12 janvier 2021 | International, Aérospatial
by Robin Hughes
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded MBDA in the United Kingdom a seven-year demonstration and manufacture contract for production of the SPEAR network-enabled stand-off air-to-surface weapon system.
Designated SPEAR3 in UK service, the effector will be the primary medium-to-long-range strike weapon of the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy (RN) F-35B Lightning variant multirole combat aircraft, enabling them to engage and defeat challenging targets such as mobile long-range air defence systems at over-the-horizon ranges in all weathers and in highly contested environments.
The placement of the demonstration and manufacture contract in late 2020 follows the successful implementation of the GBP411 million (USD536 million) four-year SPEAR Cap 3 Development Phase contract awarded to MBDA in March 2016, and the funding contract to BAE Systems from F-35 programme prime contractor Lockheed Martin in March 2019 for integration of SPEAR and MBDA's Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile on the UK F-35B.
UK Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) Lightweight and Medium Attack Systems (LMAS) team leader Colonel Martin French said, “The placement of this contract marks the next major stage of the SPEAR3 weapon system's development and is a result of months of detailed negotiations between MBDA and the LMAS project team.
“Building on the successes and technology achievements of the previous four years' work with MBDA, we now enter the exciting and challenging demonstration phase where we start to prove the system against the UK's requirements and ramp up activities to integrate this highly-capable weapon system onto the F-35B aircraft.”
https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/update-uk-orders-production-of-spear3-for-f-35
4 mai 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval
PLANO, Texas — The Navy selected Martin UAV’s V-BAT for a VTOL UAS prototyping and development effort in order to fulfill new technological requirements driven by the changing nature of threats in austere operating environments, Martin UAV said in an...
11 décembre 2020 | International, Terrestre
Munich/The Hague, December 9, 2020 – Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and the Dutch procurement agency DMO (Defence Materiel Organisation) have signed a contract for the upgrading of 322 FENNEK vehicles. The MLU (Mid Life Update) order has a volume of over EUR 300 million and includes among others the integration of new observation and reconnaissance systems (BAA II NDL) and the integration of the C4I command and control system. The work is to be carried out at KMW in Germany as well as in the Netherlands, at the partner companies Van Halteren Defence and Nedinsco in cooperation with the army's Material Stock Logistic Command (MatLogCo). Delivery of the upgraded FENNEK systems will begin in 2021 and is expected to be completed in 2027. The FENNEK is a binational project between Germany and the Netherlands. There are other variants in addition to the FENNEK recon vehicles, ranging from an engineering vehicle to an anti-tank version and even one for high-mobility anti-aircraft defence. What they all have in common is a high off-road ability thanks to the special drive concept and robust chassis design. Downloadlink: https://www.kmweg.com/news-media/photos/press-kits/detail/kmw-renews-dutch-fennek-fleet/ Press contact Should you have any further questions, please contact: Christian Budde External Communications View source version on KMW: https://www.kmweg.com/news-media/press/detail/kmw-erneuert-niederlaendische-fennek-flotte/
11 mars 2021 | International, Aérospatial
Northrop Grumman's new Sky Viper sets up a chain gun vs. Gatling gun battle for the U.S. Army's 20mm cannon to be used on its future attack reconnaissance aircraft.