Web Page sponsor Oxley Developments
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11 Apr 17. Oxley Appoints JAC as Japanese Agent. Oxley Group has appointed Japan Aerospace Corporation (JAC) as its representative in Japan. JAC will represent Oxley across the lighting & systems product portfolio including LED lighting for aircraft, NVIS aircraft upgrades, land vehicle and naval lighting solutions.
JAC is a well-established supplier of aircraft systems. Based in Tokyo, the company was incorporated in 2004, while its business origins began in 1952 in the general aviation market; the business has now evolved to encompass defence and aerospace systems. Customers include Japan Ministry of Defence (JMOD), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI), and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd (KHI).
JAC has an impressive record in supplying a wide range of hi-tech products to the aerospace and military sectors and the addition of the Oxley lighting range will complement their existing portfolio and will offer Oxley customers access to in-country expertise and support.
Martin Blakstad, Group CEO, said: ‘We’re delighted to sign this agreement with JAC, Japan is a key growing market for Oxley. We have already started to supply lighting solutions for the JMOD fleet and we look forward to developing deeper customer relationships through our link with JAC.’
12 Apr 17. British Army orders more Israeli radios. The first field exercises with the British Army’s new Mercury family of cadet training radios are expected to begin on 19 April. The radios, supplied under a GBP7.3m (USD9m) contract placed with UK company Drumgrange, have been manufactured at plants belonging to Elbit Systems in Israel. Examples were on show at the end of the Army Warfighting Experiment (AWE 2017) staged at the Copehill Down training centre in March.
The UK/PRC720 25W HF manpack, a reduced-capability version of the Micom 3 Pathfinder transceiver, is part of the Mercury family produced by Elbit Systems under subcontract to Drumgrange to meet cadet training requirements. (Rupert Pengelley)
The Mercury family includes the UK/PRC710 5W VHF handheld transceiver and a 20W basestation variant, the UK/PRC715, both derived from the PRC-710 originally developed by Tadiran Communications (now part of Elbit). The UK/PRC710, which is unencrypted and has no frequency hopping capability, has been adapted to take batteries compatible with the US AN/PRC-148 and AN/PRC-152 multiband handheld radios already in British Army service.
The third Mercury transceiver element is the UK/PRC720 25W HF manpack, which is based on the Micom 3 Pathfinder 25W HF SSB transceiver originated by Mobat Communications (now also part of Elbit Systems). The baseline Micom 3 is constructed in compliance with MIL-STD-810 environmental standards, and has an operating temperature range of -30 to 60°C. Its frequency range is 1.6-30 MHz with an automatic link establishment capability in accordance with MIL-STD-188-141B. The transceiver weighs 5.2kg without its battery and measures 220x220x109mm.
According to Drumgrange, its Mercury contract covers the supply of 2,500 UK/PRC710s and 400 20W amplifiers for the UK/PRC715 mobile and basestation variant, plus 150 UK/PRC720s. For chat nets and data communications exercises the UK/PRC720 will be used in conjunction with GeTAC laptop terminals drawn from British Army stocks. In-service support is to be provided under the auspices of the established Bowman Logistics Supply and Support Provision (LSSP) programme, run by General Dynamics UK. The Mercury family has been brought in as a rapid-reaction programme to replace obsolete Clansman radios, including UK/PRC320 HF manpack and UK/PRC349 VHF handheld transceivers, which were used for cadet training until 2015 when they were condemned as non-compliant with current standards. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
12 Apr 17. The U.S. Air Force authorized extending the service life of the L