10 Mar 04. EDO MBM Technology Ltd, a unit of EDO Corporation has been awarded an initial contract worth £1.2m ($2.2m), with options of GBP 3 million ($5.5m), for the supply of scanning motors and drive electronics on the Eurofighter Typhoon infra-red search and track system, known as PIRATE (Passive Infra-Red Airborne Track Equipment.) The contract was awarded by Thales Optronics Ltd. following successful scanning-motor qualification trials.
01 Mar 04. DRS Technologies, Inc. has been awarded a new contract to design, integrate and manufacture an Altitude Hold and Hover Stabilization (AHHS) system for U.S. Air Force MH-53M Pave Low Helicopters. MH-53 helicopters operate in various special operations missions, including search and rescue, infiltration of enemy camps and aerial refueling, and are often acknowledged as one of the most technologically advanced helicopters in the world.
01 Mar 04. The Australian government said Monday it signed a A$114m contract with Boeing Australia Ltd. to deliver a new air defense and control system for the military. Boeing Australia is a unit of Boeing. The Vigilare system will give the Australian Defense Force the capability to support national surveillance and the air defense of Australia from two existing operation centers.
10 Mar 04. Britain’s BAE Systems said on Wednesday it remained in talks with India over an 80bn rupee ($1.77bn) jet order, declining comment on an Indian media report which said the deal may have to be renegotiated. India agreed last September to buy 66 of the aircraft under a deal including training, development and infrastructure which took almost 20 years of negotiations.
09 Mar 04. GKN Aerospace is to design, develop and supply complex carbon wing spars for the Airbus A400M future military airlifter programme – ‘the most ambitious European military procurement programme ever undertaken’. This contract is valued at $110m based on the current order book alone and was gained in the face of tough international competition. This contract award has great strategic significance for GKN Aerospace as it represents the first application of carbon composite technology for primary structures on a large transport aeroplane wing.
10 Mar 04. General Dynamics Corp. said on Wednesday the U.S. Army has ordered a fourth brigade of the company’s Stryker wheeled combat vehicles. The order for 212 of 300 vehicles is valued at $282.4m. The Army is expected to order 88 more Stryker vehicles within 120 days to complete the fourth Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Deliveries of the vehicles will occur between February 2005 and January 2006, General Dynamics said. This contract is part of a $4bn order awarded in November 2000 to equip the Army’s six new Stryker Brigade Combat Teams with as many as 2,131 Stryker armored vehicles.