EUROPE
LAND
30 Apr 10. BAE Systems has won two contracts worth £7.2m for 105mm artillery illuminating shells from the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD).
One is for 6000 105mm Luma illumination rounds to be delivered during 2011-2012. BAE Systems’ Weapons business has supplied this round to the MoD since 2003. The other is to develop an infra-red (IR) version of the Luma round where the target area is only illuminated to troops equipped with night vision goggles. If tests being conducted later this year are successful, the latter contract will likely lead to the purchase of five-digit quantities of ammunition by the end of this year to meet current requirements in Afghanistan. With a production order, Luma IR final assembly will be brought in-house to the Weapons facility in Karlskoga. The chemical part of the round will be subcontracted to Chemring Defence in the UK. BAE Systems’ UK Munitions business will supply the charge system (L35 Cart Normal) directly to UK MoD under the existing MASS munitions supply contract. Munitions recently qualified an 81mm IR mortar bomb for use by UK forces under an Urgent Operational Requirement. (Source: Shephard)
03 May 10. Sectra has been commissioned by FMV, the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration, to develop a high-speed crypto. The new crypto will protect sensitive information in national networks used by Swedish government authorities and defense forces. The speed is 10 Gbit/s, which is extremely faster than the encryption applied today. The order value is SEK 23m. Sectra’s high-speed crypto protects voice, data and video and the security level is the highest, Top Secret. Delivery will be in 2012.
SEA
03 May 10. Thales UK has been awarded the second phase of a contract for the provision of interactive 3D media to be used for training maintainers of the long-range radar on the Royal Navy new Daring-class (Type 45) destroyers. This second phase, under contract with BAE Insyte, is to provide SCORM* conformant, web-enabled, training media for Type 45 maintainer trainers. Thales was awarded an initial contract in April 2007 for the provision of 3D training media for the RESM and medium-frequency sonar systems. This was the first of its type to be accepted by the Royal Navy. This initial training media, also created under contract with BAE Insyte, is now being used by the Type 45 Training Unit as part of training courses being run at HMS Collingwood and, as the learning assets and elements are SCORM conformant, training will also later be delivered over the UK Defence Learning Portal.
AIR
29 Apr 10. Air Traffic Control: Contract Award. Cobham announced (29 Apr 10) that the Company has been awarded three contracts totalling £12m, to upgrade and support air traffic control systems and operations for the MoD until 2015. Under a new radar project, surveillance data from remote sites will be accessed in order to provide Air Traffic Control, RN Fighter Control and Range Safety Services.
Comment: Cobham Aviation Services operates more than 150 fixed and rotary wing aircraft; as well as helping to train Fleet Air Arm, Army Air Corps and RAF helicopter pilots. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 09/17, 03 May 09)
Apr 10. Microtecnica, the aerospace equipment specialist, has been awarded a contract to design and supply a cooling system for the Saab next generation aircraft Gripen NG. Microtecnica will develop a Secondary Environmental Control System (SECS) in order to provide an additional cooling capacity to support the requirements of the aircraft’s new avionics system. The company estimates the value of the work to be in excess of €20m. Gripen NG will have increased range and payload capability, complete with new avionics, new engine, and enhanced communication and electronic warfare capability. Designed and manufactured by Microtecnica, the advanced cooling control system will use energy-saving technology that exploits the bleed air originating from the aircraft engi