Air Force awards contracts for next-generation ICBM airborne launch control system
Hill AFB, Utah, October 3, 2017—The Air Force awarded two contracts today for upgrading the system that enables an aircraft to control an intercontinental ballistic missile’s launch from a silo in the ground.
The three-year contracts were awarded to Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Littleton, Colorado, and Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for about $81 million and $76 million respectively.
The awards begin a design competition for upgrading the nuclear command-and-control mission system that provides U.S. Strategic Command with the capability to launch ICBMs through commands from the Navy’s E-6B Mercury aircraft. Both the current Minuteman III and future Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) ICBMs require an alternate launch control capability should anything interfere with the ability of the ground-based facilities to launch ICBMs.
For the Minuteman III, the current Airborne Launch Control System provides this capability through 1960s-era radio equipment at each of 450 Air Force ICBM launch facilities in the United States and aging equipment on the Mercury aircraft. The control system’s replacement will provide a sustainable and low-cost capability to launch ICBMs through aircraft commands.
“We are developing a modular system that can be easily upgraded to address new technologies and threats as they emerge,” said Maj. Gen. Scott Jansson, commander of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center and program executive officer for strategic systems.
The goal of the center’s program office at Hill AFB is to field the upgraded replacement system by 2024.
“The Airborne Launch Control System provides the strategic capability of survivable airborne command and control for the Air Force’s fleet of ICBMs,” said Col. Scott Jones, the center’s ICBM Systems director. “The new system will be a timely replacement of the legacy system and provide continued ICBM airborne command-and-control capability through 2075.”
The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center is responsible for synchronizing all aspects of nuclear materiel management on behalf of Air Force Materiel Command in direct support of Air Force Global Strike Command. Headquartered at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, the center has about 1,100 personnel assigned to 17 locations worldwide, including at Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts; Hill AFB; Eglin AFB, Florida; Tinker AFB, Oklahoma; and Ramstein AB, Germany.
AFNWC fact sheet is available at http://www.kirtland.af.mil/Units/Air-Force-Nuclear-Weapons-Center/.
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Second book in ‘Life and Times of Applebee Jones’ series released
Billy Martin’s ‘Life and Times of Applebee Jones: The Missing Crane’ tells next chapter in Applebee Jones’ life
VENTURA, Calif. – In the first installment of the Life and Times of Applebee Jones book series, readers were introduced to a not so good bank robber whose skills in the profession are in need of help. Billy Martin writes the second installment in the series in “Life and Times of Applebee Jones: The Missing Crane” (published by AuthorHouse) which is about a journalist who writes the next chapter in the life of Applebee Jones.
Leroy Dobbs, a San Francisco reporter, having heard the story of Applebee Jones, is assigned to either find the man or leave it as a myth. He travels by train throughout the West until a surprising turn of events. His real name is Burton Hicks. Terrible at his profession as a bank robber, he wants to find wealth and a place in history, which goes unnoticed. He needs to find a new angle. He takes the appearance of the late reverend Applebee Jones and finds himself in a world that he is unfamiliar with, and his plan of getting closer to the town’s bank seems to be placed on hold. With the help of two unusual characters, Applebee combines his past, and now his present, in dealing with the situations he faces.
“This book has the usual elements of a Western story, but includes humorous actions which is probably quite normal, Martin says. “It is fit for everyone, and everyone can connect with it. It features a different kind of Western character.”
Martin thinks that Western stories have always been popular especially to those who grew up with so many of them with the good guys wearing white hats and the bad guys wearing black hats. However, “today’s depiction is different,” he concludes.
“Life and Times of Applebee Jones: The Missing Crane”
By Billy Martin
Softcover | 6 x 9in | 64 pages | ISBN 9781524695354
E-Book | 64 pages | ISBN 9781524695347
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
Billy Martin grew up during the times of black and white TV. His days of growing up were similar to others living in the countryside of California and have always been a fan of the Western Frontier and an imagination to match.
AuthorHouse, an Author Solutions, Inc. self-publishing imprint, is a leading provider of book publishing, marketing, and bookselling services for authors around the globe and offers the industry’s only suite of Hollywood book-to-film services. Committed to providing the highest level of customer service, AuthorHouse assigns each author personal publishing and marketing consultants who provide guidance throughout the process. Headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, AuthorHouse celebrated 15 years of service to authors in Sept. 2011.For more information or to publish a book visit authorhouse.com or call 1-888-519-5121. For the latest, follow @authorhouse on Twitter.
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Ned LeDoux’s First-Ever Full Length Album Sagebrush
Available for PreOrder Today
Sagebrush Includes Eight Original Songs And His Cover
of His Dad Chris LeDoux’s Iconic Signature
“This Cowboy’s Hat” Featuring Chase Rice
Ned LeDoux Nominated for Three Awards at the
Second Annual Rocky Mountain Country Music Awards
Best Male Vocal, Best Song for “Forever A Cowboy”
and Fan-Voted Rocky Mountain Fan Army Award
NASHVILLE, TN – Oct 6, 2017 – Ned LeDoux’s first full-length album Sagebrush is now available for pre-order beginning today at all digital retailers. Sagebrush carries on the traditions, music and cowboy way of life passed down to him by his Mom and Dad, Peggy and Chris LeDoux.
To preorder Sagebrush click HERE and get five tracks instantly.
Note: Fans who purchased Forever A Cowboy EP will be able to utilize the “complete your album” at iTunes and other digital retailers to purchase the six new tracks that complete Sagebrush.
Ned LeDoux began building a fervent and loyal fan base as a constant touring force as a drummer in his dad’s band. In January 2016 he put down the sticks, picked up a guitar and stepped to the front of the stage. Ned has now earned three major award nominations in this year’s Rocky Mountain Country Music Awards presented by iHeartmedia which honors the best in country music from Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska. Ned is nominated for Best Male Vocal and Best Song for “Forever a Cowboy” which is included on his EP Forever a Cowboy as well as a track on his upcoming debut album Sagebrush. He is also nominated for the fan-voted Rocky Mountain CMA Fan Army Award. Click HERE to vote!
The 2nd Annual Rocky Mountain Country Music Awards will be held October 13 at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, Co. Ned will perform “Forever A Cowboy” and will be on hand as the prestigious Chris LeDoux Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to the 2017 recipient Doug Kershaw. Ned accepted the award last year on behalf of his Dad.
Sagebrush, produced by award-winning Mac McAnally, completes and follows on the heels of his debut EP Forever A Cowboy released last year. Ned wrote or co-wrote eight of the 12 songs included on Sagebrush, and each song leaves no doubt as to what the LeDoux name stands for in country music.
Sagebrush is a labor of love and a year in the making for Ned LeDoux. The Kaycee, Wyoming native wrote his first song with his songwriting and producer mentor Mac McAnally. After that Ned continued to write about his own life experiences, all the while maintaining his western style and staying true to the cowboy way of life he has always known, as in the song “Forever A Cowboy.” Ned continued to write of his time spent on the road reflected in “Brother Highway,” and about one of the most important things in his life in the love song “By My Side,” about his love and devotion for his wife and growing family.
Ned’s mom, Peggy, gave him a shoebox full of what seemed to be song ideas his Dad had written down years ago. Ned prefers to call them his Dad’s “thoughts.” No one will ever know what his dad intended, but Ned took them and, with McAnally, turned them in to a variety of songs including his Dad as a co-writer. Four of those songs appear on Sagebrush including “Never Change,” “Cowboy Life,” “Forever A Cowboy” and “We Ain’t Got It All. ”
The entire collection of songs on Sagebrush mix together well and tell of the LeDoux history and his family values- from cowboys, ranching, the highway and the simplicity of living including the song "Better Part of Living" penned by McAnally and “Another Horse to Ride,” written by Larry Bastian and Vince Pasion, which fits perfectly in the story of Sagebrush.
In addition to his eight original songs, Ned’s passion for continuing and reintroducing his Dad’s music and life to a new generation of fans was helped when LeDoux’s friend and BBR Music Group recording artist Chase Rice called, out of the blue, and asked Ned if he wouldn’t mind if he recorded his Dad’s iconic signature song “This Cowboy’s Hat” for his upcoming album Lambs & Lions to be released on November 17. Ned loved the idea, and after recording it together both agreed to include on each of their upcoming albums.
Click HERE to learn more about Ned LeDoux and his inspiration for Sagebrush and carrying on his Dad’s legacy while at the same time forging his own.
Sagebrush Track Listing:
1) “Never Change” (Ned LeDoux, Chris LeDoux, Mac McAnally)
2) “Cowboy Life” (Ned LeDoux, Chris LeDoux, Mac McAnally)
3) “We Ain’t Got It All” (Ned LeDoux, Chris LeDoux, Mac McAnally)
4) “Some People Do” (Ned LeDoux, Will LeDoux, Mac McAnally)
5) “Brother Highway” (Ned LeDoux, Mark Sissel)
6) “Better Part of Living” (Mac McAnally)
7) “Forever a Cowboy” (Ned LeDoux, Chris LeDoux, Mac McAnally)
8) “By My Side” (Ned LeDoux, Mac McAnally)
9) “Another Horse To Ride” (Larry Bastian and Vince Pasion)
10) “Johnson County War” (Chris LeDoux)
11) “The Hawk” (Ned LeDoux)
12) “This Cowboy’s Hat” (Feat. Chase Rice) (Jake Brooks)
About Ned LeDoux:
It has been over 12 years since Chris LeDoux passed and Ned believes that people want to hear something new. His passion for music began at the age of five when he received his first drum kit. Ned went on to play in a number of different bands in Wyoming before landing a job as the drummer in his Dad Chris’s band Western Underground in 1998. Ned knew from that early age that he had “no plan b” but to play music. “Once I got the taste of the road, and being in front of a crowd and just the sound of it, it was...freedom,” he explained.
When his dad passed away in 2005, Ned continued to tour with his father’s band to keep the musical spirit of Chris LeDoux alive. This drove him to pick up the guitar and try his hand at some of his dad’s songs. It started with “Rodeo Man,” and before long Ned had a whole catalogue of his father’s early hits ready to play. When the other band members heard Ned’s voice, he found himself front and center singing at the shows. Stepping out from behind the drums stirred something inside of Ned that he hadn’t felt before, “It’s a different kind of rush, getting up with a guitar and standing behind a microphone...shoot I’m getting butterflies thinking about it right now.”
Carrying on with his family traditions and cowboy way of life is important to Ned as you can hear in the song “Forever A Cowboy.” Ned puts his own spin on his endless touring with “Brother Highway” about all the time he has spent on the road with various bands since his days in high school before landing full time as the drummer in his Dad’s band Western Underground. Ned says he doesn’t even need a road map anymore–that he and the highway are like brothers. He wants to write songs about what he knows, keep the themes simple and harken back to the sound of good ole country music but with an edge.
Ned has been burning up the highway to bring his new music to his loyal and dedicated fans sharing the stage with artists Toby Keith, Josh Turner, Chris Janson and Randy Houser. On tour, the show is a special blend of Ned’s original songs along with a few of his Dad’s.
To find out more about Ned LeDoux go to: www.NedLedoux.com or follow him on TWITTER, FACEBOOK or INSTAGRAM.
To connect with Ned LeDoux:
FACEBOOOK: https://www.instagram.com/nedledoux/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/nedledoux
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/nedledoux/
