The Australian Defence Force is seeking tenders under the Land 17 Artillery Replacement Project for an indirect fire support system to succeed its L119 Hamel 105mm Field Gun and 155mm M198 Howitzer fleet from 2008-2010.
Tenix Defence has teamed up with Swedish BAE subsidiary Bofors Defence AB to supply two options for submission:
US Joint Forces Command’s (USJFCOM) Joint Requirements and Integration Directorate (J8) partners with combatant commanders, joint staff, services, departments and agencies to plan, program and budget new systems, decide which legacy systems to upgrade and which to retire, and prioritize the assessment of these systems by DoD committees.
As J8’s deputy director, Air Force Brig. Gen. William Rajczak acts as an integration advocate for all the uniformed components of the Department of Defense. He recently discussed USJFCOM’s role in identifying shortfalls in warfighting capabilities, and developing and executing near and long term solutions to enhance future joint combat capabilities. Note that USFJCOM is hosting a joint urban operations information-sharing event at the Chesapeake Conference Center in Chesapeake, VA on July 13, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Lockheed Martin and Dutch company Stork Aerospace signed a contract extending the existing order for the design, prototype production, and development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter‘s wiring, including the mission systems. The contract extension includes extra design work and represents a value of USD $25 million, small earlier contract changes included.
This brings the total value of the wiring systems order to USD $82 million, which means the potential JSF order value for Stork and its subsidiary Fokker Elmo now amounts to USD $315 million. The added work will be carried out over the next two and a half years.
DID has noted the U.S. military’s increased interest in baloons, blimps and related lighter-than-air craft (LTAs) as transports, communications relays, and sesnor platforms. In Support Rising for Near-Space Blimps, DefenseTech.org reports:
“According to Inside Defense, a 90-day Air Force study has concluded that there would be “military utility” in putting blimps, balloons, and drones in near space — between 65,000 and 350,000 above sea level. Up there, they could serve as cheap substitutes for satellites, relaying communications and snooping on foes. They might be able to carry equipment, effectively becoming giant U-Hauls in the sky. And this could be done, at least in the balloons’ case, without “significantly strain[ing] existing infrastructure or requir[ing] large amounts of equipment or personnel to operate the balloons,” Inside Defense says.”
Kiewit Construction Co. in Anchorage, AK won a $29.2 million firm-fixed-price contract for Design and Construction of a Large Airframe Maintenance Hangar and C-17 Support Utilities. Work will be performed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, AK and is expected to be complete by June 30, 2007. There were 42 bids solicited on Nov. 29, 2004, and six bids were received. The U.S. Army Engineer District, Elmendorf, AK issued the contract (W911KB-05-C-0014).
