LOCATIONS
LAND
08 Aug 14. Marshall Aerospace Canada, part of Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group, will open its Canadian head office in Abbotsford. The company, with its main headquarters in Cambridge, England, has purchased of a 4,343 square foot building at the Abbotsford airport. At a ribbon cutting on Friday, representatives explained how the Abbotsford base will act as Marshall’s base for strategic growth in Canada and North America. Marshall first established a presence in Canada in 2006 and has traditionally shared office space with partners in the sector to maximize work on collaborative contracts. With potential growth in Canada’s aerospace sector as a whole expected to surpass 2013’s direct revenues of C$25.1bn, Marshall determined a formal presence was required to capitalize on new opportunities. (Source: Google/BC Local News)
12 Aug 14. Rheinmetall Denel Munition to establish ammunition development centre. Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) in South Africa is to set up an ammunition development centre near Cape Town, where it has one of its main plants. The new centre in Somerset West will develop munitions to specific client requirements and conduct research in the wider field of munitions and propellants. According to RDM Chief Executive Officer Norbert Schulze, the centre “will draw on the knowledge base of South African universities and recruit post-graduates … complementing their knowledge with that of international experts”. The focus will be on understanding evolving ammunition requirements and developing appropriate solutions to meet them. Schulze said that the development centre will be able to use the facilities at RDM’s plants as well as at Denel’s 430 km 2 Overberg Test Range at Arniston (guided weapons), and the 845 km 2 Alkantpan range (artillery and armoured vehicles) in the Northern Cape, which is operated by the defence acquisition agency Armscor and which also has facilities for insensitive munitions testing. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
14 Aug 14. FAA Solicits Applicants for Center of Excellence for UAS. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released its final solicitation for a new FAA Center of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (COE). The new COE will be tasked with identifying current and future issues critical to safe integration of UAS into the nation’s airspace. The COE will study several technical issues critical to successful UAS integration, including detect-and-avoid technology, control and communications, low-altitude operations safety, compatibility with air traffic control operations and training and certification of UAS pilots and other crewmembers. University teams may include industry and other affiliates expected to support, conduct joint research efforts, and serve on the COE team. The deadline for teams to submit proposals is September 15. The FAA intends to support this COE over the next 10 years with minimum funding of $500,000 per year. The universities will be required to match federal grants, dollar for dollar, from non-federal sources. Exactly how the new COE will interact with six UAS test sites that the FAA selected last December will be determined once the COE team is in place and develops its detailed research plans. Congress mandated that the FAA establish the COE under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014. Like university think tank partnerships, the agency’s Centers of Excellence bring the best minds in the nation together to conduct research, to educate and to train, and work with the FAA toward solutions for aviation-related challenges. (Source: UAS VISION)
MARITIME
13 Aug 14. HII delivers composite deckhouse for second Zumwalt-class destroyer. Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) handed over its second and final composite deckhouse for the US Navy’s (USN’s) Zumwalt-class destroyer programme on 7 August. HII’s Gulfport Composite Center of Excellence based in Gulfport, Mississippi, manufactured the 900-tonne carbon fibre composite