HOUSTON, 4 Feb. 2012. NASA officials announced receipt of more than 6,300 applications from individuals desirous of becoming a NASA astronaut. The second highest number of applications ever received by the agency was logged between 15 Nov. 2011 and 27 Jan. 2012. NASA officials will select between nine and 15 people, following a thorough selection process that includes interviews and medical examinations, to become part of the 21st astronaut class.

NASHUA, N.H., 3 Feb. 2012. U.S. Army officials have named BAE Systems in Nashua, N.H., and Northrop Grumman Corp. in Manassas, Va., as the contractors, under a 21-month technology demonstration award valued at $38 million, to develop the next-generation Common Infrared Countermeasure (CIRCM) solution. U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine rotary-wing aircraft will employ the lightweight, directed infrared countermeasure system.

SAN DIEGO, 27 Jan. 2012. Military electronics industry experts are optimistic for the continued health in military electronics spending for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); command, control, computers, and intelligence (C4I), unmanned vehicles, and electronic warfare (EW) in the upcoming fiscal year 2013 budget request for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), which is scheduled for public release and submission to Congress on 13 Feb.

Jan. 4, 2012 By Chris Murray.

When it comes to a sound certification practice, commercial and military avionics are light years ahead of the pack. DO-178 certification, first introduced in the 1980s, represents the gold-standard, requiring companies to comply with software processes that mandate requirements traceability, software architecture and coding guidance, comprehensive testing of all code, and the production of certifiable products. Both commercial and military industries boast the healthiest record on system safety. And, largely due to these processes, projects such as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) are recognized for the highest levels of design and safety integrity.

Jan. 1, 2012. U.S. Navy and Marine Corps manned and unmanned aircraft benefit from increasingly robust, flexible, and advanced electronics. U.S. Navy and Marine Corps officials share a singular goal: to infuse new and existing aircraft with advanced avionics technology. Today’s avionics advancements, being employed in manned and unmanned aircraft, provide a competitive advantage and increased potential for mission success and warfighter safety.

AMBLER, Pa. 2 Feb. 2012. MEN Micro Inc. in Ambler, Pa., is introducing the semi-custom MM2 small computer-on-module (COM) with an application-specific carrier board and upgraded processor for use in industrial, harsh, mobile, and mission-critical environments in applications such as avionics, railway, agricultural and construction machines, medical engineering, and industrial automation.

IRVINE, Calif., 1 Feb. 2012. The United States Air Force has, for its Quantum Enterprise Buy (QEB) program, selected the Getac B300 rugged notebook computer from Getac, maker of rugged computers for field-based applications, and NCS Technologies, a manufacturer of mission-specific computers and some Getac products under a licensing agreement.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., 1 Feb. 2012. Green Hills Software in Santa Barbara, Calif., is introducing the end-to-end ISS Security Solutions software engineering tools suite for the company's Integrity real-time operating system (RTOS). ISS Security Solutions consists of Suite B-Compliant Security Protocol Toolkits and Device Lifecycle Management (DLM) system.