January 23, 2019 | International, Land
WARSAW, Poland — Latvia's public procurement watchdog IUB has stopped the defense ministry from signing a contract worth about €181 million ($206 million) to buy four-wheel-drive armored vehicles from Finland's Sisu Auto after two bidders, AM General from the United States and SouthAfrica's Paramount Group, filed complaints on the tender.
Auditors have given the the ministry three months to overhaul the procedure of evaluating all vendors' offers.
The development follows another round of controversy surrounding the procurement, as state-run broadcaster LSM reported that an adviser to Defense Minister Raimonds Bergmanis had lobbied for Paramount Group. The aide denied the allegations, saying he was not a member of the tender committee and he had not lobbied for the company since the procedure was launched.
Bergmanis said he trusted the source-selection committee and had “no doubt about the persons that implemented the tender”.
The defence ministry ranked Sisu Auto's offer as first, followed by the bids submitted by AM General, Turkey's Otokar, and Paramount Group, respectively. Sisu Auto offered its GTP 4x4 vehicle, AM General said it would supply the High Mobility Multi-PurposeWheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), Otokar offered the Cobra, while Paramount Group had offered its Marauder.
May 6, 2022 | International, Land
The Army is further afield to get a vehicle protection capability in place for its current fleet against rockets and drones, and the service has provided no funding to procure an interim system for its Bradley in the meantime.
July 15, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security
Singapore banks phase out OTPs for online logins to combat phishing. Digital tokens to become mandatory within 3 months.
February 6, 2019 | International, Aerospace
PARIS (Reuters) - France and Germany will on Wednesday announce a 65 million euro ($74 million) contract financed equally by both countries over two years as the first act of the joint programme to design a next-generation combat jet, a French army source and two other sources familiar with the matter said. Dassault Aviation and Airbus, which will build the jet that is expected to replace Dassault's Rafale and Germany's Eurofighters by 2024, will start work on the concept and architectures of the program, the source said. The French and German governments are expected to award the companies involved additional contracts to advance technologies and work on demonstrators this summer. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel first announced plans in July 2017 for the new Future Combat Air System (FCAS), which will include a fighter jet and a range of associated weapons, including drones. After nearly two years of preparatory work by the companies involved, Wednesday's agreements and contract signing will pave the way for the programme to begin in earnest. The initial contracts being signed on Wednesday will run for two years, the sources said. Airbus and Dassault have been waiting for initial contracts to be signed to start work on the new project. France's Safran and Germany's MTU Aero Engines are expected to join forces to develop the engine for the new warplane, while French electronics firm Thales and European missile maker MBDA would also participate. French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly and German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen will preside over the signing ceremony at a Safran site in northeastern Paris on Wednesday. Germany removed a key obstacle to progress on the project last week when it bowed to French demands and excluded Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth fighter from a multibillion-euro tender to replace ageing Tornado fighter jets that are fitted to carry U.S. nuclear weapons. Paris, Germany's closest European partner, had warned that buying the F-35 in particular would derail plans to develop the new Franco-German fighter by 2040 since it would constitute a potential competitor to that project. France and Germany will add Spain as a full partner in the programme this summer, sources told Reuters in December. Britain, which is due to exit the European Union in March, unveiled its own rival aircraft development programme, dubbed Tempest, at the Farnborough Air Show in July. European military and industry executives say they believe the two programmes could and should eventually be merged given the need to compete internationally and the many billions of euros needed to develop a new combat aircraft. The French army source said France and Germany were open to more European partners joining the programme. Germany's embargo on arms sales to Saudi Arabia has been a source of friction with France, which has been unable to deliver Meteor missiles built for Saudi Arabia by MBDA, sources said. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-france-defence/france-and-germany-to-launch-first-contracts-on-future-combat-jets-idUSKCN1PU2K0