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02 Jul 14. MBDA Inaugurates French Complex Munitions Demilitarisation Facility. On 2nd July 2014, Antoine Bouvier, MBDA’s Chief Executive Officer, in the presence of civil and military authorities, inaugurated France’s complex munitions demilitarisation facility at MBDA’s Bourges Subdray site in the Centre region of France. Having set up this facility in only two years, MBDA is in line with the schedule aimed at allowing France to fulfil the commitment it made in signing the Oslo Convention in July 2009. The Convention prohibits the use and stockpile of cluster bombs and calls for all signatories to have destroyed their stock of such military hardware by 2018. Notified in November 2011 by the NATO Support Agency (NSPA, ex-NAMSA), NATO’s Integrated Logistics and Services Provider Agency, on behalf of the French Ministry of Defence, the contract awarded to MBDA covers the destruction of 36,000 complex munitions and the establishment of a French industrial capability for munitions demilitarisation. The new facility represents an investment of around €12m and the creation of 20 new, direct jobs in the Centre region of France. It also represents MBDA’s response to the French Government’s desire to set up an end of life munitions dismantling capability on home territory in order to guarantee the confidentiality of its products, the safety standards associated with pyrotechnic operations and the protection of the environment. It also represents an opportunity for MBDA to extend its portfolio of activities, allowing the company to be in a position to offer its client base the full life cycle management of its products from design through to destruction. During the inauguration, Antoine Bouvier stated: ”As the European leader in missile systems, MBDA is committed to establishing firm and long lasting partnerships with its domestic and export customers. These customers now expect not only a guarantee of security of supply and support for their products but more and more they are beginning to recognize the need to assure the safe treatment of their complex weapons at the end of their service life. Thanks to this new industrial installation in Bourges Subdray, we are displaying our willingness to further reinforce the partnering relationship we undertake with our military customers”.
02 Jul 14. Australian Minister for Defence Formally Opens the Saab Advanced Maritime Systems Centre. Minister for Defence Senator the Hon. David Johnston officially opened Saab’s Advanced Maritime Systems Centre in Adelaide this morning. The Advanced Maritime Systems Centre brings together all of the resources, skills and expertise which has made Saab Australia a world leader in naval combat systems. The Centre will be an important node within Saab’s global naval systems integration program.
“I am very pleased to officially open the Advanced Maritime Systems Centre. It has been fantastic to see the world-leading technology which Saab is developing right here in Adelaide. For example, the next generation of the Australian-developed 9LV Combat Management System, which has performed exceptionally as part of the Anti-Ship Missile Defence upgrade on the Navy’s ANZAC-class frigates, will be developed here at this facility,” Minister Johnston said. The Advanced Maritime Systems Centre will employ over 100 home-grown Australian combat systems engineers, project managers, and software engineers. This is planned to expand to over 200 employees by 2020. The Advanced Maritime System Centre will make a significant contribution in terms of revenue to the South Australian economy over the next decade. The Advanced Maritime Systems Centre will include Saab Australia’s 9LV Combat Management System Development and Integration program, Submarine Ship Control Systems Laboratory, Training and Simulation Node, Future Combat Systems Laboratory, and Missile and Fire Control Systems Laboratory which is the only facility of its kind in Australia. Based in Maw