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25 Jun 15. Colt Canada wins Canadian Ranger’s rifle replacement and upgrade contract. Colt Canada has received a contract from the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) to replace the Canadian Ranger’s Lee Enfield rifle. The $1.5m contract will enable the Canadian Rangers to evaluate the new rifle design this year, and award a second contract to Colt for the production of 6,500 rifles. Production of the rifles is expected to support the existing 90 jobs at Colt Canada and create approximately 30 jobs in the Kitchener-Waterloo region. Canada launched a request for proposal (RFP) for the new Ranger Rifle design in September 2014. Stoeger Canada was the successful rifle contender in the Colt Canada RFP with a customised TIKKA T3 compact tactical rifle. Canadian Associate Defence Minister Julian Fantino said: “The Canadian Rangers play a vital role in Canada’s ability to assert sovereignty in the North, and are critically important in the service they provide to the Canadian Armed Forces. Public works and government services minister Diane Finley said: “This contract with Colt Canada will ensure that the Canadian Rangers get the equipment they need to protect Canada, while creating and supporting over 120 good and high-paying jobs in the Kitchener-Waterloo region.” A derivative of the UK Army’s Lee-Metford rifle, the Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed, repeating rifle. However, the Enfields rifles are scheduled to be replaced with modern rifles that can address the Ranger’s requirements into the future. The rifles’ replacement parts are becoming less available and are likely to become completely unavailable after 2017. The new rifles are scheduled to be phased into service for use by the Rangers between mid-2016 and late-2019. A sub-component of the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve, the Canadian Rangers provide patrols and detachments for national-security and public-safety missions in sparsely settled northern, coastal and isolated areas of the country. (Source: army-technology.com)
23 Jun 15. General Atomics tests projectiles with on-board electronics. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) has conducted four successful tests of its projectiles with on-board electronics at the US Army’s Dugway proving ground in Utah. As part of this development, the projectiles survived the railgun launch environment, and tests also witnessed the 100th successful launch from the GA-EMS’ 3 megajoule Blitzer electromagnetic railgun. GA Electromagnetic Systems Group Missile Defense Systems vice-president Nick Bucci said: “This is a significant milestone in the technology development toward a railgun weapon system, and marks the first time flight dynamics data have been successfully measured and down-linked from an aerodynamic projectile fired from our railgun on an open test range.
“GA-EMS’ successful testing and on-going investment to advance our scalable railgun and projectile technologies illustrates our commitment to mature this transformational weapon system and provide the warfighter multi-mission advantages across several platforms.”
During tests, the electronics on-board the projectiles assessed in-bore accelerations and projectile dynamics, which is important for developing precision guidance. Launched at accelerations more than 30,000 times that of gravity, the test projectiles were exposed to the full electromagnetic environment of the railgun launch. Designed and manufactured by GA-EMS, railgun launch projectiles are powered by electromagnetic forces instead of chemical propellants. They are also able to deliver better muzzle velocities than conventional guns. Blitzer railgun technology includes the launcher, high-density capacitor driven pulsed power, and weapon fire control system. It is capable of launching multi-mission projectiles with a shorter time-t