20 May 02. Payment for Eurofighter spares and repairs will be linked to supplier performance, thanks to a BAE SYSTEMS-IFS support system which is now active, following three months of rigorous factory acceptance testing involving all four partner nations.
This, the first phase of Eurofighter’s complex Industrial Exchange and Repair Service (IERS) project, is designed to improve aircraft availability whilst reducing investment in spares. It will provide the tools to allow the Eurofighter nations to track critical parts on the operating base or aircraft and through the industrial repair loop and transportation system. Phase 2, due to be delivered in mid-summer, will provide external interfaces to associated software systems including Eurofighter’s Engineering Support System (ESS) and reference database.
16 May 02. Raytheon Systems Limited (RSL) has been selected by Lockheed Martin of Fort Worth, Texas, to supply 104 GAS-1 anti-jam GPS antenna units. This is the largest single US contract won by the company’s Navigation Systems Group outside of the primary production contract held with the GPS Joint Program Office in the US.
The contract is worth around $4m and includes the equipment, warranty provision, and project management. Delivery of the units is phased over the period 2002 to 2006. A parallel complementary contract has also been placed by Lockheed Martin on Raytheon in St Petersburg, Florida, for 26 GAS-1 Controlled Reception Pattern Antennas.
The Army signed a new partnership agreement with the National Science Center today at the Pentagon during a signing ceremony hosted by Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White with Paul Simon, chairman of the National Science Center, Inc. Board of Directors.
22 May 02. The U.S. National Science Center (NSC), an educational organization with an exhibit facility, is an innovative public-and-private partnership between National Science Center, Inc. and the U.S. Army. The NSC’s headquarters, Fort Discovery, is a world-class science center located in downtown Augusta on the Riverwalk. The Center is designed to inspire and excite young Americans to learn about science, math and technology. It does this by providing stimulating, hands-on, interactive learning experiences and resources for students, families and educators. The Center capitalizes on emerging opportunities through collaboration with government, non-profit organizations, and industry. The NSC was created under Congressional authority with Public Law 99-145 in 1985, amended by the 1996 Defense Authorization Act. It opened in 1997.
May 02. Insys (formerly Hunting Engineering) and Ultra Electronics have been invited to negotiate for the contract to supply the MoD with a new mine-clearing system. MINDER (Mine Detection, Neutralisation and Route Marking System) will be used to clear mines from roads and tracks. A contract, worth up to £85m for 10 systems, is due to be awarded in 2003 for a 2006 in-service date (ISD). Insys is teamed with Thales Missiles Electronics and QinetiQ while Ultra is in partnership with GD Canada and ERA Technology.
Comment: MINDER is being procured in three stages, of which the above is the first. Initially the system should be able to clear routes of anti-vehicle mines and surface-laid anti-personnel mines at about 5km per hour. Two further stages of development are forecast to increase the clearance rate up to 40km per hour by 2013. The system eventually selected is expected to combine ground penetrating radar with metal detection systems.
(Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS Issue 02/2127 May 02)
6 Jun 02. Allied Research Corporation (Amex: ALR – News) announces the acquisition of privately held Titan Dynamics Systems, Inc. (TDSI) of Marshall, Texas, in a stock and cash transaction. Transaction terms were not announced.TDSI is a professional engineering and manufacturing company engaged primarily in military-related products for domestic and international defense markets.