MANAGEMENT ON THE MOVE
LOCATIONS
LAND
06 Feb 09. The first three squadrons of F-35s – with at least 59 aircraft – will be formed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., between 2010, when the first aircraft arrives, and mid-2013 when No. 60 is due. Of the three training squadrons to be stood up, one will be U.S. Air Force with 24 conventional takeoff aircraft, one will be Marine Corps with 20 short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing aircraft and the last, with 15 aircraft, will belong to the Navy. The Air Force’s bed-down decision involves temporary operational limitations on flight training to minimize noise impact in the nearby town of Valparaiso. Meanwhile, supplemental environmental studies will be conducted as the Air Force works on a final study on F-35 noise. Details have yet to be pinned down, but the Joint Strike Fighter is expected to be louder than the F-15 and F-16 and about the same as the F/A-18E/Fs and F-22s, says USAF Maj. Gen. Charles Davis, the current F-35 program manager and the incoming commander of Eglin’s Air Armament Center. As part of a two-tier, environmental agreement – after the first 59 aircraft are in place – the Navy and the local community will consider increasing the number of F-35 training aircraft on the base to 113, according to Davis. Along with the integrated pilot school house, all JSF maintenance training will be conducted at Eglin. (Source: Aviation Week)
06 Feb 09. Modernization of Bundeswehr Combat Training Centre complete
Rheinmetall Defence supplies state-of-the-art technology GÜZ. Rheinmetall Defence has completed its modernization of the German Army’s GÜZ Combat Training Centre at the Altmark Training Area (ATA), officially transferring the
new technology to the Federal Agency for Defence Technology and Procurement
(BWB). This brings to a successful conclusion a project which Rheinmetall Defence won in a competitive bidding process in 2006. A special challenge in implementing the upgrade was the customer’s insistence that training operations continue unimpeded during the modernization phase. It was only during the slack summer period and at the end of the year that the existing system technology could be switched off in order to carry out the necessary upgrades. Afterwards, the new technology packages were individually launched and successfully checked for interoperability with the Centre’s other subsystems and segments.
09 Feb 09. In its continuous drive to ensure employees have a safe, secure and healthy place at which to work, Lockheed Martin UK – INSYS has successfully achieved certification to BS OHSAS 18001 standard for occupational health and safety management. The INSYS facility is the first within Lockheed Martin UK to be certified to this exacting standard, following an independent assessment by BSI Management Systems. During a year-long effort leading up to the assessment, potential workplace hazards were identified and addressed; operating procedures were reviewed and updated, and employees received tailored training on health and safety disciplines. Lockheed Martin employs over 600 people at its Ampthill site, including 17,000 sq metres of state of the art manufacturing.
02 Feb 09. Embassies: Recent Closures. A Foreign Office Minister said (2 Feb 09) that the FCO has permanently closed seven Embassies since 1999. Four were closed in the 2003/04 financial year: Bamako (Mali), San Salvador (El Salvador), Tegucigalpa (Honduras) and Managua (Nicaragua). Two were closed in 2005/06: Antananarivo (Madagascar) and Asuncion (Paraguay). Dili (East Timor) was closed in 2006/07. In April 2005, operations were suspended in the Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) Embassy although one diplomatic representative remains in post.
Comment: The FCO claims that it “continuously reviews the deployment of its resources and aligns them flexibly in line with UK interests to the benefit of the British taxpayer.”. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 09/07, 09 Feb 09)
05 Feb 09. Kyrgyz