Precision kill weapon system successful

BAE Systems conducted a successful test flight of its 2.75-inch guided rocket, the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) on Tuesday. The test, held in partnership with the US Navy programme office, was the first with the APKWS in its production-ready configuration.

The rocket hit the target within the 2 metre requirement of a laser spot that was designating the target. This upgrade of the venerable 2.75-inch rocket system meets today's Marine Corps operational needs, said Michelle McBride, the Navy's APKWS programme manager. "This is a great achievement by an outstanding government and industry team," McBride said.

APKWS is a low-cost precision munition that is highly accurate and effective against soft to lightly armoured targets. It provides pinpoint accuracy for the unguided Hydra-70 rockets - making them smart enough to home in on and destroy enemy targets while minimising collateral damage.

The Boeing Company has been awarded a $19 million US Air Force contract to provide Mission Training Centre (MTC) services for F-16 pilots at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina; Misawa Air Base in Japan; and Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany. The contract provides continued F-16 MTC services for up to five years and will contribute directly to the readiness of F-16 units.

"Boeing is pleased to have the opportunity to provide the US Air Force with continued service for the F-16 MTCs," said Tony Jones, VP of Boeing Training Systems and Services. "We bring years of experience in providing the warfighter a Distributed Mission Operations capability for the F-15C MTCs and anticipate similar success with F-16 MTC operations."

Each F-16 MTC provides four high fidelity F-16 simulators with a 360-degree visual system, robust synthetic environment, instructor/operator stations and brief/debrief stations. The simulators can be operated individually or linked together to provide four-ship training, both within the MTC and linked to the Distributed Mission Operation Network.

Lockheed Martin has been awarded a contract for system design and development of the Future Combat Systems Centralised Controller Device (CCD) for unmanned air and ground vehicles.

The contract was awarded by Science Applications International Corporation, who teamed with The Boeing Company as the lead systems integrator. The winning Lockheed Martin team includes partners, iRobot and Honeywell. The potential value for this development contract is in excess of $35 million through 2014.

The CCD will consolidate what traditionally would be numerous disparate controllers into a single integrated system, simplifying logistics and empowering the soldier. Primarily, it will control Class I unmanned aerial vehicles, Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment (MULE) and Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV), unattended ground sensors, ground vehicle functions and their respective payloads, while also enabling superior situational awareness, training logistics and medical functions. Overall, it will enable soldiers to control nearly 750 systems per brigade.

Raytheon Company has been awarded a $59 million contract for work on the Co-operative

Engagement Capability (CEC) programme.

CEC provides robust capability to naval air and missile defences by distributing force level sensor and weapons data in a new and significantly different manner. It pools high-quality tracking data from participating sensors and distributes the data to all others in a filtered and shared state.

The result is a powerful and detailed air picture based on all sensor data available that provides early detection and more consistent tracking of air contacts. Work on the contract will be performed at Raytheon facilities in St Petersburg and Largo, Florida.