EUROPE
SEA
09 Nov 10. SELEX Sistemi Integrati, a Finmeccanica Company, signed a contract for a value of about €5m with the Finnish Navy to supply 15 Multi Data Link Processors (M-DLP) for naval units and operational centres. The contract includes all the related services from the installation up to operational setting to work. By this contract’s supply, which will last about 24 months starting from 2011, the most important world-wide operational Link22 network installation on board of naval units will be realized. The agreement is set in the frame of the “Finnish Navy Multilink System” programme aiming to integrate the M-DLP with the Finnish Navy command and control systems, both on board and at ground stations level, and to provide interoperability with the other Finnish Forces.
AIR
08 Nov 10. AgustaWestland received an order for 22 helicopters from the Italian Air Force. Under the current order, AgustaWestland will deliver ten search-and-rescue (SAR) AW139 helicopters and 12 combat AW101 helicopters to the air force. The order is valued at nearly €1.2bn ($1.7bn), according to BusinessWeek. The investment was approved by the Italian Senate’s Defense Committee on 13 October. (Source: airforcetechnology.com)
08 Nov 10. Turkey Orders Nine More T129 Helicopters. AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract for nine T129 combat helicopters. The contract is valued at €150m also including a spare parts package. The nine T129 helicopters will be assembled by Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. (TAI) and delivered by mid 2012 in a basic configuration, one year earlier of the 51 T129s already on order. This contract increases the total ordered by the Turkish Land Forces Command to 60. TAI is the Prime Contractor for the overall ATAK Programme, with ASELSAN as the supplier of avionics and mission equipments while AgustaWestland is acting as subcontractor to TAI. As the Prime Contractor of the ATAK Program, TAI is responsible for ensuring the T129 ATAK helicopter meets all the operational requirements of the Turkish Land Forces Command.
10 Nov 10. Frazer-Nash has been awarded a contract by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to support the upgrade & replacement programme for the UK static, deployable and overseas Air Command and Control (ACC) systems. Working closely with the MOD’s Air Command and Control Systems Delivery Team (ACCS DT), Frazer-Nash will develop supportability requirements for the UK’s next generation air defence systems as part of a programme that encompasses a number of key areas including:
The replacement of the UK static Air Defence command system with a next generation system
* The replacement of the Falklands Islands Remoting System (FRS)
* The replacement of the current deployable Air assets (Tactical Air Control Centre, TACC & Joint Force Air Component Headquarters, JFACHQ)
* The delivery of a common core software Air suite for all three ACC systems
The work will see Frazer-Nash supporting the programme until early 2011 to provide a set of endorsed user requirements for the availability, supportability and training elements of the programme and to explore the through-life capability of potential replacement options. As part of the work Frazer-Nash will also be undertaking a full assessment of the current air traffic control system and reviewing essential equipment such as radar systems, mobile cabins and communications systems.
TECHNOLOGY
Nov 10. Cassidian has been commissioned with compiling Interactive
Electronic Technical Documentation (IETD) for the German Navy’s P-3C ORION CUP maritime patrol aircraft. The corresponding contract, worth a total of around 15m euros, was signed on 28 October 2010 by the
German Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB) and the respective Business Unit Cassidian Air Systems. The choice of Cassidian for compiling the P-3C IETD furthermore constitutes a trailblazing prerequisite for