CONTRACT NEWS IN BRIEF
EUROPE
LAND
26 Jan 09. The joint US-Italian-German MEADS (Medium Extended Air Defense System) air defence programme gains momentum. As reported by EADS Defence & Security (DS) on Monday, its Defence Electronics business unit has delivered a first batch of 5,000 transmit / receive (T/R) modules and related electronics for the MEADS Multifunction Fire Control Radar (MFCR). EADS DS is thus the first European company to mass produce the core components for the new AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar technology on an industrial scale. The MEADS programme thereby obtains a global strategic lead in the deployment of AESA technology.
23 Jan 09. The Croatian Ministry of Defence has on 22 January 2009 informed that they have extended the vehicle deal by additional 42 Patria AMV vehicles for the Croatian Army. Patria and Duro Dakovic Special Vehicles as Consortium partners and the Croatian Ministry of Defence signed the agreement covering 84 Patria AMV 8×8 vehicles including an option for additional vehicles already in October 2007. (Source: ASD Network)
27 Jan 09. SELEX Communications, a Finmeccanica company, has successfully delivered the latest software upgrade to its High Frequency System (HF2000) to the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (Försvarets Materialverk, FMV), providing a range of new functionality for the Swedish military’s long range HF communications network. This delivery builds upon an earlier major software delivery in 2007, and was followed by system trials by the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF). These provided the SAF with their first opportunity to exercise the new fixed site and ship-based systems, and included a full range of traffic types and link establishment (automated calling) options.
23 Jan 09. The Minister of State for Defence Equipment & Support (Min DE&S), Quentin Davies MP, has today announced that Thales UK has been awarded a contract worth more than £200m from the UK MoD to deliver the Air Defence Availability Project (ADAPT) in support of the Starstreak high velocity missile (HVM) system. He made the announcement during a visit to the company’s Belfast facility, where Starstreak is manufactured and assembled. Under the terms of the contract, which will sustain up to 100 jobs for the Belfast site in Castleraegh, Thales UK will ensure that a specified level of availability of the Starstreak HVM system is provided to the UK Armed Forces. It also covers the support of all HVM equipment until the scheduled out-of-service date at the end of 2020.
SEA
21 Jan 09. BMT completes FSC technology study. BMT Defence Services Ltd has completed a technology assessment and road-mapping study for the UK Royal Navy’s (RN’s) projected Future Surface Combatant (FSC). The company, working together with its partner Systems Engineering & Assessment Ltd (SEA), undertook the mapping study for the Surface Combatants Directorate: the area within the Ministry of Defence’s [MoD’s] Defence Equipment and Support organisation responsible for delivery of the FSC programme. (Source: Jane’s, IDR)
08 Jan 09. UK and US embark on joint SSBN project. General Dynamics Electric Boat has signed a USD75m contract for engineering and design activities for the Common Missile Compartment (CMC) for the UK Royal Navy’s (RN’s) next-generation Successor ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) programme and the US Navy’s (USN’s) projected Ohio Replacement SSBN. Contract options to extend the design work through to the end of 2013 could see the final value of Electric Boat’s input reach almost USD600m. (Source: Jane’s Navy International)
21 Jan 09. RFA Argus: Being Upgraded. The MoD announced (21 Jan 09) that A&P Group has started work at Falmouth to upgrade RFA Argus “with state of the art medical equipment in an extensive refit worth over £23m”. New medical equipment to be installed includes scanning equipment and sterilising furnishings.
Comment: RFA Argus’ main role has been the p