lockheed

Military awards contract for next-generation tactical radio system

The Pentagon has awarded defense heavyweight Lockheed Martin the contract for next-stage development of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), a new-generation radio technology that will replace dozens of legacy systems throughout the U.S. military (PDF).

Initial design and development costs for this phase, called Airborne Maritime and Fixed Station, will run $800 million to $1.2 billion, with a potential $10 billion more for full production later. Boeing and Lockheed Martin worked on separate preliminary designs for the new programmable, tactical radio system, but only Lockheed nailed the contract.

The Department of Defense initiated the JTRS program in … Read more

Protector all set to go against pirates

Pirates have grown mighty bold around the Horn of Africa of late--so bold that the Navy is reportedly considering the deployment of 30-foot, armed robo-boats to challenge the dusty buccaneers. Surely they'll mend their ways.

The Navy began testing the Israeli Protector unmanned surface vehicle (USV) last year. There is a civilian version of these rigid-hulled inflatables built by Rayglass Boats in New Zealand, a common enough sight around any harbor that's even used as the official chase boat for the America's Cup. But you'd hardly equate these with the unmanned version.

Extensively tweaked by defense … Read more

The military wants to know before it goes

When it comes to international quagmires, it would be nice to know if the natives are restless before you send in the cavalry.

Apparently, the U.S. military is not happy with the briefings it gets before being dispatched to police deadly fiascos around the world. So it is underwriting a program that will allow commanders not only to predict events and gauge stability in the countries in which they operate, but also to anticipate and respond to political crises worldwide.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to develop PRESAGE (Predicting Stability through … Read more

Hypersonic cruiser is one step closer

Oh ye of little faith, behold: Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne has successfully tested a sub-scale combustor for a dual-mode ramjet engine that could power the DARPA-financed Falcon HTV-3X hypersonic cruiser to Mach 6 and beyond. Dual-mode because the engine can function both at subsonic speeds and then kick up to supersonic scramjet speeds (greater than Mach 5).

By contrast, one of the fastest conventional Air Force jets--the SR-71 Blackbird--does a tortoise-paced Mach 3.4.

The engine technology was developed for Lockheed Martin's Falcon Combined-Cycle Engine Technology (FaCET) program. The goal is to develop hypersonic technologies that would … Read more

High-speed insertion on land and sea

Remember those guys who would ride their Stingrays off the end of the pier? Well apparently they're finally in charge over there at the military industrial complex, and the aquatic world of hooah is all the better for it.

Case in point: a Gibbs Technology and Lockheed Martin team has announced the development of three new, high-speed, amphibious prototypes for use in littoral and riverine special ops insertions.

"High performance on the water, high performance on the ground and the transition between the two is seamless," brags Kiwi Alan Gibbs, chairman of Gibbs Technologies of his high-speed … Read more