BAE Systems Awarded Self-Propelled Howitzer Contract | DoS Okayed FMS To Kuwait | French Helos Test Flew With Veggie Oil

Americas

BAE Systems has been awarded a $466-million contract to supply its M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzers to the US Army. According to a US Department of Defense announcement, the agreement includes the delivery of M992 Field Artillery Ammunition Support Vehicles. The precise number of howitzers and carriers under order remains to be disclosed. The precise number of howitzers and carriers under order remains to be disclosed.

Conti Federal Services won a $8.4 million deal for building renovations of Air Force Building #1643 to support the F-35 aircraft. Work will be performed at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed by April 8, 2024.

Middle East & Africa

The US State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Kuwait covering planning, integration, implementation and maintenance of a Medical Information System for the Kuwait Military Medical Command (KMMC). The sale is worth an estimated $250 million and was notified to Congress on 14 February. Principal contractor will be health IT services specialist Oracle Cerner. The system incorporates hardware and software, IT infrastructure, implementation of life-cycle management practices, training, maintenance, support and warranty services, plus US Government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services.

Israel Aerospace Industry (IAI) and MBDA Germany have entered into an agreement to jointly offer air defense and warfare systems to the German military. The solutions will be based on IAI subsidiary Elta Systems’ Scorpius electronic warfare systems. The companies will offer a ground-based electronic air-defense jammer based on the Scorpius-G and an advanced threat emulator for electronic warfare (EW) training based on the Scorpius-T.

Europe

The French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) test flew a military helicopter fueled by 85 percent used vegetable oil, reducing Carbon dioxide emissions by 75 percent. It is the first time a military helicopter has flown on high-content Sustainable Aviation Fuel fueling one of its two engines. The engine required no modification.

Asia-Pacific

HAL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) CB Ananthakrishnan has acknowledged that Malaysia has not chosen his company’s Tejas fighter for its Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program despite being among the two shortlisted out of eight companies that participated. Malaysia is now expected to select the South Korean supersonic fighter KAI FA-50 for the contract, dealing a blow to HAL’s hopes. HAL had submitted a proposal to supply 18 Fighter Lead-in Trainer (FLIT) Tejas aircraft in response to a global tender issued by RMAF in October 2021. The Indian aerospace company had even announced plans to establish an office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to tap new business opportunities for FLIT LCA and other requirements of the RMAF like Su-30MKM and Hawk upgrades, after Tejas was shortlisted. However, the office is yet to be established.

Today’s Video

WATCH: Meet the US Army’s M109A7 Paladin Self-propelled Howitzer – AOD