Seeking 75 ships ready for combat, Navy turns to new readiness orgs

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  November 8, 2019 | International, Land

  UK Ministry of Defence orders more than 500 Boxers in €2.6 billion contract

  November 8, 2019 - The Artec consortium, led by Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), has signed a contract with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to produce more than 500 Boxer 8x8-wheeled armoured vehicles for the British Army. The total current value of the order is approximately €2.6 billion (£2.3 billion). The contract has been awarded to Artec via the European procurement agency Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR). The contract awarded to Artec falls under the UK's Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) procurement programme and includes more than 500 vehicles. Artec will each sub-contract 50% of the order volume to Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. The total number of Boxer vehicles already delivered by Artec or currently on order now exceeds 1,400 vehicles. The Boxer vehicles ordered by the British Army will be supplied in several different configurations, including an armoured 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, ¬safeguarding and creating a substantial number of British jobs. 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. This order marks the return of the UK to a European defence programme having taken part in the Boxer project when it was still in its infancy. Boxer is now on its way to becoming one of NATO's standard vehicles. A modular vehicle – versatile, tried and tested The Boxer is a highly protective 8x8-wheeled armoured vehicle. Its modular architecture enables more operational configurations than any other vehicle system. At present, some 700 vehicles in twelve different versions are on order from three different NATO nations: Germany, the Netherlands and Lithuania. Australia has also ordered 211 Boxer Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles (CRV) in seven variants, the first of which was recently delivered. Artec GmbH was established in 1999. It is a joint venture of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG, Rheinmetall Military Vehicles GmbH, and Rheinmetall Defence Nederland B.V.. The company coordinates serial production of the Boxer and serves as the point of contact for export enquiries. View source version on Rheinmetall Military Vehicles GmbH: https://www.rheinmetall.com/en/rheinmetall_ag/press/news/latest_news/index_18880.php

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  January 23, 2019 | International, C4ISR

  An Air Force radio that can run for a week in the sun

  By: Adam Stone The Pentagon has long been looking for a way out from under its tradition of massive, multi-year, multi-billion-dollar projects. With the rapid pace of technological development, military leaders have sought tools and strategies for more rapid acquisitions. There's the Defense Innovation Unit, or DIUx, a Defense effort to make faster use of emerging technologies. Some organizations have also turned to contractual tools such as the OTA, or other transaction authority, as a means to accelerate the technology buying process. Recently, technicians at McConnell Air Force Base proved that homegrown ingenuity can make a difference, too. Workers there used a local partnership and a modest development effort to craft a portable, solar-powered communications system. “The military needs to be ready to go anywhere and solar enables that,” said Tech. Sgt. Clayton Allen of the 22nd Air Refueling Wing. As a non-commissioned officer in charge of the wing's XPX innovation team, Allen led the effort to shrink down the standard communications package and make it self-sustaining. The three-man team got the job done in about 400 hours, working in cooperation with Wichita State University's GoCreate rapid-innovation lab. “We took it from a box the size of a small room and made it something you can drag behind you like luggage, weighing about 150 pounds,” he said. An expeditionary force typically might have to spend a couple of days setting up its communications operation. The newly-developed unit works right out of the box and costs about $12,000 less, the team said. As a solar-power unit, it also does not rely on the presence of a generator, making it easier to deploy in a wider range of circumstances. “It is completely self-sustainable, powered by solar power, and the solar panel can extend the [battery life] out almost indefinitely,” Senior Airman Aaron Walls, an XPX innovation team member, said in an Air Force news release. Full article: https://www.c4isrnet.com/c2-comms/2019/01/23/an-air-force-radio-that-can-run-for-a-week-in-the-sun

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  July 22, 2024 | International, Land, Security

  PINEAPPLE and FLUXROOT Hacker Groups Abuse Google Cloud for Credential Phishing

  Latin American hackers exploit cloud services for phishing and malware distribution. Google warns of serverless computing abuse and takes action again