Aerospace & Defense News - Defense North America

AirGuide Business, June 1, 2009

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Corp. says it is in discussions with Egypt to sell two dozen F-16 jets that would replace aging models in the country's arsenal. May 29, 2009

Lockheed Martin

Facing a shortfall of fighter jets amid the transition to F-22s and F-35s, the Air Force is weighing a service life extension program for both the F-15 and F-16. The upgrade could take the F-15 from 8,000 service hours to 12,000, while F-16s would double their 4,000-hour lifespan. May 27, 2009

Lockheed Martin

Following a three-week trial, a federal jury has ruled that L-3 Communications Corp. violated Lockheed Martin Corp.'s trade secrets while upgrading the avionics on South Korea's P-3 maritime patrol aircraft. The jury awarded Lockheed Martin USD 30 million in damages but declined to award punitive damages. L-3 said it will appeal the decision. May 27, 2009

Lockheed Martin

Dutch undersecretary of defence Jack de Vries has confirmed plans to sell a second batch of surplus Lockheed Martin F-16AM fighters to Chile. An agreement has been reached to supply 18 secondhand mid-life update-standard aircraft, and a contract signature is expected soon, according to a 25 May statement issued by the Dutch defence ministry. The Netherlands sold a first batch of 18 surplus F-16AM/BMs to Chile earlier this decade, with these now flying from Antofagasta air base. May 26, 2009

Mundus Group

Mundus Group and AirStar announced to the focusing of their efforts on commercializing AirStar's UAV Aerial Surveillance packages with training courses and technology that allow autonomous flight for 2 hours of stealth operation at 100 to 7,500 feet altitude, above city attractions, busy intersections, airports, beaches and events while providing high definition real time video to laptops and monitors anywhere. The strategic partnership will allow the ability to focus on license plate size objects and track moving or fixed objects in flight while relaying GPS pin-point accuracy coordinates. The Company plans to have demonstrations available. Air Drone is a new company dedicated to the cutting edge of VTOL UAVs. Air Drone's parent company, the Mundus Group, announced the strategic partnership with AirStar who is the co-developer and will be co-building the next generation of UAVs under the Mundus Group's new division, Air Drone Inc. and as a dedicated aerial surveillance system and service provider for military and government agencies. May 28, 2009

Mundus Group

Mundus Group teams up with AirStar International forming strong strategic alliance. Mundus Group has recently been working with AirStar International on a variety of new state of the art aerospace technology developments and patents. Some of these divisions will include Surveillance, Robotics, and Photography. AirStar International is leading high tech state of the art company that develops unmanned air vehicles. They are world renowned and have work with a wide variety of large corporations. May 26, 2009

Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding says it may need to reinspect some 10,000 welded joints on at least nine vessels after an internal investigation turned up falsified reports by a company inspector. Of the 2,000 joints reinspected as of Thursday, only one was found to be unsatisfactory -- better than the rate predicted by statistical models. In addition to its internal review, Northrop quickly notified the Navy's supervisor of shipbuilding, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service has launched its own investigation into the matter. May 29, 2009