EUROPE
LAND
27 Oct 16. SC Innovation has been awarded the contract to design the first new variant of the Shannon Launch & Recovery System (SL&RS) since it entered service three years ago for the RNLI’s new all-weather lifeboat. The SL&RS is a 20.2m long high-mobility tractor and powered tracked carriage system, which was designed and developed over a decade by SC Innovation with the RNLI’s Engineering Project Team to launch the Shannon independently of slipways and harbours.
SEA
25 Oct 16. Babcock Awarded Submarine Escape Training Contract. Babcock, the UK’s leading engineering support services company, has been awarded a five-year contract, with the option to extend a further five years, to deliver submarine escape, rescue, abandonment and survival training (SMERAS) to the Royal Navy from a purpose-built facility at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde on the west coast of Scotland. The contract will see training start in 2018 following the completion of preparatory work at the Naval Base that will include the development of Class-specific high fidelity escape towers and escape compartments. A standalone instructor-led live environment training pool will also be added, capable of replicating the environmental conditions that submarine escapes may have to be carried out in. The new facilities will also include; ‘dry’ classrooms where trainees can interact with new media that covers all the elements of escape, rescue, abandonment and survival training, new office facilities, workshops and changing areas.
AIR
24 Oct 16. Lincoln-based Inzpire Limited has been awarded an extension to its current Air Warfare Centre White Force contract to include providing support to the Royal Air Force Typhoon Qualified Weapon Instructor (QWI) course delivered by 29(R) Squadron at RAF Coningsby. The Typhoon QWI course runs for 7 months, with the final element of the course delivered by 29(R) Squadron being the 7-week long Exercise TRIPLEX WARRIOR. Pilots then move on to Exercise COBRA WARRIOR; for which Inzpire have already been delivering the White Force expertise for over a year. Inzpire have sourced the most highly qualified and respected retired military experts available to fill the roles within 29(R) Squadron, providing Typhoon expertise as well as ISR and C2 experience.
USA
LAND
26 Oct 16. Cray Inc, Seattle, Washington, was awarded a $26,559,500 modification (P0017) to contract W912DY-13-G-0022 for Department of Defense high performance computing modernization program purchase of high performance computing systems, administration, and maintenance. Work will be performed in Vicksburg, Mississippi, with an estimated completion date of April 24, 2021. Fiscal 2016 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $26,559,500 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
21 Oct 16. L-3 has been awarded a $10.6m U.S. Special Operations Command contract for laser targeting systems. Under the three-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, L-3 will provide Advanced Target Pointer/Illuminator/Aiming Lasers, according to the Department of Defense contract announcement. The contract was awarded by the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division in Crane, Indiana. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
SEA
27 Oct 16. BAE Systems has received a contract from General Dynamics Electric Boat to begin work associated with the production of Virginia Payload Module (VPM) tubes for Block V Virginia-class (SSN 774) submarines. This initial award will fund work surrounding certification, special tooling, and other items related to production readiness. The VPM is an additional mid-body section being integrated into the U.S. Navy’s Virginia-class submarines, beginning with the second boat of Block V. It contains four large-diameter payload tubes, each capable of storing and launching up to seven Tomahawk cruise missiles. Accessible while at sea, the VPM also