Americas
The US reportedly awarded Israeli company Rafael follow-on orders for the advanced precision targeting pod and an EW system. The company received orders from the US as well as an Asian customer, totaling approximately $55.8 million, Israeli Defense reports. The company will supply Litening electro-optic precision targeting pods for the use of US Air Force fighter jets, in collaboration with the American Northrop Grumman Company. Rafael also received an order for an electronic warfare system from an undisclosed country in Asia. Both are follow-on orders for already operational systems.
The US Air Force announced plans to test a secure data link between its F-22 and F-35 stealth fighter planes without identifying the planes’ locations, Defense One reports. The first test will be in December. It is an element in the US military’s goal of a comprehensive Multi-Domain Command and Control network encompassing the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace domains. Part of the challenge is figuring out what precisely an F-22 and F-35 should say to each other, and what pilots and their commanders should do with that information. The multirole F-35 was designed to integrate lots of data from various other sensors and drones across the battlefield. The F-22, designed primarily for air dominance, was not. Each pilot’s view of the battlefield and everything in it is very different.
Middle East & Africa
Jane’s reports that the Burundian contingent serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has taken delivery of 10 Springbuck Heavy Duty mine-resistance ambush-protected vehicles. AMISOM announced on November 6 that the Burundians received at least 20 combat vehicles. It did not identify the vehicles. However, it released photographs of 10 Springbuck HDs and at least 10 Egyptian-made Fahd wheeled armored personnel carriers at its base around Mogadishu airport. The Springbuck is a South African built ballistic and landmine protected all-terrain vehicle.
Europe
German defense company Rheinmetall announced the Artec consortium, led by Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, has signed a contract with the UK Ministry of Defense to produce more than 500 Boxer 8×8-wheeled armored vehicles for the British Army. The total current value of the order is approximately $2.9 billion. The Boxer vehicles ordered by the British Army will be supplied in several different configurations, including an armored personnel carrier, command vehicle, specialist carrier and field ambulance. Delivery of the vehicles is expected to start from 2023. Most of the production will take place in the UK. Full-scale production will begin in Germany, but 90% of the Boxer vehicles destined for the British Army will be produced in the UK, principally at plants operated by Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) and KMW’s subsidiary WFEL.
Indra announced that the Spanish Army is to receive a rapidly deployable portable chemical laboratory from the company. It is due to be delivered in August 2020 to the ‘Valencia’ Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Defense Regiment, based in Paterna near Valencia. The army had until now sent teams on VAMTAC tactical and BMR 6×6 reconnaissance vehicles to collect samples to be sent to a laboratory for analysis. The laboratory will consist of two 6 meter containers that can be carried by truck, boat, or aircraft.
Asia-Pacific
The Republic of Singapore’s Air Force ceased operating its four Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker aircraft in June, with the new A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport taking over its roles in providing air-to-air refueling, airlift support, and aeromedical evacuation for the Singapore Armed Forces, service officials revealed during a media briefing held at 112 Squadron. Singapore acquired four ex-United States Air Force KC-135A Stratotanker aircraft in 1996. The deal is said to have been worth approximately $280 million at the time. Singapore purchased the aircraft to complement its existing air-refueling tanker fleet of four Lockheed Martin KC-130Bs and one KC-130H Hercules platform. The Stratotankers were upgraded to the KC-135R configuration by Boeing following reactivation from storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base’s Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group and delivered to the RSAF at its newly stood up Peace Guardian training detachment at the USAF’s McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas from 1999.
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