Press Release
For Release: IMMEDIATE

Media Contact:
Gayle Manculich
Phone: (412) 967-7477
Email: gayle.manculich@l-3com.com

BRASHEAR LP COMPLETES HIGH PRECISION 1-METER TELESCOPE FOR THE NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY
 

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 20, 2002: Brashear LP today announced it has completed work on a high precision, fast tracking 1-meter telescope for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Naval Center for Space Technology. This instrument will be used for Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), the most accurate technique currently available to determine the geocentric position of an Earth satellite and to contribute scientific studies of the Earth, it's atmosphere and ocean systems. This is the 14th telescope manufactured by Brashear to support the satellite and lunar laser ranging community.
 

To form one of the worlds most precise satellite laser ranging systems, the NRL telescope will be integrated with a unique laser timing system developed at the NRL. The position of satellites, each with special instrumentation, in orbits as high as 6000 km, will be measured to accuracies smaller than a few millimeters. "This telescope is so precise that it can track from Pittsburgh PA, a beach ball above Paris traveling over 12,000 miles per hour", says Jeff Maloney, Brashear LP Program Manager Telescope Systems.
 

Outpacing previous designs, Brashear LP has designed the latest telescopes with pointing accuracies better than one half a millionth of a degree, making them the most accurate telescope system in North America and possibly the world.
 

The NRL telescope is the first telescope to be designed, manufactured and fully tested as a system to include star and satellite observations at Brashear's facility in suburban Pittsburgh. Testing is currently underway and is scheduled to be complete by early June. Immediately following the shipment of the NRL telescope, two more 1-meter telescopes are scheduled to start the testing phase at the Brashear integration facility. The first telescope system, purchased by the National Space Development Agency of Japan will also be used for satellite laser ranging. The second telescope system, purchased by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be used for deep space optical communications. Brashear is one of the few companies in the world that offers the capability to design, manufacture, integrate, test and provide life-cycle support of complex electro-optical systems.
 

"NRL is a world-leader in Satellite Laser Ranging and we are proud to be providing them this state-of-the-art system," says Dawn Rucker, Brashear chief operating officer. "This system is the first of a new generation of high precision telescopes which will carry on the tradition of optical design and high reliability instruments that began in 1881 by John Brashear."
 

The NRL 1-meter telescope is the second recent program of Brashear's to support the U. S. Navy. Brashear is also supporting the U.S. Navy through the design and manufacture of an important upgrade to a critical ship self-defense weapons system used on virtually every U. S. warship. This upgrade will be responsible, in part, to provide the type of self-defense that could prevent tragedies such as that which occurred to the USS COLE. On this project, Brashear is a subcontractor to the Raytheon Corporation on U. S. Navy Phalanx Block 1B upgrade

#################

L-3 Brashear designs and produces complex electro-optical and electro-mechanical systems and instrumentation for the commercial and defense markets. The company delivers proven, accurate, and reliable products from concept through design, manufacture, test and life cycle support. These systems are based on core skills in precision motion systems, advanced design, analysis and fabrication technology as well as L-3 Brashear's long established leadership producing high performance optical components.

L-3 Brashear has six distinct and complementary capabilities leveraged in national defense, scientific research, and strategic intelligence gathering. These product areas are: Telescope Systems, Optical Components, Stabilized Tracking Systems, Test Range Instrumentation, Small Arms Fire Control Systems and Laser Beam Directors. Headquartered in Pittsburgh PA, L-3 Brashear employs more than 160 scientists, engineers, opticians and support staff.
 

Brashear is a team member of many current U. S. defense programs. Some of these programs are:

• U. S. Navy Phalanx Block 1B upgrade. The LSEOS Mk-IV is part of the Blk-1B surface mode upgrade program for the Raytheon MK-15 CIWS.
• U. S. Army Small Arms Fire Control Systems. Brashear is responsible for the development and manufacture of the fire control system - considered to be the heart of the weapon system for the Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW), the next generation military rifle system. Brashear is also developing and producing a precision, full-ballistic fire control system - SAFCS II - that will be used on the MK-19 (40mm) grenade gun for Picatinny Arsenal, a component of the U. S. Army.
• U. S. Air Force Airborne Laser Program. As a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin, Brashear is designing and producing the high-precision optics and the rugged gimbals necessary for the beam director. In addition to the complex series of optics in the beam path of the laser system, Brashear designed and manufactured the aircraft's unique 1.7-m diameter conformal window. This window must not only pass the laser energy unabated, it must withstand the aerodynamic and other forces associated with a tactical combat aircraft.
• U. S. Army Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL). Brashear supplied the optical system for the world's first laser-based defense system that is capable of destroying rockets in flight.

For more information on L-3 Brashear, visit our web site at www.L-3Com.com

Back