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24 Nov 08. Vertical-launch VT1 missile gains new momentum. Thales Air Systems is seeking a new lease of life for its Crotale Naval VT1 point defence missile system, with the company pushing for a launch order from Bulgaria for a vertical-launch variant to equip the new DCNS Gowind corvettes that are currently the subject of contract talks. This push follows a recent test, conducted jointly by Thales and DCNS, to demonstrate the vertical launch of the VT1-VL missile from the compact A35 variant of the Sylver vertical launcher system. (Source: Jane’s, IDR)
10 Nov 08. US Army PGK project moves closer to LRIP. The US Army’s XM1156 Precision Guidance Kit (PGK) course-correction fuze development programme is currently in its Increment I system design and development phase and is heading for a Milestone C decision on low-rate initial production (LRIP) in April 2009. Although this is a few months behind the originally posited schedule – which called for LRIP fuzes to be delivered from the end of 2008 – the PGK is significantly in advance of its goals in other respects. (Source: Jane’s, IDR)
20 Nov 08. US Army commits to M4 rifle modernisation. US Army Secretary Pete Geren said on 13 November that the US Army will officially release a request for proposals to modernise the M4 5.56 mm carbine in September 2009, ensuring the army’s continued commitment to the weapon. “Today is an important step in an effort to ensure that our soldiers always have the best – not just the best today, but the best tomorrow,” Geren told a gathering of defence industry experts. (Source: Jane’s, JDW)
01 Dec 08. Quantum3D, Inc. announced the availability of Geoscape Worldwide. The
geo-specific worldwide database follows on the company’s leadership in geo-specific databases, including those for the conterminous United States, Guam, and more. Geoscape Worldwide is targeted toward fixed-wing and rotary-wing applications. Unlike competing worldwide databases that offer geo-typical representations of the earth, Geoscape Worldwide is built from 15m base
geo-specific imagery covering 100% of the earth’s landmasses outside the Polar Regions. Augmented with 10m geo-specific imagery covering the entire conterminous United States the database also offers 10 FAA Level D Areas of Interest (AOIs) in CONUS built from geo-specific imagery with resolutions from 5m to 60 cm.
01 Dec 08. CAE launched the next-generation CAE Medallion(TM)-6000 image generator at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) today. The CAE Medallion image generator family is CAE’s long-standing visual system designed specifically for the military simulation market. The latest generation CAE Medallion-6000 image generator is based on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) graphics processors from NVIDIA Corporation and delivers a range of new features and capabilities for the military simulation market including:
– Increased sustained polygon capacity of more than 100,000 polygons, meaning more realistic three-dimensional (3D) content and terrain detail;
– Use of next-generation shaders to improve realism, such as dynamic shadows;
– 3D volumetric cloud layers for enhanced training cues in adverse weather;
– Full support for the Common Image Generator Interface (CIGI) 3.1 specification to ease systems integration.
In addition, the latest generation CAE Medallion-6000 image generator includes full support for CAE’s breakthrough motif compositing technology. Motif compositing generates rich and realistic database content by automatically enriching sparse source data. Using CAE’s motif compositing combined with run-time publishing of the Common Database (CDB), users can quickly and cost-effectively generate more realistic database content.
Dec 08. UK troops could soon be using new camera equipment to survey combat zones without physically entering enemy territory, t