Ongoing activity in March and April included mergers and acquisitions, product launches and milestones, as well as seemingly healthy contract activity, but financials continue to emphasize the difficulties faced by the defense industry. Strategy Analytics Advanced Defense Systems (ADS) service reports, "Defense Electronics Industry Review: March 2013," and "Defense Electronics Industry Review: April 2013," detail significant defense industry news, including product announcements, milestones, contract activity and defense industry financial performance as the first quarter of 2013 came to a close.

Taking a snapshot of financials from companies including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and United Technologies, revenues were by and large flat for most companies for the first quarter of 2013. The defense industry continues to focus on streamlining operations and ensuring profitability as revenue growth slows, stagnates or declines. While revenues stayed on a par with the prior year, most company outlooks point to full-year revenues declines as purchases are offset and uncertainty around future expenditure remains.

However, revenues are not the whole story and activity around contracts, business tie-ups, product launches and milestones remained robust over March and April. March saw several key systems passing tests such as the Northrop Grumman AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) and Raytheon testing a dual-band datalink with a Thales Nederland Advanced Phased Array Radar (APAR). The competition to upgrade fourth generation fast-jet platforms with fifth generation capabilities such as active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar is also starting to heat up with offerings from Raytheon and Northrop Grumman targeted at the F-16 platform. While the competition for the US fleet is yet to be initiated, the first skirmish between the solutions has gone the way of Raytheon’s Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR) AESA radar selected by the Republic of Korea to upgrade the country's KF-16C/D Block 52 Fighting Falcon fleet.

There were a number of new semiconductor products released over March and April targeted for use in defense systems and platforms. TriQuint was announcing products in conjunction with GOMACTech 2013 with the release of broadband integrated packaged solutions that combine a limiter with LNA for use in radar and electronic warfare as well as a 25W Ku-band GaN RF power amplifier for satellite communications. Comtech Xicom Technology also focused on GaN with the introduction of a compact and highly efficient GaN-based amplifier for X-band MILSATCOM service in March and followed this with a GaN 6-to-18 GHz RF amplifier for electronic warfare, radar transmitters, and communications applications in April. API Technologies also expanded its GaN power amplifier line targeting electronic warfare, RCIED countermeasures, and national security jammer applications. GaAs-based products were also in the offing with OMMIC announcing sampling of three new production ready X band power amplifiers as well as GaAs-based products from Custom MMIC and M/A-COM Tech.

Clients of the ADS service can read the full report here

Don’t miss our regular column in Microwave Journal’s Military Microwaves.

See Defence iQ for more analysis on the defense industry, related news and events.

Asif

WEBINAR: Military Satellite Market Trends and Outlook

"As a force multiplier, space assets can provide advanced capabilities and 
compensate for reductions in other conventional assets". 

With a medium-term squeeze on national budgets, there is a growing need to balance military capability, AND AT THE SAME TIME, reduce costs.

Perhaps there was never more need for a force multiplier

In this webinar, Strategy Analytics' Director of Advanced Defense Systems service
 - Asif Anwar - will be examining approaches to target the above:

*  Dual-use or COTS technologies

*  Multilateral cooperation

*  Small satellites

*  Use of Ka-band and Ku-band

*  GaAs, GaN and phased-arrays

This webinar is an opportunity to tune in to the challenging realities facing defense industries in the current economic climate.  Register for one of the two sessions on Tuesday, April 23rd ...

Click Here to register for Session 1  |  Click Here to register for Session 2

 2pm BST (UK), 9am EDT (NY)  |  10am PDT (LA), 1pm EST (NY)

You may know that Asif Anwar is a regular contributor to the 'Expert Insights' Military Defense Column for Microwave Journal.

Eurosatory is held in Paris on a biannual basis with Eurosatory 2012 continuing to focus as an event centered on land and air platforms. The event boasted over 53,000 attendees and included a new focus on security this year including cyber. There were a range of technologies showcased at Eurosatory 2012 emphasizing the importance of enhancing capabilities and meeting the needs of SwaP-constrained platforms.

The growing use of COTS-based platforms was also highlighted by both DRS Technologies and Harris with the introduction of ruggedized, Military-grade Android-based handheld computer and tablet products. Elektrobit’s Counter-RCIED platform was demonstrated as a potential tool for convoy mission planning. Rohde & Schwarz was emphasizing the use of IP technologies for radio communication platforms. Finally, there was a range of radar technologies on show with Cassidian, FLIR and Camero showing solutions targeting applications from border surveillance to through-wall imaging.

IMS 2012 was held in Montreal, Canada for the first time in its 60 year history and a strong industrial program was complimented with a good mix of technical sessions and social events. While attendance was flat, there was an overall increase of around 40% year-on-year in the number of paper submissions.

Main themes that came out of the technical sessions centered on low cost millimeter-wave technologies based on Si CMOS. Terahertz technologies also continued to be a key topic with new concepts and a look towards integrated devices. Finally, nanotechnology was discussed in technical sessions with tunable devices including MEMS-based switches looking to commercial markets. Other areas of interest identified included energy harvesting, wireless energy transmission and the use of RF technologies in biomedical applications as well as the role RF will play in the “Internet of Everything”.

On the show floor, there was a positive atmosphere with companies focused on both commercial and defense markets. Strategy Analytics was also on the show floor to kick off a series of Richardson RFPD Supplier presentations where we outlined our thoughts on how GaN is becoming a pivotal technology in the defense sector. Strategy Analytics’ breakfast session at IMS 2012 was held in conjunction with Microwave Journal this year and included participation from Cree, Nitronex, NXP, RFMD, TriQuint and UMS with the presentations serving as a platform to confirm the applicability of GaN to addressing communications, electronic warfare, and radar applications.

The need for wideband communications including demand from the UAV and SATCOM sector at Ku-band and the need to address Ka-band requirements from SOTM, missile seekers and other communications applications is also driving opportunities for GaN device suppliers. However, while GaN technology hits a lot of the parameters being asked for by military system designers, other technologies including TWTs, LDMOS and SiC will also continue to play a role in future defense system design.

Finally, the Farnborough International Airshow 2012 took place in July acting as a conduit for the trade, with orders and commitments covering a total of 758 aircraft and worth $72 billion. More impressive, given the current economic uncertainty was the fact that the order value represented a 53 percent increase on 2010.

Attendance was equally impressive with just over 107,000 trade visitors and over 1500 exhibitors with representation right across the supply chain. Over 70 military delegations from 46 countries attended with a further 13 delegations from the civil sector. The UK Prime Minister opened the show, and other UK Cabinet members made keynote speeches, with other senior ministers visiting from the UK and overseas.

Over 140 aircraft took part in the static and flying displays at the Farnborough Aerodrome in Hampshire. While the Airbus A400M was unable to fly (again!) due to mechanical issues, the Airbus A380 was in attendance and other flying display highlights included the Korean T50 jet trainer, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Saab Gripen Fighter.

Perhaps surprisingly, the continuing requirement for a range of technologies was emphasized during meetings at Farnborough. TMD Technologies was showcasing its S-band TWT solutions as well as highlighting the capabilities of the company’s X-band 8kW PAMs which can be combined with up to 12 units to enable land-based radar solutions and provide the graceful degradation typically associated with GaAs and GaN-based AESA systems. On the GaAs front, Plextek’s Blighter B400 FMCW/Doppler Ku-band PESA radar was being demonstrated and Eletronnica was also showcasing GaAs-based solutions with the Virgilius EW system which provides both ESM and jamming functionality based around an AESA RF front-end.

In conclusion, there were a range of technologies showcased at all the shows with radar, communications and electronic warfare capabilities and requirements driving demand for technologies that can enhance the capabilities of existing platforms as well as meet the ever growing need to optimize SWaP parameters across both existing and emerging platforms.

Clients of the ADS service can read the full reports on the Eurosatory, IMS and Farnborough shows:

Defense Technology Highlights from Eurosatory 2012

RF Technologies for Defense at IMS 2012 Centered on GaN

Satellites, UAVs, Radar and Travelling Wave Tubes at Farnborough 2012

Also, don’t miss our regular column in Microwave Journal’s Military Microwaves.

See Defence iQ for more analysis on the defense industry, related news and events.

Asif

Military applications will continue to grow and drive fundamental development of semiconductor technologies such as gallium nitride (GaN) and this was highlighted with product announcements during IMS 2012 reviewed in the Strategy Analytics Advanced Defense Systems (ADS) service report, “Defense Electronics Industry Review: June 2012.” Additionally, the report details significant defense industry news, including product announcements, milestones, contract activity and defense industry financial performance for the month of June.

Strategy Analytics’ breakfast session held in conjunction with Microwave Journal during IMS 2012 included participation from Cree, Nitronex, NXP, RFMD, TriQuint and UMS with the presentations serving as a platform to confirm the applicability of GaN to addressing communications, electronic warfare, and radar applications. The panelist presentations confirmed applicability of GaN to addressing EW, radar and communications applications, by highlighting products with some combination of high power, high efficiency and wide bandwidth performance. During the conference itself, there were also a number of product announcements showcasing GaN capabilities including Toshiba’s new X-band GaN hybrid IC (HIC) targeted at TRMs (transmit-receive modules) used in active electronically scanned array (AESA) and passive electronically scanned array (PESA) radar applications.

Eurosatory 2012 in Paris was also in June allowing defense companies to showcase new products and capabilities with a focus on the land and air domains. Elbit Systems Ltd announced the launch of the VWS radar, a new, continuous wave (CW) radar, specifically designed for Active Protection Systems (APS) to provides soft/hard protection for light or heavy armored vehicles. On the EW front, Netline launched a new, extremely small, lightweight, accurate jammers, such as the C-Guard HHJ and the PJP - Portable Jammer Pack – based on new exciter technology as well as using RF capabilities provided by semiconductor technologies such as GaN.

In communications systems, ITT Exelis upgraded its hand-held SpearNet radio with enhancements that further extend its capabilities with an emphasis on providing cellular-like mobility coupled with increased bandwidth throughputs to enable voice, video and data communications. Harris introduced the Falcon III RF-7800H wideband manpack, reportedly the world's smallest, lightest and fastest wideband HF radio as well as the next generation of the combat-proven Falcon III® RF-7800W High-Capacity Line-of-Sight radio. The company has also introduced a handheld variant – the RF-7800M – designed to connect dismounted warfighters to emerging wideband tactical networks.

Other system level activity during June also included systems that employ semiconductor technologies. Boeing and Raytheon received contracts related to AN/APG-79 AESA radar upgrades, while Northrop Grumman demonstrated the capabilities of the company's AN/AAQ-37 distributed aperture system (DAS) and AN/APG-81 AESA radar, both featured on the F-35.

All of these developments will continue to drive demand for RF technologies such as GaN. As these technologies mature, the boundaries around performance and applicability are also crystallising and over the course of IMS 2012 and more recently at Farnborough, it is clear that GaN is no longer seen as a TWT (traveling wave tube) killer by either side. Where there is a need for high power at high frequency without compromising efficiency, then TWT technologies from companies such as e2v Technologies, TMD Technologies, L-3 Communications Electron Technologies will continue to play a key role in defense systems. Indeed, there is potential for these technologies to complement each other especially in the growing trend towards MPMs which utilise mini-TWTs typically in conjunction with a solid-state driver amplifier. As with commercial markets, the military sector will find that these respective technologies as well as other technologies (both existing and emerging) are best utilised in complementary fashion rather than trying to hone in on one flavour of technology alone as the panacea for all future system and platform design.

Clients of the ADS service can read the full report here.

Also, don’t miss this month’s column in the Microwave Journal’s Military Microwaves.

See Defence iQ for more analysis on the defense industry, related news and events.

Asif

Recent defense industry developments center around future platforms with the US Navy looking ahead to the 2030s for a new fighter that could be unmanned. Other areas of focus included next generation systems underpinned by new technologies. The Strategy Analytics Advanced Defense Systems (ADS) service report, “Defense Electronics Industry Review: May 2012,” reviews significant defense industry news, including product announcements, milestones, contract activity and defense industry financial performance.

Even though the JSF has yet to make its operational debut, the US Navy is already looking ahead, issuing a Request for Information (RfI) for a new fighter, which could be manned or unmanned, to replace the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler in the 2030s. In the short term, unmanned platforms remain in focus also with Northrop Grumman announcing a deal for NATO's Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system which includes five Block 40 Global Hawk UAS. Elbit Systems was also active in Europe with a contract that will see the company supply UAS platforms over the next two years. Also in Europe, BAE Systems has begun testing technology to enable conventional aircraft to fly safely without pilots, including weather-avoidance and emergency landing systems.

New technologies will underpin these new platforms and the capabilities that they bring. For example, the Block 40 UAS platforms for the AGS program will utilize the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) ground surveillance radar sensor which uses active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology based using compound semiconductors like gallium arsenide (GaAs).  In other radar related news, Selex Galileo will begin delivering a new version of its Raven ES-05 AESA radar for integration with Saab's two-seat demonstrator for the next-generation Gripen E/F. Progress is also being made on the Euroradar Captor-E AESA for Eurofighter Typhoon where Cassidian is acting as design authority.

Other examples of semiconductor technologies underpinning the next generation of systems include the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) electronic warfare program, which is providing opportunities for companies such as ITT Exelis. It will utilize AESA technology based around gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors. Cassidian is also using GaN technology for the electronic components that will be used for the German Armed Forces' new software-defined radio communications system (KommSysBw).

On the research front, TriQuint has been selected by DARPA to lead a development program focused on ultra-fast GaN switch technology for the Microscale Power Conversion (MPC) program. TriQuint is teamed with Rockwell Collins, the University of Colorado at Boulder and Northrop Grumman to create a new generation of RF power amplifiers that use contour modulation for very high efficiency performance that exceeds the capabilities of devices currently available.

GaN continues to play a large part in future defense systems and is also gaining traction in the commercial world. Strategy Analytics explored this technology in detail last week during IMS 2012 in Montreal, Canada. Our special panel session, “Where are the emerging RF market opportunities for GaN?” attracted over 130 participants and provided a great overview of where this technology is going. Thanks to Microwave Journal for working with Strategy Analytics to set up the event and a special thank you to Cree, Nitronex, NXP, RFMD, TriQuint and UMS and Nitronex for presenting such great insightful content.

Finally, laser weapons appeared to be once again in vogue. Northrop Grumman test fired the first product in its next-generation FIRESTRIKE™ family of high-energy, solid-state lasers demonstrating that the laser could burn through the skin and critical components of a target drone. Meanwhile, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) is looking to develop a solid-state laser weapon prototype for multi-mission capabilities aboard a ship.

Clients of the ADS service can read the full report here.

Also, don’t miss this month’s column in the Microwave Journal’s Military Microwaves.

Finally, I’ll be attending IQPC’s Military Satellites 2012 conference this week including a site visit to the headquarters of Surrey Satellite Technology to learn about micro and nano-satellite development from a leader in the global satellite market.

See Defence iQ for more analysis on the defense industry, related news and events.

Asif

Defending military assets from attacks generated through the digital cyber domain means that traditional battle domains – air, land, sea and space – now have a fifth operational category, cyber space. Defending this fifth domain is only going to become more important as military platforms and systems increasingly adopt net-centricity as a central tenet of operation.

Net-centricity is simply the continuing evolution for military operations in the IP domain and cyber-security will need to be woven into devices and networks. There will be a convergence of physical/RF and cyber exploits and cybersecurity will become a mainstay even as budget constraints impact other aspects of a program.

There are many aspects to cybersecurity and the multidimensional nature of the problem requires a range of capabilities and technologies. To cover these requirements, there are specialty companies that focus on specific elements as well as solution providers such as General Dynamics and 3eTI. Larger defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Thales are also working hard to evolve their capabilities.

The Strategy Analytics Advanced Defense Systems (ADS) service report “Defending the Fifth Domain” explores the continuing move towards net-centricity and the implications of operating in the cyber domain for military operations. Other issues covered include IPv6 readiness, linking future cyber requirements with electronic warfare and identifying the core requirements for companies to be successful.

Clients of the ADS service can read the full report here

Also, don’t miss my monthly column in the Microwave Journal’s Military Microwaves.

See Defence iQ for more analysis on the defense industry, related news and events.

Asif

The Advanced Defense Systems (ADS) service has just released, “Defense Electronics Industry Review: April 2012,” covering defense industry news including business events, product announcements, milestones and contract activity for the month of April.

With budget cuts continuing to threaten the outlook for the defense industry, a snapshot of some of the financials, from companies including General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and United Technologies released in April, comparing fourth quarter 2011 revenues with revenues achieved in the first quarter of 2012 shows negative quarterly growth with an average decline of 9 percent. On a positive note, the companies considered in this snapshot all achieved positive net income for the quarter. The challenge will be maintaining profitability especially if quarterly revenues continue on the same trend.

On the other hand, contract activity across platforms, systems and component technologies appeared to be robust. Examples included Textron winning the competitive MEUAS (Mid-Endurance Unmanned Aircraft Systems) II award and BAE Systems upgrading Royal Saudi Air Force F-15S electronic warfare capabilities.

Other highlights in April included the continuing development of GaN technology capabilities for use in military systems leading to contract awards to Raytheon, Rockwell Collins and TriQuint. ELTA Systems successfully demonstrating its new wideband LTE Tactical Communication Network, the TAC4G, while Herley Industries received an order for the production and supply of specialty microwave products for a new missile platform.

Clients of the ADS service can read the full report here

Also, don’t miss my monthly column in the Microwave Journal’s Military Microwaves.

See Defence iQ for more analysis on the defense industry, related news and event.

Asif

DARPA released a broad-agency announcement (DARPA-BAA-12-27) for the Fixed Wireless at a Distance program. The program aims to overcome perceived limitations of today's military mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) and develop mobile communications infrastructure that interconnects small groups of military radios. The system should be able to support legacy and emerging military systems and integrate commercial 3G or 4G commercial cellular and commercial Wi-Fi base station technology.

Communications must be supported over distances of up to twelve miles for legacy systems and beyond 30 miles for emerging systems that may have MIMO capabilities and be capable of two to twenty simultaneous coherent signal streams. Technology options under consideration include increasing transmit power or receive sensitivity; increasing base station antenna height; increasing base station antenna gain; and space-time coding.

There are solutions already available that could potentially be adapted to meet these requirements without necessitating the development of new solutions and one example for consideration could be Lockheed Martin’s MONAX network and Raytheon’s MAINGATE solution.

It will be interesting to see what solutions are put forward by industry and whether budgetary constraints will lead to a more pragmatic approach to meeting DARPA requirements as opposed to the traditional philosophy of designing systems from scratch leading to the inevitable cycle of delays and cost overruns.

A couple of examples from the NTISR (non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) front as the extension of an existing EW solution show how the defense industry can support future efforts without having to design whole new systems.

Northrop Grumman received two follow-on LRIP contract awards from the USAF to provide additional LITENING SE advanced targeting pods. LITENING SE pods include full 1Kx1K forward looking infrared, 1Kx1K charge-coupled device and short wave infrared sensors, color symbols, tracker improvement, enhanced zoom, and two-way multi-band data link. LITENING SE recently completed an extensive flight test program on the F-16 Block 40/50 and A-10C aircraft.

Meanwhile, the French defence procurement agency (DGA) has awarded Thales a contract to adapt ASTAC tactical reconnaissance pods for the Mirage 2000D. The ASTAC pod is designed to be carried under the fuselage of F4 Phantom, Mirage F1 and Mirage 2000 combat aircraft to provide an ELINT and tactical reconnaissance capability, including updating the overall situation and generating the electronic order of battle.

Roke Manor Research, a Chemring Group company, has expanded its RESOLVE Electronic Warfare (EW) range to include permanent vehicle fixtures and static mast-mounted deployments. The new systems extend RESOLVE’s modular manpack capabilities allowing it to be fitted to a variety of platforms, whilst maintaining the flexibility to be easily dismounted for use in complex terrain or discreet operations.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin has unveiled the F-16V, a new variant and upgrade package that comes with AESA radar as well as upgraded mission computer and architecture, and improvements to the cockpit.

On the unmanned front, while the Global Hawk is not a legacy platform per se when compared to the F-16, an expanding mission envelope towards maritime surveillance has led to the sensor capabilities being upgraded. Northrop Grumman recently commenced flight tests of the first developmental multifunction active sensor (MFAS) radar destined for the U.S. Navy's MQ-4C Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System (BAMS UAS).

Lockheed Martin’s new F-16V variant and upgrade package will also include datalinks allowing the aircraft to operate alongside the F-35 and F-22. The new capability on the F-16 means even if a country is unable to buy the F-35 or F-22, it can still have fighters that can operate alongside U.S. and other air forces’ fifth generation fighters.

Lockheed Martin is targeting both the domestic and export market with V upgrades with South Korea’s requirement to upgrade its F-16s and the U.S. Air Force’s interest in upgrading 300-350 F-16s. Other potential opportunities could include Singapore and Taiwan.

LONGBOW recently delivered the first production Unmanned Aerial Systems Tactical Common Data Link Assembly (UTA) to the U.S. Army for the Apache Block III helicopter. LONGBOW UTA is a two-way, high-bandwidth data link for the Apache that enables aircrews to control the sensor and flight path of Unmanned Aircraft Systems.  UTA-equipped Apache aircrews can operate a UAS at long range and receive real-time, high-definition streaming video on their multi-function displays.

With budgetary constraints in mind, it will be interesting to see whether a more pragmatic approach to meeting future DARPA requirements will be adopted especially where it appears that there are existing solutions can be adapted. The drive to provide extended capabilities is also being seen in other areas and while in some cases the extension of capabilities will be a “nice to have” feature there will also be a genuine requirement to adapt legacy platforms to meet future needs with communications, radar and electronic warfare systems and the underlying RF technologies pivotal in extending these capabilities.

Clients of the ADS service can read the full report, Reinventing the wheel (?), extending capabilities and talking with the next generation 

In electronic warfare (EW) the US Army Contracting Command, MICC, Aberdeen Proving Ground awarded BAE Systems E&IS, Electronic Warfare - Information Dominance Systems (IDS) a contract for procurement of SIGINT Traveler Pod (T-Pod) Systems for the MQ-1C Sky Warrior / Gray Eagle UAS while ITT Exelis has successfully installed and tested an advanced self-defense electronic warfare system on F-16 aircraft operated by an international customer.

Looking ahead, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon joined forces to compete for a US Navy contract that will upgrade the fleet's capability to electronically attack anti-ship missiles.

Through its Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block 3 upgrade, the Navy seeks to cost effectively enhance the electronic attack capability of its AN/SLQ-32 V(3) and V(4) EW systems to counter threat technology advances. All US aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and other warships use the AN/SLQ-32 EW system.

Staying with EW, the team of ITT Exelis and Boeing has successfully successfully demonstrated multiple critical technology elements, including digital beam-forming, mid band and high band power amplifiers as part of the U.S. Navy Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) program’s technology maturation phase.

The digital beam-forming technology demonstrated recent advancements made in broad band electronically steerable antenna arrays which have come through the use of AESA technology in the radar field. As discussed during the Strategy Analytics webinar, “AESA Radar Trends: Fast-jets and Beyond” AESA technology is starting to extend beyond radar into EW and communications applications and the NGJ program is one example.

Another aspect discussed in “AESA Radar Trends: Fast-jets and Beyond” is the move towards GaN-based technology and NGJ program again affirms our prediction that GaN technology will become a pivotal technology for future generations of radar, communications and EW systems.

Other developments in the first month of January 2012 included Harris Corporation reporting several communications contracts. In the weapons area, MBDA was awarded the FLAADS Demonstration Phase Contract by the UK Ministry of Defence to develop the SEA CEPTOR naval air defence system. Finally, in radar applications, Raytheon received additional contracts for maintenance of the COBRA DANE radar facility while Elta Systems anticipates the first sale of its developmental system as Airbus Military completed initial flight test activities on an AEW&C derivative of its C-295 medium transport.

To read more about defense industry events in January, see Defense Electronics Industry Review: January 2012 which covers defense industry news for the month of January, covering radar, electronic warfare, weapons systems and communications. The report also looks at microwave, optoelectronic and other components discussing business event, product announcments, milestones and contract activity.

Despite the uncertainties as budget cuts loom over the industry, there was continued activity across all areas including contracts, business transactions and technology development in the closing month of 2011.

On the business front, there were also a number of business acquisitions in December with Raytheon acquiring two companies to further extend Raytheon's capabilities to defend against sophisticated cybersecurity threats facing customers in the intelligence community, DoD and commercial organizations. General Dynamics sold its holdings in UAS Dynamics to partner Elbit Systems of America while also completing its acquisition of Force Protection. Back in Europe, a MoU was signed between Cassidian and Alenia Aeronautica to jointly investigate the potential cooperation in the field of MALE UAS and UCAV platforms. Safran and Thales signed a preliminary agreement to form a joint venture to develop and market new electro-optical equipment for the defense market, and Thales also acquired US-based Tampa Microwave to complement Thales’s existing product portfolio and expand its capabilities in the wideband SATCOM domain.

Contract activity remained robust with Lockheed Martin involved in the Aegis program and for the continued contractor engineering technical support (CETS) services in support of the Egyptian AN/TPS-59(V)3E and M34 radar sets. Raytheon booked $320 million in new contract awards related to its AESA radar programs for domestic and international customers while the Missile Defense Agency awarded Raytheon a contract to provide two AN/TPY-2 radars to the U.S. Army as the radar component to the THAAD missile defense system. Raytheon also announced $50 million worth of contract bookings related to its electronic warfare business and was also prolific in the weapons sector with contracts for the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA as well as multimillion-dollar contracts for the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) and contract awards the Phalanx, SeaRAM and Land-based Phalanx weapons systems as well as the NATO SEASPARROW surface missile systems.

In the area of communications and navigation, Northrop Grumman announced a follow-on contract by the U.S. Navy to provide integration and laboratory test support for the LN-251 embedded GPS/fiber-optic inertial navigation system on the new CH-53K Super Stallion helicopter and is also working with ITT Exelis to compete for the U.S. Army's new vehicle-mounted, software-defined radio, the Mid-Tier Networking Vehicular Radio (MNVR), which replaces the cancelled Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Ground Mobile Radio. Meanwhile, Rockwell Collins received an order for more than 20,000 additional Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR) units for use by the U.S. Armed Services and Allies, while BAE Systems has received a contract to design, install and test onboard radio communications and network capability for the U.S. Navy’s new DDG 113 and DDG 114 destroyers.

On the technology development front, Cassidian introduced the Spexer 2000 Coastal which uses AESA radar technology to provide a multi-tasking and multi-mode capability for wide-area protection of coastlines, maritime infrastructure and harbors against asymmetric threats. Both Raytheon and the ITT Exelis and Boeing Team completed wind tunnel tests for their respective offerings for the Next Generation Jammer, while Lockheed Martin launched a Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Plus (GMLRS+) rocket in a test at White Sands Missile Range, NM. Finally, Northrop Grumman & TriQuint are collaborating on a DARPA contract through the Microscale Power Conversion program. Northrop Grumman will conduct research on high-efficiency transmitters with GaN Class E power amplifiers in conjunction with RF wideband contour modulation and sub-banded switching supply modulation. The objective of the program is to develop innovative RF power amplifier designs that incorporate supply modulation and control enabled by novel power switch technology. TriQuint Semiconductor will work on GaN and related process technologies.