18 septembre 2019 | International, Terrestre
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The U.S. Army has awarded BAE Systems a $318 million contract to upgrade M88 recovery vehicles to the M88A3 configuration designed for single-vehicle recovery of the latest version of the Abrams tank. The new M88A3 configuration eliminates the necessity of using two vehicles to raise and move the tanks, which have increased in weight in recent years.
“As the U.S. Army's primary recovery vehicle, the M88 plays a critical role in the Army's Armored Brigade Combat Team,” said Dennis Hancock, recovery programs director for BAE Systems' Combat Vehicles business. “We have partnered closely with the Army and industry partners to develop a solution that addresses the single-vehicle recovery gap. We are proud to continue to support the Army's recovery needs by providing a next-generation solution to effectively rescue disabled tanks from the battlefield.”
The M88A3 configuration features an upgraded powertrain, suspension and tracks, increasing the vehicle's speed, survivability and reliability. The M88A3 also features a seventh road wheel to reduce ground pressure and new hydropneumatic suspension units (HSUs) that enable the track to be locked out for greater control when recovering vehicles.
The contract is being awarded under an Other Transactional Authority (OTA) acquisition model for upgrading the M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift Evacuation System (HERCULES) to the next generation M88A3 HERCULES.
BAE Systems' M88 family of recovery vehicles has provided the Army with unprecedented capability for recovering stranded or disabled combat vehicles since the 1960s. Due to incremental weight increases of the Army's Main Battle Tank over the years, the M88A3's predecessor, the M88A2, is currently unable to safely perform single-vehicle recovery of the Abrams. BAE Systems has invested Independent Research and Development to develop the M88A3 for three years in an effort to identify, understand, and provide solutions to return to single-vehicle recovery of the tank.
The work will be performed at BAE Systems' facilities in York, Pennsylvania; Aiken, South Carolina, Anniston, Alabama, and Sterling Heights, Michigan.
12 novembre 2023 | International, Aérospatial
The U.S. Air Force's B-21 "Raider" bomber shaped like a flying wing took its first flight on Friday, the next step in rolling out a new fleet of long-range nuclear-capable stealth bombers built by Northrop Grumman , according to a Reuters witness.
21 mai 2024 | International, Aérospatial
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17 septembre 2018 | International, Terrestre
By: Vivek Raghuvanshi NEW DELHI — After 13 years of a punitive suspension from carrying out defense business in India, the country's Ministry of Defence has officially withdrawn South African company Denel from its blacklisting. The ban was recently lifted following a May 2018 judgement by the Supreme Court, which dropped all corruption changes against the defense company, according to an MoD official. Denel, who is ranked 84 on this year's Defense News Top 100 list, was one of the prime contenders for small arms, ammunition and artillery programs in the 1980s in India. The blacklisting was also lifted following a personal request from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a July meeting in Johannesburg. A few months earlier in April, India's national investigation agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, had filed the closure report on the corruption case against Denel in the Supreme Court. Another MoD official said the South African company waived a $100 million penalty that was imposed on the MoD by the Supreme Court following arbitration proceedings. Denel was blacklisted in 2005 by the then-United Progressive Alliance-run government over allegations that the company paying kickbacks to secure a deal from the year 2000 for the Indian Army's global tender to purchase of 1,000 NTW-20 anti-materiel rifles along with 398,000 rounds of ammunition. Under the deal, 700 anti-materiel rifles were to have been purchased directly and the remaining 300 rifles produced under license in one of the factories of the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board, out of which only 400 rifles were inducted; the remaining were put on hold. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2018/09/14/india-lifts-blacklisting-of-south-african-defense-firm-denel