S. Marine Corps still plans to buy 79 KC-130Js despite a congressionally approved cut in its fiscal 2002 budget request for the tanker aircraft, a USMC spokesman said Jan. 14.
Aerospace and defense analysts with Standard & Poor's lowered the credit ratings for aftermarket parts and service provider AAR Corp. due to its weak financial performance during the second quarter of 2001. "... Continued difficult conditions in the aviation support industry are likely to limit profitability, at least in the near term," analysts said in a report released Jan. 10.
Raytheon Command, Control and Communication Systems has added European defense company Thales and ViaSat, a U.S. company specializing in wireless communication, to its team of contractors competing for the Joint Tactical Radio Systems (JTRS) contract, Raytheon officials said Jan. 14.
Russia's federal budget for 2002 includes about $745 million for space research, the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and for work on the Global Navigation Space System (Glonass), according to the newly published document, which President Vladimir Putin signed late last month.
The White House announced Jan. 11 that President Bush plans to appoint three people to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee: Thomas Casey, chief executive officer of Global Crossing; Christopher B. Galvin, chairman and CEO of Motorola; and Edward Earl Whitacre, Jr., chairman and CEO of SBC Communications. The committee, which consists of up to 30 industry chief executives, advises the president on national security and emergency preparedness communications policy. Daniel Burnham, chairman and CEO of Raytheon Co., heads the panel.
FLIGHT TESTING: The Boeing Vision Systems International Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) has begun flight testing on its third platform, the U.S. Air Force's F-16, the company announced Jan. 14. JHMCS testing on the Air Force's F-15 and the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F is nearing completion, according to the company.
TELECOM POST: The White House announced Jan. 11 that President Bush plans to appoint three people to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee: Thomas Casey, chief executive officer of Global Crossing; Christopher B. Galvin, chairman and CEO of Motorola; and Edward Earl Whitacre, Jr., chairman and CEO of SBC Communications. The committee, which consists of up to 30 industry chief executives, advises the president on national security and emergency preparedness communications policy. Daniel Burnham, chairman and CEO of Raytheon Co., heads the panel.
BAE Systems Military Air Solutions&Support (MASS) has re-delivered 107 of 142 Royal Air Force ground-attack/reconnaissance Tornadoes after upgrading them from GR.1/1As to GR.4/4As. The work is being done under a 1.2 billion pound ($1.73 billion) Ministry of Defence contract awarded in 1994. The mid-life upgrade (MLU) program is scheduled to be complete by March 2003, and aircraft are being re-delivered every eight working days.
Flight controllers for NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft sent the final commands to raise the spacecraft up out of the Martian atmosphere and conclude the aerobraking phase of its mission Jan. 11. Aerobraking is a fuel- and time-saving technique in which a spacecraft dips repeatedly into the atmosphere of a planet, using friction to slow itself down and lower its orbit.
Defense electronics and secure communications systems manufacturer L-3 Communications Corp. of New York announced Jan. 14 it would acquire Raytheon Co.'s Aircraft Integration Systems (AIS) unit for $1.13 billion in cash. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2002, L-3 and Raytheon officials said.
The Air Force Research Laboratory is asking industry to help it develop technologies for "Sensorcraft," a projected unmanned airborne vehicle platform that would host a variety of active and passive sensors, or that would lead to integration of new technologies into existing or planned vehicles.
Defense electronics and secure communications systems manufacturer L-3 Communications Corp. of New York announced Jan. 14 it would acquire Raytheon Co.'s Aircraft Integration Systems (AIS) unit for $1.13 billion in cash. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2002, L-3 and Raytheon officials said.
The U.S. Marine Corps still plans to buy 79 KC-130Js despite a congressionally approved cut in its fiscal 2002 budget request for the tanker aircraft, a USMC spokesman said Jan. 14.
