October 29, 2018 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
MONTREAL, Oct. 29, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ - SNC-Lavalin (TSX: SNC) is pleased to announce that the Aurora Engineering Partnership – formed by Qinetiq; Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group; and BMT – has been appointed by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) as their Engineering Delivery Partner (EDP) for Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S). The partnership will help the MOD to cut the costs of their engineering services, while ensuring the UK's Armed Forces receive the best equipment and support.
With the Aurora Partnership, the MOD will get access to extensive experience in the defence sector, as well as experience of delivering similar partnerships in other sectors.
The Partnership will help DE&S manage these costs, driving effective change and savings through financial discipline and transparent, simplified pricing.
"The vision for the EDP is to form a strong and professional engineering partnership with DE&S, enabling agile and efficient outcomes for front line equipment and support," said Dr. Gordon Barr, Managing Director, Aurora Engineering Partnership, QinetiQ.
"The Engineering Delivery Partner is a huge opportunity, not only for us but for the UK's defense programs, ensuring it has the right support first time, safely and within budget," added Nick Roberts, President, Engineering, Design and Project Management, SNC-Lavalin. "Working with our partners, we'll focus first and foremost on the outcomes for those on the front line, working collaboratively to drive increased performance and productivity wherever we can."
Another key element of the EDP will be driving innovation from across industry and academia. As part of this, Aurora will build a provider network including niche and specialist small to medium sized enterprises (SME) to tap into the best UK expertise.
"We are establishing a sustainable provider network that encourages and develops SMEs as a vital part of providing more efficient and innovative services to DE&S," explained Roy Quilliam, Aurora Engineering Director, BMT. "We already have an unprecedented 280 companies registered, of which 70% are SMEs, to provide engineering services to the Aurora Engineering Partnership."
For the second quarter 2018, SNC-Lavalin's engineering, design and project management business has delivered a book to bill ratio of 1.2.
About SNC-Lavalin
Founded in 1911, SNC-Lavalin is a global fully integrated professional services and project management company and a major player in the ownership of infrastructure. From offices around the world, SNC-Lavalin's employees are proud to build what matters. Our teams provide comprehensive end-to-end project solutions – including capital investment, consulting, design, engineering, construction, sustaining capital and operations and maintenance – to clients across oil and gas, mining and metallurgy, infrastructure, clean power, nuclear and EDPM (engineering design and project management). On July 3, 2017, SNC-Lavalin acquired Atkins, one of the world's most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies, which has been integrated into our sectors. www.snclavalin.com
About QinetiQ
Listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: QQ.L), QinetiQ is a leading science and engineering company operating primarily in the defence, security and aerospace markets. Our customers are predominantly government organisations including defence departments, as well as international customers in other targeted sectors.
Visit our website www.QinetiQ.com
Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @QinetiQ
Visit our blog www.QinetiQ-blogs.com
About BMT
BMT is an international design, engineering and risk management consultancy, working principally in the defence, energy and environment, marine risk and insurance, maritime transport and ports and logistics sectors.
BMT invests significantly in research. Its customers are served through a network of international subsidiary companies. The group's assets are held in beneficial ownership for its staff. Website: www.bmt.org
Companies wishing to express an interest in joining Aurora's network of providers can do so at www.auroraengineeringpartnership.co.uk.
SOURCE SNC-Lavalin
For further information: Media: Daniela Pizzuto, Director, External Communications, 514-393-8000, ext. 54772, media@snclavalin.com; Investors: Denis Jasmin, Vice President, Investor Relations, 514-393-8000, ext. 57553, denis.jasmin@snclavalin.com
December 17, 2023 | International, Aerospace
The Block 4 upgrades, which are intended to bring greater weapons capabilities and other features, are facing hardware maturity and software issues.
May 13, 2020 | International, C4ISR
Nathan Strout The U.S. Defense Department relies on a mixture of military and commercial satellites to connect its war fighters all over the world. And while users can complain that terminals are too bulky or that they should have the roaming capability exhibited in commercial cellphone technology, the system largely works. But that's not the case in the Arctic. “Very simple things become hard when you're in the Arctic, not the least of which is communication. When you are above about 65 degrees north, satellite communication starts to diminish, and above about 70 degrees north it becomes extremely limited except for some of our more exquisite capability — submarines, for example,” said U.S. Northern Command spokesman Maj. Mark Lazane. The U.S. Space Force's primary communications satellite system, Wideband Global SATCOM, is designed to provide connectivity between 70 degrees north and 65 degrees south — basically to the edge of the polar region. The Space Force also operates two Enhanced Polar System satellites — the Arctic complement to the Advanced Extremely High Frequency constellation. EPS satellites provide highly secure, anti-jamming signals, and like its counterpart, EPS is built for high-priority military communications, like that used with submarines. And while elsewhere in the world the military supplements its purpose-built systems with commercial communications satellites, that option is limited in the Arctic. After all, commercial satellites providing coverage of other areas aren't solely serving the military, and the services rely on commercial consumers to offset the costs of designing, building, launching and maintaining a satellite. But there's far less commercial demand for satellite communications in the Arctic than in more populated areas, and commercial satellite coverage reflects that. That leaves U.S. Northern Command with a significant gap in the connections available to its war fighters and platforms. “Connection capabilities [in the Arctic] are limited and lack resiliency. We're challenged in areas from basic point-to-point connections to communication with our distributed sensors,” Lazane said. “Having a reliable broadband communications capability for Arctic operations is the top unfunded priority of USNORTHCOM. With the increase of great power competition in the Arctic, there is a need for additional communications capability and capacity.” But the command thinks it's found a solution in the form of new, proliferated commercial constellations. Private companies OneWeb and SpaceX have launched hundreds of satellites into low-Earth orbit in an effort to provide competitive broadband to users all around the world. USNORTHCOM is asking Congress for $130 million to explore OneWeb's and SpaceX's capabilities in order to provide reliable and potentially cost-effective connectivity to Arctic platforms, installations and war fighters. “Leveraging emerging proliferated low-Earth orbit commercial SATCOM providers in the Arctic enables the United States (and our allies) the opportunity to scale communications capability and capacity quickly in a cost-effective manner,” Lazane said. “The unique capabilities provided by PLEO [proliferated low-Earth orbit] commercial SATCOM providers in the Arctic enables access to high-bandwidth, low-latency communications capability and capacity.” In a Feb.11 letter to Congress, USNORTHCOM Commander Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy said that funding for this effort was his No. 1 unfunded priority. If approved, the $130 million in funding will be used for polar communications experiments as well as the fielding of prototype terminals that can connect to commercial PLEO constellations. If those experiments prove successful, USNORTHCOM would need another $110 million in fiscal 2022 for full coverage. SpaceX has stated that its Starlink constellation will begin offering broadband services this year, and USNORTHCOM is hopeful that could enable early Arctic capability by the end of the year. https://www.c4isrnet.com/smr/frozen-pathways/2020/05/11/spacex-could-fill-the-us-militarys-arctic-communications-gap-by-the-end-of-this-year/
July 15, 2024 | International, Security
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