LOCATIONS
09 Apr 15. Nortech Systems, Inc. will be moving to a new corporate headquarters by early July 2015. The company signed a lease for a 19,000-square-foot facility at 7550 Meridian Circle, Suite 150, Maple Grove, Minn. (Source: Yahoo!/BUSINESS WIRE)
LAND
08 Apr 15. Raytheon Company completed a 20,000-square foot addition to its factory in Forest, already one of the biggest in the state. The extra room will allow the company to support anticipated growth in airborne radar and electronic warfare systems.
“Raytheon has been part of this community’s fiber for more than three decades,” Fred Darlington, a vice president in the company’s Space and Airborne Systems business, said in a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and senior military leaders. “Raytheon stood by the governor’s side here on Veterans Day 2013 with a pledge to add more space for our high-skill workforce, and we kept our commitment.”
Gov. Bryant said at the ceremony: “Today is an exciting day for Forest and the entire state of Mississippi as Raytheon officially opens its new facility. The company chose to expand here in anticipation of future growth, and now Raytheon is ready to move ahead and pursue even more opportunities and contracts.”
The state-of-the-art test facility is part of a new common test platform the company is deploying for all of its electronic warfare systems. Raytheon plans to add a number of new positions over time to keep pace with orders for its Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) fighter jet radars and Sentinel air defense radars. The company is the only manufacturer with combat-proven AESAs in production for tactical aircraft.
“We greatly appreciate the longstanding support we’ve received from elected officials and community members here in Forest,” Darlington said.
MARITIME
07 Apr 15. BAE Systems showcases River-class OPV as an option for Malaysia’s MMEA. Key Points:
* BAE Systems showcases the latest River-class design to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency
* The helicopter-capable platform would allow the service to operate rotary-wing UAVs
BAE Systems is showcasing the River-class Batch 2 offshore patrol vessel (OPV) design as a suitable option for the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), the company told IHS Jane’s at the recent LIMA 2015 exhibition in Langkawi.
The move comes as the agency is looking at the expansion of its fleet. The Malaysian government told IHS Jane’s in late March that it plans to increase the number of MMEA assets available for sea and air operations.
The River-class Batch 2 is a 90 m OPV that is currently on order for the UK Royal Navy (RN). The RN is acquiring three ships to support a broad range of maritime security operations.
BAE Systems international business development executive Clive Marchant described the OPV as one designed for coast guard-type operations and based on a proven platform that is in use with the Brazilian and Royal Thai navies.
Marchant highlighted the ship built for the Royal Thai Navy (RTN), HTMS Krabi, as an example of the company successfully working with a Southeast Asian shipbuilder under a license-build arrangement. Krabi was built by Bangkok Dock under a technology-transfer agreement signed with BAE Systems in mid-2009. “We will be very happy for a Malaysian company to consider building it”, said Marchant – although he did not go into specifics of how the company might collaborate with an indigenous Malaysian shipyard.
Krabi is fitted with an Oto Melara 76mm gun, but Marchant contended that the MMEA would probably not require a platform that is as heavily armed. “Maybe just a 30 mm gun and a simple mission system [would be required]”, he said. Marchant added that more important features for the MMEA would be the River-class design’s endurance and space to accommodate additional equipment, thus improving capacity to cover Malaysia’s vast exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
The OPV can embark sea boats and