Google Earth aids military

A new version of BAE Systems' image analysis and mapping software enables analysts to evaluate and share intelligence data more effectively by integrating with Google Earth and the ESRI geodatabase.

SOCET GXP v2.3 interacts with Google Earth in real-time for quick, 3D colour visualisation, and gives geospatial context to objects of interest, resulting in enhanced intelligence for mission planning.

With additional tools for detecting changes from one day to the next, analysts can anticipate conditions such as rough terrain or collapsed bridges, and pinpoint operational routes more accurately.

The most advanced warship in the world to date, HMS Daring, has departed from BAE Systems' shipyard in Scotstoun on her maiden voyage down the River Clyde, to begin sea trials off the west coast of Scotland.

Launched by HRH the Countess of Wessex in February 2006, HMS Daring is the first of six Daring class Type 45 destroyers being built for the Royal Navy. They will provide the British fleet and her allies with an unparalleled level of anti-air warfare capability through to the middle of the 21st century, and will be the most capable warships of their type ever built.

She will be put through her paces by BAE Systems engineers and Royal Navy personnel, who will eventually form her permanent crew once she enters service in 2009.

Northrop Grumman has successfully completed the initial software and hardware delivery of the Integrated Combat Management System (ICMS) to prime contractor General Dynamics, for integration into the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship combat system.

ICMS integrates the sensors and weapons onboard the platform, including the electro-optical/infrared sensor, volume search radar, onboard missile system, 57-millimetre gun, electronic warfare suite and communication system.

"This delivery represents a great team effort between Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics to achieve a critical milestone on the road to delivering a much-needed warfighting capability," said Robert W DuBeau, VP of Northrop Grumman's Undersea Systems business unit.