Elbit Systems Awarded Contract Worth Approximately $100 Million to Supply Intelligence and EW Aircraft to an International Customer

On the same subject

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  June 19, 2020 | International, Naval

  £26.7 million engine support contract for Oxfordshire company

  June 17, 2020 - Oxfordshire-based EP Barrus secured the seven-year contract for the upkeep, update and supply of engines fitted to more than 1,100 craft. The contract covers boats within the current MOD in-service fleet for craft under 25m, including Rigid Inflatable Boats (RIBs), the Mexeflote landing-raft system powered by the Thrustmaster propulsion unit, workboats, and planned future craft. Defence Minister Jeremy Quin said: Our maritime industry continues to grow from strength to strength. This contract will secure an essential capability for our Armed Forces and support over 40 quality engineering jobs in Bicester plus many more throughout the UK. The contract will support operations in the UK and overseas involving the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army, Ministry of Defence Police, and Cadets. The contract will directly support 40 jobs within Barrus's Engineering Centre, as well as a further 80 jobs across the UK supply chain that will benefit from the contract. In addition, this contract secures EP Barrus's graduate programme in Oxfordshire and the future roles for its young engineering students. James Melia, Project Manager for DE&S Boats Team, said: Boats are an essential capability of the UK Armed Forces and are used for many different operations around the world ensuring that our Navy has the reach it needs to protect our interests around the globe. We are committed to ensuring that engines are effectively managed through every stage of their life cycle and our partnership with EP Barrus will provide critical support to this. DE&S is proud to maintain excellent working relationships with EP Barrus, a valued industry supplier and we look forward to continuing to work together to support our front line with the equipment they need while also maintaining vital British skills and jobs. Photo Crown copyright View source version on UK Ministry of Defence: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/267-million-engine-support-contract-for-oxfordshire-company

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  April 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Germany’s Defence Ministry is under the gun to name a Tornado replacement

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — You can count on Germany to stir the pot of nuclear weapons sharing amid a global pandemic. Such was the case in the past few days in a country that, armed with a superb health care system and a relatively low COVID-19 mortality rate, is seen as a model for managing the coronavirus crisis. But as of Sunday afternoon, the national security community was abuzz about a news report saying Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer effectively promised her U.S. counterpart that the ministry will buy 45 F-18 jets from Boeing. The Der Spiegel report comes after news broke a few weeks ago that Berlin planned to acquire a mix of Airbus Eurofighter jets and Boeing F-18s for a smattering of air warfare jobs too demanding for the country's aging Tornado fleet. Those jobs include flying conventional fighter-bomber missions, jamming enemy air defenses and carrying U.S. nuclear-tipped gravity bombs to hypothetical World War III targets somewhere eastward, per NATO's so-called nuclear sharing deal. According to Der Spiegel, Kramp-Karrenbauer sent U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper an email last week detailing her ministry's wish to buy F-18s not only for the atomic mission — which comes as little surprise — but also for the electronic warfare role. That reported promise stung Eurofighter advocates — even those who might begrudgingly accept an American product for the nuclear mission — because Airbus has plans for a souped-up jamming plane that it wants to see in Germany's inventory. In short, the Eurofighter crowd wants nothing more than Berlin to pick a pure Eurofighter fleet, arguing that the F-18′s shelf life is expiring in U.S. budget planning anyway, and that the Boeing jet is no closer to nuclear weapons certification than any other aircraft. The German Defence Ministry has always signaled it will take into account industrial policy considerations in the Tornado-replacement question. So strongly did senior leaders believe in the idea of a keeping the European industrial base humming toward an eventual Franco-German aerial über-weapon that they nixed Lockheed Martin's F-35 from the competition. But keeping American aircraft entirely out of the loop has always seemed a nonstarter. A ministry spokesman on Monday said Kramp-Karrenbauer's missive to Esper was only meant to test the waters regarding America's ability to start delivering those planes when the actual acquisition program gets underway in a few years. A formal decision on replacing the Tornados had initially been expected by the end of March. But as the coronavirus crisis unfolded, that decision was pushed to after Easter. Kramp-Karrenbauer is expected to announce her plans before the parliamentary Defence Committee on Wednesday, where she is likely to face opposition from lawmakers of the SPD coalition partner. Until then, Germans have yet another puzzle to discuss, as an increasingly divisive debate unfolds here over reopening the country. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/04/20/germanys-defence-ministry-is-under-the-gun-to-name-a-tornado-replacement/

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  December 18, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Why Europe’s FCAS projects won’t join formation in 2021

  By Craig Hoyle17 December 2020 One certainty for 2021 is that Europe's parallel efforts to develop the region's next-generation Future Combat Air System will not see a convergence. https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/why-europes-fcas-projects-wont-join-formation-in-2021/141340.article?referrer=RSS