EUROPE
28 Oct 05. MoD: 2004/05 Report and Accounts Published. The Defence Secretary published the MoD’s Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 Mar 05. The Report is claimed to provide “a comprehensive overview of the MoD’s financial and non-financial performance”. Comment: The Report is of limited value, being both dated and containing a considerable amount of gobbledegook. In a sign of the times, MoD Main Building believes (page 230) that ‘BAES’ is an abbreviation of ‘British Aerospace Systems’. The Report is available from TSO and from The Parliamentary Bookshop (Tel: 020-7219 3890), as HC 464, for £32:75. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 05/42, 07 Nov 05)
01 Nov 05. Boeing announced Germany’s LENKFLUGKORPERSYSTEME GmbH (LFK) has joined the trans-Atlantic “Alliance Shield” team competing for NATO’s upcoming Theater Missile Defense systems engineering and integration support contract.
08 Nov 05. Text of report in English by Romanian news agency RompresBucharest, 8 November: Top Romanian aircraft constructor Aerostar based in Bacau (northeast of Bucharest), whose production is mainly directed to defence aviation, has recently started a cooperation programme with Germany’s EADS company [European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company – registered in the Netherlands, its shares listed in France, Germany and Spain] aimed at civil aviation components and parts for Airbus aircraft, the Saptamana financiara (Financial Weekly) magazine reports. Aerostar has developed ultra-light planes like WT-01 and Festival and has found civil markets for its IAK-52 aircraft. The programmes conducted by the Bacau-based company and the outstanding results obtained have earned it cooperation with renowned international companies such as Elbit Systems, Thomson CSF Communications and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace. (Source: FT.com)
31 Oct 05. Iraq: OP TELIC. There are no appliqué armour kits available to protect the undersides of Land Rover and Saxon vehicles. 84 Scimitars have been fitted with appliqué armour. (Ministerial Answer (MA), 31 Oct 05.) (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 05/42, 07 Nov 05)
09 Nov 05. Giove-A will go up on a Soyuz-Fregat launch vehicle. The in-orbit testing phase of Galileo, Europe’s satellite-navigation system, will begin in December. The first demonstrator spacecraft will fly from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on a Soyuz rocket on the 28th of the month. The satellite, known as Giove-A, has the critical task of claiming the frequencies allocated to Galileo under international agreements. To do this, the UK-built spacecraft must generate and transmit a timing and navigation signal by June 2006. (Source: BBC)
04 Nov 05. Sea launch for UK-built satellite. The satellite will launch on one of the world’s largest rockets. One of the largest and most powerful commercial satellites in the world is set to blast off on Saturday. The UK-built Inmarsat-4 F2 is the second of three satellites designed to improve global communications systems. It will be lifted into orbit by a Zenit-3SL rocket from a sea platform close to the equator. The first satellite, which covers most of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Indian Ocean, was launched from Cape Canaveral in March. The second satellite will improve and extend communications across South America, most of North America, the Atlantic Ocean and part of the Pacific Ocean. Inmarsat-4 F2 will lift-off from a floating launchpad close to Christmas Island on the equator. (Source: BBC)
02 Nov 05. Two of the leading shipbuilders in Northern Europe – the UK’s VT Shipbuilding and Netherlands company Merwede Shipyard – have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together on naval warship procurement programmes outside the UK. The agreement will see the pair combine their expertise in design and manufacturing to address programmes around the world.
07 Nov 05. The Depleted Uranium Oversight Board (DUOB) will on Thursday announce
a provisional closure