LOCATIONS
LAND
16 Oct 14. MoD confirms sites for submarine dismantling consultations. Five UK nuclear facilities have been confirmed as potential sites to store waste from decommissioned nuclear-powered submarines. A public consultation process will now help to determine which site is selected.
The sites, which already hold radioactive materials, are either owned by MOD, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) or industry. They are:
* the Atomic Weapons Establishment sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire which are owned by MOD and run by AWE plc;
* Sellafield in west Cumbria, owned by the NDA;
* Chapelcross in Dumfriesshire, owned by the NDA;
* Capenhurst in Cheshire, which is run by Capenhurst Nuclear Services.
13 Oct 14. Thales officially inaugurated the Thales Innovation Hub Singapore, which represents the Group’s first multidisciplinary innovation centre outside of Europe. The concept behind this Hub is to seek inspiration from Asian concepts, Asian innovation and Asian thinking, to arrive at a deeper understanding of the operational needs of clients in the region, and design new products and services that address these specific requirements. The Thales team will engage customers in user centered innovation, codesigning, prototyping and testing new ideas and concepts across domains ranging from defence, maritime security to aerospace, air traffic management and smart cities. The innovation team has been trained by the Design Thinking and Innovation Academy from the DesignSingapore Council in order to apply the concept of Design Thinking innovation1, a new, goal-oriented, problem solving approach developed to look at all potential alternatives of a particular design problem.
10 Oct 14. US NAVY establishes new base in Romania. Commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia (CNREURAFSWA) established Naval Support Facility (NSF) Deveselu Friday, Oct. 10, during an establishment and assumption of command ceremony on base. NSF Deveselu, formerly a disused Romanian airfield, is the first Navy base to be established since Naval Station (NS) Everett in Washington, whose official groundbreaking ceremony was held Nov. 9, 1987. The installation, scheduled to be operational in 2015, will be part of a NATO’s overall ballistic missile defense (BMD) system. Rear Adm. John Scorby, commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia, hosted the ceremony. “This is a historic occasion because ballistic missile threats to the U.S. and our allies are real and growing,” Scorby said. “Fortunately, NATO’s capabilities and defenses against these threats are also real and growing.” Originally proposed in 2000 by then President George W. Bush, this BDM system, or shield, named the “Aegis Ashore System,” is a response by the NATO military alliance to increasing threats posed by the amalgamation of intercontinental ballistic missiles in the Middle East. The first of two proposed newly established bases, NSF Deveselu will utilize both a SM-3 missile interceptor battery platform and an Aegis SPY-1 radar platform. The U.S. government said the SM-3 missiles will have no offensive capability and only target incoming ballistic missiles launched by hostile countries. (Source: Open Source Information Report/NNS)
MARITIME
14 Oct 14. Babcock starts HMS Montrose upgrade programme. Babcock has started upgrade and improvement works on the UK Royal Navy’s Type 23 Duke-class frigate HMS Montrose, at its Devonport Royal Dockyard. Work under the 15-month refit programme involves a range of upgrades and improvements, including replacing the vessel’s radar 996 with Artisan 3D medium range radar 997, a midlife update to its vertical launch Seawolf and the deployment of automatic small calibre guns. Babcock will also install a chloropac system, which will help reduce the growth of marine in the pipe system. An upgrade to the pressure air systems will enable safer system isolation. Babcock Warships managing director Mike