October 3, 2024 | International, Land
US sends $920m FMF loan to Romania to defend Nato’s Eastern Flank - Army Technology
The US State Department has announced the transfer of $920m in Foreign Military Financing to Romania, on Nato' Eastern Flank.
October 2, 2020 | International, Land, Security
General Dynamics gets $1.2 billion to build short-range air defense systems for US Army
WASHINGTON — General Dynamics Land Systems has secured a $1.2 billion contract at the close of the fiscal year to build and deliver the U.S. Army's Interim Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense system, or IM-SHORAD.
The Stryker combat vehicle-based system includes a mission equipment package designed by Leonardo DRS. That mission equipment package includes Raytheon's Stinger vehicle missile launcher.
The estimated completion date of the contract is Sept. 30, 2025, according to a Defense Department contract announcement.
Work locations and funding will be determined with each order.
GDLS officials told Defense News on Oct. 1 that the initial order for the contract, worth $230 million, is for 28 vehicles, and that the company has begun ordering material and laying out production for those vehicles.
The first vehicle under this contract will roll off the line in roughly 18 months, but the first platoon will be fielded in March 2021 and the first battalion (of 32 vehicles) will be fielded in September 2021 using prototypes already built to fill it out.
A second battalion will be fielded in 2022.
The Army wrapped up developmental testing for the SHORAD system after experiencing a minor “hiccup” that, when paired with complications due to the coronavirus pandemic, set the program back by a few weeks, Maj. Gen. Robert Rasch, the service's program executive officer for missiles and space, said Aug. 5.
The production contract award came on time.
It took just 19 months from the time the service generated the requirement to the first delivery of a platform for testing, answering an urgent call in 2016 from U.S. Army Europe to fill the short-range air defense capability gap. The service received the requirement to build the system in February 2018.
After a shoot-off in the desert of White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, and subsequent evaluations of vendors, the Army selected a Stryker combat vehicle-based system with the Leonardo DRS mission equipment package.
Training has already begun at White Sands in preparation for an early user assessment in the latter part of the year.
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May 29, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Leonardo awarded a contract for FAA’s distance measuring equipment system
Rome May 28, 2020 - Leonardo's U.S. subsidiary, Selex ES Inc., developer of surveillance, en route navigation, and precision approach and landing systems, was recently awarded a contract by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to continue to build USA's Distance Measuring Equipment (DME). The contract has a one-year base period and two one-year option periods. Along with the previous FAA Selex ES DME contract; Selex ES expects to provide more than 200 DMEs to the National Airspace (NAS). Work will be performed in Overland Park, Kansas. The scope of the contract includes program management, systems engineering, design and development, system test and evaluation, training, production, Interim Contractor Depot Logistics Support (ICDLS), and site implementation. The DME system will help the FAA increase operational availability and performance of the NAS, supporting common and consistent interface requirements, and providing a modern system that complies with current FAA security standards. Selex ES is the world's premiere vendor of DMEs, having delivered over 1200 DME systems over the last 25 years to key customers around the globe including FAA, DFS in Germany, Skeyes in Belgium, EANA in Argentina, and ANWS in Taiwan. The company is proud to be a trusted supplier to the FAA and grateful for the continued confidence that FAA has in its team and technology. About Leonardo and its U.S. subsidiary, Selex ES Inc. Leonardo is a global player in the high-tech sectors and a major operator worldwide in the Aerospace, Defense and Security sectors. Headquartered in Italy, Leonardo employs over 49,000 people in over 20 countries with offices and industrial plants across five continents. Leonardo's U.S. subsidiary, Selex ES Inc., is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, USA and is a leading supplier of surveillance, en route navigation, precision approach, and systems to Air Navigation Service Providers, airport authorities, militaries, government agencies, and commercial and industrial operators. In the heartland of the United States, Selex ES has designed, produced, delivered, and supported ground-based radio navigation aids and surveillance solutions for over 30 years on all seven continents. Selex ES provides complete design, development, production, test, installation, training, integration, maintenance, and customer service. View source version on Leonardo: https://www.leonardocompany.com/en/press-release-detail/-/detail/28-05-2020-leonardos-u-s-subsidiary-selex-es-inc-awarded-a-contract-for-faas-distance-measuring-equipment-system
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July 28, 2020 | International, Aerospace
India’s first batch of Rafale fighters is on its way from France
By: Christina Mackenzie PARIS – The first five of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft bought by India from France's Dassault Aviation are being flown from the manufacturing plant by Indian Air Force pilots to India between July 27-29. The three single-seater and two twin-seater aircraft are slated to make the trip in two stages, with air-to-air refueling during the first leg provided by a French Air Force A330 Phenix MRTT tanker. Also accompanying the Rafales is a second MRTT carrying 70 respirators, 100,000 test kits and 10 military health professionals to help India with its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The pilots took off from the Dassault Aviation Mérignac facility near Bordeaux in western France and will land at Ambala Air Force Station in northern India, some 125 miles north of Delhi, on July 29, according to the Indian Air Force official Twitter account. The first leg is to the Al Dhafra airbase in the United Arab Emirates where the aircraft landed on Monday afternoon. They were sent off in the presence of Shri Jawed Ashraf, the Indian ambassador to France, and Eric Trappier, CEO of Dassault Aviation, who saluted the “amazing efficiency and determination of the Indian Air Force and Indian Ministry of Defense, despite this unprecedented world health crisis” to ensure that the program remained on track. The Indian Air Force team flying the aircraft have been training in France for almost three years. The aircraft will integrate into the country's No 17 Squadron, dubbed “Golden Arrows.” https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/07/27/indias-first-batch-of-rafale-fighters-is-on-its-way-from-france/