INDUSTRY TEAMINGS
03 Jun 09. The team led by Northrop Grumman Corporation submitted its bid today for the U.S. Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services, or CANES. CANES will streamline and update shipboard network systems to improve interoperability and affordability across the fleet. The U.S. Department of Defense issued a request for proposals April 2 for the program, which is valued at more than $1.5bn over the next five years. The program is an investment in a modernized C4ISR architecture that will significantly reduce development, deployment and lifecycle costs. As its major technology and services partner, Northrop Grumman’s Information Systems sector is teamed with IBM to provide commercial industry innovation and best practices that can be integrated into the CANES solution. The Northrop Grumman-led team also includes key small-business partners Atlas Technologies, Charleston, S.C.; Beatty and Company Computing, Juno Technologies, and Syzygy Technologies, Inc., all based in San Diego; and CenterBeam Inc., San Jose, Calif.
03 Jun 09. The monopoly held by India’s state–owned aeronautic manufacturer, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), has been broken by the private firm Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. [TASL], which struck a joint venture with U.S.-based Sikorsky Aircraft to manufacture helicopters here. An executive of TASL said the helicopters will be built for both defense and civil purposes, and include utility and strike versions for the armed forces. Sikorsky is already in the race for India’s program to procure 197 utility helos, along with AgustaWestland of the United Kingdom, Eurocopter of France , Kamov of Russia and Bell Helicopter of the United States. The joint venture between TASL and Sikorsky is being set up near the central Indian city of Hyderabad in an Aerospace Special Economic Zone. The joint venture will be built at a cost of $200 million and the plant will be commissioned in one year, added the TASL executive.
Tata Group, which is the parent of TASL, already has an agreement with U.S. aerospace major Boeing to handle an initial $500 million of defense-related aerospace component work in India for export to Boeing. Last year, TASL announced that it is joining hands with EADS to bid for the
Indian Army’s $1bn advanced tactical communications system project. TASL also signed a memorandum of understanding last year with Israel Aerospace
Industries to set up a defense technology company in India to jointly produce a wide range of defense and aerospace products. (Source: Defense News)
01 Jun 09. Elbit Systems Ltd. and Alliant Techsystems have successfully conducted flight tests of the Guided Advanced Tactical Rocket (GATR). In a recent demonstration, conducted in Israel, GATR was deployed from a helicopter using a “lock-on before launch” method to engage an off-boresight target at a range of approximately three (3) kilometers. ATK and Elbit Systems validated flight worthiness, safe separation launch, and autonomous laser designated guided flight through a series of tests. The laser designated guided flight, launched from a standard 2.75 inch launcher, resulted in a direct impact on the target. Originally announced in July 2008, GATR benefits from a robust design, which combines combat-proven performance, a minimum smoke signature and the reliability of an ATK-produced propulsion system, similar to a system employed on millions of rockets produced for the United States Army. GATR contains a guidance and control system built with the experience of Elbit Systems’ heritage in high-performance laser seekers for the United States and international customers. It employs advanced acquisition, tracking and guidance algorithms to achieve one-meter accuracy against stationary and moving targets. In its tactical configuration, GATR will incorporate an Insensitive Munitions (IM) rocket motor and a family of IM warheads to include blast/fragmentation and penetration. GATR is a low-cost, preci