GD To Produce More Abrams Tanks | Egypt To Hose Another Defense Expo | Finland Chooses F-35

Americas

General Dynamics won a $93.5 million deal for M1A2 Abrams engineering, manufacturing, design and production. The M1A2 is an improvement of the Abrams M1A1 main battle tank. It includes a commander’s independent thermal viewer, weapon station, position navigation equipment, and a full set of controls and displays linked by digital data bus. Work will take place in Ohio. Estimated completion date is September 30, 2025.

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works won a $12.9 million modification for the accomplishment of planning yard efforts such as engineering, technical, planning, ship configuration, data and logistics efforts for DDG-1000 class destroyers post-delivery and in-service life-cycle support. The DDG-1000 or Zumwalt class destroyers provide multi-mission offensive and defensive capabilities. A few days ago the lead ship, USS Zumwalt, caught media attention due to noticeable rust all over its exterior. Work under the modification will take place in Maine and California. Estimated completion will be by December 2022.

Middle East & Africa

Egypt will be hosting its first naval defense exhibition in September 2022, dubbed “Naval Power,” according Defense News quoting the commander of the Navy. Lt. Gen. Ahmed Khaled Hassan Said Ahmed announced this during the Egypt Defence Expo, which was held from November 29 to December 2. “After hitting its goal with more than 400 exhibitors at EDEX 2021, Egypt is moving to more specialized defense exhibitions, and the naval expo to be held is in accordance with all the country’s efforts to boost its naval and maritime capabilities,” Ahmad Eliba, a defense expert at the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies, told Defense News.

Europe

Finland chose the F-35A to replace its ageing F/A-18 fleet and will order 64 of the jets and their support equipment in a $9.4 billion deal. The government of Finland authorized the Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command to sign a procurement contract with the Government of the United States on Finland’s next multi-role fighter. The procurement includes 64 F-35A Block 4 multi-role fighters, substantial and versatile weaponry tailored for the operating circumstances, required training and sustainment solutions, other related systems as well as sustainment and maintenance services until the end of 2030.

Asia-Pacific

A multirotor mini-UAV developed by Turkey’s Zyrone Dynamics is ready to be exported to India’s DCM Shriram which has a 30% stake in the Ankara-based company. Zyrone Dynamics is preparing for the first product delivery to its Indian partner. Thirty percent of the company was sold to India-based DCM Shriram Industries for $3.5 million with the agreement made at the 15th International Defense Industry Fair in August this year.

India’s Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Air Force (IAF) flight-tested the indigenously developed Helicopter launched Stand-off Anti-tank (SANT) Missile from Pokhran ranges on December 11. The flight-test was successful in meeting all its mission objectives. The release mechanism, advanced guidance and tracking algorithms, all avionics with integrated software, performed satisfactorily and tracking systems monitored all mission events.

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