With a pedigree dating back to the legendary Jolly Green Giant of the Vietnam War, the current H-53 Series helicopters are the workhorses of the U.S. military, performing heroically in any assignment: heavy transport; search and rescue; medical evacuation; minesweeping; and a range of special operations. Capable of carrying a 16-ton load 50 nautical miles, the H-53s have room inside for 55 troops, 24 stretchers, or a jeep and trailer. They can lift a 155-mm howitzer, its ammunition, and its crew -- or another helicopter. H-53s have rescued downed pilots in Bosnia and Iraq, pulled civilians out of war-torn Liberia, plucked astronauts from the sea, and ferried supplies to disaster areas around the world.

Flying around the clock, in all weather, at high altitudes and low, over the mountains of the Balkans and the deserts of Iraq and Kuwait, the Eagle is the premier dual-role — air-to-air/air-to-ground — tactical fighter in the world, with the combat record to prove it. With up to 59,000 pounds of engine thrust, the fighter can accelerate from idle power to maximum afterburner in 4 seconds, reach speeds in excess of Mach 2 at altitude, or carry a mixed-weapons payload of up to 23,000 pounds. Its totally integrated, multi-mission avionics system allows the Eagle to detect and track the enemy from beyond the horizon and down to the treetops — and the pilot to engage in air-to-air defense while the weapons systems officer is designating the ground target. In short, the Eagle outperforms and outfights all other fighters.

Evolving from humble beginnings — the need for a no-frills, relatively inexpensive, relatively lightweight air-to-air fighter — the Fighting Falcon turned into a multi-role star, incorporating breakthrough operational and structural technology along the way. It was one of the first fly-by-wire aircraft, and, carrying a full fuel load, it can withstand 9 Gs, more than any other fighter. Capable of flying 500 miles to its target, delivering its weapons with pinpoint accuracy, defending itself against enemy aircraft, and returning to base, the “little” Falcon flew more sorties during Operation Desert Storm than any other aircraft, and — still relatively inexpensive — is being built jointly by the U.S. and 4 NATO allies.

Wars happen in inconvenient places. Enter the Osprey V-22 vertical/short takeoff and landing aircraft [V/STOL], designed to get the Marines where they need to go, anywhere in the world — no runway required. Deployable from land or ship, the Osprey takes off, hovers, and lands like a helicopter. Once airborne, it converts in 20 seconds into a high-speed, high-altitude (25,000 ft) turbo-prop plane that flies twice as fast and four times as far as a conventional helicopter. It can carry 24 combat-equipped Marines, or a 15,000-pound external load of supplies or hardware. Yet with its revolutionary blade and wing stowage system, it can be stowed inside carriers and cargo planes: wings and rotor can be folded in 90 seconds in a 60-knot wind (under 6 minutes without ground crew assistance). And this bird is a long-distance traveler, with a self-deploy ferrying range of 2,100 nautical miles with one aerial refuel.

Lethal, mobile, and survivable, the Crusader howitzer is the world's first completely automated, digitized (1.7 million lines of operating system code) artillery system -- the most significant innovation in field artillery since breech-loading cannons were introduced during the Civil War. The Crusader is a two-vehicle system, consisting of a 40-ton, 155-mm self-propelled howitzer and an armored (wheeled or tracked) re-supply vehicle. Each unit requires only 3 men to operate, and the entire loading and firing process is conducted from within the safety of an armored (and computerized) cockpit equipped with biological and chemical warfare protection. (48 rounds of ammunition can be transferred from re-supply to the cannon in less than 12 minutes; the re-supply vehicle can be fully loaded with ammunition, fuel, and water in less than 60 minutes.) With a target range of 25 miles or more, the Crusader is the fastest automated howitzer in the world: one howitzer can fire the equivalent weight of an automobile in ammunition every minute, and up to 8 rounds at a single target simultaneously; a battery of six can deliver 15 tons of ammunition in less than 5 minutes. (The key to its success is its unique, integral liquid-cooled cannon.)

From the deserts of Northern Africa to the Colorado Rockies to the Arctic. Wherever there are people at risk -- whether war or disasters natural or manmade — there is the Blackhawk, in any model or configuration. Ferrying troops and supplies to the front in Kuwait or fully equipped firefighters to a fire zone in Idaho. Plucking troops from behind enemy lines or stranded balloonists off a Colorado mountain in the face of an oncoming snowstorm. Pouring hundreds of gallons of water onto Florida wildfires with a “Bambi” bucket. Using a hoist and sling to transport a jeep through the Albanian mountains, or lift a frantic horse, neck deep in fast-rising floodwaters in North Carolina, to safety. Armed with 16 Hellfire missiles; or outfitted with a high-tech neonatal unit.

The Blackhawk series helicopters, the first model of which went into service for the U.S. Army in 1978, are powerful, durable, crashworthy, and among the most versatile machines ever to take flight — suitable for supply and transport, search and rescue, Medivac, electronic surveillance, command and control, and attack. And its field of operation continues to advance: an S-70 model recently became the first helicopter of any kind to fly to, and land at, the South Pole.

Take the airframe of a Boeing 707, militarize it, attach a 30-foot radar dome, and stuff it full of state-of-the-art electronics for data gathering, analysis, and communication — and you have the most sophisticated airborne surveillance/command and control post ever devised.

How far can this famous ” eye in the sky “ see? Combine the 360-degree view of its radome with the 200+ mile, beyond-horizon viewing range it achieves at normal operating altitude of 29,000 feet — and a single E-3 has 120,000 square miles within its sights. Within this space it can detect and compute the elevation, speed, range, and heading of all aircraft (or seacraft), separate the friendlies from the unfriendlies, and transmit continuous collected data — in real time, in all weather, above all terrain. A fleet of AWACS comprises an interlocking network of mobile command posts that can coordinate and direct hundreds of planes conducting attack and patrol sorties at any given moment. During Desert Storm, E-3s provided surveillance for, and command and control to, more than 120,000 Coalition sorties — 2,000–3,000 a day — and effectively recorded an entire air war for the first time in history.

The MDA is charged with developing defensive systems to counteract existing and anticipated theater and strategic ballistic missile threats against forces deployed and the nation itself. Partnered with all the military branches and several federal agencies, the private sector, and research institutions, its mission is complex and multifaceted: to simultaneously identify and develop new technologies for the future while maintaining constant preparedness to respond to immediate threats, all within the arena of changing domestic and international politics — and increasing budget restraints.

Resource management is therefore a critical program within the MDA: planning and control, data collection, cost estimating and analysis, and financial management for all components of the MDA.

The most revolutionary innovation in navigation since longitude met latitude. A constellation of 24 Navstar satellites operated by the U.S. Air Force — each in its own orbit, each equipped with an atomic clock accurate to within a billionth of a second, each feeding signals to ground receivers at the speed of light — moves around the Earth in a sequence ensuring that every point on the planet is always in contact with at least 4 satellites. By measuring the time it takes for the signals from 4 separate satellites to reach the receiver, the receiver, which can be as small as a cellular phone, can calculate the latitude, longitude, and altitude of its location with extraordinary precision.

Originally developed and used for military purposes — from foot soldiers finding their way through vast featureless deserts in the Gulf War to the instrument panels of B-52s and F-16s — GPS has already demonstrated nearly limitless applications in civilian life: tracking monster icebergs in the North Atlantic; enabling tunnelers working from both sides of the English Channel to truly meet in the middle; tracking forest fires and accurately dispatching urban emergency vehicles; monitoring the distribution and habits of the highly endangered Desert Tortoise by fitting them with GPS receivers and tiny transmitters. And, of course, in the near future, no man behind the wheel of a car will ever again have to admit he is lost.

How do you make sure people, weapons, and supplies end up in the right place at the right time? The answer is a robust, reliable, integrated information system that tracks and records what people and things we have, where they are going, and how they are getting there. Supporting more than 6,000 seats with almost three and a half million lines of code, the global transportation network provides the integrated transportation data and systems necessary to accomplish global transportation planning, command and control, and in-transit visibility across the range of military operations. From Saudi Arabia and Korea to Killeen, Texas and the Azores this $600M system answers the question: Where is it?

We need blood!… Get this soldier to a hospital!… When will the surgeon be here? During a conflict, how do you make sure people, equipment, and supplies are efficiently and quickly deployed? You create TMIP to link different echelons of medical care providers to theater commanders to allow for time-sensitive, critical decision-making. TMIP is a tri-Service system that will provide information to deployed medical forces to support everything from blood management and patient evacuation to staffing and medical threat/intelligence. While enhancing the ability to collect, analyze, and share information, it also integrates many existing medical information systems with the Global Command and Control System and Global Combat Support System. TMIP is being built as a sergeant-friendly solution to be delivered as a turnkey product wherever it is needed.