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14 Mar 21. The Directorate of Defense R&D in the Ministry of Defense, the IDF’s Ground Forces and Elbit Systems Reveal the “Iron Sting”: A Precise, Laser and GPS Guided Mortar Munition. Iron Sting is a ‘networked precision fire system’ – a mortar munition that employs laser and GPS to engage targets accurately and prevent collateral damage. Trials have been conducted successfully, concluding the system’s development.
Defense Minister, Benny Gantz: “The technology made available to the IDF by Israeli industries changes the battlefield and provides our forces with more accurate and effective means. The integration of “Iron Sting” in the IDF, corresponds to the vision presented in the military’s “Tnufa” multi-year plan. It also fulfills the IDF’s needs, adapting combat capabilities to contend with enemies hidden within civilian, urban environments, while meeting the legal and moral standards set by the State of Israel.”
Today (14.03.2021), the Directorate of Defense R&D in the Israel Ministry of Defense, together with the IDF’s Ground Forces and Elbit Systems reveal a precise, laser and GPS guided mortar munition, the “Iron Sting”. The 120 mm mortar has recently undergone final trials in a testing site in southern Israel. The completion of testing enables the start of serial production ahead of the system’s supply to the IDF.
The series of tests was carried out using two networked cardom mortar systems that were developed by Elbit Systems: a “cardom” system, mounted on an M113 APC and a “cardom spear” system, mounted on a Hummer 4X4 SUV. The Iron Sting is designed to engage targets precisely, in both open terrains and urban environments, while reducing the possibility of collateral damage and preventing injury to non-combatants. Its operational use will revolutionize ground warfare and equip battalions with organic, accurate and effective firepower.
Head of Research and Development in the DDR&D, Brig. Gen. Yaniv Rotem: “Ten years of research and development have led us to this moment when we can provide the IDF’s ground forces with advanced capabilities made for the modern battlefield. This laser and GPS- guided mortar munition provides troops with a precise firing capability that has only been implemented in missiles and air munition thus far. This is a very complex program and a groundbreaking system on the international level.”
Head of the Weapons Department in the IDF’s Ground Forces, Col. Arik Avivi: “The Ground Forces command is leading the process of integrating the ‘Iron Sting’ into the IDF. This precise guided mortar munition is groundbreaking for IDF battalions, equipping them with accurate and organic firepower. This capability has so far been reserved to large and complex missiles. Thanks to this impressive technological development, it will now be implemented in mortar munitions on a wide scale.”
General Manager of Elbit Systems Land Division, Yehuda (Udi) Vered: “The introduction of this laser and GPS guided munition transforms the mortar system from a statistical fire power into a precision fire system, thus delivering a significant change in fire capabilities at the tactical level. We believe that we have been able to develop an efficient solution that enables to increase precision and reduce collateral damage”.
12 Mar 21. The US Department of Defense (DoD) announced on 11 March that Lockheed Martin had been awarded USD201.75m for United States and international JAGM production, some of which will come from fiscal year (FY) 2010 UK Foreign Military Sales (FMS) funding. No details as to the number of missiles were disclosed, although the contract notification noted that work would be complete by 31 December 2023. No platform type was mentioned, although in UK service the JAGM could be integrated onto any US-built rotary- or fixed-wing aircraft with an air-to-surface mission set, including the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle, and the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
As noted by Janes Weapons: Air-Launched (JALW), the JAGM programme is a US Army-led pre‐Major Defense Acquisitions Program (MDAP) with joint involvement from the US Navy (USN) and US Marine Corps (USMC), as well as a co‐operative developmental effort with the UK. The JAGM replaces airborne TOW, AGM‐114 Hellfire, and AGM‐65 Maverick missiles, and it is aimed to support more efficient logistics by replacing several missile variants with a single, interoperable weapon.
(Source: Jane’s)
12 Mar 21. US Fires BONUS MK 2 Round In France. US Army 173rd Airborne Brigade gunners last weekend fired the 155mm Bonus Mk 2 artillery round at Camp Canjuers France during Ex BONUS SHOCK. Artillery Paratroopers with 4th Battalion, 319th (Airborne) Field Artillery Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade were the first conventional US Army unit in Europe to fire the BONUS Mark 2 artillery round. French NATO allies in the 93e RAM (93e Régiment d’Artillerie de Montagne) provided critical mentorship and logistical support in Canjuers, France, as the paratroopers executed these fire missions on Sunday 7th March.
According to USAREUR: The Bonus Mk 2 artillery round is a combined French and Swedish produced artillery shell designed to target and destroy stationary and mobile armoured vehicles, such as main battle tanks. It is an autonomous fire and forget all weather 155mm projectile containing 2 top attack sub-munitions. These sub-munitions are ejected over armoured targets, perform a decreasing spiral scan, detect the target, initiate the warhead and then penetrate the target. This round directly bolsters military defence and deterrence in Europe by providing precision, anti-armoured capabilities for conventional artillery units.
[US Army video by SSgt Jacob Sawyer can be seen at https://www.joint-forces.com/]
During the live fire event, the 4th battalion, 319th AFAR fired four of the artillery rounds from US M777 Howitzers into the artillery impact area of Camp Canjuers. This firing was the culmination of a week-long equipment familiarisation and training exercise between the 4-319th and the 93éme RMA.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the US Army’s Contingency Response Force in Europe, providing rapidly deployable forces to the United States’ Europe, Africa and Central Command areas of responsibility. Forward deployed across Italy and Germany, the brigade routinely trains alongside NATO allies and partners to build partnerships and strengthen the alliance. (Source: joint-forces.com)
11 Mar 21. Nexter Munitions unveils new APFSDS round. Nexter Munitions is in the final stages of developing a new 120 mm armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding-sabot (APFSDS) round called the 120 Shard, the company announced on 9 March.
Designed to be fired from all NATO-standard 120 mm smoothbore guns, the 120 Shard features a number of improvements over the company’s existing APFSDS rounds such as the F1B and F1B+. These include a new long-rod penetrator built using a novel tungsten alloy developed in partnership with Plansee Tungsten Alloys, as well as a redesigned sabot. This is combined with a redesigned combustible cartridge case and a new low-erosion propellant charge developed by Eurenco.
According to Nexter Munitions, the 120 Shard is in the final stages of development, with optimisation of the round’s architecture to be completed this year. The company expects to start mass production of the round by the end of 2022.
No further technical details about the 120 Shard, such as its penetration capabilities, or if the rod itself uses a segmented construction, are known at this time. However, it is clear that the new round has been optimised to be able to defeat current and future passive and reactive armour systems.
The 120 Shard is part of a family of next-generation 120 mm tank ammunition being developed by Nexter for both current-generation main battle tanks (MBTs) and potential future developments such as the Franco-German Main Ground Combat System (MGCS).
Nexter’s other developments include a guided 120 mm round known as Polynege. Intended to give an MBT a beyond-line-of-sight capability at ranges of up to 8 km, Polynege leverages some of the control and guidance technologies developed for Nexter’s Katana 155 mm guided artillery shell.
(Source: Jane’s)
11 Mar 21. Northrop unveils new ‘Sky Viper’ chain gun as US Army considers weapons for future helos. Northrop Grumman is initiating the build of a first production representative prototype of its 20mm chain gun dubbed “Sky Viper” for the U.S. Army to evaluate for Future Vertical Lift aircraft, the company said March 10 during a media briefing.
The service is already deep into the evaluation of another 20mm weapon system — the XM915 Gatling gun from General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems — but also plans to conduct a similar evaluation of Northrop’s Sky Viper that will help it decide what type of gun system is best for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA).
FARA, along with the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), are expected to be fielded in the 2030 timeframe as part of a complete Future Vertical Lift architecture to include Air-Launched Effects and other capabilities.
The Army plans to equip FARA with a 20mm cannon of its choosing regardless of what aircraft is ultimately chosen for the mission.
Both the GD XM915 gun and the Sky Viper are being evaluated and tested through the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center (DEVCOM AC), which is partnered with both companies and funding each effort.
“This 20mm cannon is intended to provide superior performance when compared to other legacy Gatling guns that are used on the market,” Quinn Canole, Northrop’s Guns Operating Unit deputy director, said during the briefing.
The gun is based on the M230 cannon currently installed on the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter but “we’re also integrating newer technologies, modern technologies to reduce the overall weight and recoil of the system so that we can ensure that we’re meeting the FARA requirements,” Canole said.
Northrop is pursuing chain gun technology over other weapon systems because it is reliable, easy to maintain and has “superior accuracy,” Canole said.
When Northrop acquired Orbital ATK in 2017 it took in its Bushmaster family of chain guns.
The new gun will offer increased stowed kills and reduce ammunition loadout, Canole added. And by introducing new technologies, the company will lower the recoil loads taking the stress off the aircraft.
The new gun is expected to increase the rate of fire that is seen now on the Apache.
The company is taking experience from its suite of advanced ammunition technologies like the 30mm ammunition line to develop 20mm projectiles “with significantly improved lethality against a range of targets including troops, [unmanned aerial vehicles], rotary- and fixed-wing assets and other assets in the deep battle space,” Canole said.
The cannon has completed initial design reviews with DEVCOM, according to Canole, and primary modeling and functional testing has been completed. “To go into a little bit more detail on that, we have performed risk reduction testing on non-firing prototypes. We have physical prototypes, we’ve been able to function and ensure that all of the subsystems of the weapon are operating the way we intend them to,” he said.
Once the first production article is built, the company will transition into full-scale live firing in the late spring or early summer, Canole said, and will hand it over to the government to go into additional testing.
The Army will ultimately evaluate both weapon systems from GD and Northrop to make a decision on the path forward, taking into account size, weight, power, accuracy and which one can most seamlessly integrate into the whole platform.
Compared to a Gatling gun, which Canole said is primarily geared toward area suppression, “ours is geared toward a high degree of accuracy, so essentially, fewer shots fired and more shots hitting the targets.”
Testing and evaluation of the GD gun is already well underway. Brig. Gen. Wally Rugen, who is in charge of Army Future Vertical Lift modernization, told Defense News in a recent interview that the cannon had fired 7,000 rounds at the Ethan Allen firing range in Bolton, Vermont, in December 2020.
The Army plans to fire off another 150,000 rounds this fiscal year at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
The service also plans to bring the GD gun to Project Convergence 2021 later this year. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)
10 Mar 21. ALLTEC of Brazil and Rafael sign MoU on Add-On Armor Solutions. The two companies will cooperate on business opportunities and projects for the Brazilian Ministry of Defense and auxiliary forces
Tel Aviv – March 10, 2021 – Earlier this month, ALLTEC Composite Material of Brazil and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems of Israel signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation on passive add-on armor solutions, their maintenance and life cycle support.
Rafael’s Add-On Reactive Armor and Passive Armor defends against a wide range of threats such as anti-tank rockets, small firearms, AP projectiles, high-speed fragments of artillery, mortars, and high explosives.
Under this MoU, ALLTEC and Rafael will cooperate on business opportunities and projects for the supply of passive add-on armor solutions from STANAG Level 4 and above, its maintenance and life cycle support for the Brazilian Ministry of Defense and auxiliary forces.
The MoU’s purpose is to achieve maximum local industrial content and facilitate joint marketing and sales of Rafael’s passive add-on armor solutions, including maintenance and life cycle support for Rafael’s Products.
For over 30 years, Rafael’s add-on armor protection solutions have been in use by the Israel Defense Forces, US forces, NATO countries, peacekeeping units, and other customers around the world to effectively protect land forces.
Rafael’s Add-On Reactive Armor and Passive Armor (easily installed or removed quickly according to mission needs), defend against a wide range of threats such as anti-tank rockets, small firearms, AP projectiles, high-speed fragments of artillery, mortars, and high explosives.
ALLTEC’s vast knowledge and experience in this field have positioned it as a technological leader in the manufacture of ceramic armored shields (add-on) in any shape and thickness. ALLTEC has used these expertise to increase the level of ballistic protection required by the Brazilian Army on the new Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier (WAPC) ‘Guarani’.
ALLTEC was designated as a contractor to develop a full kit of additional ballistic protection (add-on) to be attached to the new WACP ‘Guarani’, including the stages of technological research, manufacturing, proving ground tests, official certification process, final assembly and camouflage painting of the armored shields.
This innovative challenge has resulted in the acquisition of deep knowledge and a mastery of technology to manufacture armored ceramic shields (add-on) which have qualified ALLTEC as the main supplier to the Brazilian Army for that equipment.
09 Mar 21. Trophy VPS For Stryker: Half The Weight, All The Protection?
Israeli manufacturer Rafael claims it’s worked with the Army to get the weight of the anti-missile system down below a ton – and it’ll still protect the lightly armored Stryker as effectively as the full-size system protects the massive M1 Abrams.
A decade after the Trophy anti-missile system entered combat service on Israeli heavy tanks, manufacturer Rafael says it’s building an equally effective version at half the weight – for a customer it can’t disclose.
Rafael has previously said they’d gotten the weight of Trophy VPS down 40 percent below the original version, largely through clever design and replacing 2010-era electronics with much lighter modern versions. But now, land systems VP Michael Lurie told me, the US Army has independently streamlined the integration kit it uses to install Trophy. If you combine Rafael’s lighter VPS with the Army’s lighter integration kit, Lurie said, you cut weight in half.
That, the company says, makes the new Trophy Vehicle Protection System suitable for the 8×8 Stryker: the Army’s lightly armored 20-plus-ton vehicle that’s so far defeated attempts to install the kind of active protection systems used on 60-plus-ton Israel Merkavas, US M1s, and (most recently) German Leopard IIs. After rejecting Artis’s Iron Curtain system in earlier tests, the Army will try out Rafael’s new Trophy Vehicle Protection System and rival Rheinmetall’s ADS late this year.
For a Stryker, Lurie told me, “the whole thing together will be less than a ton.”
Getting weight down is important, especially because active protection systems have to go on top of the vehicle to get a clear view, both for the sensors – typically radar, but Trophy has added an electro-optical eye as well, and the interceptors – basically mini-missiles that shoot down incoming anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. Smaller vehicles have less room on top and less weight to counterbalance any heavy objects installed on their roof. So what fits on a 60-plus-ton heavy tank like the M1 won’t fit on a Stryker a third as heavy.
Yet it’s lighter vehicles, with lighter armor, that most need active protection – since there are so many more kinds of anti-tank rounds that their armor cannot stop. In fact, even if an active defense system blows up an incoming warhead before it strikes the armor, there will be fragments and blast effects that might bounce off a full-size tank but still do substantial damage to a lighter vehicle.
How well does Stryker VPS handle this so-called “residual penetration”? “I can’t talk numbers on the phone,” Lurie said, “but the residual penetration is manageable with the Stryker.”
Well, what does manageable mean? Will the crew survive but the vehicle be totaled? Or will the Stryker be able to shrug off whatever shrapnel gets past Trophy and continue with its mission?
“It can protect a Stryker crew to a very, very high level,” Lurie told me. “The system protects the entire vehicle… front to end,” he said, so it should remain intact and drivable. (I didn’t ask specifically whether unarmored external components like sensors and radio antenna would survive intact, but those are notoriously vulnerable).
Overall, he said, because the sensor quality, software, and interceptors are the same, Stryker would get “the same … active protection” as a tank.
What makes Lurie especially confident is that this Trophy VPS system is no longer a lab experiment or developmental product: It’s currently being built on a production assembly line. However, the client has asked Rafael not to disclose who they are or any other details. (My guess is it’s the Israeli Defense Force itself in a typically hypercautious mode, or perhaps a key Arab ally, but that’s pure speculation on my part).
Lurie says Rafael will continue to work on reducing Trophy’s weight, but he doesn’t expect any more major decreases. Instead it’s focusing more on upgrading Trophy’s capabilities – including making it compatible with the US Army’s forthcoming Modular Active Protection System. The Army wants MAPS to plug-and-play components from different vendors – a radar from this one, an interceptor from that one, a jammer from the other – so it can upgrade rapidly without being tied to any one contractor such as Rafael.
“MAPS is a good approach, the right approach,” Lurie said. Once the US finalizes the MAPS architecture, he expects to be able to make Trophy compatible with a modest investment in “several months.” (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
09 Mar 21. Strategic Long-Range Cannon effort on hold ahead of report.
While some work on the Strategic Long-Range Cannon science and technology effort is ongoing, the Army is primarily waiting for the National Academy of Sciences to issue a report on the cannon’s technical feasibility, Brig. Gen. John Rafferty, who is in charge of the service’s long-range precision fires development, told Defense News.
Long-Range Precision Fires (LRPF) is the top priority for the Army when it comes to developing a modernized force capable of facing off against near-peer adversaries such as China and Russia. The Strategic Long-Range Cannon could provide a means of achieving 1,000 nautical mile artillery ranges.
The long-range cannon remains a top S&T priority for the Army, Rafferty said in a recent interview, but the service has yet to make a decision on whether it should become a program of record and turned into a battlefield capability.
“It’s a big bet to see what is possible in those ranges that have an integrated cannon system and a way to shoot things that might be far less expensive,” Rafferty said.
The fiscal year 2020 defense policy bill asked for the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a feasibility review on the cannon and that study is expected within the next few months, Rafferty said.
“I think that also gives an important data point for [Army Futures Command] and for the Army senior leaders to review as an independent assessment of the feasibility of this and then we’ll be ready to continue after that,” he said.
“I think we owe that to the senior leaders and AFC leaders to take advantage of a review by some of our premier governing bodies and to help solidify our approach because there are hard decisions to make. There are a lot of things happening in the strategic space that weren’t going on when we first started this and it’s no secret that the Department of Defense is conducting some portfolio reviews,” Raffterty said.
While the Army is waiting for the review, it hasn’t stopped work it had already begun on the cannon. However, its goal of conducting a full-range demonstration of a strategic cannon prototype in 2023 no longer appears possible, Rafferty said. Yet, the Army still plans on demonstrating some capability of the system in that year, he added.
“We may not be able to do that anymore based on certain interruption in the work,” Rafferty said, which in part can be tied to coronavirus pandemic-related slips, but is also related to funding availability and the pause to wait for the review.
The Army has two industry partners on board, which Rafferty said he could not name, to work on projectile development. The service is also working on the assembly of the carriage. “That was all scheduled work that had been paid for,” he said.
The service is still working to pass through “technological gates,” as Rafferty has called them in the past, which are helping to validate possible system design.
“We have to work through the design of the test asset, so we can begin to work while the objective system is being built and then work through the propulsion and bring our industry partners on to work the business end of the system, and that’s kind of where we are,” he said.
“Then you can just imagine from here, it’s assembling the system, then scaling up everything. This is really starting small and validating the models that we’ve been using and then scaling it up to the full propellant charge, full projectile design, to get it up to the range,” Rafferty said. (Source: Defense News)
08 Mar 21. India’s DRDO tests Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet Technology. The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced the demonstration of Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) technology.
The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced the demonstration of Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) technology.
Conducted by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), testing took place at Integrated Test Range (ITR) Chandipur off the Odisha coast in India.
The test flight proved several technologies, including SFDR technology and sub-systems such as the ground booster motor and nozzle less motor. These systems performed as expected during the test, noted the MoD.
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO and Indian Air Force (IAF) scientists on the flight test of SFDR.
The ministry said in a statement: “Successful demonstration of Solid Fuel based Ducted Ramjet technology has provided DRDO with a technological advantage which will enable it to develop long-range air-to-air missiles.
“At present, such technology is available only with a handful of countries in the world. During the test, air launch scenario was simulated using a booster motor. Subsequently, the nozzle-less booster accelerated it to the required Mach number for Ramjet operation.”
Data captured by ITR-deployed electro-optical, radar and telemetry instruments were used to monitor the missile’s performance.
It confirmed the demonstration of the mission’s objectives.
(Source: airforce-technology.com)
09 Mar 21. RoKMC aims to equip KAAV7A1 amphibious assault vehicles with RCWS. The Republic of Korea Marine Corps (RoKMC) is aiming to equip its fleet of almost 170 KAAV7A1 amphibious assault vehicles with locally developed remote-controlled weapon stations (RCWSs).
Officials from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) told Janes on 9 March that a contract to meet this requirement is expected to be awarded to Hanwha Defense in the second half of 2021.
Janes understands that the RCWS developed by the firm will mount a K4 40 mm high-speed automatic grenade launcher as well as a K6 12.7mm heavy machine gun. The K4 can fire either KM383 high-explosive (HE) or K212 HE dual-purpose rounds at a cyclic rate of 250 rds/min to an effective range of 1,500m. The K6 fires at a rate of 450–600 rds/min and has a maximum effective range of 1,830 m, according to Janes Land Warfare Platforms: Armoured Fighting Vehicles.
According to the manufacturer, the RCWS is stabilised and provided with both daytime and thermal infrared night cameras, and an eye-safe laser rangefinder with a maximum range of 5,500 m (18,044.6 ft). The fire-control system provides an automatic target tracking function, as well as automatic ballistic calculation and fire correction functions. The weapon station is also understood to be provided with a meteorological sensor.
The latest developments come as DAPA is expected to issue a request for proposals in the second half of the year for the planned procurement of an RCWS to be installed on RoK Army and RoKMC K808 wheeled armoured vehicles. More than 100 K808s are set to be fitted with an RCWS, according to official sources. (Source: Jane’s)
08 Mar 21. China clears HQ-17AE air-defence system for export. China has cleared for export a variant of the HQ-17A road-mobile, short-range air-defence (SHORAD) system known as the HQ-17AE, according to a 7 March report by the state-owned Global Times newspaper. As with other members of the HQ-17 family, the 6×6 HQ-17AE, which was developed by the Second Academy of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), is intended to provide air defence against precision-guided munitions – such as cruise missiles, guided bombs, and air-to-surface missiles – as well as against the more traditional SHORAD target set of aircraft, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). That said, the surface-to-air missile (SAM) system can reportedly also intercept what Global Times described as “more challenging targets such as stealth aircraft, supersonic cruise missiles, and rockets”.
The HQ-17 family, which is a Chinese derivative of the Russian-made Tor family of SHORAD systems, is known to comprise at least three versions: the HQ-17 tracked and HQ-17A wheeled variants operated by the People’s Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF), and the FM-2000 wheeled export variant, which was first displayed at the 2018 Airshow China defence exhibition in Zhuhai. It is unclear whether the HQ-17AE is just a new designation for the FM-2000, or whether it is a distinct variant that uses a transporter, launcher, and radar (TLAR) vehicle more closely based on the HQ-17A TLAR design. The difference between the HQ-17A and the FM-2000 TLARs is minor, as both systems use the same turret, but their base platform hull is different. Footage released by China Central Television (CCTV) and images provided by Global Times (Source: Jane’s)
05 Mar 21. BrahMos is ready to meet all export requirements. Defence exports worth $5bn by 2024. Is it realistic? Looking at the maturity of our defence technology, this goal seems quite realistic and is also the need of the hour. The government is very proactive on the defence exports front. And I firmly believe that now is the time when 70 years of investment in defence R&D should be paid back. As defence scientists and technologists, we can repay our nation with indigenous technology development, revenue generation and employment creation. The $5bn export target would encourage the Indian defence and aerospace industries to gain entry into newer markets for their long-term, sustainable growth prospects.
To achieve this target, what support are you getting from the government?
The government’s main objective here is to facilitate defence exports. Some time ago, our defence attaches [had been instructed] to be proactive on the military exports front. As a result, we are getting several inquiries about our weapon systems and their export potential.
If we look at manufacturing, a huge capability has been created in the defence technology sector. These manufacturing capabilities need to be completely exploited to create wealth and generate employment. It would lead to next generation technology development within the country.
How does BrahMos Aerospace fit into this?
Defence sales are mostly government-to-government business, and hence, it is a prerogative of the government to find out whom to export to or with which nation we can negotiate. This is because export of defence products is often a strategic decision. So, we are completely aligned with any such thinking of our government. BrahMos Aerospace is fully geared to meet all export requirements even while fulfilling the needs of our armed forces, as we have a robust manufacturing capability. (Source: Google/https://www.defenceaviationpost.com/)
04 Mar 21. Mission Success: LM’s Extended-Range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Soars in Flight Test. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) successfully tested its next-generation Extended-Range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (ER GMLRS) munition in an 80-kilometer flight demonstration at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. During the flight test, the ER GMLRS round was fired from the U.S. Army’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS®) launcher, built by Lockheed Martin, meeting test objectives.
“Our new Extended-Range GMLRS significantly increases the range of the current system, offering the choice of munitions for longer distances and improving options with the same reliability and accuracy our customers have come to expect,” said Gaylia Campbell, vice president of Precision Fires and Combat Maneuver Systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “Our team is dedicated to conducting extensive developmental testing as part of our discipline to assure mission success for the U.S. Army with more flexibility for multi-domain operations.”
The demonstration confirmed the missile’s flight trajectory performance, range and validated interfaces with the HIMARS launcher and system software performance.
Lockheed Martin has produced more than 50,000 GMLRS rounds and is under contract to produce more than 9,000 new GMLRS unitary and alternative-warhead rockets, more than 1,800 low-cost reduced-range practice rockets and integrated logistics support for the U.S. Army and international customers. The systems are produced at its Precision Fires Center of Excellence in Camden, Arkansas.
For more than 40 years, Lockheed Martin has been the leading designer and manufacturer of long-range, surface-to-surface precision strike solutions, providing highly reliable, combat-proven systems like MLRS, HIMARS, ATACMS and GMLRS to domestic and international customers. (Source: ASD Network)
02 Mar 21. Bundeswehr System Sturmgewehr Award Reversed. C.G. Haenel has been excluded from the Bundeswehr System Sturmgewehr award procedure ~ Heckler & Koch is awarded the contract.
Status of the award procedure for the ‘Assault Rifle System’ – C.G. Haenel excluded from the award procedure.
After evaluating all the documents submitted, C.G. Haenel has been excluded from the further award procedure. The company has already been informed of this. It is now intended to award the contract to Heckler & Koch.
Reason: After it was determined that one of the bidders may have infringed patents, the procedure was reverted to the status of the bid evaluation.
This was followed by a patent law assessment by an external patent law firm.
According to the experts, the result is a patent infringement. The company C.G. Haenel was given the opportunity to comment after the reports had been submitted.
This was received in a timely manner, was checked in detail and was included in the overall assessment.
Taking into account all aspects of public procurement law, the final result was that C.G Haenel’s offer should be excluded because of the patent infringements. The repetition of the bid evaluation is now complete. (Source: joint-forces.com)
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Arnold Defense has manufactured more than 1.25 million 2.75-inch rocket launchers since 1961 for the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and many NATO customers. They are the world’s largest supplier of rocket launchers for military aircraft, vessels and vehicles. Core products include the 7-round M260 and 19-round M261 commonly used by helicopters; the thermal coated 7-round LAU-68 variants and LAU-61 Digital Rocket Launcher used by the U.S. Navy and Marines; and the 7-round LAU-131 and SUU-25 flare dispenser used by the U.S. Air Force and worldwide.
Today’s rocket launchers now include the ultra-light LWL-12 that weighs just over 60 pounds (27 kg.) empty and the new Fletcher (4) round launcher. Arnold Defense designs and manufactures various rocket launchers that can be customized for any capacity or form factor for platforms in the air, on the ground or even at sea.
Arnold Defense maintains the highest standards of production quality by using extensive testing, calibration and inspection processes.
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