14 Apr 05. United Defense Industries Inc. on Thursday said that together with BAE Systems North America Inc. it received a request from the Department of Justice for additional information in connection with BAE’s pending acquisition of United Defense. British defense contractor BAE in March agreed to buy rival UDI for nearly $4bn. (See: BATTLESPACE ALERT Vol.7 ISSUE 10, March 7th 2005, BAE CLOSE TO DEAL WITH UNITED DEFENSE) Both companies plan to address the request “promptly.” A second request extends the waiting period during which the Justice Department conducts its review of a transaction. The companies continue to expect the acquisition to be completed by midyear.
15 Apr 05. ITES – 2S award date has been delayed. The $20bn, nine year life-cycle indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity Information Technology Enterprise Solutions – 2 Services contracting vehicle to support Army Enterprise Infrastructure and Infostructure goals has been delayed until the middle of October. “We have a lot of vendors interested in ITES-2S and we want to ensure adequate time for evaluation,” said Kevin Carroll, Program Executive Officer, Enterprise Information Systems in announcing the decision today from his Fort Belvoir, VA office. “Frankly, we have room to play with the ITES 1 vehicle still being viable,” Carroll said. A draft RFP is expected to be out later this month. (Source: GCN)
24 Mar 05. Military Training and Advice: Countries Involved. The Armed Forces’ Minister said that members of the British Armed Forces had been deployed to give military training and advice to 91 countries, in the period from 2001 to 2004.
Comment: A copy of the list of countries is available to subscribers, on request. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 05/14, 11 Apr 05)
15 Apr 05. Gripen successfully completes air-to-air refueling campaign with NATO standard compatible tanker. During the past month, the Gripen has been undertaking an air-to-air refueling campaign with a Boeing 707 tanker at Saab’s facility in Linköping, Sweden. The campaign had the objective of verifying Gripen’s air-to-air refueling capabilities with a NATO standard compatible tanker. It included a total of 19 sorties with the latest standard of Gripen, the Gripen C single-seat and Gripen D dual-seat, and a South African Air Force Boeing 707 tanker; the results were very successful. The aim of the campaign has been to technically verify Gripen’s refueling capability, which is part of the aircraft’s export adaptation. The Gripen C and D are fully NATO-interoperable and meet the demands for both national and international operations. The air-to-air refueling capability increases Gripen’s operational range and endurance, a major advantage in international operations. The sorties were carried out in close cooperation with a South African Air Force Boeing 707 tanker and its aircrew and ground crew of twenty, who arrived in Linköping on 19 March. The South African Air Force has extensive experience of air-to-air refueling and has previously verified a number of different aircraft from several air forces during similar trials.
14 Apr 05. CAE formally launched its new CAE Professional Services unit today at CANSEC, Canada’s largest conference focused on defence and security technology. Resulting from CAE’s recent acquisition of Greenley & Associates, an Ottawa-based consulting company, CAE Professional Services will spearhead CAE’s initiatives to support defence, government, and security agencies throughout the lifecycle of their projects, from initial research and concept development to design and production. The unit will deliver independent consulting services in project management, systems and capability engineering, human factors engineering, emergency management, and modelling and simulation solutions to clients in aerospace, defence, homeland security, and emergency management, helping these clients to analyze and evaluate a range of scenarios.
10 Mar 05. Surface