17 Feb 13. Lockheed Martin is hoping to sign a contract following a pick by the United Arab Emirates as preferred bidder for an advanced air command and control system, a company executive said Sunday. “It was in the July timeframe we were down selected as the preferred bidder,” said Clifton Spier, Middle East executive and vice president of C2 solutions at the Information Systems & Global Solutions division. “They’re going through the review and approval process,” Spier said at the International Defense Exhibition & Conference (IDEX), which opened here Sunday. The selection by the UAE is seen as vital as Lockheed Martin hopes to sell the C2 technology repackaged and badged as Diamond Shield to other countries around the Arabian Gulf region. Lockheed beat a rival offer from ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) for the UAE’s Extended Air Defense Ground Environment-Transformation program, a battle management system for air operations, which includes defense against ballistic missiles. TRS, a joint venture between Thales and Raytheon, got written notice of the UAE’s selection of Lockheed in the summer, a French defense expert said in Paris on Feb. 14. TRS declined comment. After the down select, UAE authorities gave Lockheed updates on the requirements, including sites where the system is to be deployed and the communications needed. The information allowed the U.S. company to fine tune its proposal, file an updated submission, and start negotiations around September. (Source: Defense News)
08 Mar 13. On March 6th 2013, the SAMP/T system scored a new success. A joint team of French and Italian crew operating 2 French Air Force SAMP/T units conducted a test fire against a ballistic threat. This was the third time that SAMP/T proceeded to a test firing against such type of threat, the second time by an operational crew. The test took place in CELM (South West of France), the DGA firing polygon. Like the previous ATBM firings, in October 2010 and November 2011, the target, air launched, was representative of a 300 km range TBM threat. The differences with the previous ATBM intercept were significant, though. This firing was a premiere in several ways. On the one hand it was the first SAMP/T firing using L16 for data links with the higher echelons. On the other hand, while the previous 2 ATBM tests were conducted in a French specific environment, wholly controlled by DGA and French Air Force, this latest one can be called the first SAMP/T firing test in
a NATO environment, close to what would be an operational use for an ATBM mission under the aegis of the alliance ALTBMD programme. NATO BMDOC, located in Ramstein, was in the loop via L16 network. Last but not least, though the ground equipment was provided by French Air Force, the crew was a mix of Italian Army and French Air Force personnel, a token of the long lasting cooperation between the 2 Nations in developing, building, testing and fielding SAMP/T.
04 Mar 13. TASER announced multiple new deployments of its TASER Smart Weapons. These orders were received in the first quarter and are expected to ship in the first quarter.
Significant new deployments:
U.S. Army 500 TASER® X26™ Conducted Electrical Weapons
The Atlanta Police Department (GA) deployed TASER CAM™ HD recorders together with 200 TASER® X2™ Smart Weapons
Additional agencies deploying TASER Smart Weapons and various accessories:
Conway Police Department (AR) X2
Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office (OH) X2
Lincoln Police Department (NE) X2
Longmont Police Department (CO) X2
Maui County Police Department (HI) X2
Norfolk Police Department (MA) X2
Summit County Sheriff’s Office (MA) X2
(Source: Yahoo!/PRNewswire)
04 Mar 13. EDA Sets April Deadline for Future Soldier System Bids. The European Defence Agency (EDA) has set an April 12 deadline for proposals in a 2.1m euro ($2.8m) program to address the categories of observation, energy, human factors and survivability in future soldier systems. “The object