EUROPE
LAND
19 Jan 17. Chamois Consulting Limited secures major contract with the acclaimed southwest engineering company, SC Group. Chamois, a recently launched southwest based full-service marketing and communications consultancy, has signed a major contract to deliver marketing and communications services to SC Group, based in Devon. Under this contract the team at Chamois will provide a comprehensive, out-sourced marketing and communications service to all 5 brands that are a part of SC Group including Supacat, the highly esteemed defence arm, SC Innovation, Proteum and Blackhill Engineering. The contract incorporates the full spectrum of services including strategy, planning, PR, media, advertising, digital and events.
18 Jan 17. As part of the FLORAKO programme modernisation, armasuisse has awarded Thales a contract to upgrade the Master radars for the Swiss Air Force. This contract, which amounts to 74m euros, will be the main order within the broader FLORAKO radars life extension project approved by the Swiss government in 2016, is intended to extend the lifespan of the radars and to ensure operational excellence until 2030. The modernisation of all fixed long-range surveillance radars will be carried out at the Thales site in Limours near Paris in cooperation with RUAG defence, who will act as a Thales subcontractor. This upgrade will take around 60 months until the last radar test can be completed, including a 24 month development phase leveraging the previous radar technologies. It will optimise the long-term performance support and ensure operational excellence for the full lifespan of the radars within the existing infrastructure. Engineering teams will develop a new radar signal and data processing and upgrade the antenna system, while, integration teams will carry out testing and qualification phases. The upgraded radars will be delivered to the Swiss Air Force one by one as soon as their performance has been successfully verified.
19 Jan 17. Thales has won the CERBERE contract to upgrade the instrumentation for the French Army’s live combat training centres. The new system will be installed at the Sissonne army base for urban combat training and at Mailly-le-Camp for training in open terrain operations. The CERBERE solution will enable combined-arms task forces to train in conditions very close to those encountered on operational deployments. The French defence procurement agency (DGA) awarded the contract to Thales and its partner RUAG Defence France at the end of 2016.
SEA
18 Jan 17. Amec Foster Wheeler secures UK naval nuclear propulsion contract. Key Points:
• Amec Foster Wheeler will supply research and technology service to the UK’s Naval Nuclear Propulsion Programme
• The five-year contract is worth GBP35m
Amec Foster Wheeler has been awarded a five-year, GBP35m (USD43m) contract by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide research and technology (R&T) services in support of the MoD’s Naval Nuclear Propulsion Programme (NNPP). The R&T contract, which will sustain about 70 jobs at Amec Foster Wheeler’s offices and laboratories in Warrington and Dorchester, covers critical areas of capability such as materials performance, materials science, modelling, code development, thermal hydraulics, and non-destructive testing and examination. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
AIR
17 Jan 17. Elbit Systems announced today that it was awarded a contract to supply groundbreaking, multi spectral BrightNite system to an air force in a NATO country. The contract, in an amount of approximately $17m, will be performed over a thirty-month period. Low-flying helicopters are especially vulnerable to threats such as difficult terrain, enemy fire and obstacles in the flight path. Sorties must be performed both day and night and often carried out in DVE conditions, adding to the already heavy workload. Prior to BrightNite, flight crews have had to rely on night vision goggles (which have limited capabilities) t