NEWS FROM THE PARIS AIR SHOW
17 Jun 09. No UK payback for ASTOR. Raytheon told BATTLESPACE at Paris that in spite of terms agreed during the run up to the signature of the multi-billion ASTOR contract that the Treasury would not benefit from nay sales of the ASTOR sensor under the IP agreement agreed with Raytheon. Bob Bushnell of Raytheon told BATTLESPACE when asked about the nomenclature applied to the system that the Advanced Mode radar (AMR) taken from its ASARS 2 radar mounted on the U2 was a UK special radar for MoD use only, thus there would be no royalties flowing to the UK following extensive UK investment in the project.
16 Jun 09. Representatives of the Estonian Ministry of Defense and Air Force Command Finland signed a contract on June 3, 2009 to finalize the selection of ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) to deliver Medium Range Air Surveillance Systems including 14 Ground Master 403 radar systems, 12 for Finland and two for Estonia, and a Long Range Air Identification and
Surveillance Radar System Mid Life Upgrade for five Teresa 22XX radars for Finland. “We are pleased to announce the finalization of agreements that will ultimately strengthen the performance of our air defense,” said MGen Jarmo Lindberg, the Commander of the Finnish Air Force. “We look forward to working with ThalesRaytheonSystems as a partner in providing us a modern sensor suite which meets our operational requirements for years ahead.” The order value for the Ground Master radars and Teresa upgrade is expected to be approximately €200m ($265m).
17 Jun 09. A new UAV development deal signed between Finmeccanica and the Unite Arab Emirates is part of a push for a “strategic relationship” between the Italian group and the Persian Gulf state, said CEO Pierfrancesco Guarguaglini.Speaking at the Paris Air Show this week, Guarguaglini formally announced a joint venture between Finmeccanica unit Alenia Aeronautica and Abu Dhabi Autonomous System Investments to design and develop medium altitude UAVs. “This is part of a general accord signed for cooperation programs in May 2008, the first evidence of which was a deal on composite materials,” said Alenia CEO Giovanni Bertolone. That deal, with the Mubadala Development Company, a UAE investment agency, was followed in February by the start of talks by the UAE to buy 48 M-346 trainer jets built by Finmeccanica unit Aermacchi, 20 in light fighter version. Talks are underway to build a local assembly line with Mubadala. Mubadala also owns a stake in Italian aircraft builder Piaggio Aero, which is to sell two of its P180 Avanti II turbo-prop aircraft to the UAE Air Force. Finmeccanica unit Selex Sistemi Integrati is, meanwhile, supplying naval combat systems to the UAE navy through a local joint venture. “We want to strengthen our naval work and sell those products being developed for the UAE to other countries,” Guarguaglini said. “Step by step, we are showing ourselves to be a reliable partner,” Bertolone said. “Next, we may discuss the C-27J tactical transport and we are offering the ATR 42 in maritime patrol format now.” (Source: Defense News)
11 Jun 09. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. releaseD the Recce-U, persistent, unmanned, surveillance and reconnaissance system at the Paris Air Show. Recce-U is a self-contained, multi-sensor ISR system for the UAV platform, based on the RecceLite tactical reconnaissance pod for combat aircraft. Recce-U simultaneously collects high-resolution infrared and visual digital images, day and night, within a very wide field of regard, in accordance with an automatic mission plan and/or manual operation, and transmits the images, which are then viewed and interpreted in real time at the ground exploitation station. The Recce-U system comprises a persistant ISR payload, Ground Data Link Station (GDLS) and Ground Exploitation Station (GES). The Reccu-U system is revolutionary in that the inertial LOS control enables routine scanning of extremely wide areas irre