LOCATIONS
LAND
16 Oct 23. Marshall Land Systems up and running at new Canadian facility.
Marshall Land Systems Canada has officially opened the doors to its 82,000 square foot production facility in Moncton, New Brunswick.
The new facility will produce a range of specialist containers to support the North American and international markets, enabling Marshall Land Systems to grow its existing capabilities to meet customer needs on a global basis.
The opening event last week was attended by a broad range of representatives from federal and local government, industry partners, and stakeholders from the business and academic communities –
in addition to Marshall’s own leadership team.
“Today marks an important milestone in Marshall Land Systems’ long-term strategic plan to expand our global production footprint and support our customers around the world,” said Marshall Land Systems Managing Director Gary Moynehan.
“Canada has long been a second home market for Marshall, and we are proud to be investing in New Brunswick, creating a range of high-value jobs and building a local supply chain.”
Before the end of the year, production will begin on the first “made in Canada” containers under the new facility’s initial European export contracts – namely the Defensiebrede Vervanging OperationeleWielvoertuigen (DVOW) and Netherlands Specialised Containers (NLSC) programmes. Containers produced under these contracts will ultimately be deployed to support Royal Netherlands Army missions around the world.
“The opening of Marshall Land Systems’ new 82,000-square-foot production and integration facility marks a major milestone for New Brunswick. The Government of Canada was proud to support the expansion of this new facility, which will help to create new employment opportunities for Moncton residents and support economic growth across the province,” said the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence.
Earlier this month, Marshall Skills Academy Canada announced the start of training under its new apprentice-style “Earn as you Learn” programme in New Brunswick. The programme is being run as a
five-year pilot project in close partnership between Marshall Skills Academy Canada, New Brunswick Community College and University of New Brunswick, and is backed by almost CAD $7m in support from the Government of New Brunswick.
On a global basis, Marshall Land Systems is also making progress in relocating its UK headquarters to a new 15,000 square metre purpose-built facility at Alconbury Weald, aiming to capitalise on global opportunities for operational and deployable infrastructure.
16 Oct 23. BAE Systems Starts Construction Of New Shipbuilding Hall In Scotland. Construction has begun on a huge new ship build hall that will transform and enhance shipbuilding in Glasgow, Scotland.
The new ship build hall at the Govan shipyard will shortly begin to take shape now that the basin has been filled and piling has begun. Measuring 170m long and 80m wide, this vast facility will be large enough for two Type 26 frigates to be constructed side-by-side.
Last November, BAE Systems secured a £4.2 bn contract with the Ministry of Defence to build five more Type 26 ships. This builds on the initial contract for the first three vessels and provides confidence to invest in the long-term future of the Glasgow site.
Simon Lister, Managing Director of Naval Ships at BAE Systems, said: “We are the proud custodians of shipbuilding on the Clyde and our talented teams are working hard to build on that legacy to secure Glasgow’s status as a shipbuilding centre of excellence for generations to come.
“This new hall will give us some of the best facilities in the world and completely modernise our approach to shipbuilding. It, alongside the investments already under way to digitise our processes, will ensure Govan continues to be something that the city of Glasgow can be truly proud of.”
The ship build hall is being constructed by McLaughlin and Harvey. It will consist of more than 6,000 tonnes of steel and 20,000m3 of concrete. (Source: News Now/Naval News)
13 Oct 23. Terran Orbital (NYSE: LLAP), a global leader in satellite-based solutions primarily serving the aerospace and defense industries, today announced the official opening of two new advanced Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) lines in Irvine, CA. In addition to its two new state-of-the-art PCBA Surface Mount Technology (SMT) lines, the company also added capabilities for post-SMT processes, fully automated inspection, 3-dimensional X-ray testing, Automated Optical Inspection (AOI), and flying probe technologies that give it the complete ability to produce, inspect, and test a broad spectrum of PCBAs in its facility.
The ability to produce and control the output, quality, and availability of the company’s PCBA products will decrease supply chain issues and increase parts availability and yield, allowing Terran Orbital to produce module and bus products more timely and cost-efficiently. This, in turn, will allow the company to continue to produce at shorter and more controlled delivery rates to our customers. By owning our own facility, we can produce higher quality boards faster, furthering our goal of responsive space.
“I’m a big believer that if you control your supply chain, you control your destiny,” explained Marc Bell, CEO, Co-Founder, and Chairman of Terran Orbital. Bell added, “Our two new PCBA lines bring us one step closer to our goal of being 100% vertically integrated.” (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
19 Oct 23. Greensea IQ celebrates expansion of its production facility in Plymouth, MA. Greensea IQ celebrated the 25,000 square foot expansion of its Cordage Park production facility on October 17th. This new expansion establishes a manufacturing center for the production of several navigation and robotics systems including the Bayonet line of surf zone crawlers, EverClean hull cleaning robots, RNAV3 diver navigation systems, and OPENSEA Edge autonomy hardware.
Greensea IQ Chief Growth Officer Rob Howard, states “We were excited to open our newly expanded facility to the public for the first time and welcomed local blue tech businesses, community leaders and others from the marine industry.”
He continues, “This expansion is the next step in Greensea IQ’s transition from doing custom development work to delivering fully integrated intelligent products for working in the ocean. The new facility will support the planned growth and worldwide expansion of our robotics-as-a-service program, EverClean, while it gains adoption as fleet owners work to meet increasingly demanding carbon emissions requirements and increased hull performance throughout the cruise and shipping industries. Plymouth will also allow us to quickly scale to meet demand for the new Bayonet line of AUGVs as we start delivering the platform to defense and commercial customers for use in near shore MCM, EOD, UXO and surf zone survey applications.”
Greensea IQ’s expansion celebration took place immediately following an on water demonstration as part of the Blue Future Conference held in Plymouth, Massachusetts held at the Cordage Park Marina, Greenea IQ’s on water testing area. In addition to the Bayonet 250 other participants at the demo included Jaia Robotics, SeaTrac, and students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
AIR
16 Oct 23. Homegrown Fighter Jet KF-21 Makes Public Debut at Seoul Defense Exhibition. South Korea’s homegrown fighter jet KF-21 made its public debut on Monday, ahead of an international defense exhibition set to open at the Seoul Air Base this week. The KF-21, developed by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), staged an aerial demonstration at the Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, during a press day event for the Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition (ADEX) 2023, which opens Tuesday for a six-day run. Advanced U.S. military aircraft, including the F-22 stealth jet and carrier-based electronics warfare aircraft EA-18G Growler, were among those on display at the base’s air field.
During the exhibition, the U.S strategic bomber B-52 plans to stage two flyovers as part of a larger cross-section of U.S. military aircraft providing static displays, flyovers and aerial demonstrations, the U.S. Forces Korea said.
This year’s event will be held on the largest scale since it was established in 1996, involving 550 companies from 35 countries, according to the organizers.
South Korean companies plan to showcase their latest weapons systems and technologies to boost defense exports following large-scale export deals in Poland.
Last year, South Korea’s arms exports hit a record high of 22.9trn won ($17.9bn), according to Morgan Stanley, as it signed major contracts with Poland to supply K2 tanks, K-9 self-propelled howitzers, FA-50 light attack aircraft and Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers.
The defense ministry has unveiled a goal to carve out a 5 percent share in the global arms export market by 2027 to become the world’s fourth-largest defense exporter.
LIG Nex1 will display the Korean GPS Guided Bomb (KGGB) that can be used in fighter aircraft; a long-range air-to-surface missile; surface-to-surface guided missiles and drones.
Hyundai Rotem is set to disclose the latest models of the K808 wheeled armored vehicle for the first time to the public, along with its flagship model K2 tankers and battle tanks.
Hanwha Aerospace will showcase K-9 self-propelled howitzers, which are in service in nine countries, including South Korea, Turkey, Poland, India and Australia.
The first four days will host various seminars and forums for defense industry officials before the exhibition is opened to the general public in the last two days.
(Source: https://www.defense-aerospace.com/ Yonhap News Agency)
16 Oct 23. F-35s Join HMS Prince of Wales for Key Fast-Jet Trials.
Specially-modified F-35B Lightning stealth fighters have joined Britain’s biggest warship to begin pushing the boundaries of carrier aviation.
By the time aviation experts, pilots and scientists have analysed all the data gathered during the four weeks of extensive trials, the UK’s two aircraft carriers should be able to launch more sorties by more-heavily-armed stealth fighters faster in more extreme weather conditions – increasingly the striking power of the nation’s most powerful warships.
HMS Prince of Wales will chase bad weather and heavy seas while the jets themselves will take-off and land with various weapons and fuel loads, experiment returning from ‘missions’ still carrying missiles/bombs – rather than ditching them in the ocean – and practise landing by rolling to a stop on the flight deck rather than touching down vertically.
Test pilots from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23), Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NAS Pax River), Maryland, joined the carrier off the Eastern Seaboard of the US for the trials, known as Developmental Test phase 3 (DT-3).
The Portsmouth-based aircraft carrier sailed from Norfolk Naval Station, the world’s largest naval base, having embarked the equipment and personnel – a 200-strong test team from the Pax River F-35 Integrated Test Force (ITF) specifically for the trials.
“Our team has trained extensively to prepare for this day, and I was honoured to bring the capabilities of the F-35B back out to the Prince of Wales,” said F-35B test pilot Major Paul Gucwa USMC, the ITF test team project officer.
He is one of three experienced Lightning pilots flying special test variants of the F-35B – packed with sensors and instrumentation – on and off the deck of Britain’s biggest warship over the next month.
“Our planning, training, and preparations were focused on conducting a successful sea trial and ultimately contributing to the carrier continually developing to keep it at the cutting edge,” Major Gucwa added.
Watching from the bridge, Captain Richard Hewitt, HMS Prince of Wales’ Commanding Officer, witnessed the approach and vertical landings of the stealth jets.
“This is why we are here,” he said. “Over the next few weeks we will work together with the F-35 programme to increase the capability of the world’s most advanced fifth-generation stealth fighter alongside the UK’s fifth-generation aircraft carrier.
“During this phase of our deployment we will see the jet develop advanced landing and take-off techniques, allowing it to recover heavier, turn around faster, and launch with more weapons.”
With the pilots and jets on board “the carrier of today and tomorrow,” the embarked ITF team will now execute a comprehensive test plan and collect data that will ultimately lead to expanding the operating limits of the F-35B Lightning for the Royal Navy.
“We are excited to be under way with the crew of Prince of Wales and honoured to contribute to the aircraft carrier’s trials of pushing the boundaries of 21st century carrier operations,” said Andrew Maack, Pax River F-35 ITF chief test engineer and site director.
The embarked team comprises members who have the engineering and test pilot expertise and experience to conduct F-35B envelope expansion flight test. “We look forward to a brilliantly successful shipboard detachment,” he said.
The trials come as both of the UK’s carriers are at sea with UK flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth operating in northern European waters and due to visit Sweden this weekend before resuming her autumn deployment working with NATO and Joint Expeditionary Force allies. (Source: https://www.defense-aerospace.com/Royal Navy)
PLANT CLOSURES, JOB LOSSES AND STRIKES
17 Oct 23. Rolls-Royce to cut up to 2,500 jobs in latest efficiency drive. Rolls-Royce (RR.L) said on Tuesday it would cut up to 2,500 jobs as its new chief executive seeks to build a more efficient business, the latest boss to attempt to revamp one of Britain’s most prestigious engineering companies.
Over the last decade, Rolls-Royce, whose engines and systems are used on the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 as well as ships, submarines and in power generation, has been through several restructurings, axing more than 13,000 jobs.
Tufan Erginbilgic, who took over in January, is the latest CEO to try to tackle the company’s inefficiencies. Rolls has long trailed the margins made by General Electric (GE.N), its main competitor in the widebody aircraft sector.
In July, his operational improvements helped prompt a profits upgrade and he said there would be more to come.
On Tuesday the company said it planned to shed up to 2,500 roles out of its total staff of 42,000.
“This is another step on our multi-year transformation journey to build a high performing, competitive, resilient and growing Rolls-Royce,” he said.
The bounceback in long-haul flying this year plus Erginbilgic’s strategy has sent the stock soaring more than 130% this year.
The shares traded up 2% to 217.70 pence in early deals on Tuesday, having recovered from pandemic-lows of around 40 pence in 2020, but they are still some way below a 2019 high of 340 pence.
“Investors are welcoming its cost cutting plans,” said interactive investor head of investment Victoria Scholar, adding that gains this year had helped to reverse some of Rolls-Royce’s “long-term underperformance”.
But one industry executive who declined to be named noted that Rolls would be cutting jobs at a time of rising demand for new more fuel-efficient aircraft.
“It is a brave thing to do when all engine-makers are ramping production,” the executive said.
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY, SAFETY TO MERGE
As part of the new streamlining plan, Rolls-Royce said it would merge its engineering technology and safety groups, and as a result chief technology officer (CTO) Grazia Vittadini, who was formerly CTO at Airbus, would leave in April 2024.
The plan would also improve the company’s procurement and supply chain management to cut costs, while finance, legal and human resources functions would be brought together across the group, creating synergies, it added.
Erginbilgic is due to provide investors with further detail on his strategy, including financial targets, at a capital markets day scheduled for Nov. 28.
In its main geographies, Rolls-Royce employs 21,000 people in Britain, 11,000 in Germany and 5,500 in the United States, but the company did not provided details of where the cuts would take place.
Erginbilgic’s predecessor Warren East launched two turnaround plans. One in 2020 aimed at surviving the pandemic which slashed 9,000 jobs, and one in 2018 which made 4,600 redundancies. (Source: Reuters)
MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT
PERSONNEL
19 Oct 23. SAN adds qualified technical and trade staff to personnel strength.
The efforts of naval technical personnel, ably assisted by qualified instructors, saw 31 SA Navy (SAN) sailors rewarded with technical degrees and trade qualifications at SAS Wingfield in Cape Town.
The SA Navy base was established in 1961 for technical training and practical apprentice instruction and is now the technical training facility for the maritime service of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF). Reporting on last week’s graduation parade on 13 October, SAN Corporate Communication has it 31 sailors received trophies and certificates.
Degrees and trades acquired through SAS Wingfield include bachelors of Science and Engineering degrees in the electrical and mechanical disciplines, BEng Technical, Advanced and National diplomas in mechanical, electrical and marine engineering, Advanced and National diplomas in nautical studies, geomatics (encompassing geodesy, geographic information systems [GIS], global positioning systems [GPS], hydrography, mapping, photogrammetry, remote sensing and surveying), management sciences (human resources), public relations, and communications and operations. National and naval trades include electronic fitter (machinery); radio/radar for communications and weapons as well as mechanical fitter for machinery and weapons.
Miscellaneous trades instruction and practical for, among others, shipwrights, ammunition fitters, printers, riggers as well as instrument and vehicle fitters is also on offer at SAS Wingfield.
The parade was, according to SAN Corporate Communications, officiated by Rear Admiral (Junior Grade) Lisa Hendricks.
The SAN technical degree and certificate parade was the second this month (October) in the SANDF. It follows an earlier SA Army Technical Service Corps (TSC) parade in Thaba Tshwane where 96 newly qualified artisans were admitted to TSC ranks after qualifying as, among others, armourers, auto electricians and diesel mechanics. (Source: https://www.defenceweb.co.za/)
EUROPE APPOINTMENTS
16 Oct 23. Air Vice-Marshal Tim Neal-Hopes OBE has been appointed as the second Commander of the National Cyber Force (NCF). Established in 2020, the NCF is a partnership between defence and intelligence which carries out cyber operations daily to protect against threats to the UK, further the UK’s foreign policy, support military operations, and prevent serious crime.
U.S. APPOINTMENTS
19 Oct 23. USN Capt. Christopher A. Nash for appointment to the grade of rear admiral (lower half). Nash is currently serving as director, Maritime Headquarters, N03, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
19 Oct 23. Space Force Maj. Gen. Douglas A. Schiess for appointment to the grade of lieutenant general, with assignment as commander, U.S. Space Forces – Space/Combined Joint Force Space component commander, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Schiess is currently serving as commander, Combined Force Space Component, U.S. Space Command; and deputy commander, Space Operations Command, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
19 Oct 23. USAF Col. Harold W. Linnean, III for appointment to the grade of brigadier general. Linnean is currently serving as the commander, Air Reserve Personnel Center, Air Force Reserve Command, Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado.
INDUSTRY
PERSONNEL
EUROPE APPOINTMENTS
13 Oct 23. Samira Braund is to be appointed ADS Defence Director, fully effective 1 January 2024. Samira has worked at the UK Defence Solutions Centre for seven years and served as UKDSC’s CEO for more than two and a half years.
U.S. APPOINTMENTS
18 Oct 23. Luna Innovations Incorporated (NASDAQ: LUNA), a global leader in advanced fiber optic-based technology, announced that George Gomez-Quintero is joining the company as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) today. Mr. Gomez-Quintero will succeed current CFO Gene Nestro, who has agreed to assist the company through mid-2024 to ensure a smooth transition. Mr. Gomez-Quintero will lead Luna’s Finance organization and represent Luna in communications with investors, lenders and rating agencies. As a member of the company’s executive team, he will report to President and CEO Scott A. Graeff. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
19 Oct 23. Red River, a technology transformation company serving government and enterprise customers, today announced that Indira Rice Donegan has joined the company as its Government Technology Evangelist. In this role, Donegan will provide insight and leadership to support Red River’s DoD and federal customers in building a critical understanding of disruptive technologies and services that can ensure mission success. Donegan is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel with over 20 years of military service. She has held various positions throughout her military career focusing on defense IT and cyber initiatives as well as strategic use of communications technologies. She served as the Chief of Integration and Cyber Requirements working with the joint staff overseeing a $46bn cyber portfolio and was the joint staff J8 representative to the Chairman’s Integrated Operations Division (IOD), which developed and advised the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs on Dynamic Force Employment (DFE) for crisis management planning. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)