LOCATIONS
LAND
10 Sep 09. General Dynamics C4 Systems, today opened the sixth and
largest EDGE facility, the Vehicle C4ISR Innovation Center in Taunton, Mass. The new EDGE Innovation Center teams industry and academia with warfighters ‘fresh from the fight’ to design more user-friendly environments inside military vehicles. Command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems provide soldiers with information critical to their safety and effectiveness in the battlespace. The EDGE Innovation Network is a collaborative, open-environment initiative enabling EDGE members from industry and academia, with government customer input, to work together to shorten the delivery cycle of new technologies and innovative capabilities to warfighters and first responders. The first EDGE Innovation Center opened in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 2006.
04 Sep 09. Thales has set up a new U.S. unit that will focus on the defense market, the company said September 3. Thales USA, the new name for Thales North America, has set up Thales USA Defense and Security. The new unit will market Thales technologies and services to the U.S. Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security, state and local government entities and industry, with a particular focus on naval, airborne, land and security opportunities in the United States, the company said in a press release. (Source: Defense News)
01 Sep 09. Defence Training Estate (DTE): Rationalisation. The MoD announced (1 Sep 09) that training facilities in Kenya came under DTE’s control from 1 Sep 09 and that those in Belize were to follow “in the near future”.
Comment: Rationalisation of the DTE in April 2006 brought together the training facilities of all three Services and built on the Army Training Estate, which had been created in 2003. The British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) in Canada added 2,690 square kilometres to DTE’s area of responsibilities in 2008. Training land in Northern Ireland and Germany has also recently come under DTE’s control. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 10/34, 14 Sep 09)
26 Aug 09. The King’s Troop: Move Confirmed. The Defence Contracts Bulletin (26 Aug 09) confirms details of the forthcoming move of The King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery from St John’s Wood Barracks to Napier Lines, Woolwich. Three companies have been invited to tender for the move, which involves accommodation and training facilities for 171 personnel and 132 horses. A contract is expected to be issued on 1 Jul 10, for completion by 31 Aug 11.
Comment: Sadly, the lease on St John’s Wood Barracks ends in 2012 and attempts to secure an extension have not been successful. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 10/34, 14 Sep 09)
MARITIME
08 Sep 09. The largest, most powerful and stealthiest nuclear attack submarine ever built for the Royal Navy is preparing to leave the BAE Systems shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness for sea trials. BAE Systems is responsible for the design, build and initial in-service support for the Astute submarine class currently under construction at the company’s shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness. The first of class HMS Astute is undergoing final test and commissioning work before leaving for extensive sea trials prior to entering service with the Royal Navy. A further three Astute class vessels, Ambush, Artful and Audacious are currently under construction with long lead orders placed for equipment for a fifth submarine. The keel for Audacious was laid at the shipyard earlier this year. Design and construction of the Astute class involves over 7,000 design drawings and more than 1 million components.
10 Sep 090. HMS Montrose has left Rosyth this week for acceptance trials following a nine month refit by Babcock which was completed in-budget, and has given the Type 23 Frigate a major capability upgrade, including the first fitting of the Royal Navy’s new DNA(2) command system. The DNA(2) command syste