EUROPE
09 Sep 05. NATO force goals are motivating the shift towards smaller but more capable combat fleets, expanded ground surveillance and more efficient airborne early warning capability. Force modernisation and stock replacement programmes will, therefore, promote strong and sustainable growth across the European airborne intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) radar market. To benefit from growth opportunities, however, market participants will need to focus on developing next-generation technologies.
Recent research by Frost & Sullivan’s Aerospace & Defence Group, estimates that the total size of the European airborne radar market (comprising frontline aircraft radar, other fixed-wing aircraft radar and helicopter/rotorcraft radar) over 2005-2014 is likely to be $5.44 billion, of which $440 million will represent revenues from new opportunities in the market. Currently, a few, strong manufacturers are dominating the European airborne radar industry. However, as competition intensifies and a host of new challenges emerge, leading manufacturers will be compelled to re-examine their position on the value-chain.
Uncertain procurement numbers for next-generation frontline fighter aircraft, together with the limited orders expected for fixed-wing surveillance and airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft beyond 2014 is placing tremendous pressures on airborne radar manufacturers. Such anxieties are being exacerbated by the increasing longevity of current platforms and the rising cost-sensitivity of smaller and mid-sized nations. The radar with SAR capabilities that is likely to offer particularly robust growth opportunities will be active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. With its unmatched picture resolution, AESA is set to be the radar of the future for all types of aircraft. Next-generation fighter aircrafts purchased by NATO are either likely to already have AESA or upgrade to this radar at a later stage.
19 Sep 05. The U.S. Defense Department notified Congress on Tuesday of a proposed $41m sale to Spain of 94 SM-1 Block VI standard missiles built by Raytheon Co. and Aerojet General, a unit of GenCorp. The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Spain requested the missiles and various spare parts to allow the European country, a key U.S. ally in the war in Iraq, to better defend its sea-lines of communication. (Source: Defense News)
19 Sep 05. The Pentagon late Sept. 6 told Congress of a proposed sale to Turkey of advanced air-to-surface weapons to arm the NATO ally’s F-16 fighters. The U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified lawmakers of the possible Foreign Military Sale of AGM-154A/C Joint Standoff Weapons, equipment and services to Turkey, according to a DSCA statement. “The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $35 million,” the statement said. (Source: Defense News)
20 Sep 05. Thales UK has sold its 5,000th CAPS-approved Datacryptor(r) since its launch of the Datacryptor family in 2000. The Ministry of Defence’s PJHQ J6, the Communication and Information Systems division of the organisation responsible for the planning and execution of UK-led joint and multinational operations, is the latest Datacryptor customer having ordered Datacryptor AP (Advanced Performance) IP 10Mbps units. It will be using these units to aid its overseas operations and will be using Datacryptor to protect information up to RESTRICTED level.
22 Sep 05. The first of 43 Mercedes Atego Troop Carrying Vehicles (TCVs) with a two-year maintenance and spare part package were handed over to the Sierra Leone Armed Forces by UK Armed Forces Minister, Adam Ingram, yesterday. The troop-carrying vehicles were funded by the UK in response to a request from Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, for friends of Sierra Leone to boost the capability of the country’s armed forces. They will distribute rice and fuel to uni