EUROPE
LAND
06 Jun 07. Lockheed Martin is providing the U.K. military with the latest in precision strike capability. Three contracts, recently signed with the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD), are the first element in an incremental program worth more than £250m, and will provide U.K. forces with the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets, upgrade kits, spares and support, including12 MLRS M270B1 launcher upgrades and Guided Unitary rockets. The highly accurate, mobile rocket system gives U.K. troops a new degree of accuracy over long distance, offering precision strike capability to beyond 60 kilometres. The first new launchers have been delivered and training and testing of the new system and rockets is under way in the U.K. and U.S., respectively.
07 Jun 07. The French defence procurement agency (DGA) has selected Thales to lead an ambitious advanced research project (PEA) on new laser sources for military applications. Effective since January 2007, the contract is worth close to €11m and will last five years. The procurement agency launched a competitive bidding process in 2006 and this year chose a consortium of Thales research teams, working with the French company Manlight, a small technology provider specialising in fibre lasers. The study will prepare the groundwork for development of laser sources for jamming, target designation/rangefinding and active imaging systems. The studies will include the following militarised low-energy lasers: band I laser for detection and jamming of pointed optics, and new band III technologies for land forces applications; target designation/range finding laser for airborne systems; airborne laser system for active imaging; new multifunction laser combining target designation/range finding with active imaging; new active imaging laser for missile seekers. The study contract for defence applications is a further endorsement of Thales’s world-renowned expertise in the design and manufacture of advanced laser systems.
SEA
05 Jun 07. Atlas-QED consortium awarded MoD research contract to deliver a mine counter measures unmanned surface vehicle demonstrator system quantified demonstration of likely mine sweeping performance and effectiveness against mine threats in a realistic scenario transfer of MOD mine sweeping research knowledge from the laboratory to UK industry. Atlas Elektronik UK Ltd, together with its ‘Atlas-QED’ consortium partners EDO Corporation and QinetiQ, has been awarded the research contract to supply a mine counter measures (MCM) flexible agile sweeping technology (FAST) technology readiness demonstrator (TRD) that will ultimately enable MOD to put a combined influence sweep (CIS) replacement into service using FAST Technology. The FAST TRD is seen as the most cost effective route to achieve transfer of MOD’s FAST Science and Technology (S&T) research programme from the laboratory to UK industry. The project will deliver a fully functional MCM USV demonstrator system with quantified and validated performance through an agreed trials and evaluation programme. The objectives specifically include: de-risking of key technologies for a USV based MCM influence capability ; development of technology and system integration maturity using a design and build TRD programme; quantified demonstration of likely mine sweeping performance and effectiveness against mine threats in a realistic scenario; demonstration of deployment, recovery and capture of a FAST USV from an MCMV ; development of an open architecture approach to the FAST components, and transfer of MOD mine sweeping research knowledge to the UK industry supplier base. The ‘Atlas-QED’ Consortium is led by Atlas Elektronik UK Ltd, recently created from a joint venture between Thyssenkrupp & EADS Defence & Security, and includes QinetiQ and EDO Corporation.
AIR
04 Jun 07. Lockheed Martin has been awarded a direct commercial sale contract by Eurocopter to support integration of the HELLFIRE II®