LOCATIONS
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10 Jul 12. India has completed infrastructure development work on one of the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Indian Ocean to improve monitoring of the Malacca strait. The new base will be operated at Campbell Bay by the Indian Navy. Named Naval Air Station Baaz, the base has been built with a longer air strip able to handle Indian Air Force transport aircraft, U.S.-built C-130Js and other smaller Russian transport aircraft. The base will monitor the Malacca strait, through which 40 percent of the world’s oil moves on vessels from the Arabian Gulf. The Andaman and Nicobar islands also house India’s tri-command, which keeps an eye on movements of Chinese ships in the region. (Source: Defense News)
12 Jul 12. QinetiQ is working with the UK MoD to establish a new Unmanned Air Systems Capability Development Centre (UASCDC) to support the rapid development of unmanned air systems (UAS) programmes from concept to deployment. The new Centre, the first of its kind in the UK will have a hub at MOD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, and will be fully operational by April 2013. It will help maintain the UK as a world leader in unmanned aerial systems by facilitating the bringing together of defence and industry expertise to provide an unparalleled capability that can be used throughout any programme. The MOD seeks to maximise the efficiencies of UAS procurements ensuring safe, effective, deployable and interoperable UAS are brought into service. The Centre was set up to support MOD in this with the aim of providing an agile ‘corporate memory’ to help interested parties to identify existing expertise, knowledge and facilities so as to facilitate initial programme planning and accelerate the achievement of project outcomes.
The Centre will aim to:
• communicate best practice to support the maximum re-use of data and lessons learnt
• coordinate the provision of common enablers such as access to air ranges and airspace which will help the MOD to ‘buy once and use many times’
• influence definition of test and training policies and implementation
• accelerate technology insertion through maximum re-use of expertise, simulation capabilities etc. to support experimentation and demonstration
• facilitate engagement between industry and the MoD to make the best use of collective expertise and facilities
10 Jul 12. One year after opening its doors, a research effort at the U.S. Army’s Fort Devens, Mass., training facility is turning out practical solutions to help military base camps run more efficiently, with an eye toward eventual self-sufficiency.
The Base Camp Systems Integration Laboratory is managed by the Product Manager Force Sustainment Systems (PMFSS), under the leadership of the Army’s Project Manager Force Protection.
Since June 2011, project coordinators have been examining base camp operations: fuel usage, clean water and wastewater. Research initiatives explore insulation, water treatment, construction materials and other elements that support daily living in the camps.
The Army operates 55 600-person camps in Afghanistan. (Source: Defense News)
10 Jul 12. Northrop Grumman Corporation has established a new training facility for Fire Scout unmanned helicopter operators that offers improved flight simulators, hands-on aircraft maintenance and classroom instruction. Opened July 10 at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., the Fire Scout Training Center will meet increasing demands for trained operators as the system is used more during deployments. New flight simulators were placed in the facility to improve the quality of training, incorporating lessons learned during the MQ-8B Fire Scout’s recent land- and sea-based deployments.
11 Jul 12. Immersion Consulting, a leading provider of program management and technology advisory services, announced it has moved its headquarters in Annapolis, Md to a new, 3-story, 12,034-square-foot building, which houses two additional tenants and is located next to