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atk

Army pouring $66 million into 'Punisher' gun

The U.S. Army has approved the XM-25 grenade launcher for engineering and manufacturing development, awarding ATK a $65.8 million contract to bring the weapon closer to deployment.

Nicknamed "The Punisher," the semi-automatic, shoulder-fired XM-25 has a laser rangefinder and can launch rounds that explode at a set distance, meaning it can defeat barriers protecting enemy fighters.

The 12-pound, 29-inch gun can fire 25mm airbursting rounds up to 500 meters (546 yards) for a precision target and 700 meters (765 yards) when firing on an area. ATK may also develop door-breaching and armor-piercing rounds for the XM-25. … Read more

Piecing together NASA's Ares I rocket

PROMONTORY, Utah--"This is the world's biggest solid rocket motor."

Those eight words, with which Kevin Rees described the Ares 1 rocket to me on Monday, are at once entirely understated, and hugely consequential. Rees is the director of test services for ATK, the primary rocket contractor on NASA's Constellation program.

Since 1981, the Space Shuttle has been NASA's main program. But now, with just a few more Shuttle launches left, the space agency--and the huge ecosystem of contractors who support it--are seriously turning their attention to Constellation, the next program. Constellation is expected to … Read more

Shuttle layoffs begin as program winds down

With retirement of the space shuttle program looming next year and just nine flights remaining, NASA managers announced Thursday the first major wave of job losses, saying 160 contract workers would face layoffs Friday, the first of some 900 jobs that will be cut between now and the end of September.

"They are primarily manufacturing team members," shuttle Program Manager John Shannon said. "We have delivered the last pieces of hardware that those team members produce and we don't keep them on the (payroll). And that is in order to get our budget down to the … Read more