July 4, 2018 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

UK must compete future surveillance aircraft procurement, parliament states

Gareth Jennings

The United Kingdom must hold a fair and open competition before selecting any new surveillance aircraft to replace its current Boeing E-3D Sentry airborne warning and control system (AWACS), the country's parliament has said.

The intervention by the Defence Committee followed earlier media reports that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had already decided to procure the Boeing E-737 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft to replace the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) increasingly unserviceable and expensive E-3Ds.

“The chairman of the Defence Committee has written to the Minister of Defence Procurement to request that any requirement for replacing the UK's AWACS aircraft be put out to a competitive tender, rather than bought ‘off-the-shelf' with no competition taking place,” the committee declared on 3 July, adding: “On the possibility of Sentry being replaced with a new system, the [committee] notes the advantages of a competitive tender in terms of maximising value for money and allowing proper consideration of a range of alternatives. The committee also considers that a competition is particularly appropriate in this case, as there are viable alternatives available, which deserve to be given fair consideration.”

The RAF currently has six E-3Ds in its operational fleet, with the type having entered service in 1991. While other operators of the type have benefited from regular upgrades, the RAF's fleet has fallen behind in terms of capabilities due to a lack of investment. In January 2017, the fleet was temporarily grounded due to an electrical fault, and despite an announcement in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) of 2015 that the fleet would be upgraded and extended from 2025 to 2035, the legacy Boeing 707 host airframe is becoming too expensive to sustain and an alternative is understood to be being sought.

http://www.janes.com/article/81497/uk-must-compete-future-surveillance-aircraft-procurement-parliament-states

On the same subject

November 9, 2020 | International, Aerospace

More funding endorsed for Evader aerial target missile system
by Julian Kerr Additional funding has been endorsed, although not yet approved, to confirm the supersonic performance of the Australian-developed Evader autonomous aerial target missile system, sources close to the programme have disclosed. An application for a grant of AUD2.85 million (USD2.02 million) from the government's Defence Innovation Hub has been endorsed by both the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the Australian Army to fund a second series of flight trials for the low-cost, air-launched system, said the sources. A decision is expected shortly. Initial flight trials, funded by the Innovation Hub and carried out in 2018 at South Australia's Woomera range, validated the Evader's design, autonomous control system and stainless steel ramjet, and proved the parachute-recoverable, 4.2 m-long target missile could be re-used up to 10 times. Endurance of the 90 kg missile is about 30 minutes. While the initial trials were subsonic, the second series of trials will be low-supersonic following relocation of the variable air intake from the top to the bottom of the missile's fuselage. Speeds of up to Mach 2 are anticipated in subsequent trials, with future variants intended to reach Mach 3. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/more-funding-endorsed-for-evader-aerial-target-missile-system
September 19, 2024 | International, Land

Thales contributes to the production of seven additional sections of the SAMP/TNG for the French Air and Space Forces
Natively based on the capability to manage the munitions of the Aster family, it will be able to offer a multilayer capability by integration and coordination of SHORAD and V-SHORAD...
January 2, 2019 | International, C4ISR

Army awards $200M for satellite support contract
By: Mark Pomerleau The Army has awarded Harris Corp. a follow-on contract worth nearly $218 million to support the service's wideband satellite operations centers and management sites. The contract — the Wideband Satellite Communications Operations and Technical Support II — will deliver critical communications to war fighters globally, company leaders said in a December press release. WGS satellites are used to provide communication capabilities to U.S. and international forces. Harris will support global networks and operations center at 21 locations across the globe, providing operations and maintenance, life-cycle engineering, on-site technical assistance, equipment installation, depot-level repair, logistics, cybersecurity and training and sustainment. The award comes after Harris also executed the first Wideband Satellite Communications Operations and Technical Support contract worth $160 million. “Harris assists the Army with all facets of wideband SATCOM support, helping to keep these global communications systems performing so that war fighters are protected and get the information they need to stay connected and ensure mission success,” Chris Forseth, vice president and general manager of Harris Space Superiority, said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/c2-comms/2018/12/31/army-awards-200m-for-satellite-support-contract

All news