EUROPE
LAND
24 Apr 17. The French Procurement Agency (DGA) placed the first production order with Nexter, Renault Trucks Defense and Thales for 319 GRIFFON and 20 JAGUAR vehicles as part of the Multi-role Armored Vehicle contract. This contract includes logistic support and the associated training. A crucial stage in the SCORPION programme, the awarding of this conditional tranche will thus launch the production of these new vehicles after only 27 months of development. The GRIFFON Multi-role Armored Vehicle and the JAGUAR Armored Reconnaissance and Combat Vehicle, both of which benefit from a high level of protection, respectively replace the VAB and the AMX10RC, the SAGAIE ERC and the VAB Hot, used intensively by the Army for over thirty years. They will enable the French Army to have a state-of-the-art combat tool with the best protection technologies and the best possible use to be made of digitized data on the battlefield. The Nexter, Renault Trucks Defense and Thales teams are perfectly aligned in order to achieve the contractual milestones and to meet the qualification and production commitments, with the first deliveries of the GRIFFON in 2018 and of the JAGUAR in 2020. Pooling of know-how and innovation capabilities creates the strength to design “connected” vehicles for tomorrow’s collaborative combat, featuring a high level of protection, optimum adaptability by means of the vehicles’ ability to be reconfigured according to the operational requirements, great mobility, and leading edge weapon systems.
The SCORPION programme provides for the delivery by the Temporary Business Grouping of 1,668 GRIFFON vehicles and 248 JAGUAR engines to the French Army, as well as the associated logistic support facilities.
SEA
21 Apr 17. MBDA contracted to support Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers’ Sea Viper weapon system. MBDA has received a £175m contract from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) for further In-Service Support to the Sea Viper weapon system, securing a key capability of the Type 45 fleet. Called ‘Sea Viper Unified Support Environment Period 1’, the contract will cover the continuing in-service support to the Sea Viper weapon system, including the Aster missile that protects the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers, for the next 5 years. The Unified Support Environment (USE) is the principle of providing in-service support to UK MoD Weapon Systems and Missiles in a portfolio environment. The USE approach is designed to reduce support workload and administrative costs, and has already been successfully applied to several other MBDA programmes, including ASRAAM, Brimstone and Storm Shadow. The work willsustain around 50 MBDA UK jobs, primarily at Stevenage, Portsmouth, and Bristol and will also involve a large number of UK companies in the supply chain as well as MBDA France and MBDA Italy.
21 Apr 17. MBDA has a secured a £323m deal for the next batch of cutting-edge air defence missiles for the British Army and Royal Navy. The next-generation Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) is designed for use both at sea and on land. It has the capability to defend against anti-ship cruise missiles, aircraft and other highly sophisticated threats. Designed and manufactured by MBDA in the UK, CAMM will be deployed using the Sea Ceptor and Land Ceptor weapon systems that will protect the Royal Navy’s Type 23 and future Type 26 warships, as well as enhancing the British Army’s Ground Based Air Defence system. Sea Ceptor and Land Ceptor use innovative radar and datalink technology to guide the CAMM with incredible accuracy. CAMM’s associated radar system tracks the maritime or land based threat and uses the datalink to update the missile with the location of the threat. The CAMM’s own active radar seeker can then take over the missile guidance. The missiles are designed to provide 360 degree coverage and high degrees of manoeuvrability. The Sea Ceptor weapon system incorporating CAMM will replace the Sea Wolf weapon syste