LOCATIONS
LAND
24 Sep 12. Admiralty Arch: To be Leased (and Not Sold). A Written Answer (24 Sep 12) confirmed that the Cabinet Office is seeking to grant a long lease for the alternative use of Admiralty Arch. The Government intends to retain the freehold of the building “in perpetuity
for the Nation”.
Comment: Admiralty Arch, dominating the Trafalgar Square end of The Mall, is a Grade One listed building which is no longer considered suitable for office use. Rooms in the building provide excellent views of State ceremonial occasions! (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 12/38, 01 Oct 12)
24 Sep 12. Canada: Sharing the Diplomatic Burden. The Foreign Secretary and his Canadian opposite number met in Ottawa (24 Sep 12) “to review and refresh the Canada-UK Joint Declaration” agreed by the two Prime Ministers in September 2011. The two Ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Enhancing Mutual Support at Missions Abroad. The MoU will see the two Countries make the most of their respective Diplomatic resources by exploring further co-location, as well as collaboration on consular services.
Comment: The UK already offers Canada space in its Embassy in Burma and Canada is to return the favour in Haiti. That said, there are those in the UK who support closer engagement with the Diplomatic Service of the European Union (the UK already shares an Embassy with Germany in Iceland). On both sides of the Atlantic, a certain amount of politics is in play. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 12/38, 01 Oct 12)
27 Sep 12. Vectronix celebrated the opening of its new VIP meeting and demonstration facility “Eagle Eye”. This building addition crowns the staged plan of continuously expanding and modernizing the Heerbrugg site for a total investment of over 30m Swiss Francs (~ 25m Euros), including a new 4000m2 high-technology manufacturing building opened in 2009.
25 Sep 12. The Air Force will base a Space Fence radar site on Kwajalein Island in the Republic of the Marshall Islands with Initial Operations Capability (IOC) planned for fiscal year 2017. The Fence will provide a critical Space Surveillance Network capability needed to give warfighters the ability to maintain a full and accurate orbital catalog, ensure orbital safety, and perform conjunction assessments. Air Force Space Command will award a contract to build the radar, which will be capable of detecting, tracking, identifying and characterizing space objects in low and medium earth orbits. Construction is expected to begin September 2013 and is planned to take 48 months to complete construction and testing.
24 Sep 12. The ATLAS ELEKTRONIK Group, a worldwide-acting company for maritime defence electronics, has founded a subsidiary in Canada. ATLAS ELEKTRONIK Canada Ltd has been set up to establish a strong and reliable partnership with the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian authorities. As potential main contractor, ATLAS ELEKTRONIK Canada will provide ATLAS products and solutions for current and future Canadian users. For decades now ATLAS has been offering a broad range of sonars and sensors, command and control systems for submarines and surface combatants, heavyweight torpedoes and corresponding countermeasures, mine warfare systems, unmanned underwater vehicles, as well as coastal surveillance systems. To round off its broad palette, ATLAS offers a comprehensive range of support services, both before and after delivery of the products.
23 Sep 12. Elbit Systems Ltd. awarded a contract valued at $18.5m for the establishment of a Mission Training Center (MTC) for fighter aircraft of a Latin American Air Force. The establishment of the MTC will be performed during 2014. The MTC is designed to improve the operational training of pilots by training in various mission scenarios, in varying war zones and in the relevant threat environment of each war zone – a cutting-edge training capability which has not been available to Air Forces in the pas