05 Apr 10. Boeing is floating the idea of an international consortium to operate Chinooks in Latin America. Joe McAndrew, VP of International Business Development for Europe, Israel and the Americas, said Boeing was working on ideas following the successful model proven by the NATO Heavy Airlift Wing, sharing C-17 flying hours between 10 countries. ‘The C-17 SAC programme has been very successful, this is a model that works, we
can take this model and use it on other products in different parts of the world,’ McAndrew told Rotorhub.com at the FIDAE airshow in Santiago, Chile. ‘We believe it is conceivable that a Latin American consortium could operate a fleet of Chinooks for a mixture of military, humanitarian or civil operations.’ Currently there is no international defence partnership system in Latin America like NATO, but Boeing believes that an organisation such as MERCOSUR could provide the right framework for such a consortium to work. ‘The Chinook is an extremely capable machine – you only need to look at operations flown in support of the Pakistani earthquake to see that an aircraft like this would be very useful here in Latin America.’ The South American countries are no strangers to the aircraft. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, five aircraft were purchased by Argentina, three for air force Antarctic operations and two for the army. The army lost both of its aircraft during the Falklands conflict – one being destroyed by British Harriers, while the other was captured and returned to the UK. One of the air force examples is believed to be in storage after restrictions halted the flow of spares to keep the aircraft airworthy. Boeing has the option to offer both new-built CH-47Fs or re-built upgraded ex-US Army CH-47Ds. Brazil is also considered a potential customer for the aircraft outside of any consortium. Brazil is carrying out a wide-ranging modernisation of its armed forces including the purchase of a new fighter aircraft.
The company is not offering the Apache as the US Government is not keen on introducing the attack helicopter into the region even though the Mi-35 Hind is now flying with the air arms of both Venezuela and Brazil. (Source: Shephard)

01 Apr 10. ARINC Incorporated today announced it has been named a Distribution Partner (DP) by Inmarsat for its high-speed SwiftBroadbandSM satellite communications service. ARINC is the world’s largest provider of aeronautical satellite communications for commercial airlines, government/military and business aviation. Its new status as Distribution Partner will result in a number of compelling tailored solutions for the aviation market, since ARINC can purchase airtime directly from Inmarsat, instead of through intermediate providers.
30 Mar 10. Textron Marine & Land Systems announced a strategic license relationship with Federal Defense Industries Inc., for the sourcing, procurement and sale of Cadillac Gage vehicle spare parts in support of Foreign Military Sale (FMS) contracts. This license agreement enables Federal Defense Industries to source and supply parts directly to the United States government for the more than 3,000 Cadillac Gage vehicles that have been sold around the world. Textron acquired Cadillac Gage in 1986, merging the business with Textron Marine to form Textron Marine & Land Systems in 1994. The company successfully produced highly mobile and survivable armored vehicle platforms, such as the V-100, V-150 Commando, V-300, and Stingray(R) tank. Currently, the M1117 Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) is in active production at Textron Marine & Land Systems. (Source: ASD Network)

08 Apr 10. Textron Marine & Land Systems, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. company, and Aerostar SA today announced a Teaming Agreement to jointly produce Textron Marine & Land Systems’ combat-proven Armored Security Vehicles (ASV) and Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) vehicles in anticipation of the Romanian Land Forces’ upgraded protectio