CONTRACT NEWS IN BRIEF

EUROPE

LAND

29 Oct 08. MoD announced a £700m vehicle procurement. The Tactical Support Vehicle requirement, worth £400m for over 400 vehicles will provide a fleet of vehicles to supply existing fleets of Mastiff (Heavy), Medium and Light (Jackal). Wolfhound, TSV Heavy, will come in two variants, an Engineer Support Vehicle and an ammunition limber for the Royal Artillery procured form Force Protection. Husky, TSV Medium, is to be procured in three variants, flatbed, ambulance and Command Vehicle, likely to be supplied by Navistar. Coyote, TSV Light, will support the in-service Jackals. The MoD would not confirm whether Babcock at Devonport or Supacat at Dunkenswell would build the vehicles. of the The MoD made further announcements including:
* The purchase of 100 more Jackals, again not confirming the manufacturer.
* The MoD also confirmed the Talisman Route Proving and Clearance UOR to keep routes clear of mines and repair when explosions have occurred. Thales is the integrator for Talisman with equipment consisting of two JCB HMEEs, two Force Protection Mastiffs one Force Protection Buffalo
* Buying 30 Cougar vehicles, a mixture of 4×4 and 6×6 which will be modified to boost the training fleets for Mastiff and Ridgback
* Providing a Theatre Entry Standard for the BAE/IVECO Panther fleet which will include a better level of protection.
* Developing a new Snatch Vixen Land Rover vehicle based on the initial 30 buy from Ricardo.
* Bringing the existing fleet of some 350 Land Rover WMIK vehicles to a common build standard using the current WMIK E as a baseline vehicle.
* Purchasing 100 Warthog cross-country vehicles to replace the Vikings currently in theatre. This vehicle, currently under negotiation, is likely to be the Bronco from Singapore Technologies. However BAE also announced the introduction of a new Viking design which may be considered. A decision will be made by next month. (See: BATTLESPACE ALERT Vol.10 ISSUE 15, 29 October 2008, MoD CONFIRMS LARGE VEHICLE ORDER FOR AFGHANISTAN)

21 Oct 08. Protected Patrol Vehicles (PPV): Further Contract. The Defence Equipment Minister announced (21 Oct 08) the award of an £81m contract to NP Aerospace in Coventry, for the conversion of 157 Cougar 4×4 PPV to become Ridgback vehicles. The conversions include additional protection, weapons, communication systems and electronic counter-measures equipment.
Comment: The above announcement follows the award of a £61m contract to NP Aerospace on 8 Sep 08 for the conversion of a second batch of 174 Cougar 6×6 PPV to become Mastiff 2. The Prime Minister announced the Ridgback order, on 12 Dec 07, as being worth “over £150m”.(Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0842, 27 Oct 08)

SEA

27 Oct 08. Barco signed a contract with Thales Underwater Systems for the supply of Vista 4500 consoles. Thales Underwater Systems will integrate Barco’s multi-function rugged console in a total solution for sonar-based mine hunting. The deal underlines the market potential of the latest generation of network-centric COTS-based consoles, officially launched at this year’s Euronaval exhibition.

28 Oct 08. DCNS signed in October a contract worth €600m ($751m), completing funding for the first of the Barracuda nuclear attack submarines (SSK) being built by the French naval systems company, said Pierre Legros, director of programs. The €600m, excluding taxes, meant the non-recurring development costs for the Suffren, first Barracuda boat, had been fully paid and the program had entered the production phase. (Source: Defense News)

28 Oct 08. Thales UK has been awarded an important contract to supply the sonar system for the Royal Navy’s fourth Astute-class submarine, Audacious. The contract is to supply Thales’ Sonar 2076 system to BAE Systems, to be fitted to the latest submarine during build at the shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness. The Thales contract is for a complete sonar system, comprising both inboard an