Lockheed Martin

May 1, 2009 The idea of replacing very expensive space based satellites and Aircraft mounted Airborne Warning And Control Systems (AWACS) with stationary platforms inside Earth's atmosphere has been floated for decades. Despite the fact that lighter-than-air vehicles or airships that could fulfill this role have been flying for over 300 years, the idea is only now getting off the ground. Lockheed Martin has been chosen by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for a US$400 million contract to to design, build, test and fly a 1:3 scale model of an airship surveillance and telecommunications platform called the High Altitude Airship (HAA). The full scale HAA would measure 240 ft long by 70 ft in diameter, run entirely on solar power and be able to stay aloft for up to 10 years. Read More

The use of an exoskeleton to improve the performance of humans in various situations including the military is a hot topic in the media and leads the imagination to all sorts of possibilities. It has the potential to deliver extraordinary strength and endurance to the wearer possibly changing the face of modern warfare. As part of the further development of exoskeleton technology for military scenarios, Lockheed Martin recently introduced the Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC™) exoskeleton at the Association of the United States’ Army Winter Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Read More

January 10, 2009 A few days ago we wrote about the ongoing success of the DAGR semi-active laser guidance kit that turns dumb 2.75-inch/70mm rockets into guided rockets with accuracy comparable to that of the precision-strike laser-guided HELLFIRE II missile. DAGR is being developed by Lockheed Martin to fill the gap between unguided rockets and the HELLFIRE weapon system by providing a precision-strike, air-to-ground weapon for lightly-armored high-value targets close to civilian assets or friendly forces, while limiting collateral damage. We reported on the first live warhead ground launch test of DAGR in which it maintained a perfect 12-for-12 success rate in contractor-funded flight tests. Here's the video - note how the Rocket penetrates the van and reaches the centre before exploding. Read More

January 7, 2009 Coming soon to somewhere hopefully not near you. DAGR is a semi-active laser guidance kit that adapts to 2.75-inch/70mm rockets to provide guided-rocket performance comparable to that of the precision-strike laser-guided HELLFIRE II missile. DAGR is being developed by Lockheed Martin to fill the gap between unguided rockets and the HELLFIRE weapon system by providing a precision-strike, air-to-ground weapon for lightly-armored high-value targets close to civilian assets or friendly forces, while limiting collateral damage. This week saw the first live warhead ground launch test of DAGR and it maintained a perfect 12-for-12 success rate in contractor-funded flight tests. Conducted at Eglin Air Force Base, the latest test demonstrated DAGR's vehicle penetration and time-delayed fuzing when a DAGR-equipped rocket armed with a live warhead penetrated the side of a stationary vehicle before detonating inside. Read More

Lockheed Martin has promised that its fifth gen F-35 fighter will allow pilots to “do things that were previously considered impossible, and to think things that were previously unthinkable.” Almost two years after its maiden flight, the F-35 Lightning II has reached another development milestone – supersonic flight. Test pilot Jon Beesley accelerated the F-35 AA-1 to Mach 1.05, with a full internal load of dummy weapons. Read More

The first operational pilot production aircraft in the VH-71 presidential helicopter program has successfully completed its 40-minute maiden flight. The PP-1 is the first of five VH-71 production aircraft that will be tested during phase one of the US$6.1 billion presidential helicopter replacement program. Read More

After the Phoenix lander has finished scraping away at Martian soil, the MAVEN spacecraft will examine the atmosphere of the red planet. The US$485 million Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN program is the second stage of NASA’s Mars Scout program, following the successful Phoenix mission. The MAVEN craft will study the planet’s atmospheric gases, upper atmosphere, solar wind, ionosphere, planetary corona, solar EUV and SEPS, and investigate past climate change. Read More

March 7, 2008 Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company has received a $5.7 million contract from DARPA to head a team to compete in Phase 1 of the System F6 space technology program. F6 - meaning Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractioned, Free-Flying Spacecraft United by Information Exchange – is an attempt to construct a networked, module-based alternative to singular, monolithic satellites. Read More

February 19, 2008 Lockheed Martin has received a ten-year, $1 billion contract from the FBI to develop and maintain the Next Generation Identification system, which will expand fingerprint capacity to double the size of its current database, and incorporate palm print, iris, and facial recognition capabilities. The system is also designed to incorporate other biometric modalities that may become important in the future. Read More