LOCATIONS
21 Nov 06. Montenegro: Embassy to be Established. The Minister for Europe said (21 Nov 06) that one of the Ambassador to Montenegro’s first tasks was to upgrade the British Office in Podgorica to an Embassy. The UK will continue to support Montenegro’s aspirations to join the EU and NATO.
Comment: The FCO announced on 17 Nov 06 that Mr J A Dyson MVO was to become the resident Ambassador to Montenegro, replacing the former non-resident Ambassador. Montenegro intends to open an Embassy in London “as soon as is practicable”. (The UK formally recognised Montenegro as an independent sovereign state on 13 Jun 06.) (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0645, 27 Nov 06)
Nov 06. Finnish Robonic Arctic Test UAV Flight Centre Ltd (RATUFC), affiliated to UAV launcher designing and manufacturing Robonic Ltd, is launching a study of the potential for development of a UAV pilot training business venture in cooperation with Kemijärvi town in Finnish Lapland. In parallel RATUFC is seeking domestic and international partners for the proposed venture. Robonic managing director (chief executive officer) Juha Moisio says that such a centre would be able to play an active part in a future European UAV-pilot training system.
27 Nov 06. A military cargo plane will be built at Cecil Field Commerce Center if a three-company consortium wins a $6bn Defense Department contract, officials said Monday. The C-27J Spartan is already flying around the world. It is the entry of Alenia North America and units of Boeing Co. and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. in a competition to build the Joint Cargo Aircraft for the Air Force and the Army.
29 Nov 06. The Department of the Navy has announced the naming of the Navy’s newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, Wayne E. Meyer. The name honors retired Navy Rear Adm. Wayne E. Meyer, who managed the development of the Aegis AN/SPY-1 radar system. This system serves as the cornerstone of the Aegis combat system installed in Ticonderoga class guided missile cruisers and Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers. Wayne E. Meyer was born in Brunswick, Mo., on April 21, 1926. In 1946 he graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelors in electrical engineering. He also holds a masters in astronautics and aeronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a bachelors in electrical engineering from Naval Postgraduate School.
JOB LOSSES AND STRIKES
23 Nov 06. David Milne is to step down as chief executive of Wolfson Microelectronics, the specialist chipmaker he founded 22 years ago. He will be replaced by Dave Shrigley, a former Intel executive. Mr Milne, 64, who steered the Edinburgh-based company through its listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2003, will retire from his role as chief executive at the end of February but remain on Wolfson’s board as a non-executive director. He owns just under 3 per cent of the company. Wolfson has faced a turbulent fourth quarter, issuing a profits warning last month that it blamed on slowing demand for MP3 players, such as Apple’s iPod, and multimedia phones that use its chips. (Source: FT.com)
PERSONNEL
MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT
29 Nov 06. NATO Rapid-Reaction Force Gets Final Green Light. NATO declared on Nov. 29 its long-awaited rapid-reaction force was fully ready to take on missions ranging from high-end combat in far-off troublespots to humanitarian relief. The NATO Response Force (NRF), brainchild of outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, will field troops from a pool of up to 25,000 troops at a few days’ notice and is the flagship of NATO efforts to revamp itself after the Cold War. The force, announced at a NATO summit in Latvia, will start with troop commitments “very close” to the 25,000 target after last-minute offers of
soldiers, helicopters and other equipment from Turkey, the United States, France, Spain and Germany. “This … ends the uncertainty that has prevailed for some months an