EUROPE
SEA
04 Jan 11. Thales has signed a contract with the Estonian Navy to provide an additional 12 months of technical support and maintenance to two former Royal Navy (RN) mine countermeasures vessels (MCMVs) now serving with the Estonian fleet. The contract was signed by the Chief of the Estonian Navy, Captain Igor Schvede, at the Estonian Navy Headquarters at Tallinn. During the meeting, discussions were also initiated on how Thales could help the Estonian Navy achieve their ambition of creating an indigenous sonar support capability in future years. The two former RN Sandown-class vessels – HMS Sandown and HMS Inverness – were decommissioned and sold to Estonia in 2006. The vessels were re-named ENS Admiral Cowan and ENS Sakala. As part of a programme to return the two ships to operational service, Thales originally signed a contract in 2006 to provide operational support to the ships in service and upgrades to Thales’s highly successful Sonar 2093 system. This new contract now extends the support programme until December 2011.
AIR
27 Dec 10. The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $66,180,000 firm-fixed-price order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-11-G-0001) for the procurement of weapon replaceable assemblies and other complex parts for use in retrofitting F/A-18C/D aircraft; 62 for the government of Finland, and 33 for the government of Switzerland. Work will be performed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (44.8 percent); St. Louis, Mo. (26.8 percent); Fort Worth, Texas (14.9 percent); Oakland, N.J. (6.4 percent); Grand Rapids, Mich. (3.3 percent); Butler, N.J. (1.3 percent); Sylmar, Calif. (1 percent); Killdeer, N.D. (0.5 percent); Mesa, Ariz. (0.4 percent); El Segundo, Calif. (0.3 percent); Wallingford, Conn. (0.2 percent); and Horsham, Pa. (0.1 percent), and is expected to be completed in April 2015. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the governments of Finland ($44,598,959; 67 percent) and Switzerland ($21,581,041; 33 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales program. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
03 Jan 11. France has ordered a batch of Meteor missiles for an undisclosed amount, the Ministry of Defense said in a Jan. 3 statement. The Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA), the French government’s arms procurement agency, asked its British counterpart, Defence Equipment and Support, to place the order with MBDA UK, the prime contractor for cooperative European missile program. The British authorities signed the contract with MBDA UK on Dec. 22, a DGA spokesman said. The first Meteors will be delivered to the French military in 2018, the statement said. The missile will undergo integration and certification on the Rafale fighter jet in the intervening period, the DGA spokesman said. The French government signaled its intention to order the 200 Meteor missiles in 2009, when it published the 2010 defense budget, for which €17.02bn ($22.7bn) was earmarked for equipment purchases. (Source: Defense News)
23 Dec 10. The Swiss Air Force has placed a follow-up order with Pilatus Aircraft for two additional PC-21 turboprop training aircraft. The $31.17m contract, which includes logistics, engineering services and another debriefing system, is aimed at expanding the Swiss Air Force’s successful PC-21 jet pilot training system. The PC-21’s cockpit is designed to simulate the functionalities of a modern combat aircraft and enables trainee pilots to safely bypass the expensive jet trainer phase. The Swiss Air Force took delivery of a fleet of six Pilatus PC-21 training aircraft in the summer of 2008. Since 2009, Swiss Air Force pilots transfer directly to the F/A-18 fighter jet after basic training on the NCPC-7 and thorough instruction on the PC-21 JEPAS. Delivery is scheduled for the first half of 2012. (Source: airforcetechnology.com)
22 Dec 10. Saab r