Web Page sponsored by Blighter Surveillance Systems
www.blighter.com
————————————————————————-
14 Sep 14. Poland to withdraw from Visegrad defence radar project. Poland is on the brink of pulling out of a joint defence project with its central European allies. Its withdrawal would be a blow to collaboration efforts at a time when security fears in the region are rising. The Visegrad Group – comprising Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland – was created to foster mutual security and political co-operation but has so far failed to develop into an effective central European bloc, despite fears of Russian aggression on its eastern fringes. The group, which meets in Prague on Monday, had planned to jointly develop a new mobile air defence radar system to replace outdated Cold War kit. But the project has been cast into doubt by the likely withdrawal of Poland, which decided this week to leave the talks, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. Warsaw has concluded that the other, smaller members of the group have little to contribute as it looks to modernise its military and its defence industry. A spokesman for the Polish defence ministry denied that the country had pulled out of the project, saying that the discussions were a “work in progress”. Any withdrawal would push up development costs for the three remaining partners, further delay the project and possibly precipitate its collapse. Its failure would hurt the Czech Republic, in particular, since its Soviet-era radar is scheduled to become obsolete in 2017. “We now have two options. To proceed with Hungary and Slovakia, or to open the project to an external tender,” a Czech defence official told the Financial Times. If confirmed, Poland’s withdrawal would also be a setback to plans agreed in June for the four countries to cultivate a pan-Visegrad defence industry. “Poland pulling out means the end of this sooner rather than later, for sure. As long as Poland was on board, there was a chance that the system could be ready in time. But now the upfront R&D costs will spiral dramatically,” said a defence industry executive with knowledge of the talks. “I don’t think they need the other three as much as the other three need them,” the executive said. The most modern versions of mobile air defence radar technology allow for high-resolution images to be transmitted over large distances to control centres. The Czech Republic is expected to explore purchasing off-the-shelf systems developed by defence companies such as Saab and Thales. The Visegrad Group, which was formed in 1991, has succeeded in forging cultural and societal links between the four countries, but has often failed to achieve binding military agreements – a central aim of the association. Mutual co-operation on national security has become a priority over the past year with the backdrop of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine. Poland, the largest economy in the group and seen by many as its de facto leader, has promised to exceed Nato’s defence spending of 2 per cent of GDP next year, but its three partners all significantly trail the target. (Source: FT.com)
16 Sep 14. DARPA seeks infrared imagery tools. Rather than human analysts laboriously comparing infrared imagery, DARPA wants an automated tool to do the work. “Currently, resulting images are evaluated by a subjective interpretation of a visual color coded representation of the infrared image,” said DARPA’s small business innovation research solicitation. “Such subjective interpretation is prone to ambiguous results and potentially false recommendations.” The software must be compatible with infrared cameras manufactured by FLIR, and produce comparative graphs and tables. The software will be used by the U.S. Navy. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
15 Sep 14. Lockheed Martin and Advanced Electronics Company (AEC) will establish a Sniper® Advanced Targeting Pod (AT