Government/Military

Alliant Techsystems (ATK) appointed Mark DeYoung President and CEO, effective immediately, the company announced Feb. 4     DeYoung also was elected to serve on the company’s board and will replace former CEO Dan Murphy, who announced his resignation in November due to family matters. DeYoung previously led ATK’s Armament Systems group as president of the...

The National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program will be dismantled and split between separate projects headed by the U.S. Department of Defense and a partnership between NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) confirmed Feb. 1.     “The new system...

The White House has terminated NASA’s work on Orion, the follow-up vehicle to the Space Shuttle; ended development on two NASA rockets designed to fly manned missions to the moon; and will hand over space transportation and future human exploration mission to private commercial companies, according to President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2010 governmental budget,...

Astrium has been awarded a follow-on contract for the delivery of a second set of subsystems to the Turkish Navy’s Milgem satellite communications program, the company announced Feb. 4.     Astrium Services’ Secure Satcom Systems delivered the first set of equipment to Aselsan, the prime communications contractor for the Turkish Armed Forces, in August. The...

Northrop Grumman has been selected by ITT Corp. to provide flight cryocoolers for the sensor payloads on two international geostationary weather satellites, Northrop Grumman announced Feb. 3.     The cryocoolers will be used to reduce thermal noise on the satellites’ space-based sensors. The ITT sensor payloads will be based on the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI)...

ViaSat has received $1.9 million in additional orders from the U.S. Department of Defense for its LinkWayS2 satellite modem systems to support U.S. government networks, the company announced Feb. 3.     The follow-up order is an addition to a $25 million LinkWay S2 order ViaSat received in October 2008.     The LinkWayS2 systems provide single-hop,...

The U.S. Navy has issued a contract to CapRock Government Solutions to provide emergency satellite communications services as part of U.S. military relief efforts in Haiti, the company announced Feb. 2.     CapRock will provide communications to U.S. Naval Beach Group personnel for amphibious operations such as evacuations, food and medical supply delivery and the...

International Datacasting Corp. (IDC) received a $2.62 million contract from the Canadian Department of National Defense for the continued operation of Canadian Forces Radio and Television (CFRT), IDC announced Feb. 1.     The extension is the first of two renewal options that are part of the overall Canadian defense contract IDC won in December 2008....

U.S. President Barack Obama has proposed drastic changes to NASA’s manned Constellation lunar mission and the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program in the U.S. government’s 2011 fiscal year budget.     The budget terminates NASA’s work on Orion, the follow-up vehicle to the space shuttle; ending development on two NASA rockets designed to...

The Australian Defense Force’s (ADF) deal with Intelsat to purchase a specialized UHF communications payload aboard the IS-22 satellite represented the best value-for-money tender received during its industry solicitation process, an ADF spokesperson said.     IS-22’s “capability meets our strategic needs over the Indian Ocean Region, will be delivered in a timeframe that meets our...