EUROPE
AIR
18 Oct 05. ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) has received $120m in contracts from the Swiss defense procurement agency, armasuisse, to provide the Swiss Air Force with advanced Link-16 connectivity for their fighter aircraft. The funding represents a continuation of work by TRS on the FLORAKO command and control program. FLORAKO is a high performance air defense and air space management system developed by TRS. It went into operation on Feb. 2, 2004, after successfully completing final tests and operating in parallel with the previous Swiss air defense system. FLORAKO comprises master surveillance radars, a data and communication system, a new airspace management system and new air command
and control centers.
19 Oct 05. Thales UK has been awarded a further five-year contract to support the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) Mission Support System (MSS). This represents the culmination of a year’s work by Thales UK and the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) NIMROD Integrated Project Team (IPT), focussing on the definition of the Royal Air Force business requirement and the identification of key areas of service delivery. The Thales UK ISTAR MSS provides comprehensive support to the RAF’s role in Maritime Reconnaissance, Airborne Early Warning (AEW) and ISTAR by delivering a support capability for current and future operations, which is integrated, flexible, networked, secure and mobile. Development of the ISTAR MSS started in 1980. The original requirement was for a fast time, acoustic replay system for the Nimrod to allow analysis of an eight-hour sortie in one hour before briefing the follow-up crew. The system was delivered to RAF St Mawgan in 1985 and RAF Kinloss in 1986, and has since evolved into the system in use today that incorporates additional ground breaking facilities for automated mission planning, briefing and debriefing.
14 Oct 05. Saft’s lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery technology achieved two important firsts with this morning’s successful launch of France’s new Syracuse IIIA secure military telecommunications satellite. Not only is this the first time that Saft has supplied its rechargeable Li-ion batteries, developed to provide a
reliable power source in a compact, weight-saving package, to Alcatel Alenia Space, the prime contractor for Syracuse III. It is also the first-ever application of Li-ion batteries in a military GEO (geosynchronous) satellite. Syracuse IIIA is the first of two GEO military communication satellites that will be operated by the DGA within France’s ministry of defence (Syracuse IIIB is scheduled for launch in 2006), to form the cornerstone of a European military satcom system shared by NATO allies.
17 Oct 05. Airbus has selected Goodrich Corporation to supply the flap actuation package for its A400M military transport aircraft, and Aerolec (Goodrich’s joint venture with Thales), will be supplying EADS-CASA with the main and auxiliary power unit electric generators for the aircraft’s electrical power generation system. The flap actuation package consists of actuators and the associated transmission and gearboxes. The electrical power generation system includes Goodrich’s variable frequency generators and control units.
USA
LAND
19 Oct 05. Harris Corporation has been awarded a competitive procurement contract to supply the U.S. Marine Corps’ MBMMR (Multiband, Multimission Radio) Standardization Program with its combat-proven Falcon(r) II AN/PRC-117F(C) radios. The first delivery orders of $67m have been awarded as part of a multi-year $205m blanket purchase agreement. Deliveries of the new MBMMR systems will begin in the company’s second fiscal quarter.
Oct 05. The Pentagon has approved Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) for 58 General Dynamics [GD] Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS) vehicles. In an Oct. 13 memo to Army acquisition chief Claude Bolton, Kenneth Krieg, the Pentagon’s acquis