20 Jan 05. The German government has approved a major PFI program for the German Armed Forces by awarding a contract to Helicopter Flight Training Services GmbH (HFTS) to provide NH90 helicopter training in industry-owned training centres. HFTS, based in Hallbergmoos, Germany, was founded by an industrial consortium consisting of CAE, Eurocopter, Rheinmetall Defence Electronics and Thales, each owning a 25 percent share. The industry consortium will design, build, and operate three NH90 training centres. The contract is valued at a total of €488 million. An initial phase, which will begin this month, covers the design, development and manufacturing of four NH90 full-mission simulators and three training centres located in Bückeburg, Fassberg and Holzdorf. This will be followed by a 14.5-year operational phase beginning in mid-2008 once the first training centre is ‘ready for training’ and extending through 2022. During the operational phase, HFTS will deliver turnkey training services to NH90 aircrews and the German government will pay an hourly rate. This PFI program for simulator-based pilot training will ensure the German Armed Forces the quickest and most cost-effective availability of training for the NH90 helicopter, which the German Army begins receiving in 2005. The NH90 is the largest helicopter program ever launched in Europe. Program partners are France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal. In addition, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Oman and Australia have chosen the NH90. The training centres developed for Germany will be the first for the NH90 and will give HFTS the ability to market training services to the other nations procuring the NH90 helicopter. Through the PFI program, the German Armed Forces will save operating and finance costs by eliminating the need for procurement and ongoing maintenance of an expensive infrastructure. The German Ministry of Defence will pay for a turnkey training service, since the responsibility for delivering the service and all the necessary equipment supporting the service lies with HFTS. Simulator-based training has been proven efficient by the German Armed Forces for basic and recurrent training. Germany will be able to reduce the number of flight hours on the actual NH90 helicopter, thus providing significant savings while reducing wear and tear as well as better protecting the environment.
19 Jan 2005. The Naval Inventory Control Point and the Naval Air Systems Command have placed follow-on contracts totaling $12m with BAE Systems to maintain and upgrade AN/ALQ-157 Infrared Countermeasure Systems for the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy. The AN/ALQ-157 is designed to protect aircraft by jamming the missile guidance of a heat-seeking missile. The defensive system radiates controlled pulsed, high-intensity infrared energy to fool the enemy missile seeker. These follow-on contracts increase the quantity ordered by the military for the upgraded systems, known as the AN/ALQ-157A(V)1 to more than 350 systems. The upgraded systems are produced by BAE Systems’ Information & Electronic Warfare Systems (IEWS) Pomona, California facility.
17 Jan 05. TTems has been awarded a prestigious contract from Ultra Electronics’ Sonar and Communication Systems business, worth £6m over the next ten years. The contract is to share manufacturing of all sonobuoys in support of Ultra Electronics’ recently announced, long-term partnership with the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Ultra Electronics announced details of its ten year, sole-source contract with the MOD, to satisfy the MOD’s sonobuoy requirements, on 3 August 2004. TTems, a subsidiary of global electronics manufacturing company TT electronics, with sites in Rogerstone (Wales) and Blyth (Northumberland), will be manufacturing the following Ultra Electronics sonobuoys: Hidar, Barra and Cambs VI, at its Rogerstone facility.
18 Jan 05. The U.S. Air Force’s Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center has selected Goodrich Corporation for t