EUROPE
LAND
06 Jan 06. Lithuania To Buy Armored Trucks From Finns: Defense Ministry. Finland’s Oy Sisu Auto has won a tender to supply the Lithuanian armed forces with armored trucks, the Lithuanian defense ministry said Thursday after signing a deal with the Finns. (Source: Defense News)
05 Jan 06. EnerSys has recently been awarded contracts in Europe to supply batteries valued at over $20m. The awards include submarine propulsion batteries for South American navies and the company’s high-performance Armasafe Plus(TM) battery, which will be used in fighting vehicles with the armed services of Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
12 Jan 06. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Supacat has won a sole source bid to supply 15 4×4 special requirements vehicles to Denmark. The contract is also believed to include 100% offset.
SEA
11 Jan 06. Thales signs contract for TBMD sensor demonstration. On 23 December 2005 the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) and Thales Nederland have signed a contract on Tactical Ballistic Missile Defence (TBMD). The contract consists of a technology upgrade of the Thales Anti Air Warfare System with an early warning function to support the implementation of a TBMD capability on the Royal Netherlands Navy’s Air Defence and Command frigates. The function is based on the Thales long-range SMART L radar system. The system upgrade will be demonstrated by the RNLN with support of Thales in the Pacific Ocean late 2006. The HNLMS Tromp frigate, one of the RNLN’s De Zeven Provinciën class frigates, will participate in a U.S. test event that involves the launch of a Tactical Ballistic Missile (TBM) test target from Hawaii. In preparation for this demonstration event, a successful trial was performed at the RNLN’s Land-Based Test Site in the Netherlands early 2005 whichgives Thales the confidence to look forward to the demonstration of the sensor upgrade now under contract.
Dec 05. HMS INTREPID: Disposal. 39 companies were sent invitations to bid for the breaking-up of INTREPID. Nine companies returned bids but none was able “to demonstrate compliance with the necessary criteria”. Comment: On 2 Dec 05 the Armed Forces’ Minister said that it was intended to dismantle INTREPID, or sell her on for re-use. The vessel is laid up in Portsmouth. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0602, 09 Jan 06)
AIR
06 Jan 06. Harrier: Technical Support Contract. The MoD announced the award of a Joint Integrated Technical Support (JITS) contract to BAE Systems, in support of Joint Force Harrier. The contract is valued at some £46m and is valid until 2014. A more responsive service to the Harrier bases at RAF Cottesmore and RAF Wittering is foreseen, with BAE Systems’ technical capability increased at these sites. Comment: The above is essentially an ‘umbrella’ contract, gathering together separately-contracted technical services. A Ministerial Answer on 5 Dec 05 estimated that the concentration of Harrier maintenance, including GR7 to GR9 upgrade, at RAF Cottesmore would deliver savings of £44m from 2005/06 to 2008/09.
Jan 06. Ultra Electronics announce six contracts, including £10m UAV datalink contract for UK Watchkeeper. The group said the controls business was awarded a contract in excess of £35m to supply its active noise and vibration control system for the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft. The same arm won a £15m contract, over five years, to upgrade the weapon interfacing equipment for the Royal Navy’s submarines. Its Sonar & Communications Systems business has been awarded a contract worth over £35m to supply the Royal Navy with SEAFOX, a system used for the destruction of sea mines. The division also secured a contract worth more than £10m to supply data links for the UK’s Watchkeeper UAV programme. Ultra’s Flightline Systems business, based in the USA, has been awarded two separate contracts for its sonobuoy receivers, which are used in airborne anti-submarine warfare (ASW) sy