EUROPE

LAND

26 Feb 10. Astrum (UK) Ltd, based in County Durham, has secured a £30m, two-year extension to their contract with the MOD to supply tracks to all heavy, medium and light Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFV), including the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), Warrior and Trojan are currently on operations in Afghanistan. Other track systems supplied by Astrum under this agreement include tracks for the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank, the armoured engineer vehicle Titan and the armoured personnel carrier FV430 including the up-armoured and upgraded ‘Bulldog’ variant. The deal will secure 100 jobs in the company’s defence design and manufacturing side of the business.

23 Feb 10. Force Protection, Inc. received an order for 23 Cougar Mastiff Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) variants to be delivered to the United Kingdom via a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract from Marine Corps Systems Command. The undefinitized contract has a value not to exceed $16.1m. The work will be performed in Ladson, SC and is expected to be completed prior to April, 2010. The first 5 Mastiff EOD vehicles were delivered on February 8th, 2010, 20 days after contract award due to long lead funding previously received towards work on the contract. (Source: ASD Network)

18 Feb 10. French defense procurement agency DGA awarded Sagem (Safran
group) a major contract in late December 2009 for AASM (Armement Air-Sol Modulaire) modular air-to-ground weapons to be deployed by the French air force. The contract covers:
*A long-term order for 3,400 AASMs, including an initial firm order for 680 units.
*Development and integration of a latest-generation GPS module.
*Qualification and production engineering for the inertial/GPS/laser terminal guidance version.
*Developed and produced by Sagem, the AASM weapon comprises a guidance kit and range augmentation kit integrated on a standard 250 kg bomb. The AASM family also includes 125, 500 and 1,000 kg bombs. Fired from standoff distance day or night and in all weather conditions, the AASM offers a range exceeding 50 kilometers. The AASM can be released at low altitude, and can also be fired off-axis, in relation to the aircraft’s flight path. It offers very high precision and strikes its target vertically, a feature suited to asymmetrical conflicts. This makes it the perfect weapon for combat in difficult terrain or urban environments, for both planned missions and opportunity fire.

22 Feb 10. Thales will supply next-generation IP-based tactical communication infrastructure to the Swedish Armed Forces (SwAF) under a contract awarded by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration. The contract is part of the SwAF KomNod programme designed to implement an IP-based communication infrastructure that features integrated voice and IP services in vehicle platforms. The Thales IP-based infrastructure offers a wide range of communication services, including radio gateway, telephony, alarms, routing, Ethernet, intercom and management services. The services offered by Thales are based upon the next generation of the combat-proven SOTASIP system, a fully IP-based ruggedised multiservice vehicular platform with a small physical footprint. SOTASIP integrates the vehicle intercom, the Ethernet LAN, the IP router, the VoIP phones and serial data links among others in one single rugged and reliable system. The integrated communications system offers full connectivity for soldiers, extending the comand and control chain to dismounted troops. The software development work for the Swedish solution will be carried out at Thales facilities in Norway. (Source: army-technology.com)

SEA

15 Feb 10. Italy on track with surveillance sensor modernisation. The Italian General Directorate of Telecommunications, IT and Advanced Technologies (TELEDIFE) has awarded Selex Sistemi Integrati a contract to upgrade the Italian Navy’s network of coastal surveillance sensors. Acting as prime contractor under the E