15 Jul 15. Boeing Co and India’s Tata Advanced Systems Ltd have agreed to work together on manufacturing aerospace and defence equipment including unmanned aerial vehicles, the U.S. company said on Wednesday.
Boeing said in a statement that the two firms intend to sell into markets products that they have jointly developed. New Delhi is trying to encourage more companies to manufacture in India and boost skilled employment, particularly in defence. Tata Advanced Systems, which already works with Airbus Group and Lockheed Martin, is owned by conglomerate Tata Sons. (Source: Reuters)
15 Jul 15. DCNS offers Shortfin Barracuda for Australia’s future submarine programme. France’s DCNS is set to propose its Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A design for Australia’s future submarine competitive evaluation process (CEP). Claimed to be the world’s most advanced conventionally powered submarine, the vessel is in its pre-concept design stage and has been named after an indigenous species of the Barracuda found in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The Shortfin Barracuda is the smaller version of the French Navy’s Barracuda nuclear-powered attack submarine.
DCNS Australia CEO Sean Costello said: “While exact details remain confidential, DCNS can confirm the Shortfin Barracuda is over 90m in length and displaces more than 4,000t when dived. If selected, the Shortfin Barracuda will remain in service until the 2060s and the Block 1A platform will be updated and upgraded with new technology developed in France and Australia. The technical evolution of the submarine will be enabled by a strategic level government-to-government agreement between France and Australia.”
DCNS’s design will compete against Japan’s Soryu-class and German firm TKMS’s Type-216 submarines, reported Sky News. The future submarine project is the country’s largest defence procurement programme, representing an investment of $50bn. Australia is seeking to build submarines with range and endurance similar to the Collins-class vessels, as well as superior sensor performance, and stealth characteristics. This new submarine fleet is expected to fill a capability gap in the mid-2020s, when the Collins-class submarine is scheduled to retire from service. Last month, the Australian Government established the Expert Advisory Panel to oversee the competitive evaluation process for the submarine programme. In February, it announced the acquisition strategy for the programme, providing further details of the competitive evaluation process. The preferred bidder is expected to be announced in the first quarter of 2016. (Source: naval-technology.com)
05 Jul 15. BRAZIL – Navy preparing for ship amphibious assault vessel acquisition. Media reports suggests that the Brazilian Navy is reaching out to international shipyards to implement the Navy’ project to acquire a landing-dock vessel. The Navy is looking for an amphibious assault ship of a size similar to that of the NDD Ceará (loaded weight of 11,600 tons), according to PlanoBrazil. The Navy is currently gathering information from industry in order to plan the bidding process, which is due to open during in late 2015 or early 2016. (Source: MPI – Hawk Information)
14 Jul 15. India set to start Project 75i submarine procurement. On 12 July, the Indian media reported that the government is set to release an RFP for the construction of 6 advanced submarines for the Indian Navy. The procurement is expected to be carried out under the «Buy and Make India» category of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP). This implies that there are options for foreign technologies to be included in the submarines as part of tie-ups and work-sharing arrangements. The procurement would be open to private and state-owned shipbuilders. The shipyards shortlisted by the government are Mazagon Dock Limited, Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Cochin Shipyard Limited, and private sector yards including Pipavav and Larsen & Toubro. It appears that some foreign governme