DID » Archive by category 'Land Equipment'
16-Mar-2010 20:38 EDT
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- European shipbuilder consortium (Fincantieri, Damen, Meyer Werft, STX, Thyssen Krupp) and EU sign grant agreement for 3.5 year BESST (Breakthrough in European Ship and Shipbuilding Technologies) project.
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency is looking for industry input for a robotic underground munition that would be an air-dropped mobile platform capable of drilling underground to deliver munitions. FedBizOpps notice | Ubergizmo.com | Tech Journal
- USJFCOM tests Lockheed Martin’s Valiant Angel system to sort through full-motion video from UAVs and sensors.
16-Mar-2010 17:05 EDT
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US “Chair” Force?
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UAVs have played a crucial role in gathering intelligence in the US military’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are thousands of UAVs gathering and distributing valuable data on the enemy, but each system uses its own proprietary subsystem to control the air vehicle as well as receive and process the data. Yet commanders need access to information gathered by all types of UAVs that are flying missions in their area of operation.
Recognizing this shortcoming, the Pentagon began an effort in 2008 to break down the proprietary barriers between UAV systems and create a single GCS that will fly all types of drones.
This free-to-view DID Spotlight article examines the problem of proprietary UAV systems and efforts to break down barriers to sharing vital UAV-generated information.
16-Mar-2010 10:40 EDT
Related Stories: Americas - USA, BAE, C4ISR, Contracts - Awards, Design Innovations, Electronics - General, Forces - Air, Forces - Land, Forces - Marines, Forces - Special Ops, General Dynamics, Materials Innovations, New Systems Tech, Other Corporation, Partnerships & Consortia, Policy - Procurement, RFPs, Raytheon, Trucks & Transport

Oshkosh M-ATV
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M-ATV will add CROWS weapon systems. (March 10/10)
“The Government plans to acquire an MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV). The M-ATV is a lighter, off-road, and more maneuverable vehicle that incorporates current MRAP level [bullet and mine blast] protection. The M-ATV will require effectiveness in an off-road mission profile. The vehicle will include EFP and RPG protection (integral or removable kit). The M-ATV will maximize both protection levels and off-road mobility & maneuverability attributes, and must balance the effects of size and weight while attempting to achieve the stated requirements.”
—US government FedBizOpps, November 2008
Oshkosh Defense’s M-ATV candidate secured a long-denied MRAP win, and the firm continues to remain ahead of production targets. The initial plan expected to spend up to $3.3 billion to order 5,244 M-ATVs for the US Army (2,598), Marine Corps (1,565), Special Operations Command (643), US Air Force (280) and the Navy (65), plus 93 test vehicles; but FY 2010 budgets and purchases have pushed this total higher.
16-Mar-2010 10:30 EDT
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Awards, Forces - Special Ops, Grenades, Other Corporation, Soldier's Gear

MK13 flash-bang grenade
American Rheinmetall Munitions (ARM), a Stafford, VA-based subsidiary of Germany’s Rheinmetall Defence, received a $28.8 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract from the US Navy for an improved flash-bang grenade.
ARM currently supplies the MK13 Mod 0 BTV-EL flash-bang grenade to US special ops forces and other US military customers. The MK13 is a stun grenade that produces a blinding flash and deafening noise levels sufficient to daze and disorient the target, without causing permanent injury, the company explains.
The MK13 uses a delay fuze that detonates the grenade 1.5 seconds after the fly-off lever is released…
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15-Mar-2010 20:16 EDT
Related Stories: ABM, Americas - USA, Asia - India, BAE, Britain/U.K., DARPA, Daily Rapid Fire, EADS, Issues - International, Rumours, Tanks & Mechanized, Transport & Utility, Trucks & Transport
- Lockheed Martin delivers 1st Hawk-T Mk.2 simulator to the winning Ascent consortium, for future use with the UK’s new Hawk Mk.128 LIFT jet trainers.
- Frost & Sullivan: Aging land military equipment in Asia Pacific countries fuels growth in upgrades and replacements.
15-Mar-2010 17:19 EDT
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Awards, Middle East - Israel, New Systems Tech, Other Corporation, Spotlight articles, Trucks & Transport
$178M for 1,222 DXM off-road suspension upgrade kits. (March 15/10)
Navistar subsidiary International Military and Government LLC (IMG) in, Warrenville, IL has now won well over $4 billion in contracts to date under the MRAP program. The Category I MRUV vehicle’s role is similar to a Hummer’s, albeit with more carrying capacity and much more protection. That has become a staple for IMG’s entry, dubbed the “MaxxPro” by its manufacturer. Their collaboration with an Israeli firm who provides up-armored vehicles for the Marines successfully overcame lukewarm initial interest, but even successful survivors of Aberdeen’s tests may not offer enough protection against the ERP class of land mines that began to appear in Iraq.
Nevertheless, the MRAP program became a production race – and Navistar did very well under those competitive terms. In the end the military’s desire for standardization of its fleets exerted something of a gravitation pull on the competition. A July 2007 order vaulted Navistar into 1st place for MRAP vehicles ordered, and they have kept that position ever since.
15-Mar-2010 16:31 EDT
Related Stories: Alliances, Britain/U.K., C4ISR, Contracts - Awards, EADS, Europe - France, Europe - Other, Outer Space, Procurement Innovations, Satellites & Sensors, Signals Radio & Wireless, Soldier's Gear

Skynet 5 satellite model
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When militaries around the world have wanted to expand their satellite communication (SATCOM) capacity, they traditionally have had 2 choices – either pay a satellite manufacturer billions of dollars to build a satellite constellation and then own and operate the constellation themselves or lease capacity on commercial satellites, with all the attendant concerns about availability and security.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) came up with an innovative approach to expanding its SATCOM capacity called Skynet 5.
Through a GBP 3.6 billion UK MoD private finance initiative (PFI), EADS Astrium manufactures the Skynet 5 satellites and Paradigm owns, manages, and operates the Skynet constellation. The satellites are built to UK military specifications and the UK is committed to purchasing satellite capacity from Paradigm, an EADS Astrium subsidiary…
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15-Mar-2010 11:01 EDT
Related Stories: Alliances, Americas - USA, BAE, Britain/U.K., Contracts - Awards, Design Innovations, Electronics - General, Engineering Vehicles, Europe - E.U., FOCUS Articles, Force Structure, General Dynamics, IT - Cyber-Security, IT - General, IT - Networks & Bandwidth, IT - Software & Integration, Issues - International, Issues - Political, Lobbying, Lockheed Martin, Materials Innovations, New Systems Tech, Other Corporation, Other Equipment - Land, People, Policy - Doctrine, Policy - Procurement, Procurement Innovations, Project Methodologies, R&D - Contracted, Signals Radio & Wireless, Tanks & Mechanized, Thales, Transformation, University-related, Warfare - Trends

FRES-U finalists:
There can be… none?
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FRES-SV weapon agreement; Shake, rattle & roll testing; BAE shifts course in bid to win FRES-SV contract. (March 12/10)
Many of Britain’s army vehicles are old and worn, and the necessities of hard service on the battlefield are only accelerating that wear. The multi-billion pound “Future Rapid Effects System” (FRES) aims to recapitalize the core of Britain’s armored vehicle fleet over the next decade or more, filling many of the same medium armor roles as the Stryker Family of armored wheeled vehicles and/or the Future Combat Systems’ Manned Ground Vehicle family. Current estimates indicate a potential requirement for over 3,700 FRES vehicles, including utility and reconnaissance variants. Even so, one should be cautioned that actual numbers bought usually fall short of intended figures for early-stage defense programs.
The FRES program was spawned by the UK’s withdrawal from the German-Dutch-UK Boxer MRAV modular wheeled APC program, in order to develop a more deployable vehicle that fit Britain’s exact requirements. Those initial requirements were challenging, however, and experience in Iraq and Afghanistan led to decisions that changed a number of requirements. In the end, GD MOWAG’s Piranha V won the utility vehicle competition. FRES-U is not the end of the competition, however, or the contracts. In fact, FRES-U had the winning bidder’s preferred status revoked; that entire phase will now take a back seat to the FRS-SV scout version…
15-Mar-2010 08:11 EDT
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Modifications, Food-related, Logistics, Other Corporation, Support Functions - Other, Trucks & Transport

Containerized Kitchen
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Global Strategies Group North America in Frederick, MD received an $18.7 million firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded contract (W911QY-05-D-0004) for 103 containerized kitchens and spares.
The containized kitchen is a US Army deployable food preparation container that is able to prepare and serve a minimum of 800 meals up to 3 times per day. The container can be expanded to 8 feet by 8 feet by 20 feet and is mounted on a tactical trailer.
The kitchen is powered by thermal fluid/ cogeneration technology…
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14-Mar-2010 20:35 EDT
Related Stories: Alliances, Americas - USA, Australia & S. Pacific, Britain/U.K., Budgets, Daily Rapid Fire, Europe - Other, Fighters & Attack, IT - General, Other Corporation, Outer Space, Satellites & Sensors, Signals Radio & Wireless, Submarines, Support & Maintenance, Trucks & Transport
- UK’s SSN Trafalgar-class fast attack submarine HMS Triumph sets sail for sea trials after 6-year, GBP 300 million refit program that included installation of new sonar and C2 systems and an upgrade of the Tomahawk missile system.
- UK MOD inks GBP 400 million deal to buy capacity on EADS Astrium’s Skynet 5D satellite, which is expected to be launched in 2013; the satellite capacity will be used for military communication, including Bowman radios.
- Der Spiegel: The debate over Germany’s security & defense policies.
- Germany’s KMW delivers 1st Fennek JFST armored reconnaissance vehicles to Bundeswehr for deployment to Afghanistan in April. KMW release [in German]