GILBERT, Ariz., April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Communication/Navigation
Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite, designed and built by General
Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, was successfully launched today from
the U.S. Army's Reagan Test Site in the Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the
Marshall Islands. C/NOFS is a Department of Defense (DOD) Space Test Program
and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) mission that will forecast outages in
DOD satellite communication links caused by ionospheric irregularities.
General Dynamics was the prime contractor responsible for the design,
development, payload and system integration, test and launch of the satellite.
Assembly of the spacecraft and payload integration took place at its space
systems factory in Gilbert, Arizona. General Dynamics worked with the AFRL to
incorporate the six payloads into a fully functional space satellite. Orbital
Sciences Corp. was the mission launch provider using its Pegasus launch
service.
The satellite communication and navigation systems used by the Air Force
and other DOD agencies are susceptible to outages due to ionospheric
disturbances (scintillations) in the Earth's equatorial region. C/NOFS is
designed to help predict these scintillations. C/NOFS is the first-ever
satellite system to forecast the potential degradation of satellite
communication, navigation and surveillance systems due to ionospheric
scintillations.
General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a business unit of General
Dynamics (NYSE: GD), designs, develops, manufactures, integrates, operates and
maintains mission systems for defense, space, intelligence, surveillance,
reconnaissance, homeland security and homeland defense customers.
Headquartered in Fairfax, Va., the company specializes in ground systems;
imagery processing; mission payloads; space vehicles; maritime subsurface,
surface and airborne mission systems; and tasking, collection, processing,
exploitation and dissemination programs for national intelligence. More
information is available on the Internet at http://www.gd-ais.com.
General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs
approximately 83,500 people worldwide and reported 2007 revenues of $27.2
billion. The company is a market leader in business aviation; land and
expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine
systems; and information systems and technologies. More information about the
company is available on the Internet at http://www.generaldynamics.com.
SOURCE General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems