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25 Aug 17. Rafael to benefit from Elbit win in Croatia weapons tender. The Croatian Ministry of Defence has named Israel’s Elbit Systems as the winner in a tender to purchase weapons for the country’s 126 Patria eight-wheel drive armored modular vehicles.
Elbit Systems is to supply its UT30MK2 unmanned turrets fitted with a 30mm cannon and a 7.62x51mm gun, as well as Spike-LR missile systems made by Israel’s Rafael. The contract is valued at some 93.6m kuna (U.S. $14.9m).
Croatian MoD sources told local daily Vecernji List that Elbit Systems and Rafael initially presented two separate offers, but eventually decided to submit a single bid with the aim to offer their solutions at the lowest possible price. It is noteworthy that Croatia’s leading defense manufacturer Duro Dakovic submitted an offer whose value was twice that of the Israeli bid, at some 211.45 million kuna. Duro Dakovic and Finland’s Patria cooperated on producing the vehicles for the Croatian Armed Forces.
With the planned procurement, Croatia will join other countries from the region whose armed forces use Spike missiles. These include Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia and Lithuania.
The weapon systems are scheduled to be delivered in early 2018 when the Croatian Armed Forces are to deploy a land forces unit to Lithuania for a six-month period. (Source: Defense News)
25 Aug 17. UK deadline for Type 31 frigates ‘just not going to happen.’ Britain is preparing to launch a competition early next month to come up with a design for a new class of light frigates for the Royal Navy.
Shipbuilding bosses and other executives have been invited to a central London meeting for Sept. 7 to be briefed on the broad outline of the Type 31 light frigate program by ministers as well as officials with the Navy and the Ministry of Defence’s Defence Equipment and Support agency, according to the government’s Defence Contracts Bulletin.
The Type 31 program is a centerpiece of the Conservative governments yet-to-be-published national shipbuilding strategy. It’s possible the strategy, designed to lay the foundation of a modern and efficient naval shipbuilding sector, could be unveiled ahead of the Sept. 7 briefing once Parliament emerges from its summer recess on Sept. 5.
The MoD declined to comment on the timing of the shipbuilding strategy’s publication or offer any details on the Type 31 program announcement beyond saying: “The National Ship Building Strategy will make clear our plan for Type 31 and will be published in due course.”
The government announced plans to build a fleet of at least five light general purpose frigates in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, or SDSR, and has since been conducting early concept and other work on the Type 31.
The Defence Contracts Bulletin said the program would be innovative and agile.
A report on the shipbuilding strategy produced for the government last year by industrialist Peter Parker recommended the warships could be block built by shipyards around the U.K. and assembled at BAE System’s yards in Glasgow, Scotland.
The competition to build the Type 31 is restricted to British companies.
Babcock International, BAE Systems, BMT Defence Services and a small design consultancy known as Stellar Systems are the companies likely to submit designs when the competition opens.
It’s expected the MoD will call the light frigate the Type 31e to emphasize the importance of the warship’s appeal in export markets to future shipbuilding capabilities in the U.K.
Details of the program are sparse; but after nearly two years of concept work, the MoD appears to have finally cranked up progress with three separate events within 20 days aimed at laying out the plan to acquire the warships.
The Defence Contracts Bulletin notice said the Sept. 7 announcement will