Americas
BAE Systems has entered into a teaming agreement with Norway’s Kongsberg to introduce the Integrated Combat Solution (ICS) to the US military. The ICS is designed to significantly improve the battlefield situational awareness of combat vehicles, thereby increasing the survivability of soldiers on board. It allows the crew to share target information, slew-to-cue commands, and video streams of the surroundings to streamline threat response and decision-making.
August Schell Enterprises won a $29 million deal, which procures tool requirements to include software licenses and commercial software applications to construct secure and reliable IT systems to facilitate the development, security, and operations systems development life cycle, critical to the successful fielding of information technology capabilities for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program in support of the Joint Strike Fighter Program for the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corp, and non-US Department of Defense participants. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, and is expected to be completed in October 2026. This contract was competed, one offer was received. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Middle East & Africa
RTX Corporation, the defense contractor formerly known as Raytheon, agreed Wednesday to pay more than $950 million to resolve allegations that it defrauded the government and paid bribes to secure business with Qatar.
Europe
The German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) reached full operational capability with its new fleet of Thales-built Ground Alerter 10 (GA10) radars on October 16, with the French defense contractor handing over the final system in a ceremony at Koblenz. Thales secured the initial contract from the German procurement agency, BAAINBw, in February 2021 for five systems, with options for additional units. These options were exercised, resulting in the final system being delivered on time and within budget.
Asia-Pacific
Australia will donate an aging fleet of 49 American-made Abrams tanks to Ukraine, bolstering its ground forces ahead of a difficult winter campaign, the defense department said Thursday. The M1A1 Abrams tanks — weighing over 60 tonnes and equipped with heavy firepower — were due to be decommissioned starting next year. Instead, they will be sent to help the war effort in Ukraine, a welcome boost on the back of a $425 million arms package recently unveiled by Washington.