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15 Nov 12. Pratt & Whitney will expand manufacturing capabilities at the company’s West Palm Beach facility. Pratt & Whitney plans to invest more than $63m to construct and equip a new building and make improvements to existing space at the facility. Construction is expected to begin in the first half of 2013. Overall, the expansion is expected to result in creation of 230 new jobs. To support this expansion, Pratt & Whitney will receive incentives from both the State of Florida and Palm Beach County valued at approximately $4.4m. (Source: Yahoo!/PRNewswire)
15 Nov 12. Thales has announced that its R&D facility at the Parc du
Technologique in Quebec City is now an official Thales Research & Technology (TRT) centre — the fifth in the world and the first in North America. Thales’s TRT laboratories work closely with the rest of the Group as well as with research partners around the world. Their mission is to drive technological innovation and identify new and potentially critical technologies for the Group.
15 Nov 12. India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) has launched a new factory to manufacture advanced avionics for aircraft and helicopters. The factory, named Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Strategic Electronics Factory, will be inaugurated Nov. 17 by Defence Minister A.K. Antony in his home state of Kerala. The factory will cater to the avionics needs of the Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) and the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft being developed jointly with Russia, said a Defence Ministry official. The first phase of the project, built at a cost of more than $12m, will manufacture special purpose computers, including mission computers and radar computers. (Source: Defense News)
09 Nov 12. Minister’s visit to Oldbury UK caps off 150th Anniversary. A third generation family owned West Midlands engineering company, which manufactures specialist equipment for the defence, aerospace and security sectors, completed its 150th anniversary celebrations with a visit by Britain’s new Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, Philip Dunne MP. Oldbury UK, based in Wolverhampton, makes a wide range of land systems and ancillaries including enhanced mobility trailers, integrated platforms, heat shields and environmental shelters – some of which have been supplied to UK MoD as Urgent Operational Requirements for Afghanistan. During the visit, the Minister met the company’s owners, senior management and employees, toured the plant and reviewed examples of equipment supplied to defence customers, including UK MoD. Unveiling a plaque to commemorate the company’s 150 year milestone, Minister Philip Dunne said, “Oldbury UK has an illustrious history responding to the calls of our Armed Forces for the latest developments in military technology and I am honoured to be here in Wolverhampton to mark its 150th anniversary. Richard Skan is a candidate for BATTLESPACE Businessman of the Year 2013.
14 Nov 12. Antoine Bouvier, the Chief Executive Officer of MBDA, laid the first stone of France’s future demilitarization facility which is to be built at MBDA’s Bourges Subdray site. Representatives from both the civil and military authorities were present at the event. Before the end of 2013, this facility will become operational at which point it will be capable of dismantling annually 2,500 tonnes of various types of sensitive munitions, notably missiles. It will permit the maximum recuperation of waste products which will be sorted, re-used or recycled in full accordance with French and European standards. Only those waste elements comprising energetic material will be incinerated in the thermic treatment unit. This new complex weapons demilitarization capability will allow MBDA to extend its portfolio of activities and to offer to its military customer base, the full life cycle management of their products from conception through to destruction. Around 12m euros are being invested in