Lockheed Martin Demonstrates First Successful Flight Test for paveway II Plus Laser Guided Bombs

Lockheed Martin successfully completed the first in a series of flight tests of the paveway II Plus Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) guidance kit.

The paveway II Plus LGB uses an enhanced laser guidance package, significantly improving precision when compared to existing paveway II LGBs.

The flight test consisted of two GBU-10s released from a U.S. Navy Super Hornet at the Navy’s China Lake, CA, test ranges.

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First Gripen C delivery imminent

The delivery process of South Africa's first Saab JAS39 Gripen C single-seat fighter, aircraft number SA-10, will get underway next week.

A source close to the distributor, Gripen International says Armscor, the state defence acquisition agency, will be sending a team to Linköping in Sweden next week in order to commence with the pre-acceptance inspections and flights.

Government in November 1998 announced that as part of the new defence equipment package, the SAAF would acquire the Saab-BAE Systems supplied Gripen fighter aircraft to replace the Denel/Dassault Cheetah C & D fighters then currently in service.

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IAF signed contract for 5th generation fighter jet with Russia

In a bid to add more teeth to its existing armoury, Indian Air Force has signed a contract with Russia recently to procure the fifth generation fighter aircraft under its modernisation programme.

"As a modernisation programme of the IAF, we have recently signed an official agreement with Russia for procurement of fifth generation attack aircrafts," air chief marshal PV Naik told reporters on the concluding day of his two-day visit to Air Force Station, Pathankot today.

"This deal is a part of the modernisation plan under which 126 Medium Multi-role combat Aircrafts, which are coming will translate to 10 new squadrons," Naik said.

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Northrop Grumman Begins Producing First International F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

Northrop Grumman Corporation has begun producing the center fuselage for the first international F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, an F-35B short take off, vertical landing (STOVL) variant for the United Kingdom designated BK-1. The center fuselage is the core structure around which the F-35 aircraft is built.

The assembly process began Oct. 26 at the company's Palmdale Manufacturing Center with the loading of an all-composite air inlet duct into a special tooling structure called a jig.

This first assembly process, one of approximately 18 major steps in assembling an F-35 center fuselage, consists of attaching metal frames around the duct. The frames serve to brace and position the duct properly within the center fuselage.

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Russian tactical missile self-destructs during live-fire drills

A Tochka-U short-range ballistic missile self-destructed on Thursday shortly after a practice launch at training grounds in northwestern Russia, the Defense Ministry said.

The accident occurred during life-firing drills at the Luga training grounds in the Leningrad Region. No casualties or damage have been reported.

"The missile self-destructed at the height of 1,000 meters [about 3,280 feet]," Col. Alexei Kuznetsov said.

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Lockheed gets $474.2 mln F-22 fighter contract

Lockheed Martin Corp has been awarded a $474.2 million U.S. Air Force contract for four more F-22 fighter aircraft and related work as production heads toward an end, the Defense Department said Thursday.

Under the fiscal 2010 defense authorization act signed into law Wednesday by President Barack Obama, the United States is capping production at 187 of the premier U.S. fighter aircraft.

Source

Boeing signs offsets deal with Indian defence PSUs for P-8I contract

Boeing Co division, Integrated Defence Systems, has signed agreements with Indian defence public sector companies for the supply of equipment which will be fitted on Indian P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft.

, is a long-range, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.

We have signed agreements with Indian companies such as Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), Electronic Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) for supplying equipment to us for the Indian P-8Is to be built in the US," Boeing India chief Vivek Lall said here.

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Navy to commission warship in Seal Beach

The U.S. Navy’s newest and most technologically advanced guided missile destroyer will be commissioned at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, a Seal Beach and Orange County first, according to Public Affairs officer Gregg Smith.

The future U.S.S. Dewey, the latest ship of the Arleigh Burke Class, will be commissioned Saturday, March 6, 2010 according to the ship’s commissioning web page. Read more about the Dewey commissioning at ocregister.com.

“The ship will be able to conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection.

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Successful first in-flight refuelling for MRTT

An Airbus Military A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) fitted with the Air Refuelling Boom System (ARBS) successfully performed the first in-flight refuelling with two F16s from the Portuguese Air Force on 21 October.

This first "wet contact" using the advanced in-house designed boom system demonstrates that the refuelling system is well integrated into the airframe, with all systems functioning satisfactorily.

It also validates the fuel transfer capability of the A330 MRTT to receiver planes through this refuelling means, as tested on the ground in early September.

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Fourth Chinese navy flotilla to sail for waters off Somalia

A Chinese navy flotilla will depart from the Zhoushan Islands on Friday to escort merchant vessels and protect them from pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden, a spokesman with China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) said Thursday.

The flotilla will be the fourth task force China has deployed to the region since the end of last year.

Missile frigates FFG-525 Ma'anshan and FFG-526 Wenzhou will replace the radar-evading hulled FFG-529 Zhoushan and FFG-530 Xuzhou from the PLAN's third flotilla, which set sail to waters off Somalia in June.

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NKorea's latest missile tests failed

North Korea's short-range missile tests earlier this month were a failure with none of the five projectiles reaching its target, a report said Thursday.

The North test-fired five KN-02 missiles with a range of 120 kilometres (75 miles) from mobile launchers off its east coast on October 12.

Radio Free Asia, quoting an intelligence source, said four of the five missed the mark and one did not even launch properly.

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Bill for new Australian submarines tops $36 billion

Taxpayers will be faced with a massive $36 billion bill to provide the Royal Australian Navy with a fleet of 12 next-generation submarines.

That is more than the annual $35 billion Federal education budget, just shy of the $42 billion of the Government's stimulus package to ward off the global financial crisis and more than a third of the $100 billion the nation spends on health each year.

A report out today warns the Government that trying to build the complex 4000-tonne submarines in Australia would be fraught with risk.

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ARES I X Test Flight

NASA's Ares I-X test rocket lifted off at 11:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a two-minute powered flight. The test flight lasted about six minutes from its launch from the newly-modified Launch Complex 39B until splash down of the rocket's booster stage nearly 150 miles down range.

Israel drones to be used by Germany in Afghanistan

Israel Aerospace Industries said Wednesday it would supply unmanned spy planes to Germany that will see action in Afghanistan early next year.

The Heron drones will be deployed by the German air force in northern Afghanistan in early 2010 for reconnaissance missions, the company said in a statement.

It would not reveal how many drones were sold or for how much but said it was a multimillion dollar deal.

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Budget focus cited in '06 British air crash

An inquiry into the crash of a British aircraft in Afghanistan three years ago calls the accident "preventable," citing a loss of focus on safety in an effort to save money for the armed forces, the defense secretary said Wednesday.

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth apologized to members of the House of Commons for the crash of a Nimrod XV230 west of Kandahar on September 2, 2006.

It caused the deaths of 14 people: 12 Royal Air Force members, a soldier and a Royal Marine.

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Russia Now: Interview with Mikhail Simonov - the inventor of the Sukhoi jet fighters

Mikhail Simonov, designer of the iconic fighter jets Su-27 and Su-30, has been at the forefront of aircraft design for more than 50 years. To celebrate his 80th birthday this month, we hear from the man who gave Russia the edge in aerial combat.

Many would need two lifetimes to accomplish the things that Mikhail Simonov has packed into his 80 years. His Su-27 jet fighter – which has become as well known as Kalashnikov's AK-47 assault rifle – is recognised as the best jet fighter of the 20th century and brings billions of dollars into the Russian economy.

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Dmitry Donskoy submarine prepares for future Bulava missile tests

Russia's Dmitry Donskoy strategic nuclear-powered submarine returned on Wednesday from a short sea test run to prepare for upcoming test launches of the troubled Bulava missile.

"The sub left the base in Severodvinsk on Monday to test the readiness of the equipment for future launches of the Bulava missile," a Severodvinsk administration official said, without specifying the date for the next test of the missile.

The Typhoon-class submarine, based at a naval facility in northern Russia's Severodvinsk, is the only vessel in service with the Russian Navy capable of testing the new Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

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Raytheon Awarded $81.1 Million for Airborne Low Frequency Sonar

Raytheon Company has received an $81.1 million U.S. Navy contract for the AN/AQS-22 Airborne Low Frequency Sonar (ALFS), the primary undersea warfare sensor for the Navy's MH-60R multi-mission helicopter.

"ALFS advances the capabilities of the Navy's anti-submarine warfare mission, giving the fleet an unfair advantage over enemy submarines," said Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems' (IDS) Charles "Tom" Bush, vice president of Seapower Capability Systems.

"As existing threats remain and new threats emerge, ALFS is proving to be a highly capable and effective asset in the Navy's undersea warfare arsenal."

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Aerojet Celebrates 5,000th MK 104 Motor Shipment for Navy's Standard Missile Programs

Aerojet, a GenCorp company, announced the milestone shipment of its 5,000th MK 104 Dual Thrust Rocket Motor (DTRM) to Raytheon Missile Systems and the U.S. Navy.

The event was commemorated today at a ceremony held in Camden, Ark.

The MK 104 DTRM provides propulsion for Raytheon's Standard Missile 2 (SM-2), the Navy's primary surface-to-air air defense weapon.

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EU adopts new strategy on Afghanistan, notes failures

EU foreign ministers have agreed to step up aid to Afghanistan as part of a new strategy for tackling the problems faced by the embattled country.

But the ministerial report outlining the new strategy for better co-ordination and greater aid also highlights the litany of failures in the US and EU campaign so far.

"The situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating," says the document adopted by the ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday (27 October).

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Malaysian parliament: MiG-29s to be phased out by end-2010

The Royal Malaysian Air Force’s (RMAF) MiG-29 fighter jets will be gradually phased out and replaced by new interceptor aircraft by Dec 31 2010 due to rising operational and maintenance costs, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.

He said replacement aircraft was needed due to increasing maintenence costs and that the MiG-29s were nearing their lifespan limit of 10 years. Two such aircraft had also crashed in 1998 and 2005.

Zahid said only 10 MiG-29s will be used for airspace defence and this will be reduced to six aircraft until December next year.

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ITT wins $169.3 million U.S. Navy radar upgrade contract

ITT Corp. won a $169.3 million contract from Naval Sea (NAVSEA) Systems Command as part of the AN/SPS-48G Radar Obsolescence, Availability Recovery (ROAR) program.

The five-year contract has a base year value of $29 million, plus options for four subsequent annual awards.

ITT's AN/SPS-48E radars were introduced into the U.S. Navy's fleet in the mid-1980s as part of the New Threat Upgrade program, reveals a representative.

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Russian carrier becomes “Made in China” vessel prototype?

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Russia should be very flattered indeed. That’s because China’s new aircraft carrier bears a striking resemblance to an old Russian model.

However, experts say the Chinese will still find it extremely difficult to build an aircraft carrier of their own.

“It is impossible to copy such a complex construction,” believes Andrey Frolov, Senior Research Fellow, Centre of Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.

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Israeli urgently orders two stealth corvettes from Germany

DEBKAfile's military sources report that the two corvettes are needed to meet the build-up of Iranian submarines and Syria warships in the Mediterranean Sea and defend coastal infrastructure facilities such as power stations and naval bases which Israel intelligence fears will be at risk in a regional war.

The order placed during Israeli chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi's three-day visit to Berlin this week as guest of the German high command surprised the defense ministry.

Germany is contributing 500 million euros toward the two Dolphin submarines already on order for the Israeli Navy.

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Japanese Destroyer Hits South Korean Ship

A Japanese navy destroyer collided with a South Korean freighter in the waters off southern Japan on Tuesday, setting off fires on both boats and injuring three crew members.

The collision was the second in less than two years involving a Japanese navy ship and a commercial vessel.

Last year, another Japanese destroyer smashed into a fishing boat off eastern Japan, killing two fishermen in an accident blamed on poor surveillance and steering by the destroyer’s crew.

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Japanese warship will try for missile shootdown off Kauai

A Japanese navy ship with a state-of-the-art, American-built, missile-defense system will attempt to shoot a target missile out of the sky this afternoon.

Dubbed JFTM-3 (for Japanese Flight Test Mission 3) Stellar Raicho, with "raicho" being the name of a mythical Japanese thunderbird, the test was originally scheduled for tomorrow in air and sea off the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands near Kekaha.

The test was moved up to today due to weather concerns, said Ralph H. Scott III, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

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Update: Japan Achieves Second Ballistic Missile Intercept Using Raytheon Standard Missile-3

Successful First Flight for Lockheed Martin’s New HELLFIRE II Missile Design

Lockheed Martin’s new multi-functional AGM-114R HELLFIRE II missile scored a direct hit during its first proof-of-principle (POP) flight test recently at Eglin Air Force Base, FL.

The HELLFIRE II design, now entering the qualification phase, features a new multi-purpose warhead that enables a single missile to cover all of the target sets of the current laser-guided HELLFIRE II variants.

The POP 1 flight test featured a lock-on-before-launch engagement of a stationary target board at 3.2 miles (5.1 km). The team used a ground-based laser designator to illuminate the target.

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Colfax to Provide Pumping Solutions for French Navy Nuclear Submarines

Colfax Corporation, a global leader in fluid-handling solutions for critical applications, announced its Colfax-Imo Pompes Business Unit in France will provide oil pumps and other fluid-handling systems for Barracuda-class nuclear submarines being built for the French Navy.

"Submarines need to operate as quietly as possible to avoid detection, and the French Navy accordingly specified its pumps should produce low noise levels and vibrations," said Daniel Joslin, managing director of Colfax's business in Tours, France.

"Our Colfax Defense Centre of Excellence in Tours has the staff and equipment capable of meeting those demanding requirements to ensure the pumps provide years of quiet, reliable service."

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China to mark 60th founding anniversary of airforce with warplane show

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force will put its most advanced warplanes on display in the suburbs of Beijing in November, to mark the 60th founding anniversary of the PLA air force, an air force officer said here Monday.

All the aircraft, including Kongjing-2000 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) aircraft, J-11 fighters, H-6 bomber jets, and HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles, were made by China, said He Weirong, deputy commander of the PLA air force.

Most of them were included in the aircraft fly past during the National Day military parade on Oct. 1 this year in Beijing, he said.

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N. Korea completes construction of top missile base

North Korea has completed the construction of its largest and most sophisticated missile base on the west coast, laying the groundwork for improved intercontinental ballistic missiles, senior officials here said Monday.

The Dongchang-ri base has been under construction for several years, deepening outside concerns that North Korea is continuing to develop its capability to deliver weapons of mass destruction.

"The construction is as good as finished," one South Korean official said, asking for anonymity because he was speaking on matters of intelligence. "The necessary facilities are all there"

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Lockheed Martin’s Joint Air-To-Surface Standoff Missile Achieves Successful Reliability Flight Tests

The Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) successfully completed Lot 7 Reliability Assessment Program flight tests with a record of 15 successes out of 16 flights, as officially scored by an independent test data scoring board.

The tests were conducted by the U.S. Air Force at White Sands Missile Range, NM, using B-52 and F-16 aircraft against a wide range of targets in various operational scenarios.

“It’s very satisfying to see the results of the Air Force/Lockheed Martin team’s intense and persevering efforts,” said Col. Stephen Demers, JASSM Program Manager and 308th Armament Systems Group Commander. “I couldn’t be more proud of our JASSM team or the impressive missile we’ve built for the Warfighter.”

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NATO Allies sign declaration of intent for HIP helicopter initiative

NATO Deputy Secretary General, Claudio Bisogniero, presided over a signing ceremony in the margins of the NATO Defence Ministers meeting in Bratislava.

The ceremony marked a declaration of intent by nine NATO Allies to contribute to a multi-national helicopter initiative designed to provide NATO and its operations with additional airlift capability through a multi-national cooperative programme run by the HIP Helicopter Task Force.

Created in February 2009 and led by the Czech Republic, the HIP Helicopter Task Force is responsible for the development of a multi-national transport helicopter programme for NATO to help those countries that do not have the resources to deploy and run a transport helicopter operation on their own.

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Boeing Submits Proposals to India for Apache and Chinook Helicopters

The Boeing Company submitted two proposals to the Indian Air Force this week, offering the AH-64D Apache and the CH-47F Chinook for India's attack and heavy-lift helicopter competitions.

"Boeing believes the Apache and Chinook helicopters are the most capable and cost-effective rotorcraft to meet India's defense and transport requirements," said Vivek Lall, vice president and India country head for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.

"The Apache will be a capable and lethal defender of India's troops and assets, while the Chinook will answer many of the country's military and humanitarian needs."

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F-35 Brings Unique 5th Generation Capabilities

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II program is the only fighter program delivering 5th generation capabilities internationally, a Lockheed Martin executive said Tuesday at the Seoul Air Show.

"The F-35's 5th generation capabilities, including Very Low Observable stealth, integrated sensor fusion, net-enabled operations and advanced sustainment, make it the premiere fighter of the future," said Stephen O’Bryan, vice president of F-35 Business Development and Customer Engagement.

"The F-35 is the only multi-role fighter designed for survivability in the highest-threat environments, and it provides superior capability at comparable 4th generation fighter costs."

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US to sell Cobra helicopters to Turkey

US Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey said on Friday that the US has agreed to sell Turkey AH-1W Super Cobra (“Whiskey Cobra”) attack helicopters, currently in the inventory of the US Marines.

Jeffrey confirmed the sale during a press conference held with a group of Turkish journalists in Ankara.

However, Jeffrey declined to elaborate on the number, price and delivery dates of the attack helicopters.

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Report blames brakes, pilot for E-2C mishap

Bad brakes and pilot error led to an E-2C Hawkeye accident in March in which an aircraft swerved off the runway and sustained more than $10 million in damage.

The Hawkeye was landing after a training flight at Chambers Field in Norfolk, Va., on March 19 when it skidded off the runway and broke its landing gear, according to a Judge Advocate General Manual Investigation report obtained by Navy Times. No one was injured.

The aircraft’s problems began as it was approaching for a roll-out landing on the runway only to realize that the cockpit lights that show whether the propellers are ready for landing — known as beta lights — were not illuminated.

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Royal Navy sacrifices fast-jet aircraft carrier amid £1bn budget overrun

Defence chiefs are considering scrapping plans to have two large aircraft carriers equipped with fast jets, a move that could save billions of pounds, Whitehall officials said today.

The idea would be to have just one carrier holding US-made joint strike fighters, with the second, more basic, ship, being used only as a platform for helicopters and possibly unmanned drones equipped with missiles and cameras.

The two proposed carriers, the Queen Elizabeth, due to go into service in 2016, and the Prince of Wales, to follow in 2018, are already running £1bn over budget. The original estimated cost was £3.9bn.

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India to launch first military satellite in 2010

India plans to launch its first dedicated military satellite, a naval communications satellite next year, according to India's defense minister A.K. Antony.

The satellite, when sent into geosynchronous orbit, will have a 600-1,000 nautical mile communication range over the Indian Ocean Region.

"The naval communication satellite's launch next year will significantly improve connectivity at sea," said Antony.

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Russia Violating Treaty By Developing Missile

Republicans in the Senate are gearing up to battle the Obama administration over the high-priority plan to finish a new arms-control treaty with Russia before the end of the year.

Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican and No. 2 Republican Senate leader, recently identified a key issue that is likely to complicate the administration's plan: Russia for years has been violating the current Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which is set to expire Dec. 5.

Mr. Kyl said in a Senate floor speech Oct. 19 that Russia's development of a new multiple-warhead RS-24 missile that was tested as recently as May 2007 violates the current treaty.

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Japan navy holds review

Japans's navy held its triennial fleet review on Sunday, its first major demonstration of power under the country's new government, which has vowed to cut back on some of its already limited activities overseas.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has taken a more pacifist stance on military issues than his conservative predecessors, and the military has come under scrutiny since his government took over last month after decades of rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party.

Japan's navy, generally viewed as the strongest in Asia, is seen as an important regional balance to the expansion of China's rapidly growing naval power - a role that Washington has strongly supported.

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Pentagon study shows F-35 jet to cost more

A new Pentagon study has affirmed previous findings that Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, the costliest U.S. arms purchase program, will require billions of dollars more than planned, and more time, an online news service said on Friday.

A military "joint estimate team" tasked in July to examine the program has found the F-35 program's performance "is not markedly improving," InsideDefense.com said, citing an unidentified source.

Lockheed is developing three radar-evading F-35 models to replace at least 13 types of aircraft, initially for 11 nations.

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Saudis may buy ‘sub-killer’ planes

Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in buying six P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft from Boeing worth a reported US$1.3 billion (Dh4.8bn), the US aerospace firm says.

The plans for the P-8, which releases sonar buoys to identify submarines and destroys them by dropping torpedoes, are part of a wider naval modernisation programme reportedly worth as much as $20bn.

“They took the steps to say to the US Navy that they are interested,” Ray Figueras, the director of strategic development for the P-8 Poseidon at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS), said of the Saudi Royal Navy. “We’ve been told there is a need for six.”

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To fight pirates, military will send in the drones

For the first time, sophisticated U.S. military surveillance drones capable of carrying missiles have begun patrolling waters off Somalia in hopes of stemming rising piracy.

Three ships were seized in a week off Africa's lawless eastern coast and Vice Adm. Robert Moeller, the deputy commander for the U.S. Africa Command, said pirates continue to pose a significant challenge.

With the monsoon season now over, there has been a rash of attacks as pirates return to the open seas. More than 130 crew members from seven ships are being held now, including about 70 from the latest attacks.

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Crucial Indian defence deals delayed

India's plans to improve its defence capabilities have suffered a setback because three highly publicised military deals have been delayed by years.

Among the big defence acquisitions which are at stake, two are for the navy and one for the air force.

The plan that has suffered the most is the navy's ambition to secure India's 7,500km (4,660 miles) coastline and police international waters in the face of a rising terrorist threat.

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Lawmaker wants DDG named for ‘grunt padre’

New York congressman wants the Navy to name its next destroyer after a chaplain from his district who was awarded the Medal of Honor after being killed in action in Vietnam.

Rep. Michael McMahon, a Democrat, sent a letter Thursday to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus asking that the Navy’s next destroyer be named for Lt. Vincent Capodanno, who was serving with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines in 1967 when his unit came under attack by the North Vietnamese. Under heavy fire, the “grunt padre” gave last rites to wounded and dying Marines and was killed trying to help a wounded corpsman.

The Navy already named one warship for Capodanno — a Knox-class frigate that served from 1973 to 1993, then was sold to Turkey in 2002. McMahon said that ship’s service adds another reason for the Navy to use Capodanno’s name again.

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NSC Radars for Canadian Navy frigate modernization program

Raytheon Anschütz has been selected by prime contractor Lockheed Martin Canada to supply navigational radars for the mid-life upgrade of the Canadian Navy’s Halifax-class frigates. The delivery is scheduled from 2010 to 2015 to Canadian shipyards in Halifax and Victoria.

Under the contract, Raytheon Anschütz will install the latest version of its NSC radars on board the frigates. Besides high-performance detection capabilities and advanced anti-clutter function, the radar also features new radiation control and pulse blanker interfaces.

The X-/ and S-Band radars will be integrated into the ship’s new command and control system, the CanACCS 9LV, the navigation distribution system and the Canadian Navy electronic chart system SHINNADS.

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Anti-Terrorist ‘Beast of Burden’: Israel Unveils New Robot

(IsraelNN.com) Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) unveiled a new “robotic platform” at the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition this week and is expecting hundreds of millions of dollars in orders for the anti-terror machine.

REX acts as a “beast of burden” through its ability to carry up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) and is designed to assist groups of 3-10 ground soldiers on operational and logistical missions for up to 72 hours.

"The robotic vehicle follows the lead soldier from a given distance,” explained Ofer Glazer, head of innovation at IAI. “Using simple commands, including 'stop', 'fetch', and 'heel', the lead soldier controls the robot without being distracted from the mission at hand.

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Boeing hopes to market new attack copter

Boeing managers say two programs that will determine the future of the company’s Mesa plant are ready for liftoff.

Boeing test pilots have successfully completed the first test flights of a new attack helicopter planned for foreign customers.

Also, two Apache attack helicopters with advanced technologies have been handed off to the U.S. Army for flight testing at the Yuma Proving Ground.

If the tests are successful, the Army could order more than 600 of those next-generation Apaches, potentially extending Mesa production of the combat machines to 2025.

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Repair costs for USS Enterprise at $605M

A U.S. Navy spokesman said an additional $7 million will be spent repairing the USS Enterprise in Virginia, bringing the total repair cost to $605 million.

Navy spokesman Alan Baribeau said the newest funds will be used for work on the aircraft carrier's systems and machinery at Northrop Grumman's shipyard in Newport News, Va., the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press said Thursday.

The current $605 million price tag for preparing the carrier for two additional deployments is far beyond the $453.3 million cost initially expected by Navy officials.

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Modernized nuclear submarine on sea trials in Arctic waters

The strategic nuclear Delta-IV class submarine K-18 “Kareliya” is soon ready for its first sea trials after modernization to improve its tactical and technical performance.

Mooring trials are currently at the finishing stage and the first sea trials will start in the White Sea in the beginning of November, Advis.ru reports, citing a press report from Zvezdochka.

The submarine has been at the Zvezdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk, Arkahangelsk Oblast, since October 2004.

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Iran bought submarines from N. Korea, helped Syria get WMDs

Iran has purchased several midget submarines from North Korea and has helped Syria get missiles and other forms of weapons of mass destruction from the North, a report has said.

"Iran purportedly has acted as an intermediary with North Korea to supply Syria with various forms of WMD and missile technology," said a Congressional Research Service report, "Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses."

The report, issued Oct. 5, described the Obama administration's recent engagement with Syria as "means to wean Syria away from its alliance with Iran."

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Russia pledges to continue arms supplies to Iran

Russia on Thursday said it would continue military cooperation with Iran amid widespread unease in the West over Moscow's controversial contract to sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Tehran.

"The Russian Federation implements and plans to further implement the military-technical cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran in strict accordance with existing legislation and its international obligations," Russia's Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation said.

The service released a rare statement after the Interfax agency, citing a Russian government source, reported ealier this week that Iran had not yet paid Russia for the S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.

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Northrop Grumman Begins Full Rate Production of New Radar for B-2 Bomber

The nation's fleet of B-2 stealth bombers will all receive a new Northrop Grumman Corporation-developed radar system following the U.S. Air Force's decision to authorize full-rate production of the units by the company's Radar Modernization Program (RMP).

The decision, made Oct. 16 by the assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition (acting), allows Northrop Grumman to begin fabrication of the balance of radar units needed to outfit the entire fleet.

Those units will be produced as the final installment of the $468 million RMP contract awarded to the company by the Air Force in Dec. 2008.

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U.S. Navy Awards Lockheed Martin $17 Million for P-3 Orion Aircraft Acoustic Anti-submarine Warfare System Upgrades

The U.S. Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a $17.5 million contract to upgrade existing anti-submarine warfare systems aboard the P-3C Orion aircraft to improve current acoustic capabilities and significantly reduce parts obsolescence.

Under the contract, Lockheed Martin will design, produce and install the new AN/USQ-78(V) Acoustic Subsystem for the P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft.

The contract includes upgrades and technical refreshes to software in addition to procurement of Acoustic Receiver Tech Refresh systems.

By employing open architecture, the new system will allow future capability upgrades while improving reliability and maintainability that reduce overall cost.

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Warship launches on River Clyde

Thousands of people attended the launch of the Royal Navy's latest Type 45 destroyer on the River Clyde.

HMS Defender is the fifth of six ships commissioned to replace the existing fleet of Type 42 destroyers.

With a price tag of £605m, each of the 150m-long vessels weighs about 7,350 tons and is designed to provide air defence cover.

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Navy to Commission Energy-Efficient Amphibious Assault Ship Makin Island

The Navy will commission the amphibious assault ship Makin Island, Saturday, Oct. 24, during a 10 a.m. PDT ceremony at North Island Naval Air Station, Coronado, Calif.

Makin Island is named for the daring raid carried out by Marine Corps Companies Alpha and Bravo, Second Raider Battalion, on the Japanese-held Makin Island, in the Gilbert Islands, on Aug. 17-18, 1942.

The raid was launched from the submarines USS Nautilus and USS Argonaut and succeeded in routing the enemy forces based there, gaining valuable intelligence.

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General Dynamics' Littoral Combat Ship Independence Completes Builder's Trials

Independence (LCS 2), the innovative high-speed trimaran combatant ship being constructed by shipbuilder Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., as part of the General Dynamics Littoral Combat Ship Team, successfully completed a series of tests known as builder's trials on October 18 in the Gulf of Mexico.

The trials included more than 50 demonstration events that rigorously test the ship and all of its systems in preparation for final inspection by the Navy before delivery.

Notable achievements during the trials included reaching a sustained speed of 44 knots during the required four-hour full-power run, with a top speed in excess of 45 knots.

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Rockwell Collins selected to provide Radar Electronic Support Measures for German frigates

Rockwell Collins has been selected to provide a Radar Electronic Support Measures (R-ESM) suite for Germany's F125 Special Forces and Stabilization frigates. Deliveries are scheduled from 2010 to 2013.

The agreement calls for Rockwell Collins to provide its CS-3600 R-ESM system, which contains the CS-3001 Pulse Analyzer Unit (PAU), CS-5998 wideband tuners, CS-5020 microwave tuners, IFMR-6070 Instantaneous Frequency Measuring Receiver (IFM) and the CS-6090 PRISM (Precision Intercept Spectral Monitoring System).

"With the selection of this system, the German F125 frigates will be equipped with some of the most advanced radar collection and analysis capability available to today's navies," said Alan Caslavka, vice president and general manager of Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence Solutions for Rockwell Collins. "The R-ESM system will play an important role in the situational awareness of the German Navy."

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Air Force finishes deactivation of missile sites

Malmstrom Air Force Base
The full deactivation of the 50 missile launch facilities of Malmstrom Air Force Base's 564th Missile Squadron was completed in late August after nearly two years of work, Malmstrom officials said.

Malmstrom's 341st Maintenance Group worked more than 29,000 man-hours to pull all the major equipment and components from the 50 launch facilities, or silos, as well as the five missile alert facilities that controlled them.

Top military officials determined in early 2006 that it was no longer strategically necessary to keep 500 intercontinental ballistic missiles on alert nationwide.

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Greece and Germany close to sub agreement

Greece and Germany appear set to make some headway in solving a long-running dispute over the delivery of four submarines but the fate of a shipyard west of Athens remains in doubt following a high-level meeting yesterday.

Defense Minister Evangelos Venizelos held talks with ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems CEO Hans Christoph Atzpodien yesterday in a bid to resolve the issue of the outstanding submarine order, which has weighed heavily on Greek-German relations in recent years.

Greece has identified technical problems with the Type 214 diesel-electric submarine, manufactured by ThyssenKrupp, as being the reason for not accepting delivery of the four vessels that it ordered between 2001 and 2005. The first submarine, dubbed Papanikolis, has been docked in Kiel since 2006.

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U.S. Navy's BAMS-D completes first deployment

The Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator returned to Patuxent River Naval Air Station Oct. 1 after a successful first deployment to Central Command.

During an eight-month deployment, the BAMS-D — managed by the Persistent Maritime Unmanned Aircraft Systems program office (PMA-262) — flew over 60 flights, totaling over 1,000 flight hours, and provided Commander Task Force 57 (CTF-57) with thousands of images to support maritime intelligence and surveillance activities.

“The BAMS-D team performed superbly in executing this flawless, in-theater swap of a high-demand asset,” said Capt. Bob Dishman, program manager.

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Rotating E-Scan Radar May Push Eurofighter Exports

The new "repositionable" electronically scanned radar being proposed for the Eurofighter could make the difference for the fighter in export markets, its designers claim.

The Eurofighter currently flies with the mechanically scanned Captor radar, but the consortium that built the Captor is now pitching an e-scan radar, known as Caesar, to the U.K., Italy, Spain and Germany for its third tranche Eurofighters.

Unlike most e-scans, where radar radiating elements are placed on a fixed panel, the proposed solution for the Eurofighter will rotate.

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UAE looks for new eyes in the sky

Middle East nations are about to launch a buying spree of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), but their first major purchases are unlikely to be the headline grabbing attack drones used by the US in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Instead, Northrop Grumman says it is receiving strong interest from Gulf states for its Fire Scout unmanned helicopter, which is suited for border and maritime patrol, and even to combat piracy.

The UAE is “very interested” in the aircraft, as is Saudi Arabia, says Gene Fraser, the vice president and deputy of strike and surveillance systems for Northrop Grumman, the world’s fourth-largest defence contractor.

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Warship to launch on River Clyde

Thousands of people are expected to attend the launch of the Royal Navy's latest Type 45 destroyer on the River Clyde later.

HMS Defender is the fifth of six ships commissioned to replace the existing fleet of Type 42 destroyers.

With a price tag of £605m, each of the 150m-long vessels weighs about 7,350 tons and is designed to provide air defence cover.

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Faulkner orders review into Collins class submarine fleet

Defence Minister John Faulkner has ordered a review into the operational availability of the RAN's Collins class submarines, conceding that technical issues affecting their performance are a major concern for the government.

Senator Faulkner told a parliamentary committee hearing earlier today that he had directed the Defence Materiel Organisation to review all aspects of the availability of the Collins class for sea duties.

"Submarine platform availability remains a major concern," Senator Faulkner said.

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Crew for new attack submarine arrived Severodvinsk

The crew for Russia’s new nuclear powered attack submarine “Severodvinsk” have arrived Sevmash shipyard where the submarine is under construction. Launch is planned in 2011.

The crew was established already in 2005, and has undergone training at navy training facilities outside St. Petersburg, Regnum.ru reports.

The crew and their families will live in Severodvinsk until all testing of the submarine is finished.

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