“nEUROn UCAV Project Rolling Down the Runway (updated)” covers the multi-national European R&D program to field a stealthy, sub-sonic unmanned aircraft with range and payload capabilities that approach those of manned fighters. Now it has spawned a spin-off project that aims to take a number of its technologies, and use them to create a Medium Altitude, Long Endurance (MALE) UAV system that will compete against market alternatives like the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, Thales UK/Elbit Watchkeeper WK450, IAI’s Heron, et. al.
ITT Federal Services International Corp. in Colorado Springs, CO received a $50.3 million cost-plus-fixed-fee/ award-fee contract for Base Operations and Security Services at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar. Work is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2012. Bids were solicited via the World Wide Web on Aug. 23, 2006, and 5 bids were received by the U.S. Army Contracting Command, Qatar (W912D2-07-C-0004).
While the air base at Al Uedid attracts more attention, Camp As Saliyah’s role as a pre-positioning facility located just outside the capital city of Doha makes it an important piece of the USA’s overall presence in the Persian Gulf. It is reportedly the largest pre-positioning facility outside the USA, and ITT Federal Services International has been involved in associated contracts for some time now.
Elbit Systems Ltd. recently announced 2 contracts worth approximately $14 million, to supply Aviator’s Night Vision Imaging System/Head-Up Displays (ANVIS/HUD) for “helicopters of two NATO member countries.” Release [PDF]. The ANVIS/HUD(TM) system allows the helicopter pilot to fly night operations without looking into the cockpit, by projecting critical flight information into the pilot’s visor or night vision goggles‘ view. This is especially critical during low-level flight, or when taking fire, where awareness must be maintained but a moment’s worth of inattention can be fatal.
ANVIS/HUD has been used by the US military since the mid-1990s, and has equipped more than 5,000 helicopters belonging to 20 countries. Integrated platforms include the H-60 series, CH-53, CH-47, CH-46, V-22, AH-1, UH-1, Super Puma, Cougar, and others. Elbit also offers the HeliDASH system as a higher end choice; their major competitor these days is Thales’ TopOwl, in service with the Eurocopter Tiger, South Africa’s Rooivalk attack helicopter, NH90 variants, and the USMC’s forthcoming UH-1Y and AH-1Z helicopters.
