LOCATIONS
16 Jun 06. Iraq: OP TELIC. Since 2001, the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, has been the main receiving unit for patients aeromedically evacuated from an operational theatre….Patients aeromedically evacuated from Iraq by US Forces may be treated at US facilities in Ramstein, Germany, before continuing to Selly Oak for treatment in the normal way. (Ministerial Answer (MA), 16 Jun 06.) (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0625, 26 Jun 06)
26 Jun 06. Harris Corporation is expanding manufacturing capacity and increasing employment at its RF Communications Division in Rochester, New York, to meet the growing demand for the company’s advanced military communications solutions. Harris is significantly increasing the manufacturing capacity of the Rochester facility, where company employees and government officials gathered today to mark the expansion.
27 Jun 06. Lockheed Martin [LMT] this week opened the facility in Owego, N.Y., where it will install systems in the next-generation Marine One helicopter. Lockheed Martin and AgustaWestland, an Italian-U.K. firm that makes the EH101 military helicopter, last year teamed to beat Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies [UTX], for the coveted Navy contract to build more than 20 presidential transport helicopters for duty on the White House South Lawn. Sikorsky, of Connecticut, had provided the helos for half a century. The Lockheed Martin-Agusta chopper, which they called the US101, will be termed the VH-71. (Source: Defense Daily)
29 Jun 06. The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced the acceptance of BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair into the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) as a “Star” site, the highest designation in the program. Only one other privately held American shipyard has earned this prestigious honor, and this is the first time a West Coast ship repair facility has earned membership. Acceptance into the VPP is OSHA’s means of officially recognizing the outstanding efforts of employers and employees who have exceeded OSHA’s standards and achieved exemplary occupational safety and health.
20 Jun 06. VC10 Fleet: Middle East Re-basing. As part of a re-basing of aircraft in the Middle East, 101 Squadron’s VC10 are moving from Muharraq in Bahrain to Ul Adeid Air Base in Qatar. The aim of the re-basing is “to improve effectiveness in the delivery of capability to OP TELIC and OP HERRICK as well as reducing the cost of operations”. (MoD, 20 Jun 06.) Comment: Following the disbandment of 10 Squadron on 14 Oct 05, 101 Squadron is now the sole operator of VC10 air-to-air refuelling aircraft. 16 VC10 remain in service, stationed in the UK at RAF Brize Norton. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0625, 26 Jun 06)
27 Jun 06. “A. Marchetti” Training Academy Now Open For Business. AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce the opening of the new “A. Marchetti” Training Academy, which will provide customers with a wide range of commercial and military helicopter training services. The new Training Academy will allow AgustaWestland to offer its growing customer base a wider range of training services, particularly for the A119, A109, Grand and AW139 helicopters, utilising the latest training technologies to improve safety, enhance pilot capabilities and to reduce cost of ownership. Located within the Training Academy is ROTORSIM, the joint venture company owned equally by AgustaWestland and CAE, which is now operating a CAE-built A109 simulator. The simulator is the first ever A109 simulator to achieve Level D equivalent certification and has now been declared “ready for training”.
PERSONNEL
MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT
26 Jun 06. One of Sri Lanka’s top generals was assassinated on Monday by a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber who rammed his motorbike into an army convoy near the capital, officials said. Army deputy chief of