19 Feb 17. Qioptiq wins £82m MoD contract. During IDEX, Harriet Baldwin M.P., Minister for Defence Procurement announced the award of an innovative £82mcontract to North Wales company Qioptiq. The deal with Qioptiq at St Asaph will see battle-winning handheld equipment – including Night Vision Goggles and day and night weapon sights – maintained over the next six years to ensure that they are available to MoD personnel around the globe.
Speaking at IDEX, Harriet Baldwin said, “It is a pleasure to announce this £82 million contract here at IDEX. The deal will provide our troops with the equipment they need to stay safe, while also delivering £47 million of savings.”
Work under the new Surveillance, Target and Acquisition (STAS) contract will create eight new positions at the company, which employs around 560 people at its St Asaph and Bodelwyddan sites. By merging 20 individual support contracts into one deal, the MoD will save £47m for the taxpayer over the next six years.
CEO of DE&S, Tony Douglas said, “This new deal with Qioptiq has reduced costs by a third, demonstrating how we are constantly striving to build innovation and value into defence procurement and support. Crucially, the STAS contract will deliver improved support to Her Majesty’s Armed Forces.”
The contract covers equipment used right across the Armed Forces from frontline infantry and Royal Marines, to military specialists such as bomb disposal experts, including infantry periscopes, laser aimers and target locating equipment.
20 Feb 16. Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) has received a two-year, $189m contract to provide an integrated battle management system (BMS) to the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. The Harris system will provide the UAE with initial operational capabilities as the country implements enhanced battlefield management solutions. The contract was issued under the Emirates Command & Control System (ECCS) Land Tactical System (ELTS) program, a major C4ISR program that will integrate, coordinate and maximize the combined efficiency of UAE Armed Forces assets.
“This Land Tactical System project represents a major milestone in the advancement of battlefield management and staff function capabilities for the UAE Armed Forces,” said Ed Zoiss, president, Harris Electronic Systems. “It will help ensure that the UAE Land Forces brigades are equipped to succeed on the modern battlefield.”
Harris Battlefield Management Systems offer military customers a cutting-edge, continuous operations platform for situational awareness and staff functions. Through a combination of sophisticated technology and high-value systems integration services, military users can effectively track hostile and blue forces, develop and execute tactical operations and integrate personnel, intelligence, local weather, planning, and other data into battlefield operations.
16 Feb 17. Supacat unveils HMT 400 Desert special operations
vehicle at IDEX. Supacat is unveiling HMT 400 Desert, a new variant of its acclaimed `Jackal` special operations vehicle, at IDEX 2017. HMT 400 Desert will be exhibited on the International Golden Group, IGG, stand 04-C30, as Supacat’s representatives in the UAE.
HMT 400 Desert has been adapted to enhance performance in the desert’s harsh environment and climatic conditions. It has no armour and the lighter gross vehicle mass improves the power-to-weight ratio and increases mobility over deep desert sand. Further desert features include cooling, a central tyre inflation system and lightweight bead locks to enable the vehicle to be operated at the lowest tyre pressures.
The vehicle has been configured to fully comply with the UAE Presidential Guard’s requirements for a new special operations vehicle, including tactical CH-47 internal loading, and has undergone successful tactical trials and testing by UAE forces over the summer. The HMT series, widely known as `Jackal`, has been battle proven in service with numerous elite specia