Airbus Military A400M has announced today it has successfully completed the first engines runs of the second production A400M Atlas tactical transport aircraft.
The aircraft known as MSN8 begins final preparation for its maiden flight later this month.
Airbus Military expects to complete four A400M aircraft in 2013 and will deliver MSN8 to the French Air Force in the third quarter of the year.
(Airbus Military).
The France based firm Nexter Systems has recently showed what could be the latest configuration of its T40 compact ballistic protected turret. The turret was seen mounted on an AMX 10 RCR 6×6 armoured combat reconnaissance car.
The turret was shown during a presentation on the company´s range of turrets made in Marignane ahead of the Paris Air Show 2013 international aerospace event to be held by next June.
The turret was seen armed with the 40 mm CTAS (Cased Telescoped Armament System) weapon system from CTA International (a joint venture of Nexter and BAE Systems), a remote weapon station, two side-mounted launchers for anti-tank missiles and smoke grenade launchers.
While retaining similar armaments, a T40 turret was presented in June 2012 with a less stealthy design.
The T40 turret is currently proposed to equip about 292 units of the EBRC (Engin Blindé de Reconnaissance et de Combat) armoured combat reconnaissance vehicle expected to be purchased by the French procurement agency DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement) for the country´s army.
A CN295 military transport aircraft of the Indonesian Ministry of Defense will be making a tour around six ASEAN countries to promote the capabilities and efficiency of the transport aircraft that PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) and Airbus Military are producing jointly. The aircraft will make visits to Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia between 22nd and 31st of May.
The C295, denominated CN295 in the Indonesian Ministry of Defense, is a medium-sized multirole airlifter for both civic and military use. The tour, organized by the Indonesian Ministry of Defense, PTDI and Airbus Military, will showcase the aircraft which is suited for the wide range of humanitarian and defence tasks. These missions include military transport, emergency response and medical evacuation, search and rescue, maritime patrol, or even more complex missions such as anti-submarine warfare or electronic surveillance missions.
The visits will also allow explanations on the specific capabilities of the CN235 and the NC212i, an upgraded version of the C212 Aviocar launched in November 2012 between PTDI and Airbus Military with new avionics and autopilot systems as well as an increased passenger seating.
The Indonesia Air Force currently has two CN295 aircraft in operation out of the nine units ordered from PTDI.
In total, over 120 C295 aircraft have been ordered world-wide from Airbus Military and currently almost 100 are in operation with countries such as Algeria, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, Ghana, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
Continue readingRheinmetall Defence has been awarded a EUR36 million contract by the Germany procurement office BAAINBw (Bundesamt für Ausrüstung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr) to modernize further 25 Fuchs TPz 1 armoured wheeled armoured transport vehicles of the German Army (Bundeswehr) to the Fuchs TPz 1A8 standard.
To date, BAAINBw has contracted with Rheinmetall Defence to upgrade a total of 152 vehicles to the new version. Compared with previous versions of the vehicle, the latest configuration offers substantially greater protection from landmines and IEDs.
The 25 vehicles that form this latest order come in five different configurations, comprising 7 communication vehicles equipped with high-frequency (HF) tactical radio systems, 5 command and fire control vehicles for indirect fire/joint operations tactical fire support, 4 combat weather section vehicles for indirect fire/joint operations tactical fire support, 6 armoured reconnaissance vehicles and 3 explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) vehicles. This increases the number of different variants in service to 16.
Delivery of the upgraded vehicles will commence in the fourth quarter of 2014, and is scheduled for completion in 2016.
(Rheinmetall Defence).
French firm Sagem (of Groupe Safran) has recently signed a contract with the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) of Singapore to develop and produce a new naval gun fire control solution.
When development is complete, the technology is intended to be installed on the eight littoral patrol vessels to be build by the local shipbuilder ST Marine for the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN).
The fire control solution is a centralized system located at the ship’s operations center that integrates functions comprising main and secondary guns, radar, optronics and navigation systems. The system will be also interfaced with the ship´s combat management system.
Sagem has also supplied a similar system for the six Formidable Class frigates and four Endurance Class landing ship tank boats of Singapore.
Continue readingThe Sudanese company MIC has developed a truck-mounted self-propelled artillery system which is designated Khalifa.
The artillery system comprises a 122 mm D-30 howitzer mounted on an 8×8 Kamaz 43118 heavy tactical truck with armored cabin.
Continue readingAirborne Systems (a division of HDT Global) has announced the delivery of the final 10,000 lb Joint Precision Aerial Delivery System (JPADS 10K) to the U.S. Army under an initial full rate production contract.
The JPADS 10K system is a ram-air parachute system capable of carrying a cargo payload weighing up to 10,000 pounds. It can be deployed from an altitude up to 24,500 ft and can navigate more than 20 km on its own before delivering its cargo to a pre-programmed designated location.
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