David Bruner, vice president of Global Communications
Solutions at Panasonic Avionics, discusses the
company's move into business aviation. Panasonic
will participate in an Avionics Webinar on in-flight
entertainment. For more information, click here.
ARINC Engineering Services was awarded a contract by Rockwell Collins to install new navigation systems and communications equipment on the nation’s two OC-135B observation aircraft, a highly modified KC-135 airframe used for serial observation flyovers of nations who are signatories to the International Open Skies Treaty. Under this contract, ARINC will initially develop the installation plan and strategy for the OC-135B, then install Rockwell’s Block 40 Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) navigational upgrade kit and additional communications systems. The work will be done at ARINC’s Aircraft Integration and Modification (AIM) facility in Oklahoma City. Traffic Management mandates. Installation is scheduled to start on the first OC-135B in June 2010 and on the second by January 2011.
Northrop Grumman Awarded RQ-4 Contract
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a $302.9 million contract for five RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Under the contract, the company will build two Block 30 systems and three Block 40 systems for the 303d Aeronautical Systems Group at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. The award also includes a ground station consisting of a launch and recovery element and a mission control element, plus two additional sensor suites that will be retrofitted into previous production aircraft. The contract runs through 2011. The company will deliver in 2010 the two Block 30 aircraft equipped with the Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite (EISS) that provides electro-optical/infrared and synthetic aperture radar imaging capabilities. These aircraft will also be retrofitted to incorporate the production Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload. The Lot 7 contract also includes the first production Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program payloads, which will be contractually awarded later this year.
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