EUROPE
LAND
09 Jul 12. TenCate Advanced Armour has been selected by QinetiQ as the supplier of armour for the Foxhound LPPV 4×4 military vehicle. Initial production of 200 vehicles has been followed by an order of a further 100 vehicles to be delivered by General Dynamics European Land Systems, Force Protection Europe, to the UK Ministry of Defence. No financial details will be published.
11 Jul 12. The U.K. MoD and Thales UK have signed a new research contract for technology that will improve the resilience of future UK aircraft to anti-air threats. The jointly funded contract, worth £24.5m, builds on years of research work conducted by Thales and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to develop an infra-red warning system to detect missiles, gun fire and other threats so that appropriate countermeasures can be deployed. The programme is being managed and delivered from the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) Air Technology Delivery organisation. The technology demonstrator, scheduled to be completed in 2015, will prove that the system can identify and declare threats in complex environments with a high level of accuracy. It will use up to six single colour infra-red sensors to provide full coverage of the volume around the aircraft and use Thales algorithms on a central processor. Testing at each stage of the development will use a bespoke evaluation and validation system. Dstl will conduct a series of ground and flight trials to assess the system’s performance in representative conditions. The system’s sensors will also be capable of generating infra-red imagery from all around the aircraft to aid aircrew situational awareness and is designed to include data recording to support effective mission planning and post mission replay.
AIR
29 Jun 12. UK looks to renew helo leases for Afghan ops. UK contracts to lease commercial helicopters in Afghanistan are set to be renewed after a tender was issued to find a new operator to run the service for 12 months from August this year. The tender documents, posted by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) on its contracts web portal in May, say the contract will be worth between GBP20m and GBP100m (USD31.1m and USD155.5m). (Source: Jane’s, JDW)
09 Jul 12. Airbus Military receives order for the UK’s first A400M Full Flight Simulator and its support system. First element to support the UK A400M training service now in place. On behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence, the OCCAR multinational organisation for the management of European Collaborative Defence programmes has placed an order with Airbus Military to supply the UK’s first A400M Full Flight Simulator (FFS). The contract, worth about £50m, also includes a Simulator Support System (SSS), enabling the capabilities of the simulator to be fully exploited for flight training and military mission rehearsal.
DRANDA Comment: The A400M simulator is the first part of a training ‘package’ which is to include a second simulator at Brize together with other equipment to train pilots, crew and engineers. Further MoD training and servicing contracts are anticipated within “the next few weeks” according to a Thales spokesman.
09 Jul 12. Italian Police order two AW139 helicopters. AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce that the Italian Police has placed an order for two AW139 intermediate twin helicopters. The contract is partially funded by the UE FRONTEX programme aimed at supporting coordination and development of the European Union’s border management. Also included in the contract is a comprehensive support and training package for crews and maintenance personnel plus options for an additional six helicopters to be exercised within late 2012/early 2013.
13 Jul 12. Rheinmetall Airborne Systems GmbH, a joint venture by Cassidian and Rheinmetall, will continue to support the German Armed Forces in Afghanistan by providing unmanned airborne reconnaissance services. The Federal Office f