The U.S. Navy on Sept. 21 awarded Boeing a $1.9 billion contract for 11 P-8A Poseidon aircraft, which will take the total fleet to 24 and bolster the service’s anti-submarine, anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. This third low-rate initial production award follows two last year that totaled 13 aircraft. Boeing has delivered…

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced Sept. 24 that the first Armstrong-class Auxiliary General Oceanographic Research ship will be named Neil Armstrong. Mabus named the future R/V Neil Armstrong (AGOR 27) to honor the memory of Neil Armstrong, best known for being the first man to walk on the moon. Armstrong was an aeronautics…

A “switchboard in the sky” for the Iridium NEXT constellation of global communication satellites is one step closer to becoming reality as Lockheed Martincompleted a major software design milestone. Lockheed Martin’s Application Software for the Iridium NEXT constellation held the Critical Design Review, which showed that the design is at a high level of maturity…

Boeing recently received a $22.7 million modification to an existing U.S. Navy contract for more than 2,300 Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition (Laser JDAM) sensors, starting full-rate production to meet the Navyís Direct Attack Moving Target Capability program requirement. JDAM is a low-cost, modular guidance kit that converts unguided free-fall bombs into near precision-guided weapons….

Northrop Grumman has been awarded a subcontract from the University of California, Irvine to help address the long-term calibration of inertial sensors. Inertial sensors, which measure rotation rate and acceleration, are used in a variety of navigation, pointing and stabilization applications. Currently, micro-electro-mechanical system inertial instruments are vulnerable to long-term instabilities that cause bias and…

The continuing resolution the Senate approved Sept. 22 and the president is expected to sign this week will affect short- and long-term Defense Department spending in coming months, a senior defense official said Sept. 25. Pentagon Comptroller Robert F. Hale spoke on ìFinancing Defense: Strategies for Leaner Timesî at a Government Executive defense briefing series…

The Air Force KC-46A program director described the critical development phases of the next-generation refueling aircraft during the 2012 Air Force Association Air and Space Conference and Technology Exposition in Washington, D.C., Sept. 18. Maj. Gen. John F. Thompson, program executive officer for Tanker Programs, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,…

NASA has selected Science Applications International Corp. of McLean, Va., to receive a contract to support the aerospace systems modeling and simulation facilities at the agency’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. This is a cost-plus-award-fee, definite core, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity hybrid contract to be awarded in early to mid October. The contract consists of a one-year…

Sept. 25 marks the one year anniversary of the first delivery of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Japan’s ANA (All Nippon Airways). Since then, Boeing has delivered 25 Dreamliners to six different customers. “One year ago today we reached a significant milestone in Boeing and ANA’s partnership,” said Ray Conner, president and CEO of…

The Air Force will base a Space Fence radar site on Kwajalein Island in the Republic of the Marshall Islands with initial operations capability planned for fiscal 2017. The Fence will provide a critical Space Surveillance Network capability needed to give warfighters the ability to maintain a full and accurate orbital catalog, ensure orbital safety…