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11 Jan 06. UK awards FV430-series upgrade contract. The long-awaited contract for the upgrade of the British Army fleet of FV430-series armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) was finalised in November 2005, with BAE Systems Land Systems being awarded a GBP80 million (USD141 million) contract by the UK Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) for the upgrade of 500 vehicles. (Source: Jane’s International Defence Review)
01 Feb 06. Ammunition: Procurement Problems. The Defence Logistics Organisation advised that tenders had been invited from five companies for the manufacture and supply of 2,100,000 0.5inch NATO ball and tracer rounds over four years. The companies are based in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada and Greece. The potential contract has been placed in Category F (£1m to £5m (one to five million)). Comment: Some concern has been expressed in Parliament recently about the closure of former Royal Ordnance sites (now owned by BAE Systems). The above invitations to tender indicate that the MoD is prepared to cast its net fairly wide for ammunition (while most small arms natures remain the procurement responsibility of BAE Systems). (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0606, 06 Feb 06)
02 Feb 06. Elbit Systems Ltd. was selected to supply various systems for the Belgian Armored Infantry Vehicle Program. The anticipated contract value for Elbit Systems’ portion of the Program is expected to be in an amount material to Elbit Systems, with deliveries to take place between 2007 – 2012. This Program is related to a co-operation between Elbit Systems and the Swiss company Mowag. Elbit Systems’ portion of the Program includes the delivery of 30 mm unmanned turrets and various opto-electronic and electronic sub-systems.
06 Feb 06. Thales signed multi-purpose transmitter system contract for the Swiss Army. Thales signed with armasuisse on December 20th, 2005 a contract for the production and delivery of multi-purpose transmitter systems including management- and control software at a total amount of approx. € 60 millions. The delivery will take place until the end of 2008. These multi-purpose transmitters are an important part of the Integrated System for Surveillance and Radio Transmission IFASS (Integriertes Funkaufklärungs- und Sendesystem) which has been approved for procurement by Swiss Parliament within the scope of the Armament Program 2005. With IFASS it is possible to explore radio communications to localise and to jam it if necessary. The system is jointly used by the air force and the command support troops and establishes a durable image of the actual military radio situation. The multi-purpose transmitters replace the existing transmitters that have been delivered by Thomson-CSF, now known as Thales SA, almost 25 years ago. By means of two prototypes they have been tested successfully in the years 2002 to 2003. Together with the belonging management- and control software they form the electronic countermeasure system (ECM) of IFASS. Thales Suisse SA is prime contractor and local system integrator of the ECM system. Main supplier with technical overall responsibility is Thales Communications SA, France. The carrier vehicle is an armoured wheeled infantry combat vehicle of the type Piranha IIIC. For Thales this contract stands for a big success and an important step towards strengthening the Thales C4ISTAR market position in Switzerland.
07 Feb 06. The Spanish Armed Forces (SAF) has contracted with Savi Technology to deploy Savi’s Consignment Management Solution (CMS), which includes an active RFID network that interoperates with similar networks deployed by Savi for NATO countries and other allies. Savi’s RFID networks and related software solutions have been deployed for a growing number of international defense organizations, including the U.S. Department of Defense, NATO headquarters, United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, Australian Defence Forces, and Denmark Ministry of Defence, among oth