CONTRACT NEWS IN BRIEF
EUROPE
LAND
08 Oct 08. According to a contract award notice made by the Foriegn Procurement Department of Turkey, WFEL Limited (Stockport, UK) has been awarded a contract for the supply of 2 “Light Alloyed Static Bridges”. The contract which was internationally competed is beleived to be for the supply of the new Dry Support Bridge which WFEL are currently supplying to the United States Army. The contract is believed to be worth approximately £8.5m.
SEA
06 Oct 08. Rolls-Royce won a £96m contract to provide power and propulsion equipment, including four gas turbines, for two of the world’s largest warships – the UK’s new 65,000 tonne aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. The order is an important milestone in the Rolls-Royce marine business strategy of being a major supplier of integrated power and propulsion systems for naval and commercial ships. Rolls-Royce is supplying the MT30 gas turbine, the most powerful available in the marine market today, as part of an integrated system which includes the giant carrier’s propellers and propeller shafts as well as rudders, stabilisers and some electrical systems.
06 Oct 08. The Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers will be powered by the latest electric propulsion technology. Worth a total of £235m, contracts have been placed for gas turbines, generators, motors, power distribution equipment, platform management systems, propellers, shafts, steering gear, rudders and stabilisers. Simultaneously, the key industrial suppliers have formed an Alliance to ensure that the equipment is integrated into the ships in the most cost effective manner.
AIR
02 Oct 08. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress today of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the United Kingdom to convert three United States Air Force KC-135R aircraft into RC-135V/W Rivet Joint aircraft, as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $1.068bn. The Government of the United Kingdom has requested a possible sale to convert three United States Air Force KC-135R aircraft into RC-135V/W Rivet Joint aircraft, three APX-119 Identification Friend or Foe Systems, three LN-100GT Inertial Reference Units, five Joint Tactical Information Distribution System terminals, 18 ARC-210 Radios, and 28 ARC-210 Radio control heads, modification kits, integration and installation, Ground Distributed Processing Station, Modular Processing System, Airborne Capability Extension System, mission trainer, tools and test equipment, spare and repair parts, publications, personnel training and training equipment, support equipment, U.S. government and contractor representative technical and logistics personnel services, and other related elements of logistics support. (Source: ASD Network)
01 Oct 08. NATO: Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC). NATO announced (1 Oct 08) the entry into force of the Charter of the NATO Airlift Management Organisation (NAMO). NAMO is to acquire three C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, to meet the strategic airlift requirements of the 12 SAC member nations. The aircraft are to be based at Pápa Airbase in Hungary, with the first arriving in Spring 2009 and the other two during Summer 2009.
Comment: The SAC members are Finland and Sweden plus 10 from NATO (Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the US). The US is providing one of the aircraft and the other two are being procured through Foreign Military Sales (FMS) arrangements. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 08/39, 06 Oct 08)
TECHNOLOGY
07 Oct 08. Luciad, the leading software provider for high performance visualization of geospatial information, has been selected by Thales to provide the software components for the naval battlespace visualization within the SIC21 technology platform, delivering maximum situational awareness at sea. SIC21 (Système d’ Infor