Egypt Jumps FREMM Line, Receiving Normandie on Tuesday | Russia’s Ka-52 Gets Export Order | India Wants French Help with BrahMos Guidance

Americas

• Sikorsky delivered six CH-148 helicopters to the Canadian government on Friday, the first of twenty-eight to replace the current fleet of Sea King ASW helicopters, with these scheduled to enter full service by 2021.

• On Friday the Navy handed Northrop Grumman a $60.9 million contract to support the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance – Demonstrator (BAMS-D) UAV, also known as the MQ-4C Triton. The company was awarded a contract last week to improve the air-to-air subsystem design of the Triton. The Navy announced in March that the UAV’s first deployment will be to Guam.

Europe

• A Royal Air Force F-35B successfully dropped a Raytheon-manufactured Paveway IV bomb last week, with this the first successful demonstration of the weapon being separated from the aircraft’s internal weapons bay. The Paveway used in this test was inert, building on F-35 test flights in November last year where separation did not take place, meanwhile the next stage will be testing of guided releases. Raytheon was awarded a GBP 24 million contract in July 2007 to integrate the Paveway IV onto the F-35, with the Pentagon currently mulling what should be included in the aircraft’s Block 4 weapons configuration.

• The Russian state exporter Rosoboronexport has reportedly secured an export order for the Ka-52 Alligator scout/attack helicopter, announcing this at the Paris Air Show at the back-end of last week. The Russian Defense Ministry ordered thirty-two of the Hokum B naval attack variants for its now-defunct Mistral-class LHDs back in August last year.

• Belgium’s fleet of NH90 tactical transport helicopters has achieved Initial Operating Capability, following a procurement contract in 2007. The fourth and final NH90 helicopter was handed to the Belgian military last November. The country has also ordered four naval variants of the helicopter. France announced last week that it intends to modify some of its NH90s for Special Forces use, including installing electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) systems and data links.

• Russia will supply Belarus with transport helicopters, with these scheduled for delivery between 2016 and 2017. The twelve Mi-8MTV-5 helicopters follow other recent transfers of Russian hardware to the country, including the delivery of trainers in April, with the two countries signing a military-technical cooperation agreement in 2009.

Middle East

• Egypt is scheduled to receive its FREMM frigate from France on Tuesday, following a $1.2 billion contract in February this year. The Normandie vessel was intended to be the second FREMM vessel to enter service with the French Navy, with this instead diverted to fulfill the Egyptian contract. France received its second vessel last week, with another FREMM destined for service with Morocco, following a 2007 contract.

• Saudi Arabia has received the last of six A330 Multi Role Tanker Transports, following a July 2009 contract for an additional three aircraft to complement the three ordered in January 2008. Other operators include the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.

Africa

• Following last week’s announcement of an export order for the Embraer T-29 Super Tucano to Mali, the firm has received another order from an African state – this time, Ghana. The announcement of an order for five Super Tucanos follows reports from February which indicated the government’s intention to throw the T-29 order in with a larger order for Chinese and European hardware. Lebanon has also requested the light attack aircraft, with the model popular with a number of African states.

• Angola is reportedly set to receive a dozen modernized SU-30K from Russia by the end of 2016, following a contract in October 2013. Angola is one of several African states spending considerably on advanced Russian hardware, with the twelve Angolan Flankers revised down from an original eighteen aircraft, all of which come from a batch of former Indian aircraft.

Asia

• India has requested that French firm Sagem provide a guidance system for the BrahMos missile system. The request came through a meeting of the two countries’ defense ministers last week, with BrahMos a Russo-Indian joint venture. The Indian Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the procurement of six of the cruise missile systems last month.

Today’s Video

• The Sukhoi SU-30SM…