FALLS CHURCH, Va., 9 May 2012. General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) has executed a definitive agreement to acquire IPW Holdings Inc., the parent company of IPWireless Inc., a provider of 3G and 4G LTE (long term evolution) wireless broadband network equipment and solutions for first-responder and military customers.

CHARLESTON, S.C., 20 April 2012. North American Jet Charter Group (NAJ) has been approved for a paperless cockpit on Part 135 flights. The Apple iPad now serves as the electronic flight bag (EFB) for all Eclipse Jets operated by NAJ, the largest North American operator of Eclipse Aerospace’s Eclipse Jet.

NEW YORK, 19 April 2012. The 2012 Know Drones Tour, a public education campaign focusing on legal, ethical, and civil liberties concerns stemming from a surge in drone warfare and drone surveillance, began in Brooklyn, N.Y., with sidewalk displays of large-scale replicas of the MQ-9 Reaper drone and drone replicas measuring eight feet long and with a wingspan of 11 feet.

NASHUA, N.H., 11 April 2012. The staff of PennWell’s Aerospace & Defense Group is proud to welcome Kelly Barker, the newest member of its growing team of professionals. Barker joins Avionics Intelligence (http://www.avionics-intelligence.com) and Avionics Europe (http://www.avionics-event.com) as a member of the burgeoning sales staff.

BOULDER, Colo., 11 April 2012. NASA officials have extended the Kepler Mission through 2016—four years past the original end date of Nov. 2012. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., will continue its role as mission prime contractor for Kepler, through which engineers are searching for Earth-size planets around other stars using a Ball Aerospace-built photometer and spacecraft.

CHANUTE, Kan., 9 April 2012. Spirit AeroSystems Inc. (NYSE:SPR), a non-OEM designer and manufacturer of aerostructures for commercial aircraft, has formally opened a 55,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Chanute, Kan. Employees at the new facility will perform small aircraft sub-assembly bench work for Spirit work packages.

WASHINGTON, 4 April 2012. Avionics Intelligence editor Courtney E. Howard is on the AEA convention and trade show floor this week, delivering all the latest avionics news from the general aviation event in Washington. Visit Avionics-Intelligence.com daily to keep pace with the fast-moving avionics community and all the latest technologies.

More avionics association news can be found in the Associations topic center at http://www.avionics-intelligence.com/avionics-executive/associations.html

LONDONDERRY, N.H., 3 April 2012. Vulcan Flex Circuit Corp. (VFCC), a division of Vulcan Electric Company and a provider of flexible circuits, rigid-flex circuits, and circuit assemblies to aerospace and defense customers, won a $2.7 million contract to deliver flexible circuits to L-3 Communications, Fuzing, and Ordnance Systems (L-3 FOS). The contract award supports a proximity fuze developed by the U.S. Army Armament Research Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey and manufactured by L-3 FOS in Cincinnati, Ohio.

FORT WORTH, Texas, 2 April 2012. Lockheed Martin officials, confident that F-35 operations and support costs will be comparable to or lower than those of the seven legacy platforms it will replace, have issued a statement in response to the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s F-35 Selected Acquisition Report (SAR).

SHANGHAI, 29 March 2012. Boeing (NYSE: BA) Business Jets’ (BBJ’s) latest jet entered service at the Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (ABACE) in Shanghai.

MUNICH, 22 March 2012. Presagis and Aeroconseil, a subsidiary of AKKA Technologies and an international provider of aircraft engineering and air transport services, have teamed to deliver a powerful, combined solution consisting of expert consulting services and solutions able to be leveraged from cockpit design through to final certification.

MUNICH, 22 March 2012. Presagis, a provider of commercial off-the shelf (COTS) modeling, simulation, and embedded graphics software, have signed a reseller agreement with Flexible Software Solutions. As a result, Presagis now resells Flexible Software Solutions’ off-the-shelf User Application Accelerator (UA2) and User Application Emulator (UA Emulator), which work exclusively with the Presagis VAPS XT ARINC 661 module, for developing end-to-end embedded ARINC 661 systems.

EVERETT, Wash., 12 March 2012. Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Uzbekistan Airways have partnered with Project Hope to transport medical supplies to hospitals in Tashkent on a new Boeing 767-300ER (Extended Range) aircraft. The 6,950-pound (3,150-kilogram) shipment, which includes 162 boxes of medicines and medical supplies, is part of Boeing's Humanitarian Delivery Flights program.

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio, 11 March 2012. U.S. Air Force researchers are asking industry to develop and demonstrate large, low-noise, high-uniformity, medium-wave infrared (MWIR) detector arrays for the next generation of space-based launch detection aboard satellites similar to those that are part of the Defense Support Program (DSP) and Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) constellations of reconnaissance satellites.

SINGAPORE, 20 Feb. 2012. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, now traveling through the Asia-Pacific region in the third segment of its worldwide Dream Tour, sports the Brake Control and Antiskid System from Crane Aerospace & Electronics in Lynnwood, Wa. Crane’s Brake Control and Monitoring System on the 787 combines the company’s brake control and antiskid technologies, SmartStem wireless tire pressure sensing, and brake temperature monitoring into a single system.

SINGAPORE, 17 Feb. 2012. BOC Aviation executives have selected Rockwell Collins avionics, including the company’s WXR-2100 MultiScan Threat Detection System and GLU-925 Multi-Mode Receiver (MMR), to serve as the baseline for up to 30 new Airbus A320 aircraft, deliveries of which begin this year. The chosen Rockwell Collins baseline avionics package also includes Automatic Direction Finder, Distance Measuring Equipment, High Speed Data Radio, a Very High Frequency Transceiver, and Omnidirectional Radio.

SINGAPORE, 14 Feb. 2012. Officials from Rockwell Collins and ICBC Leasing in China took part in a ceremony at the 2012 Singapore Airshow whereby ICBC will acquire and use as a baseline a suite of Rockwell Collins communication, navigation, and surveillance avionics for up to 42 new Airbus A320 aircraft, the deliveries of which will begin in the coming months.

CHANTILLY, Va., 10 Feb. 2012. TASC Inc. won a U.S. Air Force indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity Consultant, Advisory, and Technical Services (CATS) contract to support the Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) within the continental United States and U.S. territories. The CATS award has four one-year options and a maximum value of $985 million for all awardees; 13 companies are eligible to bid on individual task orders to deliver management and professional support, engineering and technical services, and studies, analyses, and evaluations. 

WASHINGTON, 7 Feb. 2012. The heads of several associations in the avionics community are coming forward to commend the U.S. Congress for approving the FAA Modernization and Reform Act 2012. The bill awaits President Obama’s signature. The legislation would provide funding through 2015—a stark departure from the past several years, in which the House and Senate approved only short-term extensions (23 of them, in fact) to the 2004 funding levels.