Crusader Artillary System Crusader - In addition to working on the evolutionary successor to the M1A2, other new business opportunities are being pursued that are important to the U.S. Army's overall modernization plan. Land Systems is part of a two-company team that will design and build the Crusader, the U.S. Army's advanced field artillery system. Land Systems will develop the vehicle electronics and other major components. The U.S. Army will dedicate approximately $3 billion to Crusader's development and pilot production. Full-scale production of over 1,650 vehicles could be worth up to $13 billion. More information about the Crusader can be obtained from more info here

Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAAV) Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle - Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAAV). Land Systems is the contractor for the design and build of the new Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle for the U.S. Marine Corps. A three-year, $300 million development contract started in 1996. The U.S. Marines will purchase 1,000 units beginning after the year 2000 in this $4 billion program. The AAAV will be capable of transporting 18 Marines and a crew of three over water at speeds of 29 miles an hour; the design uses a planning hull propelled by two water jets. On land, AAAV will achieve speeds of 45 miles an hour, with cross-country mobility greater than that of an M1A1 tank. A smooth transition from water to cross-country movement has always been a difficult and dangerous task for amphibious vehicles. The General Dynamics AAAV design solves this problem by the automatic transfer of power from the high-speed water jets to the vehicle tracks. Using the same vehicle design, General Dynamics will also deliver a command and control AAAV variant to the Marines. This mobile command post will provide access to information from satellite and computer-based intelligence sources, as well as from ships, aircraft and other vehicles, while controlling operations at sea or on land.

Stealth Naval Ship British Naval ship - SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND–Fog, the enemy of navies since men first fought at sea, may become the sailor's most powerful ally. Vosper Thorneycroft (VT) has presented the British navy with plans for a corvette-class ship called the Sea Wraith, which uses a combination of mechanical and electronic techniques to disguise itself as a patch of fog. The artificially generated mist would serve two purposes. It would fool human lookouts into believing they were observing a small fog bank. At the same time, it would prevent infrared sensors from detecting "hot" spots created by the ship's powerplant or recently fired weapons. Radar signals coming in contact with the ship would either be absorbed by its composite superstructure or deflected by its angled design. High-speed electric motors would safely take the ship out of harm's way if detected. The British navy hasn't decided whether to build the ship, but you probably wouldn't see it if they did.

Fast Hawk cruise missile Fast Hawk - Fasthawk is a Mach 4, wing-less and fin-less cruise missile concept that is boosted with a solid rocket and propelled by an airbreathing, hydrocarbon ramjet engine. It incorporates a bending annular missile body that uses thrust vector control to provide flight control and low drag. Fasthawk is compatible with the Navy's Vertical Launch System for ship-board land-attack applications and is adaptable to air-launched applications. Navigation and terminal accuracy is provided by a high velocity tactical GPS/INS that enables the vehicle to carry a 700 lb payload at a cruise altitude of 70,000 ft to a range of 700 nm. Fasthawk is intended to address Time-Critical Targets and Hardened & Deeply Buried Targets. Terminal impact angle is selectable during the initial targeting sequence.

Joint Strike Fighter Joint Strike Fighter - As the F-16 approaches its 25th birthday, you won't find engineers at Lockheed Martin designing party hats in celebration. They'll be putting the final touches on the next-generation multirole fighter. "Our new fighter adds stealth, advanced avionics, increased range on internal fuel, and many other features to the performance levels established by the Fighting Falcon," explains David Wheaton, vice president and program manager for the Lockheed Martin team. The aircraft, called the Joint Strike Fighter or JSF, will be the product of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology, or JAST, program. The program's jointness comes from the fact that the U.S. Air Force, Marines and Navy as well as United Kingdom's Royal Navy are working together on a set of requirements that will allow a near-common design for this aircraft.

exoatmospheric kinetic kill
vehicle Exoatmospheric Kinetic Kill Vehicle - In 1990, the U.S. Army awarded Boeing a contract to design and develop exoatmospheric kinetic kill vehicles for ground-based interceptors. After the first flight test of the Boeing EKV infrared sensor on June 23, 1997, the Department of Defense stated, "-the EKV (sensor) successfully identified and tracked the simulated threat targets." Boeing is under contract to deliver a Kill Vehicle Flight Test unit for a hit-to-kill test in mid-1998. Upon being alerted of an imminent attack against the U.S., the National Missile Defense system will launch an appropriate number of Ground Based Interceptors with EKV weapons. In space, the EKVs will separate from their boosters, immediately detect attacking missiles, distinguish real targets from decoys, and destroy them by hit-to-kill intercepts. The compact, lightweight vehicles feature advanced infrared sensors; guidance, navigation, and control; divert and attitude-control propulsion; and on-board signal processing.

Bradley Linebacker Bradley Linebacker - The Bradley-Linebacker is a short-range air-defense system fully capable of engaging all threat targets to include missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles performing reconnaissance, intelligence, surveillance and target acquisition within the engagement boundaries of the Stinger missile. This system is designed to perform these functions during day, night and all-weather conditions while on the move. It includes a standard vehicle-mounted launch with four "fire and forget" Stinger missiles. The Bradley-Linebacker moves in conjunction with the combat-proven Avenger air defense system. Popularly fielded in the U.S. armed forces, it now is being introduced internationally. Boeing was awarded an U.S. Army Missile Command contract for the integration of a Stinger missile launch system on the U.S Army Bradley Fighting Vehicle in March of 1995. The army awarded Boeing an $11 million contract for modification kit upgrades to the Bradley-Linebacker fighting vehicle. The contract calls for 60 Bradley-Linebacker vehicles to receive the kits, which enhance the basic Bradley-Linebacker by adding short range air defense "shoot-on-the-move" capability. Deliveries start November 1997 and will be completed in May 1998. Total units ordered are 85 with nine delivered.

JASSM stealth cruise missile JASSM - The Boeing low-cost, low-risk JASSM concept, developed in Phantom Works, advanced research and development. The organization represents an innovative combination of existing subsystems and mature technologies developed by the company. It also offers growth potential for different warheads and seekers, and for extended range. JASSM's midcourse guidance is provided by a Global Positioning System (GPS)-aided inertial navigation system (INS) protected by a new high, anti-jam GPS null steering antenna system. In the terminal phase, JASSM is guided by an imaging infrared seeker and a general pattern match-autonomous target recognition system that provides aimpoint detection, tracking and strike. JASSM is a quiet, autonomous, stealth cruise missile capable of delivering ordinance to the highest secured targets in the world. A downselect to one contractor for the engineering and manufacturing development and full-rate production phases is scheduled for July 1998. Low-rate initial production decision for JASSM is in the year 2000, with full-scale production scheduled to run from 2002 to 2009. Total missile production for the U.S. Air Force is expected to be 2,400 missiles. The total program is valued at approximately $3 billion.

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