EUROPE
LAND
03 Aug 12. The Polish Army plans to acquire up to 1,000 new tanks in different variants, reported local daily Rzeczpospolita. It is expected that Poland’s Ministry of Defense will sign a deal to launch production of the Anders, the tank prototype developed by Bumar Group’s OBRUM Gliwice research unit, according to the Polish newspaper. The Polish tank program is part of a plan to overhaul the country’s land forces. In January, Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said that “launching a national tank program as part of efforts to increase the [land forces’] mobility” is one of the Army’s key modernization priorities. The amount of the planned purchase was not disclosed by the deputy defense minister. (Source: Defense News)
31 Jul 12. NATO Special Operations Forces Headquarters has selected Mutualink as its official interoperable communications platform. Using Mutualink’s ruggedized Valence™ series platform, NATO SOF coalition partners will be equipped with advanced anywhere, anytime, interoperable communications and information sharing capability. This next generation capability enables warfighters and command and control elements to be securely linked with each other as and when needed across different communications systems and can share real time ISR, including files, maps, system views and full motion video (FMV) on the fly. For NATO SOF, quick reaction time and agile response capabilities are a must. Often first on the ground in challenging operational environments, harnessing collaborative multi-national information and intelligence sharing and seamless communications capability is critical, and Mutualink delivers this capability. (Source: Yahoo!/BUSINESS WIRE)
31 Jul 12. Rockwell Collins, Inc., Government Systems, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded a $10,798,942 contract modification for production of Defense Advanced GPS receivers. Foreign military sales are 3.9 percent of the current effort and include Australia, France, and Italy. The location of the work is Coralville, Iowa. Work is to be completed by Feb. 15, 2014. SMC/GPK, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity (FA8807-09-C-0002, P00030).
AIR
01 Aug 12. Anglo-French Unmanned Air Systems Programme Contract Awarded. BAE Systems and Dassault Aviation welcome the award by the UK and French
Governments for a Future Combat Air System Demonstration Programme Preparation Phase (FCAS DPPP) contract.The FCAS DPPP contract will propose a joint plan to mature and demonstrate critical technology and operational aspects of a future combat air system. It is expected that this will lead to a joint Unmanned Combat Air System demonstration and operational evaluation programme in the future. The two companies fully support their governments in their stated desire for closer bi-lateral defence relationships. Since 2010, they have started and continue to work closely together to mature and develop further their common understanding of technology, capability and business opportunities in the Unmanned Air System (UAS) arena. They support the two governments’ stated intention to investigate the potential for common UAS development programmes in the future. (Source: ASD Network)
31 Jul 12. Cobham Aviation Services joint venture FB Heliservices has been awarded a two year contract to provide helicopter flying training to the Albanian Ministry of Defence. FB Heliservices will provide a series of courses which will provide multi-engine type conversion, glass cockpit familiarisation, instrument flying and Search And Rescue training to 12 Albanian Air Force pilots and SAR training only to four helicopter crew members. Training will be delivered on a combination of the FB Heliservices Agusta A109 and Bell 412 HAR2 aircraft. These courses are designed to provide essential training for the pilots and crew before they operate newly delivered Cougar helicopters to the Albanian Air Force. The courses will take place over the period of July 2012 to J