Americas
Lockheed Martin won a $49.5 million deal for the AH-64 Apache Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor performance-based logistics program. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. The Apache is a twin-engined army attack helicopter. The US Army has more than 800 Apaches in service, and more than 1,000 have been exported. Work will take place in Florida. Estimated completion date is December 31, 2025.
In a report, the Defense Department cites 23 civilians killed, and 10 injured, during US military action in 2020. The unclassified, 21-page “Annual Report on Civilian Casualties in Connection with United States Military Operations” is a requirement by Congress that includes explanations that avoiding harm to civilians “is the moral and ethical thing to do.” The report defines theaters of active armed combat, and limits them, for 2020, to action in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Nigeria.
Middle East & Africa
Elbit Systems won a contract worth $80 million to supply electro-optic systems integrated with artificial intelligence to the maritime forces of a country in the Asia-Pacific region. The contract will be performed over a period of four years. Under the contract, Elbit Systems will supply SPECTRO XR EO systems that will be integrated onboard a variety of maritime platforms. SPECTRO XR is a multi-spectral long-range EO system that provides naval, air and land forces with enhanced intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (“ISTAR”) capabilities, in both day and night and under low visibility conditions, such as fog, humidity, smoke, haze and dust.
Europe
Three Boeing P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft for the first time fired AGM-84D Harpoon missiles during a NATO’s three week-long At-Sea Demo/ Formidable Shield 2021 exercise. Patrol Squadron FOUR (VP-4) successfully conducted a coordinated missile launch with VP-40 using two Air-to-Surface Missile (AGM-84D) Harpoons against a target barge off the coast of Norway on May 31, the Navy said.
South Korea’s Hanwha Defense has offered a new variant of the K9 self-propelled howitzer to the British Army under the Mobile Fires Platform (MFP) programme. A Request for Proposal for MFP is due to be released in 2022. The K9A2 development has been led by Hanwha Defense and the state-funded Agency for Defense Development.
Asia-Pacific
Rheinmetall delivered first 25 Boxer 8×8 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles (CRV) to the Australian Army under the $5.2 billion LAND 400 Phase 2 Mounted Combat Reconnaissance Capability project. Rheinmetall will deliver a total of 211 Boxer 8×8 Vehicles in different versions, 131 will be the CRV variant. They will replace the Army’s Australian Light Armoured Vehicles (ASLAV) under LAND 400 Phase 2. Delivery of the first 25 vehicles enables Army to continue towards Initial Operating Capability on schedule as Rheinmetall moves into the next phase of the LAND 400 Phase 2 program.
Today’s Video
Watch: America’s AH-64 Apache vs Russia’s KA-52 Alligator
