The newly formed United Launch Alliance launched a Delta II rocket June 7, boosting the Italian-built COSMO-SkyMed payload into orbit from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The company says that this is the first time a ULA Delta II launch vehicle has been used for a commercial satellite. This Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation, or COSMO-1, is the first of four COSMO-SkyMeds scheduled for launch. COSMO-2 will launch either later this year or early 2008.
Raytheon, a division of defense giant RTX, recently announced a multiyear deal with the Pentagon to increase annual production of the Air Force’s primary dogfighting missile by more than 50 percent from two years ago.
