DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Third MEADS Battle Manager Arrives In Huntsville For Integration Testing

Asia News Report: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Third MEADS Battle Manager Arrives In Huntsville For Integration Testing
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Lockheed Martin
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada /ORLANDO/MUNICH/ROME - February 22, 2012: Lockheed Martin has begun integration testing on the third completed Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS)  battle manager at its facility in Huntsville, Ala.  

Integration testing on the third battle manager will continue throughout 2012 in support of a ballistic missile intercept test planned at White Sands Missile Range in 2013. Two other battle managers are already supporting system testing at Pratica di Mare Air Force Base in Italy and Orlando, Fla.

The MEADS battle manager controls an advanced network-centric open architecture that allows any combination of sensors and launchers to be organized into a single air and missile defense battle element. Through a capability called plug-and-fight, sensors, shooters or other battle managers act as nodes on the network. From the MEADS battle manager, a commander can add or subtract nodes as the situation dictates without shutting down the system.

MEADS International President David Berganini said, “Following the successful first MEADS flight test in November, the team continues to evolve MEADS’ battle management software and the plug-and-fight network, demonstrating coverage and flexibility that other systems cannot provide, including a 360-degree defense that protects our warfighters against next-generation threats.”

Using its 360-degree defensive capability, the advanced MEADS radars and  PAC-3 MSE

Missile, MEADS defends up to eight times the coverage area with far fewer system assets and significantly reduces demand for deployed personnel and equipment, which reduces demand for airlift.

MEADS International, a multinational joint venture headquartered in Orlando, Fla., is the prime contractor for the MEADS system. Major subcontractors and joint venture partners are MBDA in Italy and Germany, and Lockheed Martin in the United States.

The MEADS program management agency, NAMEADSMA, is located in Huntsville, Ala.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Lockheed Martin
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - ISRAEL DEFENSE NEWS: Israel’s Decision To Buy Italian Trainer Planes Dampen T-50 Sale Efforts

Asia News Report: DTN News - ISRAEL DEFENSE NEWS: Israel’s Decision To Buy Italian Trainer Planes Dampen T-50 Sale Efforts
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources The Korea Herald
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 18, 2012: Israel has decided to purchase 30 Italian-made trainer aircraft in its $1 billion procurement project, snubbing South Korea’s efforts to sell its homegrown planes overseas.

Israeli defense officials told the media on Thursday that their government had reached a preliminary deal to buy the M-346 military training planes built by the Italian firm Alenia Aermacchi. 

Israeli officials, quoted in news reports, cited the suitability of the Italian jets to the direct needs of the Israeli air force, the cost and other factors as the reason for the choice.

With support from the Seoul government, Korea Aerospace Industries, the country’s sole aircraft maker, has made aggressive efforts to sell its T-50 supersonic trainer jets to Israel. 

KAI developed the T-50 with technological assistance from the U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin. It has a maximum speed of Mach 1.5 with a maximum range of about 1,500 kilometers.

“We have yet to receive any formal notification about Israel’s decision to purchase Italy’s trainer aircraft. I understand officials in Israel told local reporters about it,” a KAI official told The Korea Herald on condition of anonymity.


“There Israeli government did not carry out an official bidding process. We have sought to tap into the market and Israel just considered the two trainer jets. So, it is not right to say we have lost in any official competition there.”

He downplayed any negative impact from Israel’s decision on the overseas marketing efforts.

“Israel was just one of the countries to which we have sought to export our T-50. In the defense industry, there are political, diplomatic variables as well, which are apparently as important as (equipment’s) actual qualities,” he said.

Israel has long maintained strong traditional ties with Italy. Industry insiders said it was a tough battle for Seoul to overcome the limits stemming from the close relationship between the two countries.

KAI is currently seeking to sell T-50 aircraft to the U.S., Chile, the Philippines and other nations. Last May, it signed a $400 million contract with Indonesia to for 16 T-50s. 

Having developed the FA-50 light combat plane based on the T-50 platform, the firm has also been working to tap into the countries that have to replace their aging F-4 and F-5 fighters.

Experts have estimated that the global demand for trainer jets and light fighters over the next three decades will amount to around 3,300 units. KAI aims to export around 1,000 units during that period.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldm.com)

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources The Korea Herald
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - LOCKHEED MARTIN DEFENSE NEWS: Eleventh C-5B Inducted To Become Super Galaxy

Asia News Report: DTN News - LOCKHEED MARTIN DEFENSE NEWS: Eleventh C-5B Inducted To Become Super Galaxy
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Lockheed Martin
 (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 7, 2012: Lockheed Martin inducted the 11th aircraft to the C-5M Super Galaxy production line on Feb. 1, 2012. 

Based at Dover Air Force Base, Del., this aircraft has supported the warfighter’s operations across the globe. It has delivered cargo in locations such as Iraq, Italy, Germany, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Spain and Turkey. 

Aircraft 86-0017 has accumulated more than 18,000 flight hours and more than 4,300 full-stop landings

Mission The C-5 Galaxy is one of the largest aircraft in the world and the largest airlifter in the Air Force inventory. The aircraft can carry a fully equipped combat-ready military unit to any point in the world on short notice and then provide the supplies required to help sustain the fighting force. 

Features 
The C-5 has a greater capacity than any other airlifter. It has the ability to carry 36 standard pallets and 81 troops simultaneously. The Galaxy is also capable of carrying any of the Army's air-transportable combat equipment, including such bulky items as the 74-ton mobile scissors bridge. It can also carry outsize and oversize cargo over intercontinental ranges and can take off or land in relatively short distances. Ground crews are able to load and off-load the C-5 simultaneously at the front and rear cargo openings, reducing cargo transfer times. Other features of the C-5 are: 
   · Able to operate on runways 6,000 feet long (1,829 meters).
   · Five landing gear totaling 28 wheels to distribute the weight. 
   · Nose and aft doors that open the full width and height of the cargo    
     compartment to permit faster and easier loading. 
   · A "kneeling" landing gear system that permits lowering the parked 
     aircraft to facilitate drive-on/drive-off vehicle loading and adjusts the 
     cargo floor to standard truck-bed height. 
   · Full width drive-on ramps at each end for loading double rows of 
     vehicles. 
   · A system that records and analyzes information and detects 
     malfunctions in more than 800 test points. 

The C-5 has the distinctive high T-tail, 25-degree wing sweep, and four TF39 turbofan engines (C-5A and B) mounted on pylons beneath the wings. These engines are each rated at 43,000 pounds of thrust and weigh 7,900 pounds (3,555 kilograms) a piece. They have an air intake diameter of more than 8.5 feet (2.6 meters). Each engine pod is nearly 27 feet long (8.2 meters).

The Galaxy has 12 internal wing tanks with a total capacity of 51,150 gallons (194,370 liters) of fuel -- enough to fill 6 1/2 regular size railroad tank cars. A full fuel load weighs 332,500 pounds (150,820 kilograms). A C-5 with a cargo load of 270,000 pounds (122,472 kilograms) can fly 2,150 nautical miles, offload, and fly to a second base 500 nautical miles away from the original destination -- all without aerial refueling. With aerial refueling, the aircraft's range is limited only by crew endurance.

BackgroundLockheed-Georgia Co. delivered the first operational Galaxy to the 437th Airlift Wing, Charleston Air Force Base, now known as Joint Base Charleston, S.C., in June l970. C-5s are operated by active-duty, Reserve, and Air National Guard crews. They are currently stationed at Dover AFB, Del.; Travis AFB, Calif.; Lackland AFB, Texas; Martinsburg ANGB, W.V.; Memphis ANGB, Tenn. and Westover Air Reserve Base, Mass.

In March 1989, the last of 50 C-5Bs was added to the 76 C-5As in the Air Force's airlift force structure. The C-5B includes all C-5A improvements as well as more than 100 additional system modifications to improve reliability and maintainability. 

Based on a study showing 80 percent of the C-5 airframe service life remaining, AMC began an aggressive program to modernize the C-5 in 1998. The C-5 Avionics Modernization Program included upgrading the avionics to improve communications, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management compliance. The upgrade also added new safety equipment and installed a new autopilot system.

Another part of the C-5 modernization plan is a comprehensive Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program. The centerpiece of this program is the General Electric CF6-80C2 (F-138) commercial engine. This engine delivers a 22 percent increase in thrust, a 30 percent shorter take-off roll, has a 58 percent faster climb rate and will allow significantly more cargo to be carried over longer distances. With its new engine and upgrades, the C-5 becomes the C-5M Super Galaxy. This modernization program will enhance aircraft reliability and maintainability, maintain structural and system integrity, reduce cost of ownership and increase operational capability well into the 21st century.

Media Contact:

Chad E. Gibson
Office:             770-494-3847      
Mobile:             678-761-4623      

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Lockheed Martin
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - EUROPE'S FINANCIAL PAIN BE CHINA'S GAIN: IMF Seeks Clarity In Italy, China Wants Stability

Asia News Report: DTN News - EUROPE'S FINANCIAL PAIN BE CHINA'S GAIN: IMF Seeks Clarity In Italy, China Wants Stability

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada / BEIJING, China - November 13, 2011: The head of the International Monetary Fund urged Italy Thursday to act quickly fill its damaging political vacuum, and China said it was willing to help maintain global financial stability that was being threatened by the euro zone crisis.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde spoke during a visit to China as Rome politicians scrambled to find a replacement for Berlusconi, who has said he will step down when parliament approves reforms aimed at placating markets.

"No one exactly understands who is going to come out as the leader. That confusion is particularly conducive to volatility," Lagarde told a news conference in Beijing.

"So from my perspective, political clarity is conducive to more stability and my objective from the Fund's point of view is better and more stability."

On European markets Thursday, hopes that new government being formed in Italy and Greece could help stave off a euro zone break-up drove the euro higher and top-rated government debt lower, while stocks held above a three-week trough.

China -- which holds an estimated 25 percent of its $3.2 trillion of foreign exchange wealth in euro-denominated assets -- is equally keen to see clarity and stability take hold in the euro zone, the country's single biggest export market.

Premier Wen Jiabao told Lagarde that Europe's sovereign debt crisis was a serious challenge to the world's economic recovery, and had increased financial risks for developed economies, Chinese state media reported.

"China supports the measures taken by the European Union, European Central Bank and IMF to deal with the crisis, and is willing to work with all parties to discuss effective cooperative measures to maintain global financial stability," Xinhua news agency paraphrased Wen as saying.

China remains focused on maintaining its own relatively fast, stable growth, Wen added.

Italian 10-year bond yields eased Thursday from the previous day's record highs, but they continued to trade around 7 percent, a level many economists consider unsustainable for financing sovereign debt of more than 2 trillion euros.

Lagarde, a former French finance minister, declined to comment on a Reuters report that German and French officials have discussed plans for a radical overhaul of the European Union to create a more integrated and potentially smaller euro zone.

YUAN APPRECIATION

She also said she believed Chinese authorities were prepared to let the yuan appreciate further, as demanded by many U.S. and other western politicians who accuse Beijing of holding its currency artificially low to give an unfair advantage to its exporters.

"My understanding is that the authorities are prepared to let that appreciation continue in the months and years to come," she said.

"Certainly from our perspective, with the goal of stability and the solid, balanced and sustainable growth that we pursue, clearly that's welcomed and encouraged."

Lagarde, who also met vice Premier Wang Qishan, said she had in-depth discussions with China's central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan, a leading advocate of internationalizing the Chinese currency.

But she said it was too early to include it in the IMF's Special Drawing Rights unit, a basket of four currencies -- U.S. dollars, euros, Japanese yen and sterling -- in which the bulk of global trade is designated.

"But there is a clear understanding that it will come in due course and that it will be a factor of the internationalization of the currency. In my view, there is a stronger signal that China is a key player but also an important partner in the composition of this ... easily convertible currency of the IMF," Lagarde said.

(Additional reporting by Sui-Lee Wee, Tracy Zheng and Ben Blanchard; Editing by John Stonestreet)

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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters

*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News

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