A General Dynamics subsidiary has turned over the USNS Lewis B. Puller afloat forward staging base vessel to the U.S. Navy. The military branch accepted the AFSB ship from General Dynamics NASSCO Friday, General Dynamics said Monday. The company said modifications to the AFSB, which is named after Lt. Gen. Lewis “Chesty” Puller of the U.S. Marine […] More

A Mercury Systems division has secured a $7.6 million order to provide digital radio frequency memory jammers for the U.S. Navy. The order received by Mercury Defense Systems is a follow-on to a five-year basic ordering agreement awarded by the service branch, Mercury Systems said Monday. Brian Perry, president of Mercury Defense Systems, said the […] More

Lockheed Martin has turned over a third Mobile User Objective System satellite to the U.S. Navy after the company completed on-orbit testing on the spacecraft. MUOS-3 is part of a network of satellites and relay ground stations designed to provide secure mobile communications to military users, Lockheed Martin said Wednesday. “This latest satellite will expand the MUOS network’s coverage […] More

Mark Newman, formerly chairman and CEO of DRS Technologies, has joined the board of directors of Mercury Systems. Newman was instrumental in growing the DRS business before Finmeccanica acquired the company for $5.2 billion in 2008, Mercury Systems said Monday. “His tenure in the defense industry and focus on innovation as well as mergers and […] More

The IKONOS imaging satellite made by Lockheed Martin for DigitalGlobe has been retired after nearly two decades of gathering and sharing more than 400 square kilometres of images of the Earth’s surface. The satellite, launched in September 1999, concluded its operation on March 31 after 15 years of collecting high-resolution images used in mapping, agriculture, […] More

Lockheed Martin has completed development and integration work on the Space-Based Infrared System‘s Increment 2 ground station and will move forward to certification tests for the U.S. Air Force space program. The company said Monday Increment 2 will command the combined infrared surveillance operations of the Defense Support Program, SBIRS geosynchronous orbit satellites and highly elliptical orbit payloads. “The transition […] More

Lockheed Martin has integrated the first GPS III satellite’s system module with the propulsion core as part of the company’s program to deliver satellite navigation functions to the U.S. Air Force. The company said Monday the systems integration for GPS III space vehicle one brings together components such as the navigation payload and electronics to operate the satellite. “This summer, […] More

Lockheed Martin will produce communication satellites for Arabsat and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in a move aimed to help connect the citizens of Saudi Arabia. Arabsat ordered two A2100 satellites to expand its fleet of television, internet, telephone and secure communications satellites that already operate in orbit for the customers in Middle East, […] More

Mercury Systems has landed a $1.5 million contract to provide signal processing subsystems for a radar system being built by a defense company. The defense firm ordered server-class radar signal processors that are designed with an advanced telecommunications computing architecture, Mercury said Thursday. Didier Thibaud, president of Mercury’s commercial electronics subsidiary, said the unit builds […] More

General Dynamics‘ NASSCO subsidiary unveiled a liquefied natural gas-powered cargo vessel during a ceremony held Saturday at the unit’s San Diego shipyard. NASSCO said Monday it built the Isla Bella ship for transportation and logistics firm Tote. U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) delivered a speech at the event and Seafarers International Union of North America […] More

Lockheed Martin has moved into the assembly, test and launch operations phase of spacecraft the company is building for a NASA asteroid research mission. NASA aims to launch the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer to collect samples from the Bennu asteroid, Lockheed said Tuesday. “We’re installing the electronics in the next few […] More

The Solar Impulse 2 electric aircraft has incorporated Inmarsat-developed satellite connectivity system as it began its solar-powered round-the-world flight. Solar Impulse 2 took off from Abu Dhabi on March 9 and will make stops in Oman, India, Myanmar and China throughout its route, Inmarsat said Friday. Inmarsat partner Cobham SATCOM developed the Aviator 300SP (special […] More