15 Jun 06. Data Link Solutions (DLS) and Thales have signed an agreement to cooperatively produce and sell Multi-functional Information Distribution System (MIDS) terminals for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS). DLS is leading the development effort on MIDS JTRS under an $82m product improvement program contract. MIDS JTRS is a significant evolution of the successful international MIDS Low Volume Terminal (LVT) program which has provided a fully interoperable Tactical Data Link (Link 16) to more than 20 NATO and allied countries on numerous military platforms. The initial MIDS JTRS configuration will provide the current MIDS capabilities of Link 16 and tactical air navigation functions while also providing three additional programmable channels to run various communications, navigation and command-and-control waveforms, all within the same form factor of the existing MIDS LVT.
13 Jun 06. GIAT, KMW Confirm Cooperation on New Armored Fighting Vehicle. GIAT Industries and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) will cooperate on the concept, design and production of a next-generation Medium-Size Multirole Armored
Fighting Vehicle (MSMRAV), the two companies announced at a joint press conference June 13 at the Eurosatory exhibition here. The French GIAT and German KMW are the major players in the European defense industry’s land systems business. “There’s no common European market for, and a lot of national regulations regarding the im- or export for, defense products,” said KMW Chairman Frank Haun, so GIAT and KMW signed a memorandum of understanding in March to overcome these problems. At the press conference, GIAT and KMW said the five nations that had signed a letter of intent for an MSMRAV program — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden — earlier agreed on a Common Staff Target for the vehicle. That target has been handed over to the European Defense Agency.
The goal of the cooperation, Haun said, is for GIAT and KMW to become a “major supplier in future European armored fighting vehicle programs.” The program will be open to other partners and multinational approaches. The planned MSMRAV will be a six-wheeled platform weighing less than 20 tons for the complete system and with “high grow potential for following generations,” according to a joint statement from GIAT and KMW. The two companies agreed to define an initial concept for the basic platform this year with the prospect of entering the demonstrator phase in 2007.
09 Jun 06. PZL Swidnik Deliver 500th Airframe to AgustaWestland. At the PZL Swidnik factory in Poland the 500th airframe produced for AgustaWestland was handed over today, marking 10 years of successful co-operation between the two companies. AgustaWestland has one of its most important and long-lasting industrial collaborations in Poland and the technology challenges faced with this cooperation has allowed the Polish aviation industry to meet the highest international aeronautical quality standards. PZL-Swidnik is a risk-sharing partner on the AgustaWestland AW139 programme, which has established this brand new medium twin helicopter as the benchmark helicopter in the medium-twin market.
12 Jun 06. Saab and Denel create new international Aerostructures company in South Africa. Saab AB of Sweden and South Africa’s Denel have signed an Agreement regarding the creation of a new aerostructures company in South Africa which will compete on international markets for design, manufacturing, and assembly orders in the civil and defence aerostructures fields. At a ceremony in Stockholm today, South Africa’s Minister of Public Enterprises, Alec Erwin, Shaun Liebenberg CEO of Denel and Saab’s CEO Åke Svensson signed agreements on the establishment, management, and shareholding structure of the new company. The company, which will receive a Saab investment of 66 MRAND and a proportional capital investment by Denel, will initially be 20 percent owned by Saab and 80% by Denel. It will begin operations with about