Huntsville company specializes in high-performance optical systems, including sensors and seekers, that exploit the phenomenon behind three-dimensional movies.
The fall of the Syrian government would not be good news for Israel. It could, among other perils, trigger another massive dump of arms—including ballistic and air defense missiles as well as chemical weapons of mass destruction—onto the black market. “What will happen to Bashar [Assad, Syria's president] is very interesting to us, but it is also a great mystery,” says Col. Erez Viezel, a conceptual planner for Israeli Defense Intelligence (IDI). “We want to know how much control he has over the things that threaten us.”
ST. LOUIS — Boeing continues to refine the design of upgrades to increase the performance of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and says recently completed wind-tunnel evaluations have cleared the way for flight test of the enhancements if there is sufficient customer interest. The conformal fuel tanks (CFT), internal infrared search and track (ISRT) sensor and stealthy weapons pods, combined with more-powerful versions of the E/F’s General Electric F414 engines, are designed to increase range and acceleration and reduce radar signature.
U.S. arms transfer agreements more than tripled to $56.3 billion in 2011 compared to the previous year, and U.S. market shared jumped to 79%, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). Total arms transfer agreements with developing nations reached $71.5 billion in 2011, more than double the previous year, CRS says in its annual report, which covers 2004-2011. Actual deliveries in 2011 were $28 billion, a small increase over the previous year, and the highest since 2004.
The overall vehicle strategy for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps is starting to crystallize. While both services appear to be more grounded in their approach to the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), the Army is tracking progress on its Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) and upgrading its Bradley Fighting Vehicle fleet, The Marine Corps, meanwhile, is ramping up development of its Amphibious Combat Vehicle — the stand-in successor to the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) and replacement for the decades-old amphibious landing vehicles Marines now use.
CANBERRA – Boeing aims to begin deliveries of kits to create gliding JDAM guided bombs starting in 2015, offering a cheap stand-off weapon that probably will be able to hit targets about 110 km (60 nm) away using a wing developed in Australia.
SAN ANTONIO – Boeing is getting ready to begin a full-scale fatigue test on the B-1B to validate that the U.S. Air Force bomber has enough airframe life to remain in service for another 40-50 years. The wing test rig in Seattle passed its readiness review last week, and will begin cycling shortly, says Rick Greenwell, Boeing’s B-1 program director. The fuselage is to be delivered in September. The test-rig critical design review is scheduled for October and testing is to begin in November of next year, he says.
The U.S. State Department has launched a competition in which U.S. citizens could win up to $10,000 by devising a system that potentially uses smart phones, cameras and GPS to find out when foreign governments fail to live up to their arms control agreements. The proposals should lay out how to motivate “productive citizen detectors,” the department says. The deadline is Oct. 26, and teams are already signing up.
The Republicans’ 2012 platform, approved during the party’s presidential nominating convention in Tampa, Fla., this week, lashes out at President Obama on many fronts, including the U.S. Air Force’s aircraft reductions.
TEL AVIV — Israeli intelligence planners are trying to predict how and when Syria’s government will fall, and who will be there to protect or loot the country’s military equipment, particularly Syria’s stock of chemical weapons, ballistic missiles and long-range, anti-aircraft missiles. “What will happen to Bashar [Assad, Syria’s president] is very interesting to us, but it is also a great mystery,” says Col. Erez Viezel, a conceptual planner for Israeli Defense Intelligence (IDI). “We want to know how much control he has over the things that threaten us.”
