Thales Avionics has been selected by the South African Department of Defence, South African Air Force (SAAF) and the local procurement agency ARMSCOR (Armaments Corporation of South Africa Ltd) to supply through life support services during five years for of avionics equipment on-board several types of aircraft.

Under the terms of the contract signed with ARMSCOR, the company will support a large variety of avionics equipment on board the aircraft including the TopDeck suite for the Lockheed Martin C-130BZ Hercules tactical transport aircraft, avionics equipment (visualization, navigation and air data computers) of Denel Aviation AH-2 Rooivalk combat helicopters, TopFlight avionic systems of BAE Systems Hawk Mk 120 advanced training aircraft and as well as the avionics suite of AgustaWestland Super Lynx 300 Mk 64 naval helicopters.

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The Italian firm Oto Melara SpA and Germany´s Diehl BGT Defence GmbH & Co. KG (of Diehl Stiftung & Co. KG) will firm next month a collaboration agreement in the field of guided ammunitions specifically in the laser guided version of the 155mm extended variant of Oto Melara´s Vulcano system. The 155mm version of Vulcano ammunition is used with 155mm field artillery howitzers such as PzH 2000 tracked self-propelled howitzer from Germany´s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG (KMW) and Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH, and build under licence in Italy by Oto Melara SpA.

The signature ceremony will be held on 13 June at Eurosatory 2012 event which start on 11 and finish on 15 in Paris, France.

Vulcano guided long-range and unguided extended range ammunitions in 127mm is available for guns which arm 127/54 C, 127/54 LW and 127/64 LW naval weapon stations. It has been selected for Italian Navy FREMM (FRégate Européenne Multi-Missions) and German Navy F125 frigates. It has been also selected for the Royal Netherlands Navy´s (RNLN) De Zeven Provinciën Class frigates.

The Italian company develops also the Vulcano extended and long range guided projectiles for 76mm/62 guns which arm naval weapon stations such as Super Rapid, Stales and Compact and as well as DRACO air defence turret which is installed in Centauro VBM 8×8 wheeled armored vehicle from the consortium CIO (Consortium Iveco-Oto Melara Società Consortile a r.l). Its development is scheduled to be completed in 2014. Vulcano 76mm range comprises BER (Ballistic Extended Range), GLR (Guided Long Range) and GLR/IR (Guided Long Range/Infra-Red) versions. By 2015, the system will be ready for qualification and low rate initial production.

Large quantities of Super Rapid and Compact weapon stations are in service with naval vessels in service with several navies. The Strales naval system is in service with Colombian Navy´s Almirante Padilla Class FS 1500 frigates as part of the upgrade of four ships. The PzH 2000 is in service with the armies of Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Italy.

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Elbit Systems Ltd was awarded a contract by the Finnish Army, to supply advanced dismounted soldier systems, in the first phase of a comprehensive ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) program.

The solution offered by the Israel based company includes MARS enhanced observation soldier equipment, comprehensive situation awareness software, PNR1000 wearable radio and computer systems.

(Elbit Systems Ltd).

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Northrop Grumman Corporation has announced it has signed a US$1.7 billion contract for NATO’s alliance ground surveillance (AGS) system.

The contract awarded by the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Management Agency (NAGSMA) during the NATO 2012 Summit in Chicago, USA is intended to provide for the purchase and initial operation and maintenance of five RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 40 unmanned aircraft systems equipped with an advanced ground surveillance radar sensor.

It the trans-Atlantic multinational contract supports NATO’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance requirements for multinational theater operations, peacekeeping missions and disaster relief efforts.

The 13 nations, including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States, are expected to participate in the system’s acquisition, and all 28 alliance nations are to participate in the long-term support of the program.

The industrial team includes different companies including Cassidian, SELEX Galileo, Kongsberg Defense Systems, ComTrade d.o.o, BIANOR, Technologica, Zavod Za Telefonna Aparatura, SELEX ELSAG, Elettra Communications, UTI Systems and SES.

French company Nexter Systems presented on 23 of May to an audience of international press its armoured infantry fighting variant (Véhicule de Combat d’Infanterie-VCI) of VBCI (Véhicule Blindé de Combat d’Infanterie) 8×8 wheeled armoured vehicle equipped with a CASEVAC (CASualty EVACuation) modular integrated medical kit.

The vehicle allows the transportation of up to four casualties, including one or two lying ones. The mission system is integrated in less than four hours said the company to DEFESA Global.

The kit arrangement comprise two stretcher stands or one stretcher and three personnel, two stretcher handling devices, three access ramps, different life support equipment and several fittings for the storage of medical equipment.

When the injured personnel is loaded onto the vehicle, its Tarask protected weapon station armed with a 25mm 25M811 gun, GALIX smoke grenade launchers and ANF1 7.62mm light machine gun provides 360º protection to the operation.

This specific version of VBCI is to be unveiled at Eurosatory 2012 exhibition to be held between 11 and 15 June in Paris, France.

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Spain´s Indra Sistemas will present its offering of advanced solutions for state-of-the-art submarines at the Undersea Defence Technology 2012 (UDT) naval industry fair, which will take place in Alicante, Spain between 29 and 31 of May.

The solutions that will be on display include the T-Sub satellite communications system. This device offers a high voice and data transmission capacity on the X band. It is installed on German Navy U212, Portuguese Navy U209PN and Spanish Navy S70 submarines. T-Sub system will fit also two Italian U212 submarines via a contract with Fincantieri-Cantieri Navali Italiani SpA and S-80A submarines being built by the Spanish shipbuilder Navantia. For the S-80A vessels, Indra Sistemas will supply several systems including Aries-S radar system and the identification friend or foe (IFF) solution.

T-Sub device offers a high voice and data transmission capacity on the X band said the company.

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Pilatus Aircraft Ltd has signed a contract with United Kingdom´s BAE Systems to supply the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) with a fleet of 55 PC-21 advanced training aircraft, together with an integrated ground based training system and a comprehensive logistics support package.

Following agreement between the Governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom, under the Saudi-British Defence Cooperation Programme (SBDCP), deliveries of the aircraft, ground based training systems and the logistics support package are scheduled to commence in 2014.

After Switzerland, Singapore and the UAE, Saudi Arabia is now the fourth country to procure the PC-21 aircraft.

The Switzerland based company was also awarded a contract by India to deliver from late 2012 a total of 75 PC-7 MkII training aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF). The contract also includes an integrated ground based training system and a comprehensive logistics support package.

Coupled to this award will be the establishment of in-country depot level maintenance capabilities, which includes the required transfer of technology to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

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A team composed by Navistar Defense LLC, Indigen Armor and SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation) unveiled a special operations tactical vehicle for the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) ground mobility vehicle (GMV) 1.1 program.

The vehicle is built on Indigen Armor’s proven NSTT (Non-Standard Tactical Truck) platform and designed to be its modular and overt tactical equivalent.

The vehicle is designed for maximum off-road speed and mobility for a variety of terrain found in desert, jungle, mountain and arctic environments and incorporates a full government furnished Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) suite.

The vehicle chassis, suspension, powertrain and armored occupant safety cell were engineered specifically to carry large payloads across rough landscapes in 3-man, 5-man and 7-man variants. The scalable armor packages meet multiple threat levels and accommodate a variety of low-profile and overt tactical body styles which allow the vehicle’s profile to be changed at the crew level.

(Navistar Defense LLC).

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Elbit Systems Ltd was awarded an approximately US$160 million contract by the Finish authorities to supply unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The systems will be supplied over the next two years.

(Elbit Systems Ltd).

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Thales has been awarded a contract to supply minesweeping equipment for the Republic of Korea Navy’s (ROKN) MSH naval mine sweeper hunters. The contract signed with ITT Exelis is for the supply of three ship sets of advanced acoustic generators from Thales Australia.

These systems will be provided by ITT Exelis to GMB USA, which is the prime contractor for the ROKN’s MSH vessels´ CIS (Combined Influence Sweep) project.