Reaction Engines Ltd. of Great Britain has announced successful tests of its light weight heat exchanger, a critical component of its Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine. The engine functions as both an air breathing jet, and then switches to use stored liquid oxygen, as does a rocket engine. Their studies show that single stage to orbit…

General Dynamics NASSCO held a keel laying ceremony for the future USNS John Glenn (MLP 2), Dec. 4, in San Diego, Calif. MLP 2 is the second ship in the Mobile Landing Platform program that will provide the Navy with the capability to transfer vehicles and equipment at sea and to interface with surface connectors…

“It was the first time I had ever seen a plunging dive bomber and it was an awesome sight. Nothing in warfare is more frightening,” said Pvt. Wilfred D. Burke, 72d Pursuit Squadron, Wheeler Field, whose experience in the attacks on Pearl Harbor are recorded in “7 December 1941: The Air Force Story” compiled by…

Jedi Masters, Titanium Tigers, Panthers, F-22 Raptorbots and other robotic teams gathered at Joe Walker Middle school in Quartz Hill, Calif., to participate in the 3rd Annual AV Techno Classic LEGO Tournament. The 2012 theme was ëSenior Solutions: Independent. Engaged. Connected. First Lego League is a robotics program designed to excite students 9 to 14…

Thanks to improved data analysis techniques and a new operating mode, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor aboard NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is now 10 times better at catching the brief outbursts of high-energy light mysteriously produced above thunderstorms. The outbursts, known as terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, last only a few thousandths of a second, but their…

Two local youths transitioned from boys to young men when they achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouts of America organization. Dylan Swenson and Ben Wright, both 17, shared the achievements that won them their hard-earned Eagle Scout rank Nov. 28, when they previewed their service projects at…

The Navy accepted delivery of the eighth LPD 17 class amphibious transport dock ship, the future USS Arlington (LPD 24), from Huntington Ingalls Industries Dec. 7. Accepting delivery of Arlington represents the official transfer of the ship from the shipbuilder to the Navy and is a major milestone in the ship’s transition to operational status….

Lockheed Martin photograph by Andrew McMurtrie HC-130J Combat King II takes off for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., from the Lockheed Martin facilities in Marietta, Ga., Dec. 5. Aircraft number 5709 is the sixth of 15 HC-130Js to be delivered to the U.S. Air Forceís Air Combat Command. Maj. Gen. Timothy Zadalis, Director of Intelligence,…

Swarming boats operating in highly-trafficked strategic waterways will soon be easier to detect, target and engage. During a recent test, a Raytheon JLENS simultaneously detected and tracked double-digit swarming boats, hundreds of cars and trucks, non-swarming boats and manned and unmanned aircraft. The swarming boats, similar to swarming boats in the inventories of hostile navies…

Northrop Grumman, in cooperation with prime contractor Rockwell Collins Inc., provided the attitude and heading reference system that recently supported the first flight of the new Embraer Legacy 500 executive jet. Northrop Grumman supplied the fiber-optic, gyro-compassing LCR-100 AHRS for integration with the Rockwell Collins Pro Line FusionÆ avionics system on the fly-by-wire Legacy 500…