REDONDO BEACH, Calif. – Northrop Grumman has appointed Kenneth L. Bedingfield vice president of business management and chief financial officer for its Aerospace Systems sector. Bedingfield will take over the position currently held by Chuck Wands, who has announced his plans to retire later this year. In his new role, Bedingfield will lead business management…

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Boeing recently shipped its fifth Wideband Global SATCOM satellite, which will provide the U.S. Air Force with faster transmission of airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance imagery, to Cape Canaveral in Florida for this year’s planned launch. Part of the upgraded Block II series, the satellite arrived at the Astrotech processing facility…

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $284.4 million fixed-price contract to procure long lead parts for the fifth and sixth Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellites in the Space Based Infrared System missile warning constellation. Featuring a mix of GEO satellites, hosted payloads in highly elliptical earth (HEO) orbit, and associated ground hardware and…

Northrop Grumman announced March 4 it is designating five centers of design and integration excellence in support of its Aerospace Systems sector’s manned aircraft, unmanned systems and electronic attack businesses. In addition, the company announced plans to close an Information Systems sector facility in Dominguez Hills, Calif. “Consolidating these centers of excellence will improve our…

UTC Aerospace Systems has been chosen by Pratt & Whitney as the exclusive nacelle provider for both engine models for Embraer’s new Second Generation E-Jet aircraft. The nacelle systems will be provided by the Aerostructures business unit headquartered in Chula Vista, Calif. The Embraer Second Generation E-Jets will be equipped with Pratt & Whitney’s PurePowerÆ…

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Wyle has been awarded a contract valued at nearly $1.76 billion over a 10-year span to provide comprehensive health, safety, science and engineering support to NASA human space flight missions supporting the International Space Station, Orion, commercial space initiatives and exploration human systems development. Called the Human Health and Performance Contract,…

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Wyle has been awarded a three-year $24 million contract to provide reliability improvement, testing, technology insertion and life-cycle analysis for unmanned air systems and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance project and programs for the Naval Air Systems Command. Wyle’s experts will support the development and refinement of processes and equipment designed to…

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – The MEXSAT Bicentenario satellite, built by Boeing partner Orbital Sciences Corporation, has completed on-orbit testing and has been accepted by the customer, the first step to establishing a space-based communications network that will markedly improve Mexico’s satellite communications capabilities. The Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes (Secretary of Communications and Transportation) of…