09 Oct 12. PARS 3 LR, the main armament for the German Army’s Tiger helicopter, passes into full scale production. This follows the successful completion of the system’s validation programme for the German customer, an event marked by a direct hit against an intended target during a test firing carried out at the Meppen test range (located in Lower Saxony, NW Germany) on 20 September 2012. The target was provided by a tank moving in between houses. In the final firing, the PARS 3 LR missile struck the target with exceptional precision in a demanding urban combat scenario at a range of approximately 3 km. All test firings were carried out from a German Tiger helicopter. The tests confirm that PARS 3 LR completely fulfils the specified system performance requirements under operational conditions. After formal clearance by the BAAINBw (Bundesamt für Ausrüstung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support), PARS 3 LR is now ready to go into full-scale series production for the German Army’s Tiger helicopter.
09 Oct 12. NATO tests new missile defence assets. A successful ‘Ensemble Test 2’ conducted by the NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency confirmed the compatibility of a new Italian sensor with the Alliance’s ballistic missile defence architecture. The Agency’s Ballistic Missile Defence Programme Office conducted the large-scale multinational test from 25 to 29 September 2012. This was the second in a regular series of test events that are conducted between Nations who contribute their missile defence resources to the collective defence of the Alliance’s European populations and territory. The purpose of the ‘ensemble’ tests is to reduce technical risks to the programme as various sensors, weapon and communication systems are incrementally added to the defence architecture. “Special mention goes to the successful test and integration of the Italian TPS-77 radar, which was a new asset being tested,” said Programme Director Alessandro Pera, “The test showed that the Italian TPS-77, as a BMD sensor, is able to contribute to NATO’s ballistic missile defence situational awareness.”
Twelve laboratories from five Nations across two continents took part; a total of sixteen national and NATO systems were integrated and tested during this ambitious test. The participating systems included:
• the Patriot missile defence systems of The Netherlands, Germany and the
United States,
• the ADCF Frigate of the Royal Netherlands Navy,
• the surface to air medium range missile defence systems (SAMP/T) of France and Italy,
• the SAM Operations Centre from Germany,
• the Tactical Transportable Radar (TPS-77) and the Horizon PAAMS (Principal Anti Air Missile System) of Italy,
• the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence System, the Command and Control,
Battle Management, and Communications system (C2BMC), the Army Navy/Transportable Radar Surveillance (AN/TPY-2), and the Shared Early Warning System (SEW) of the United States,
• the Air Command and Control System (ACCS), the Air Command and Control Information Services (AirC2IS), CRC System Interface (CSI), and the Interim Command and Control (ICC) system of NATO.
Conducted over NATO’s Combined Federated Battle Lab Network (CFBLNet), the ensemble test provided an invaluable opportunity to work with NATO operators on realistic scenarios.
10 Oct 12. India has installed advanced Russian satellite navigation systems into the BrahMos supersonic missile, a military official has revealed. The official was quoted by Izvestia daily as saying that the systems will assist in deploying GPS-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) technology into the missile’s current doppler-inertial platform. Derived from Kh-555 and Kh-101 strategic long-range cruise missiles, the navigation systems are expected to transform the BrahMos into a “super-rocket”, featuring a nearly close sub-strategic capabi