13 Jun 02. Radstone Technology is planning to increase production capacity to keep pace with rising demand The Northampton-based group said it was looking for larger facilities in the area because trading conditions had improved substantially since September 11.
In the year to March 31, pre-tax profits rose 11 per cent to £4.6m (£4.1m).
Turnover was flat, however, at £41.2m (£41.3m), despite an increase in orders in the second half and strong demand for “ruggedised computing products”.
Radstone reported its first order to China, for a signal-processing unit used in weather-radar systems.
The group has declared a restored final dividend of 1p, payable from earnings per share of 13.19p (11.48p). Radstone did not pay an interim dividend nor a final the year before.

11 Jun 02. Brazil’s Air Force chief said that he will ask the four groups bidding for a $700m contract to build 12 new fighter jets to submit more details to their proposals.

The move could further delay a final decision on which company Brazil will pick
to build the jets by about a month, Brigadier Carlos de Almeida Baptista told reporters.

The companies must further specify in writing what kind of industrial and technological compensations they can offer in exchange for the contract, he said.

Lockheed Martin, Embraer in partnership with France’s Dassault, Russia’s Sukhoi and Saab have all entered the tender.

12 Jun 02. Falcon with Ministers. An MoD spokesman confirmed that the DPA recommendation for the down-select to two companies for the Falcon bid was with ministers. It was also confirmed that the decision had been made not to use the option to procure more Cormorant systems rather than proceed with falcon.

Falcon will be deployed in forward areas of the battlefield using an armoured vehicle, likely to be MRAV. The Bucher vehicle chosen for Cormorant was not considered to have the protection or mobility requirements for operations in forward areas. Avaya told BATTLESPACE that its solution offered to EADS was suitable for installation in armoured vehicles due to its compact size.

Sources suggest that the outcome could be a technology battle between the BAE SYSTEMS IP over voice solution and the Marconi ATM solution. Although a favourite with such organisations as QinetiQ, ATM has always suffered from problems with transmitting to moving forces.

10 June 02. The U.S. Defense Department said on Monday it had approved the sale to Switzerland of 222 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles made by Raytheon Co. (NYSE:RTN – News) in a deal worth up to $104m if all options are exercised.