The WeekEnder
for Naval Open Source Intelligence
Saturday, January 09, 2010
A software tweak will transform the venerable Sidewinder missile, known for its air-to-air precision, into a weapon that can strike rapidly moving targets on the ground.With three tests already proving that the AIM-9X Sidewinder can zero in on a boat or armored personnel carrier, the next step is to refine the way pilots aim and launch them, said Jeffrey White, AIM-9X program manager at Raytheon Co., which developed the missiles. Those tests begin this year.Versions of the supersonic Sidewinder have flown on Air Force fighters since the mid-1950s as a missile intended to shoot down aircraft.Read more
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The Boeing Company announced today that the U.S. government has received a Letter of Request from India's Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Indian Air Force regarding the potential acquisition of 10 C-17 Globemaster III advanced airlifters."Boeing is very pleased that the Indian government has expressed interest in acquiring the C-17 to modernize its airlift capabilities, and we look forward to working closely with them," said Vivek Lall, vice president and India country head, Boeing Defense, Space & Security."We believe the C-17 can fulfill India's needs for military and humanitarian airlift to help it meet its growing domestic and international responsibilities."Read more
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A Northrop Grumman Corporation land-based MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Unmanned Aircraft System, designated P7, successfully demonstrated interoperability with the Army's One System(R) Remote Video Terminal (OSRVT) at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., the week of November 23. Fire Scout's OSRVT demonstration illustrates its readiness to support Brigade Combat Teams. Designed and produced by AAI Corporation, the OSRVT provides direct receipt of full-motion video and targeting metadata by capturing the Omni broadcast from UAS that are within a unit's area of operations. This demonstration is one in a series to prepare Fire Scout for participation in the upcoming Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE) at Fort Benning, Ga., in January and February 2010. During AEWE, Fire Scout will perform many important Army UAS missions in support of the Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Read more
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Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. today announced that an Integration Design Review (IDR) of the CH-53K Heavy Lift Helicopter program has charted a course for a successful Critical Design Review in 2010. Sikorsky Aircraft is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.Sikorsky's CH-53K program team hosted a two-day meeting in November to bring together the program's key collaborators for an in-depth discussion on system design compliance and verification, design integration and cross-discipline system design attributes. Participating in the meeting were members of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, NAVAIR Technical Review Board, and the NAVAIR/Sikorsky CH-53K team. Read more
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Friday, January 08, 2010
A Navy plan to quickly replace the doomed Sea Sprite anti-submarine helicopters with proven US-built aircraft has been scuttled by the Government. Defence brass wanted Cabinet to approve a $4 billion "rapid acquisition" of 24 Seahawk choppers from US builder Sikorsky and systems integrator Lockheed Martin, thus avoiding a competitive tender process.The Government refused and told Defence to make it a two-horse race between the tried and tested Sikorsky MH-60R and the new generation European made EADS NH90 - which is the sea-going variant of 46 choppers already being built in Brisbane for the army and navy. Read more
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The Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) stealth fighter engaged its STOVL propulsion system in flight for the first time today. The successful test is the first in a series of planned STOVL-mode flights that will include short takeoffs, hovers and vertical landings."The joint F-35 industry and government team has already shown during extended ground tests that the STOVL propulsion system performs well, and thousands of hours of component testing has validated its durability.Read More
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Turkey will send a delegation to Israel on Jan. 11 to carry out acceptance tests for the long-delayed Israeli-made Heron unmanned aerial vehicles, Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül announced late Wednesday.Gonul's remarks came after a meeting of Turkey's top procurement board, the Defense Industry Executive Committee. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan chairs the committee; the other members include Gönül, Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ and top procurement official Murad Bayar.Read more
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The U.S. Navy says it is on heightened alert after receiving what it calls "credible" al-Qaida threats against American warships and commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, and the Persian Gulf. The latest threat from Osama bin Laden's terror network calls on followers to gather intelligence about ships and their sailors so that they can be targeted for attacks.The threat, made on December 31 in a message posted on an extremist Internet Web site, prompted the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to elevate the risk for all U.S. military and commercial ships sailing through an area stretching from Somalia to the Persian Gulf.Read more
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The Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, last week issued what has become one of his customary trademark warnings by announcing that Russia will start to build offensive weapons to counter American global aggression.Moscow and Washington are currently in discussions regarding a successor to the landmark Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty which was signed between the United States and the now defunct Soviet Union in 1991, and which expired last December.Demonstrating once again that it is he, and not President Dmitri Medvedev, who is the real boss in the Kremlin, Mr Putin warned the US government that its development of a sea and land based missile defence system was detrimental to the signing of an arms deal between Russia and America to replace Start 1. He said: “The problem is that our American partners are developing missiles, and we are not.”Read more
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