LOCATIONS
LAND
10 Jul 14. U.K. Defence rehabilitation services are to be given a £300m upgrade in a move that will see the world-class medical services currently delivered at Headley Court move to a new purpose-built location at Stanford Hall, near Loughborough. In order to improve and advance the cutting-edge treatments already available to Armed Forces personnel, the new Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) will open its doors at the end of 2017. It will represent the future of defence rehabilitation medicine in the UK and build on the remarkable success of the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court. The new facility will increase the size and scope of defence rehabilitation so that injured members of the Armed Forces can be properly cared for. It will also bolster the hub of medical expertise in the Midlands, including the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, the Headquarters of the Defence Medical Services and the Battle Back Centre in Lilleshall. The new Defence rehabilitation centre will be contained within a site four times the size of Headley Court and will provide:
* Immediate access to on-site patient diagnosis and treatment plans;
* Closer proximity to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, the main receiving hospital for UK military causalities;
* Greater scope for innovation and advances in medical research and the development and application of new, leading clinical practice;
* Improved disabled access and purpose built accommodation to meet the specific needs of patients; and
* Exciting outdoor facilities including a new 400m running track to support the early stages of recovery.
The funding for the project is coming solely from charitable donors following an initiative by The Duke of Westminster, who as the major benefactor, has acquired Stanford Hall for the DNRC. To build on the support Headley Court has received from Help for Heroes, The Royal British Legion, SSAFA and the many other Service charities, all the facilities currently at Headley Court will be replicated and upgraded at Stanford Hall.
07 Jul 14. GPS Source is expanding its facility to accommodate increased production demands. “As we continue to research, develop and market products for the GNSS sector, GPS Source’s success has created a need for more production room. Our manufacturing facility needs more space for day-to-day operations and the engineering department needs a bigger research lab,” said Robert Horton, CEO of GPS Source. He continued, “When we were awarded the IDIQ contract for the DAGR Distributed Device (D3) last year, we started looking around for space and frankly, could not find a better location than right next door to our existing facility. The new building is over 5,000 square feet and will be fully operational within the next month.” (Source: Yahoo!/PRNewswire)
MARITIME
10 Jul 14. Brazil and Colombia to jointly develop new Amazon patrol vessel. Colombia and Brazil signed an agreement earlier this month to begin joint development of a river patrol vessel specifically designed for the Amazon. The Amazon Patrol Vessel (Buque Patrullero Amazónico – BPA) will be jointly designed and developed by Brazil’s EMGEPRON and Colombia’s COTECMAR, with the latter stating that the design would capitalise on previous work with the 373-ton PAF-series river patrol vessel – a fully armoured gunboat capable of embarking a medium-size helicopter. The agreement marks the second phase in the Colombian-Brazilian bilateral defence co-operation agreement signed in July 2008, which began to be implemented in late 2012 with a USD6.4m order of four COTECMAR LPR-40 river patrol boats, two each for the Brazilian Army and Navy. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
07 Jul 14. Modernization of the Saudi Arabian military fleet. DCNS opens its programme-management platform premises in Toulon. Nathalie Smirnov, director of the DCNS Services division, inaugurated the premise