14 Aug 03. At a signing ceremony held in Pretoria today, Minister Lekota, Minister of Defence signed the agreement on behalf of the Department of Defence for the supply of four Super Lynx 300 maritime helicopters together with an initial product support package. Other signatories to the agreement on behalf of the Government of South Africa were Mr Sipho Thomo, CEO of Armscor and Dr Alistair Ruiters, Director General of the DTI. Mr Richard Case, Chairman of Westland Helicopters, signed on behalf of Westland Helicopters Ltd. This important contract represents another significant chapter in the Lynx 300 success story following previous orders from Malaysia, Oman and Thailand. Super Lynx 300 will be operated by the South African National Defence Force and will be utilised as a ship-borne helicopter operating from the new MEKO Class Corvettes.
12 Aug 03. VT Group said Tuesday it has sold VT Controls to Rolls Royce for £11m, subject to adjustment, in cash. The business sold involves naval and marine activities and does not include activities in supplying controls to the aviation sector. The value of the net assets of VT Controls attributable to the business being sold was £4.0m as at March 31, 2003 and the profits attributable to those assets were £0.9m in the year to March 31 2003. The proceeds of this sale will reduce the Group’s borrowings, VT Group said. VT Group also said it has sold VT Brisco to US-based Weatherford Inc for £2.5m in cash.
12 Aug 03. Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has been awarded a $16m contract to provide the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps with a two-seat EA-6B operational flight and navigational trainer that extends the capabilities of the of the aircraft’s weapons training system.
05 Aug 03. The UK MoD and Rolls-Royce have announced the award of an innovative service support contract worth some £11 million for the Rolls-Royce RB199 engine, which powers the MOD’s fleet of Tornado aircraft in service with the Royal Air Force. Under the terms of the initial pilot contract, Rolls-Royce will provide an availability service on three modules of the RB199 engine. These will deliver significant cost of ownership benefits consistent with the MOD Defence Logistics Organisation’s (DLO) objective of reducing cost of ownership of existing systems and contribute to the modernisation of Defence heralded in the Strategic Defence Review.
14 Aug 03. SEA Battlespace Systems Division, part of the SEA Group with offices in North Bristol; Beckington, Somerset and Keynsham, has been awarded a three-year contract by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in support of its Urban Operations Study Technology Demonstration Programme. The company is contracted to identify and trial of a range of COTS and Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) equipment that could be used to enhance the capability of ground forces operating in the challenging urban environment. The overall objective is to identify ‘quick wins’ for the equipment programme.
06 Aug 03. The Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) demonstrated its ability to acquire, classify, track and destroy simulated aircraft and missile targets in a successful System Level Interface Demonstration at Lockheed Martin facilities in Syracuse, New York. The objective of the demonstration was to link hardware, software and end-to-end simulations, to validate end item plug-and-fight communications and to engage and destroy simulated air-breathing and ballistic missile threats.