Defense Systems
MILCOM to focus on attaining the full value of networks
The MILCOM 2011 conference, "Networks: Attaining the Value," will be held Nov. 8-10 in Baltimore, Md., and Defense Systems staff will be on site to provide detailed coverage of presentations made by featured speakers.
Defense Systems
Navy to outfit an X-47B prototype with refueling gear
The Navy plans to add aerial refueling capability to one of its two prototype carrier-based X-47B unmanned aerial vehicles that are in the development stage.
Defense Systems
Navy expected to make single award for NGEN program
The Navy plans to select a single winner for its Next Generation Enterprise Network even though it issued two separate solicitations for the project, according to the market intelligence firm Deltek.
Defense Systems
Air Force to restructure civilian workforce, add ISR positions
The Air Force has announced that it will launch a major restructuring of its civilian workforce that will result in a net reduction of thousands of civilian jobs.
Defense Systems
Army to outfit combat teams with networking radios
The Army is expanding its efforts to field networking waveform radios for its brigade combat modernization teams through the award of a $66 million contract to outfit eight teams with AN/PRC-117G radios.
Defense Systems
China, Russia top actors in cyber espionage: Report
Online industrial spying by China and Russia poses a growing threat to the U.S. economy and national security, according to a report from the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive.
Defense Systems
Navy facility to assess Shadow UAS payloads
The Navy’s Unmanned Aircraft System Test Directorate plans to test new technologies and payloads for the Shadow Tactical UAS at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
Defense Systems
Army to deploy micro-grid system to meet green goals
L-3 Westwood has won an Army contract to furnish an energy-saving, micro-grid system that the service will use in theater to meet its environmental goals.
Defense Systems
LightSquared's threat of legal action raises questions
A LightSquared spokesman has threatened to launch a legal counteroffensive to assert the company's "legal rights," but it is unclear whom the company would sue and for what it would sue.
Defense Systems
Northrop puts out call for UAV engineers
Northrop Grumman's unmanned aerial vehicles business is booming, and the company plans to add 150 new jobs -- mostly for engineers -- at its San Diego area plants where it manufactures the Global Hawk, Fire Scout and X-47B.
Defense Systems
Army to test wall-scaling robot in Afghanistan
U.S. forces in Afghanistan in the near future might be able to use a robot that can leap over high walls to explore inside compounds and provide views through its built-in camera of possible threats that might lie inside.
Defense Systems
Two-legged robot almost ready for military duty
Boston Dynamics, the company that developed the quadrupedal BigDog robot designed to carry troops' gear, is putting the finishing touches on a two-legged, headless robot that goes by the name Petman.
Defense Systems
Navy picks contractor for C4ISR integration projects
The Navy has awarded a three-year, $139 million delivery order to CACI International to provide an array of communications technology to the Defense Department and other federal entities.
Defense Systems
Past cyberattacks sought to disrupt U.S. satellite: report
Cyber hackers attempted to gain command of a NASA satellite in 2008, putting the satellite at risk of being destroyed or damaged, according to a draft report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Defense Systems
Army creates project office to manage fixed-wing aircraft
The Army has activated a project office specifically to oversee all Army fixed-wing aircraft rather than having them operated independently by individual organizations and major commands.
Defense Systems
Funding for intelligence programs takes slight dip
Congress appropriated $78.6 billion overall for civilian and military intelligence activities in 2011, a slight decline from the amount spent on the programs in 2010.
Defense Systems
Army lists achievements of manned-unmanned aircraft demo
The Army's Manned Unmanned Systems Integration Capability exercise demonstrated the ability of all of the manned and unmanned systems involved to exchange video with each other and also the ability of operators to control the UAS payloads of the larger unmanned aircraft using universal ground stations and remote video terminals.
Defense Systems
Reaper UAVs hunt terrorists from base in Ethiopia
The U.S. Air Force is flying armed Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles on counterterrorism missions from a civilian airport in southern Ethiopia against the Somalia-based al-Qaeda affiliate known as al-Shabab.
Defense Systems
Civil Air Patrol teams to compete in cybersecurity competition
More than 200 Civil Air Patrol teams will compete in the CyberPatriot IV high school-level cybersecurity challenge beginning Oct. 28 that requires students to defend against a variety computer threat scenarios.
Defense Systems