The U.S. Marine Corps’ Mine Resistant Ambush Protection Buffalo vehicles were designed to protect Marines from Improvised Explosive Devices, and the Navy is improving MRAPs this March by upgrading them with a new Rear-Door Assist mechanism. Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division Buffalo Systems Deputy Project Engineer Steven Tate Carow said the Buffalo MRAP…

The Defense Department has revised from 22 to 14 the number of days hundreds of thousands of civilian employees could be furloughed this year because of the budget sequester, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced March 29. In addition, a senior Defense Department official speaking on background told reporters the start of the furloughs will be…

Lockheed Martin photograph On March 26, the F-35B Lightning II became the first F-35 variant to complete airborne weapons separations on three different munitions, the most of any model. Navy test pilot Lt. Cmdr. Michael Burks released an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile from BF-3 over water in the Atlantic Test Ranges. The F-35B is…

Defense Department officials are looking at the recently signed continuing resolution that funds the government for the rest of the fiscal year to discern how the legislation affects personnel and programs, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said March 27. The legislation may mean fewer furlough days for defense civilian employees. “The full range of options…

Lockheed Martin photograph The entrance to Lockheed Martin Space Systems Companyís facility in Sunnyvale, Calif. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company March 28 announced an initiative aimed at expanding its collaboration with Silicon Valley companies to meet the diverse technology needs of the federal government. Called the Lockheed Martin Silicon Valley Alliance, this technology hub will…

NASA photograph by Jim Ross Two retired NASA T-38 trainers mounted on a transport pallet atop a mobile transporter are positioned for loading aboard NASA’s Super Guppy prior to ferrying them to El Paso, Texas, for disassembly. A NASA Super Guppy transport plane “swallowed” two NASA T-38 aircraft whole March 18, right out on NASA…

Lockheed Martin photograph The NOAA-E weather satellite is seen in a cleanroom at the East Windsor, N.J. facility in October 1982 during the spacecraft level vibration test. NOAA-E would carry the first search and rescue hosted payload on a U.S. satellite into space on March 28, 1983. Thirty years ago March 28 the premier launch…

Docking Launch Hatch opening New crew aboard station after express flight NASA TV Shortly after the arrival of three new crewmates aboard the International Space Station, all six Expedition 35 crew members speak with family members and mission officials back on Earth. The Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft carrying three new Expedition 35 crew members docked with…

The Pentagon comptroller painted a sobering picture of the Defense Departmentís fiscal landscape March 28, telling members of the financial community that unless sequestration is de-triggered soon, military readiness will suffer deeply. The continuing resolution that President Barack Obama signed into law yesterday provides slight relief in authorizing the Defense Department to shift funds between…

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – Northrop Grumman has been awarded a follow-on performance-based logistics contract to provide logistics, material and technical support for the AN/ASN-139 Carrier Aircraft Inertial Navigation System (CAINS II) installed on various U.S. Navy and foreign aircraft. The U.S. Naval Supply Systems Command granted the five-year, firm-fixed-price contract, which has a total value…