CONTRACT NEWS IN BRIEF
EUROPE
LAND
20 Feb 08. Astrium Services has been selected by France’s “Economat des Armées” (French MoD’s Joint Logistics and Supply Agency) to deliver PASSEREL end-to-end communications services to France’s troops deployed overseas, primarily in the Balkans, Africa, and Middle-East. The comprehensive PASSEREL contract includes providing voice and internet services for more than 10,000 service personnel stationed around the world. PASSEREL services enable troops to stay in touch with family and friends by telephone, email and via the Internet.
As well as providing fixed telephone points in “call shops” and Internet cafés, PASSEREL services will also provide an innovative wireless network for individual telephone and laptop users. The wireless service will cover recreational areas including canteens and sleeping quarters, barracks of national and multinational compounds allowing troops to make and receive calls, surf the web and email, with unequalled flexibility, comfort and mobility.
21 Feb 08. Cohort wins £9m research programme to support UK armed forces. Cohort plc, announced that one of its subsidiary companies, SEA, has been awarded a framework contract by the MoD’s Defence Technology and Innovation Centre (DTIC), valued at circa £9m over three years, for the DTIC’s Expeditionary Logistics & Support research programme. This programme is targeted at developing new techniques, processes and technology to support expeditionary operations by the UK armed forces. It covers an extremely broad range of capabilities from strategic mobility, theatre maritime, ground and medical sustainment. Efficient expeditionary logistics and support are critical to maintaining effective operations in such places as Afghanistan and Iraq.
20 Feb 08. Harris Corporation has received a contract from the Defence Forces of Norway to provide several thousand RF-7800S Secure Personal Radios. The contract was awarded after a competitive evaluation. The Harris RF-7800S is a lightweight wideband radio that delivers secure tactical communications to individual soldiers. Norway will deploy the radios and accessories as part of a soldier modernization program to provide individual soldiers with digital voice and data communications.
18 Feb 08. Northrop Grumman Corporation has been selected by MBDA Italia to provide the navigation and localization system for NATO’s Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) programme within the design and development phase. MEADS is a jointly financed trans-Atlantic cooperative effort between the U.S., Germany, and Italy to develop an air and missile defence system that is tactically mobile and transportable. Under the contract, Northrop Grumman’s Italian subsidiary, Northrop Grumman Italia, will be responsible for the navigation and localization system that supports the radars and launchers which are part of the MEADS programme.
21 Feb 08. Supacat’s contract to provide Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) for the British Army’s fleet of Mine Protected Vehicles (MPV) has been renewed by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). The new CLS contract was finalised in 2007 and extends to 2010. It follows on from a 2002 MoD Urgent Operational Requirement, in which Supacat was selected to procure the MPV fleet from Force Protection Inc, modify it to meet British Army requirements and bring the vehicle into service in 2003.
15 Feb 08. Thales wins UK target locator system competition. Thales UK has been awarded a £30m contract from the UK MoD to supply the latest version of its Joint-Target Acquisition System (J-TAS) to meet the MoD’s Surveillance System and Range Finding (SSARF) requirement. The contract, for more than 700 J-TAS systems, follows an international competition and extensive field trials. The equipment will provide troops in the field with an ultra lightweight, compact, multi-role, night vision target locator capability. The new J-TAS equipment is expected to enter service