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16 Nov 18. Armed UAS selected but cost and variant decisions remain. Defence Connect can confirm that while Defence Minister Christopher Pyne and Defence Industry Minister Steven Ciobo have announced the selection of the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper variant as Australia’s armed UAS of choice, broader questions remain. Minister Pyne said the medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) aircraft can be integrated within the Australian Defence Force and would be fully interoperable with the nation’s allies. The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is a series of armed, unmanned aerial systems that has a number of variants, each modified for specific tasks and operational requirements, with a firm decision on Australia’s variant still to be confirmed.
The variants available for Australia to choose from include:
- Predator B/Reaper: An evolution of the original General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, the enlarged MQ-9 has a number of operation improvements over the older system. According to the US Air Force, MQ-9 is capable of carrying fifteen times the payload of the original MQ-1 Predator and is is designed to go after time-sensitive targets with persistence and precision, and destroy or disable those targets with 500-pound (226-kilogram) bombs and Hellfire missiles.
- Gray Eagle: Another evolution of the combat-proven Predator, the Gray Eagle offers a reliable, affordable, low-risk, and compelling next-generation tactical UAS solution to meet challenging service requirements for persistent reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA) and attack operations. Gray Eagle has an endurance of 25 hours, speeds up to 167 knots, can operate up to 29,000 feet, and carries 488 kilograms of internal and external payload. The aircraft can carry multiple payloads aloft, including electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) with laser designation, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), communications relay, and four Hellfire missiles.
- Gray Eagle – Extended Ranger (ER): An advanced variant of the Gray Eagle, the ER design delivers long-endurance UAS surveillance, communications relay, and weapons delivery missions in support of the warfighter. The ER variant is designed to carry an additional 204 kilograms of fuel over the standard Gray Eagle variant, allowing for a maximum endurance of 42 hours. Use of this extra fuel supports persistent RSTA missions.
- Predator C/Avenger: The most advanced variant of the Predator/Reaper family of armed UAS, the Avenger provides a number of capability improvements over the preceding variants, including a high-speed jet engine designed by Pratt & Whitney, while the aircraft’s significant wing hardpoint payload mounting capacity enables it to carry multiple sensors, while its internal weapons bay can house 1,360 kilograms of precision munitions or larger sensor payloads.
“Medium-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft have a far greater range than smaller remotely piloted aircraft and can continuously observe an area of interest for much longer than manned reconnaissance aircraft,” Minister Pyne said.
Critically, each of the Reaper variants are operated from a common ground control station and are air-transportable by RAAF C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster airlifters, or independently deployable, providing deployed Australian forces with a highly capable, reliable and persistent close-air-support, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance asset, no matter the variant chosen.
The aircraft will be used to watch and protect ADF and coalition land forces, and provide reconnaissance support for search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.
“The aircraft will be operated under the same laws of armed conflict, international human rights law and rules of engagement as manned aircraft,” Minister Pyne said.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) said, the ADF joins other top-tier military forces in choosing a MQ-9 variant because of its proven multi-role combat performance. Known as the ‘operators’ choice, the MQ-9 is part of GA-ASI’s Predator series of RPAS, which is the world’s most trusted and capable armed MALE remote piloted aerial system (RPAS), and hails from a family of RPAS which recently surpassed five million flight hours.
GA-ASI announced its intention to offer a MALE RPAS to the ADF during AVALON 2017 – the Australian International Aerospace and Defence Exposition – with the launch of Team Reaper Australia, a robust grouping of Australian industry partners.
Linden Blue, CEO of GA-ASI said, “We’ll work closely with Team Reaper Australia partners to provide a highly capable and affordable RPAS to the ADF, while creating meaningful and enduring Australian jobs.”
The team currently consists of ten Australian companies providing a range of innovative sensor, communication, manufacturing and life-cycle support capabilities that includes Cobham, CAE, Raytheon, Flight Data Systems, TAE Aerospace, Quickstep, AirSpeed, Rockwell Collins Australia, Ultra, and SentientVision.
Defence Industry Minister, Steven Ciobo said the project provides opportunities for Australian industry with associated infrastructure development and sustainment activities.
“General Atomics, as the original equipment manufacturer of the Reaper, has partnered with a large number of Australian companies who provide a range of innovative sensor, communication, manufacturing and life cycle support capabilities,” Minister Ciobo explained.
The Government will now request pricing and availability data from the United States on Reaper variants to support future decision-making on the acquisition.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, an affiliate of privately-held General Atomics, is a leading manufacturer of remotely piloted aircraft systems, radars and electro-optic and related mission systems solutions. (Source: Defence Connect)
14 Nov 18. Industry engagement central to accelerated warfare: MAJGEN McLachlan. Major General Gus McLachlan, Commander Forces Command, discussed the role of Army’s Accelerated Warfare doctrine in helping the service and industry collaborate to develop the capabilities of the future.
“Army in motion and accelerated warfare essentially boil down to: change is normal, lets make Army more agile and flexible across the board,” MAJGEN McLachlan told Defence Connect.
Accelerated warfare seeks to identify the key future touch points for Army, while identifying the role it will play in future conflicts as part of the ADF’s joint force. New Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Rick Burr identified four areas of disruption for the Army to respond to in the coming decades, namely:
- Geopolitics: The Indo-Pacific regional order is defined by a rapidly changing threat environment and operating spectrum of co-operation, competition and conflict. The days of unchallenged coalition operations are quickly fading as state and asymmetric actors all develop capabilities that threaten the natural advantages Australia and her allies have leveraged for supremacy over the past 50 years.
- Threat: Indo-Pacific Asia’s operating landscape is changing. Adversaries, including violent extremist organisations and state-based threats can now control and influence all operating domains. Future strike capabilities will not just be physical but also digital, executed often at the speed of a mouse-click. Sophisticated anti-access, area denial (A2/AD) capabilities offer the ability to deny manoeuvre while distributed systems that are ‘smarter’ and smaller are becoming increasingly essential to survivability. Networking will be critical in terms of generating a system capable of ‘co-operative engagement’.
- Technology: As in civilian life, technology is changing the way war is fought. The rapid development turn around of technologies like UAS, the proliferation of non-traditional intelligence gathering devices, the convergence of big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and precision strike capabilities all present significant challenges, not only to operations, but to the decision making process of soldiers and commanders.
- Domains: The reach of sensor and precision fire means Army must be across all domains and comprehensively integrate across them. Space and cyber have not been fully contested in previous wars and there is limited knowledge on how conflict in these domains will play out in the future. Army’s ability to operate in the traditional air, sea and land domains are at risk of being debilitated from space and cyber, yet there is also great opportunity in these domains for military advantage.
In responding to these unique challenges, Army has established Accelerated Warfare as not only the successor to Plan Bersheeba, but the next stage in the evolution of the Australian Army into a fully-fledged, combined arms fighting force for the 21st century battlespace and every domain that may encompass.
“In Plan Bersheeba we have the spine, the backbone of our 21st century, combined arms force, but it isn’t the future. That is where Accelerated Warfare comes into play, it aims to make Army an adaptable and capable force,” MAJGEN McLachlan explained.
Accelerated Warfare seeks to enable Army to leverage key technological developments across UAS, big data, and sensors from key multi-domain platforms like the Navy’s new Air Warfare Destroyers and Air Force’s F-35s and E-7A Wedgetails to understand the battlespace and create both persistence and lethality on the land domain to ensure that Army shapes the environment.
MAJGEN McLachlan expanded on the multi-domain co-operation between key platforms, saying, “It is Army’s response to the ADF’s journey to develop an internet of things (IoT) approach to data gathering nodes across the services, like Navy’s AWDs and Air Force’s F-35s, and then Army being able to provide a shooting solution, should it be required.”
Teamwork makes the dream work
Industry plays a key role in supporting Army’s transition to Accelerated Warfare and the key force multipliers that will transform Army’s capability in the future.
While traditional tensions between industry and the services may remain in some way, MAJGEN McLachlan is very clear in describing Army for its part as a “willing partner” that is eager to engage with industry to shorten the capability procurement life cycle and ensure that it can support the Chief of Army’s ambitious plan to make the service an agile, highly capable component of the joint force.
MAJGEN McLachlan said, “Army has had a history of hiding behind its own capability acquisition group internally, but with recent projects and leadership pushes by key personnel like Major General Kath Toohey, Head of Land Capability, driving change, Army has come a long-way in a short amount of time.”
Programs like the five-week doctrine turn around forums, which sees collaboration and thought leadership development from across the service respond to existing or emerging threats to Army.
Industry serves a key role in Army’s response to the democratisation and proliferation of emerging technologies like UAS systems, which MAJGEN McLachlan explained was one of Army’s best results in capability acquisition for the future force.
“The Army UAS program is a key example of how Army and industry collaborated to deliver a leading-edge product to the service in short order,” he said.
Army as a strategic deterrent in the joint force
Accelerated Warfare aims to develop the Army into a strategic linchpin for the wider ADF joint force. Industry plays a key role in supporting this development by developing the core capabilities Army requires and helping the service to identify key growth areas for future capability.
“Australian industry is really seizing on the opportunities presented by by reduced capability procurement life cycles. The services need to ensure that the feedback they provide is accurate to what they want and need,” MAJGEN McLachlan explained.
For Army, key projects like LAND 400 Phase 2 and 3, LAND 19 7B, the future surface-to-surface long-range strike missile and integrated air defence platforms provide the service with the ability to leverage key inter-service platforms like AWD and F-35 to develop a robust shooting solution and a unique A2/AD network.
Inter-service relationships and collaboration are critical to ensuring the success of this model and the Navy’s amphibious platforms, particularly HMA Ships Canberra, Adelaide and Choules have been key drivers for breaking down some of the traditional rivalries that have held the development of a joint force back.
Additionally, ADF deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, which have seen each of the services operating together in varying capacities, have further supported the development of a joint force ‘mentality’.
“We have what is called the ADFA generation of leaders, a lot of the old rivalries between the services are fading away because of experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq and the introduction of key platforms like Navy’s amphibious ships, so Army can really position itself as a strategic deterrent within the joint force structure,” MAJGEN McLachlan explained. (Source: Defence Connect)
12 Nov 18. U.S. think tank says at least 13 undeclared missile bases identified in North Korea. A U.S. think tank said on Monday it had identified at least 13 of an estimated 20 undeclared missile bases inside North Korea, underscoring the challenge for American negotiators hoping to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. In reports released by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), researchers said maintenance and minor infrastructure improvements had been observed at some of the sites despite the negotiations. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to work towards denuclearisation at their landmark June summit in Singapore but the agreement was short on specifics and negotiations have made little headway. Trump said on Twitter shortly after that summit “there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea”.
North Korea declared its nuclear force “complete” and halted missile and nuclear bomb testing earlier this year but U.S. and South Korean negotiators have yet to elicit from Pyongyang a concrete declaration of the size or scope of the weapons programmes, or a promise to stop deploying its existing arsenal.
North Korea has said it closed its Punggye-ri nuclear testing site and the Sohae missile engine test facility. It also raised the possibility of shutting more sites and allowing international inspections if Washington took “corresponding measures”, of which there has so far been no sign.
A State Department official, asked whether those hidden sites went against the spirit of the summit and whether North Korea must give them up, said Trump had made clear that “should Chairman Kim follow through on his commitments – including complete denuclearisation and the elimination of ballistic missile programmes – a much brighter future lies ahead for North Korea and its people”.
‘CLOSELY WATCHING’
Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for the presidential Blue House in Seoul, said South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials had been “closely watching” the sites using military satellites and that the CSIS report contained “nothing new”.
He specifically criticised any suggestion that the bases constituted a “deception” by the North Koreans, or that there was any agreement that required Pyongyang to declare the existence of the bases.
“North Korea has never promised to shut down this missile base,” Kim Eui-kyeom said in a statement, citing one base described in detail by the CSIS researchers. “It has never signed any agreement, any negotiation that makes shutting down missile bases mandatory.”
An official with South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff also told reporters that Seoul is “familiar” with the sites identified in the report but declined to confirm whether intelligence had indicated any recent changes at the bases.
North Korea called off a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York last week. State media said on Monday the resumption of some small-scale military drills by South Korea and the United States violated a recent agreement aimed at lowering tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The sites identified in the CSIS report are scattered in remote, mountainous areas across North Korea and could be used to house ballistic missiles of various ranges, the largest of which is believed to be capable of striking anywhere in the United States.
“Missile operating bases are not launch facilities,” the report said. “While missiles could be launched from within them in an emergency, Korean People’s Army operational procedures call for missile launchers to disperse from the bases to pre-surveyed or semi-prepared launch sites for operations.”
None of the missile bases has been acknowledged by North Korea and analysts say an accurate disclosure of nuclear weapons and missile capabilities would be an important part of any denuclearisation deal.
Sakkanmol, the site closest to the border with South Korea and its capital, Seoul, appears to be “active and being reasonably well maintained”, the report found.
“North Korea’s decommissioning of the Sohae satellite launch facility, while gaining much media attention, obscures the military threat to U.S. forces and South Korea from this and other undeclared ballistic missile bases,” it said. (Source: Reuters)
13 Nov 18. Flyaway Rafales cheaper in NDA deal: Dassault CEO Trappier. Eighteen of the 126 Rafale jets to be manufactured under the UPA deal were supposed to be sold to India off the shelf (The others would have been made here.). Under the NDA’s deal, all of the 36 jets that Dassault Aviation will deliver are “flyaway” aircraft. Rafale fighter jets meant to be sold to India off the shelf in a “flyaway” condition are cheaper in the new deal signed by the Modi government, the chief executive of aircraft maker Dassault Aviation said Tuesday. A previous deal which fell through during the United Progressive Alliance’s tenure was for 126 Rafales. But only 18 of these were supposed to be flyaway jets. The plan was to get the others made in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
The Modi government’s deal is for 36 flyaway jets, but it also requires Dassault to make investments in India as part of an offset agreement.
Dassault CEO Eric Trappier (pronounced Tra-pi-yay) told ANI he had to decrease the price of the flyaway jets in the new deal.
“Thirty-six is the double of 18 — so as far as I was concerned, it should have been double the price. But because it was government-to-government, there was some negotiation, I had to decrease [the] price by 9 per cent,” he said.
However, Trappier did not speak about the 108 extra aircraft that were supposed to be manufactured by HAL under the first deal, and whether that may have changed the cost equation for India. The Congress, which leads the UPA, has claimed the Modi government’s deal is more expensive than the UPA’s on a per-aircraft basis. (Source: News Now/www.indiatoday.in)
10 Nov 18. Russia Suspected of GPS Jamming During Nato Exercises. On Tuesday Finnish air traffic control officials warned civil aviation about large-scale GPS signal disruptions in northern Finland. It was the first such notice issued by Finland’s state-run Air Navigation Services in an official Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), in which it advised that the disturbances began on Tuesday and continued until midnight on Wednesday. The warning was visible on the website of Eurocontrol, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation. According to ANS operations director Heikki Isomaa, the warning was prompted by information obtained from sources such as Finland’s Defence Forces.
“We have also received information from the Defence Forces. So, we released the information as soon as we got it,” Isomaa said in response to a question about whether or not the Defence Forces provided information about the disruptions.
“We’ve been informed by different sources that GPS signals in northern or northeast Finland could possibly be unreliable. We wanted to get this intelligence to airlines and other aviators for security reasons,” Isomaa added.
He said that the warning had been issued for a large area as a safety precaution.
“For safety reasons, we issued it for an expansive enough area so that pilots could be prepared not to rely solely on a GPS,” he noted, however he declined to state the source of the disruptions.
Responding to an email query from Yle, Defence Force communications director Colonel Sami Nurmi also refused to comment on the matter, instead referring Yle to Ficora, the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority.
Previous warnings in Norway
Last Friday, the online publication Barents Observer reported on GPS jamming affecting air traffic in northern Norway’s Finnmark region. A warning about possible GPS blocking in the region had been issued at the end of October, when Nato kicked off major military exercises dubbed Trident Juncture in Norway. Finland also participated in the war games, which ended on Wednesday, 7 November. Meanwhile Norway’s aviation warning is still in force and is expected to end on Friday afternoon. Finland’s ANS has also published the Norwegian advisory in a bulletin. The Norwegian advisory covers the Kirkkoniemi airport area near the Finnish and Russian borders and Norwegian authorities have speculated that the disruptions could becoming from Russia. Additional signal jamming was detected at least one year ago, which Norwegian officials also believed came from Russia.
Ficora in the know
Last autumn Norway’s equivalent of Ficora, Nkom, speculated that the GPS disruptions were coming from Russia. At the time, the Finnish agency indicated that it had no knowledge of the matter. On Monday, Yle emailed Ficora to ask whether or not it knew about Norway’s accounts of GPS jamming. On Tuesday the agency responded, saying that it had no information apart from what had been reported in the Barents Observer. However, on Thursday, Ficora provided additional information upon hearing of the advisory issued by ANS Finland.
Ficora director Jarmo Ilme emailed Yle to say that the agency had received information about the GPS blocking issue, but because no one had reported any problems as a result of unstable signals, it determined that there was no reason to take action.
Officials in Finland and Norway have assured aviators that the GPS signal disruptions will not endanger air traffic, since aircraft have other navigational equipment in addition to the GPS. According to Isomaa no navigational problems have been reported and the warning has not affected the number of flights operating in Lapland. (Source: defense-aerospace.com/Finnish Broadcasting News, YLE)
12 Nov 18. China Announces Roadmap for Building Stronger Modern Air Force. The Chinese Air Force on Sunday announced a roadmap for building a stronger modern air force in three steps. The building of a stronger modern air force is in line with the overall goal of building national defense and the armed forces, Lieutenant General Xu Anxiang, deputy commander of Chinese Air Force, said at a press conference on celebrating the 69th anniversary of the establishment of Chinese Air Force held in Zhuhai, south China’s Guangdong Province.
According to Xu, the first step is to, by 2020, build a strategic force that integrates aviation and space power, and strike and defense capabilities, in which the fourth generation of equipment serves as backbone and the third generation of equipment as mainstay. The systematic combat capabilities will be enhanced. The second step requires the air force to improve strategic capabilities and modernize its theory, organizational structure, service personnel, and weaponry. The building of a modern and strategic air force will be basically completed by 2035, Xu said. The third step will see the air force fully transformed into a world-class force by mid-21st century, according to Xu. (Source: defense-aerospace.com/Xinhuanet)
12 Nov 18. China shows J-20 jet’s missiles for the first time at airshow – Global Times. China has shown the missiles in its advanced J-20 stealth fighter jet to the public for the first time at its largest airshow, the Global Times newspaper reported on Monday. The newspaper said two J-20 fighter jets opened their missile bay doors during a flypast on Monday, revealing that each jet had four missiles in its fuselage and one on either side of the aircraft. Citing Chinese experts, the newspaper said the demonstration, which came on the 69th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Air Force, displayed the J-20’s superiority to the top U.S. fighter jets, the F-22 and F-35, as well as the PLA’s growing confidence. It also quoted military expert Song Zhongping as saying the four missiles in the J-20’s fuselage were long-range air-to-air missiles, while the two on the sides were short-range combat missiles meant for aerial combat. (Source: Reuters)
11 Nov 18. Natural that Europe should want an army, says Russia’s Putin. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday it made sense for a powerful economic bloc like the European Union to want to defend itself militarily. The comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump fired off a tweet as he arrived in Paris on Friday in which he described a call by French President Emmanuel Macron for a European army as “very insulting”. (Source: Reuters)
12 Nov 18. Australian PM and ministers outline new Pacific engagement plan. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has used an address at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville to outline the government’s new Pacific engagement policy, while Defence Minister Christopher Pyne has doubled down on proposals to redevelop facilities at Manus Island to support Australia’s ‘Pacific pivot’. On the back of recent announcements made by the Prime Minister regarding the nation’s continuing and enhanced engagement with Asia. Prime Minister Morrison has launched a Australia’s ‘Pacific pivot’, which will focus on enhancing the nation’s strategic engagement and presence in the region.
“The long-term funding commitment is critical to executing the government’s plans for Defence, and ensures that defence strategy, capability and resources are fully aligned,” the Prime Minister said.
The nation’s defence capabilities, service men and women and, now more than ever, industry are critical to enhancing the nation’s ability to engage with and secure the Pacific region.
“Defence must have confidence in its funding so it can develop and implement long-term plans. Australian defence industry also needs funding certainty to confidently invest in the infrastructure, skills and capability so that it can play its part as a fundamental input to defence capability,” PM Morrison said.
Australia’s recent history of engagement with the region has been marred by three distinct scenarios:
- The military intervention in the Solomon Islands as part of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI);
- The souring of diplomatic relations between Australia and Fiji; and
- The offshore processing of asylum seekers at Manus Island.
The nation’s commitment to the region, however, is based on more than just these three engagements, rather Australia has, as outlined in the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, sought to re-engage with the Pacific and ensure that it remains one of the nation’s highest foreign and defence policy priorities.
“The government that I have the privilege to lead is returning the Pacific to where it should be – front and centre of Australia’s strategic outlook, our foreign policy, our personal connections, including at the highest levels of government,” PM Morrison said.
“This is our patch. This is our part of the world. This is where we have special responsibilities. We always have, we always will. We have their back, and they have ours. We are more than partners by choice. We are connected as members of a Pacific family,” the PM said in response to concerns about the growing prominence of Chinese finance, aid and infrastructure development in the region.
Enhancing Australia’s military capability in the region is essential to the success of the government’s new ‘Pacific pivot’, and includes:
- An increased number of operational deployments by the Royal Australian Navy to the region to support maritime training exercises; and
- The local construction of the new Pacific Patrol Boats, which will be gifted to regional partners to support increased maritime security.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne reinforced the Prime Minister’s comments, saying, “In addition to our Australia Pacific Security College and Fusion Centre, which will address gaps in training and information sharing in the Pacific, a new Pacific faculty at the Australian Institute of Police Management will train the next generation of police leadership in the Pacific.
“Our Defence Force will work with partners to build interoperability to respond together to the common security challenges that we face, including through the establishment of a new ADF Pacific Mobile Training Team.”
Central to the mobility and functionality of this mobile training team is the introduction of a dedicated new vessel to deliver support to Australia’s regional partners, including for humanitarian assistance and crisis response.
Further enhancing this announcement, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the government’s commitment to develop the Lombrum Naval Base in Papua New Guinea to serve as a focal point for Australian leadership and defence capability in the region.
He said, “We’re co-operating to develop the PNG Defence Force’s Lombrum Naval Base… It will mean more Australian ships can visit PNG.”
The Prime Minister highlighted the role Australia-based SMEs will play in supporting the nation’s pivot to the Pacific, namely through key defence acquisitions including the $5.2bn LAND 400 Phase 2 deal, which will provide the Army with 211 leading-edge Boxer CRVs, the $35bn SEA 5000 Hunter Class frigates, which will serve as the backbone of Australia’s surface fleet, and the $17bn F-35 program.
“Now of course, our Defence capability plans do not end there – from new frigates and patrol vessels to the Joint Strike Fighter – all of these platforms draw on small and medium-sized enterprises from right across the nation,” the Prime Minister said.
Australia’s pivot to the Pacific provides new opportunities for Australian businesses of all shapes and sizes as the nation continues to invest in both regional infrastructure and defence capability to ensure the enduring peace, prosperity and stability of “our patch”. (Source: Defence Connect)
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About Lincad
Lincad is a leading expert in the design and manufacture of batteries, chargers and associated products for a range of applications across a number of different sectors. With a heritage spanning more than three decades in the defence and security sectors, Lincad has particular expertise in the development of reliable, ruggedised products with high environmental, thermal and electromagnetic performance. With a dedicated team of engineers and production staff, all product is designed and manufactured in-house at Lincad’s facility in Ash Vale, Surrey. Lincad is ISO 9001 and TickITplus accredited and works closely with its customers to satisfy their power management requirements.
Lincad is also a member of the Joint Supply Chain Accreditation Register (JOSCAR), the accreditation system for the aerospace, defence and security sectors, and is certified with Cyber Essentials, the government-backed, industry supported scheme to help organisations protect themselves against common cyber attacks. The majority of Lincad’s products contain high energy density lithium-ion technology, but the most suitable technology for each customer requirement is employed, based on Lincad’s extensive knowledge of available electrochemistries. Lincad offers full life cycle product support services that include repairs and upgrades from point of introduction into service, through to disposal at the end of a product’s life. From product inception, through to delivery and in-service product support, Lincad offers the high quality service that customers expect from a recognised British supplier.
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