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29 Mar 16. The Swedish government has awarded BAE Systems a contract to refurbish 262 Combat Vehicles 90 (CV90) for the Swedish Army. The company’s work will include refurbishing the chassis and upgrading the vehicle’s survivability and turrets, as well as enhancing combat system performance. Together, these efforts will help increase the vehicles’ lifespan in support of Army capabilities. BAE Systems will work closely with the customer throughout the program. Work starts immediately with deliveries beginning in 2018 and running through 2020. (Source: Yahoo!/BUSINESS WIRE)
23 Mar 16. Romanian orders more Spike-LR missiles. Romania has placed a EUR130m order for a consignment of Rafael Spike-LR missiles, Romanian defence officials have told IHS Jane’s. The negotiations began in 2014-2015 and the agreement was signed by the state-owned company Romtehnica and EuroSpike GhbH in January. EuroSpike, which is a joint venture of Rafael, Diehl and Rheinmetall, is obliged to fulfil offset contracts for 80% of the order’s value. The Spike-LR missiles are for the Rafael weapon stations that have been fitted to the Romanian army’s MLI-84M infantry fighting vehicles. The weapon station also carries a 25 mm cannon and a 7.62mm machine gun. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
31 Mar 16. Serco Group plc (‘Serco’ or ‘the Group’), the international service company, announced that an updated contract to manage the operations of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (‘AWE’) has been agreed by AWE Management Limited (‘AWE ML’) and the Ministry of Defence (‘MoD’). As previously disclosed, the UK Government has been reviewing these arrangements, and this process has now concluded successfully. The updated contract, which sets out a framework for operations through to 2025, will provide the MoD with greater flexibility to vary activity with changes in funding and other programme demands, and provides for greater incentivisation in the form of demanding risk / reward mechanisms. There will be regular pricing reviews, with the next one scheduled to take place in 2019. AWE ML is a joint venture between Serco, Lockheed Martin Inc. and Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., and is contracted to manage on the UK Government’s behalf the development, maintenance and manufacturing of warheads for the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent, as well as performing other roles central to national nuclear security. As part of the arrangements, the joint venture partners have agreed in principle that Lockheed Martin will take a majority holding in the joint venture, reflecting the anticipated relative level of resources and workload involved in future operations; the shareholdings of both Jacobs and Serco will be adjusted to allow for this, reducing in both cases from 33.3% to 24.5%.
AIR
28 Mar 16. The Ministry of Defence has committed £372m across four contracts for the continued in-service support of Hawk fast jet training aircraft, securing around 700 UK jobs until 2020.
The fleet of Hawk TMk1 and TMk2 aircraft are used by the UK armed forces for military flying training prior to conversion onto frontline fast jet aircraft, such as Typhoon or the future F35 Lightning II, and for a variety of other Royal Navy and Royal Air Force training requirements. They are also the aircraft of choice by the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows – one of the world’s premier aerobatic display teams.
24 Mar 16. DoD/DSCA Notifies Congress of Possible FMS of P-8A Aircraft and Associated Support to UK. The U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has notified the Congress that the Government of the United Kingdom (UK) has requested notification for the possible procurement of up to nine (9) P-8A Patrol Aircraft, associated major defense equipment, associated training, and support. The estimated cost is $3.2bn. The prime contractor involved in this sale is The Boeing Company, Seattle, WA. Implementation of the proposed sale will require appro