Oshkosh Defense announced this week a number of major orders for its heavy tactical vehicles. The company will deliver 270 Heavy Equipment Transporters (HET) A1, under a $119 million order from the U.S. Army, to be fulfilled by Spetember 2012. This new version of HET includes increased protection, more powerful engine, higher capacity front suspension, [...]

iRobot has unveiled pre-production prototypes of its latest new product, the iRobot 110 FirstLook unmanned ground vehicle (UGV). This small, light and throwable robot provides hasty situational awareness, performs persistent observation and investigates confined spaces. “FirstLook is going to be a very important tool for warfighters and first responders,” said Robert Moses, president of iRobot’s [...]

Lockheed Martin dvanced Technology Laboratories (ATL) has been awarded a $2.7 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for Resilient Command and Control (RC2) to improve C2 systems for the military. Military commanders are increasingly dependent on a complex network of C2 systems for situational awareness, force coordination and rapid decision-making. Managing [...]

An invention developed at Picatinny Arsenal, now being shipped to Afghanistan, will make ammunition stowage safer and more effective for Soldiers onboard combat vehicles. Simply referred to as “MARS,” the Modular Ammunition Restraint System was created and prototyped about a year ago, and since then more than 700 of them have been fielded to combat [...]

McLean-based Global Defense Technology & Systems Inc., commonly referred to as GTEC, is renaming itself Sotera Defense Solutions, Inc. The company said the name Sotera is derived from Greek mythology and represents the spirit of safety, preservation and deliverance from harm. Officials said the new name reflects the company’s focus on meeting national security needs. [...]

iRobot Corp., a provider of robotic technology-based solutions, announced that the U.S. Army plans to procure two additional low-rate initial production brigade sets of model 320 small unmanned ground vehicles (SUGVs). The Defense Acquisition Board approved the purchase of additional SUGVs under the Brigade Combat Team Modernization (BCTM) program in February, enabling the delivery of [...]

Lockheed Martin recently delivered the 8,000th AN/UYQ-70 combat console suite to the U.S. Navy, marking a key milestone for a system that  is currently installed on 90 percent of the Navy’s commissioned ships. The milestone Q-70 system will be installed on the USS Minnesota (SSN 783) Virginia-class submarine to upgrade combat control and navigation systems. [...]

DfR Solutions, a provider of quality, reliability, and durability (QRD) research and consulting for the electronics industry, has launched its Sherlock automated design analysis software for analyzing, grading, and certifying the expected reliability of products at the circuit card assembly level. The software tool is designed to enable electronics manufacturers to design product reliability earlier [...]

On July 25/06 Al-Anbar commander and U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer submitted an MNF-W priority 1 request. It pointed to the hazards inherent in American supply lines, and noted that many of the supply convoys on Iraq’s roads (up to 70%, by some reports) were carrying fuel. Much of that fuel wasn’t even [...]

Lockheed Martin and Technology Management Inc. (TMI) for the first time have operated a fuel-cell generator for 1,000 hours using the military’s standard fuel, JP-8. This milestone paves the way to field fuel-cell generators in theater to create a more efficient, safe and affordable method to convert expensive fuel into electricity. Fuel-cell generators can reduce [...]