Iveco Defence Vehicles announces that on June 23, 2009 the Slovak Army and Iveco signed a contract for a batch of 10 Light Multirole Vehicles to be delivered by the end of the year.
Flavio Marchesoni, Sales & Marketing Director of Iveco Defence Vehicles said: “This contract win builds on the success of the LMV which has been selected for front line duties by 9 armies to date”.
Designed to incorporate high tactical mobility with high maximum road speed and optimal off-road and cross-country performance, the LMV has high protection levels against anti tank and anti personnel mines with an emphasis on crew protection rather than vehicle integrity.
28 June 2009

Iveco Defence Vehicles has delivered the first specialist 6x6 Trakkers to ALC, an equal partnership created between Amey and VT Land to provide the Ministry of Defence (MoD) with its ‘C’ vehicle fleet, covering its civil engineering and rough terrain mechanical handling capability. The delivery follows the signing of a significant contract with Iveco in November 2008 to supply 206 off-road Trakker chassis and marks the single largest Trakker order ever placed in the UK. It will see the 6x6 heavy trucks fitted with a range of different bodywork to support the ‘C’ vehicle fleet, which comprises all earthmoving plant, Engineer Construction Plant (ECP) and field Mechanical Handling Equipment (MHE) in use by the Armed Forces.
28 June 2009

The company Army Recognition with its Internet web site about the worldwide defense news, make an association with Jeep® Belgium, for the promotion of the Jeep® civil and military ranges vehicles on its Internet web site and in the print edition of the magazine. Within this framework, the journalist’s team of Army Recognition will use thee Jeep® Patriot as company car. Jeep® is a mark of prestige known in the world for the quality and the reliability of its vehicles. By this association, Jeep® Belgium shows thus that the Internet web site and the magazine Army Recognition are raising values in the communication and the promotion of the products related to the defense world. Indeed, Jeep® it is also a military range product, represented by the model Jeep® J8 already proposed near several armed forces in the world. The vehicle Jeep® J8 is a light military vehicle 4x4 multi-purpose which is manufactured by Chrysler and builds in the line of the military heritage of the Jeep® branch, which is a continuity of the military services since the Second World War. Army Recognition is very proud to be able to make promotion of the Jeep® brand by using a Jeep® vehicle as company car and during its participations at International Defense Exhibition.
10 June 2009

Global military spending totaled $1.464 trillion last year, a real-term increase of 45% from a decade ago and 4% rise year-on-year, a prominent political think tank said on Monday. The figures were published in the SIPRI Yearbook 2009, released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday. This year's edition said the current amount of military spending corresponded to 2.4% of world gross domestic product (GDP), or $217 a year for every person in the world. U.S. military spending totaled $607 billion in 2008, and accounted for about 42% of the world total. According to SIPRI, Russia occupies 5th place in the list of "big spenders" with an annual defense budget estimated to be $58.6 bln, although Russia officially announced a smaller sum of about $43 bln. "Russia continued to increase spending and is maintaining plans for further increases despite severe economic problems," the publication said. The United States and Russia remained by far the largest exporters of weaponry with 31% and 25% of the global share respectively, followed by Germany, France and the United Kingdom. "Together these five countries accounted for 79% of the volume of exports for 2004-2008," SIPRI said. According to SIPRI estimates, there are around 8,400 operational nuclear warheads in the world, and almost 2,000 of these can be launched within minutes. The SIPRI yearbook includes reports detailing research into international security, armaments and disarmament, major armed conflicts and multilateral peacekeeping operations, and is highly valued and respected by military experts all over the world. The SIPRI Yearbook was first published in 1969 and is now in its 40th edition.
09 June 2009

China will hold a weeklong large-scale exercise beginning on Wednesday to test the country's capability to combat terrorism and deal with emergency situations, Xinhua news agency reported. The exercise, dubbed Great Wall 6, will consist of a series of specialized drills and will be carried out in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the Shanxi and Hebei provinces near Beijing. "The exercise will involve several areas, adopt various forms, and use various levels and sorts of antiterrorism forces," the agency cited a Chinese official as saying.
08 June 2009

ST Engineering today announced that its electronics arm, ST Electronics, has been awarded a contract to provide the Advanced Combat Man System (ACMS) to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). The project which is worth over S$100m will commence immediately and is expected to be completed by 2012. The ACMS is a 3rd Generation Networked Warrior system fully equipped with advanced C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence) and network capabilities. The ACMS is a joint development effort that started in 1998 among the Defence Science and Technology Agency, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and ST Electronics with the support of Singapore Technologies Kinetics Ltd (ST Kinetics) in the area of weapon sub-system. It features innovations from ST Electronics and ST Kinetics. For this contract, ST Kinetics is a subcontractor to ST Electronics. The introduction of the ACMS is a part of SAF's 3rd Generation Transformation to progressively provide tactical units with network capabilities, which are vital for ensuring mission success. The ACMS allows section commanders and team leaders to become a part of a larger network that is able to tap into the wider resources of the battalion and call for more responsive and precise fire support. These sections function not only as fighting units but also as ground sensors, tracking the positions of various forces and feeding images and information back to the command headquarters for enhanced command and control of the battlefield.
08 June 2009

Two German soldiers sustained injuries as a roadside bomb struck their military vehicle in the relatively peaceful Kunduz province in north Afghanistan, a press release issued by the Kunudz-based German Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) said Monday. "The roadside bomb hit a military vehicle in Chardara district on Sunday injuring two German soldiers," the press release added. It also confirmed the body of an insurgent had been left at the battle ground after the clash. Earlier on Sunday, a purported Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in talks with media from an undisclosed location, claimed inflicting casualties on German troops. Kunduz has witnessed increasing Taliban activities over the past several months while the militants have vowed to speed up attacks against Afghan and international troops based in the post-Taliban country.
06 June 2009

At least seven soldiers from the Peruvian Army (EP) died when their helicopter was knocked down in the Sanabamba zone in Ayacucho department, South Andean, reporters said on Friday. The event occurred on Friday morning when the helicopter was flying the zone and it was attacked with large-range weapons, allegedly by guerilla Sendero Luminoso (SL) together with drug traffickers.
06 June 2009

The government of the Greek-dominated portion of Cyprus plans to purchase new armored vehicles for its armed forces. The Greek-Cypriot government will soon conclude a deal to acquire Russian-built tanks. Under this contract, Russia will deliver an unspecified number of T-80U tanks to the Greek-Cypriot National Guard. The T-80U tanks are built by Omsk Transport Machine-Building Bureau. The island of Cyprus is divided into Greek and Turkish controlled sections.
05 June 2009

Akers Krutbruk has been selected to develop the protection system for Archer, the BAE Systems Bofors artillery system. The Swedish and Norwegian defence organizations have ordered the development of Archer. The process of developing the system is scheduled until 2010, with an option of delivery of a series planned for fall 2011. Akers Krutbruk are experts in the area of developing advanced protection systems for military vehicles. The company has participated in hundreds of vehicle projects and carried out thousands of tests.
05 June 2009

Russia will deploy two full-sized armies in Belarus during large-scale joint military exercises in September, the Russian chief of General Staff said on Friday. "This year we will start a series of large-scale drills in line with current military reforms. During the Zapad [West] large-scale exercises on September 8-29, we will deploy two full-sized armies in Belarus," Gen. Nikolai Makarov said. The exercises will, among other things, rehearse interoperability within the framework of the Belarusian-Russian integrated air defense system, which the two countries agreed to establish recently. Makarov also said that in addition to the Zapad exercises, Russia will conduct two large-scale drills and a brigade-level exercise on its own territory, which will involve units from three military districts and three fleets. "From August 10 to September 28, all units of the Leningrad military district, and several units of the Siberian military district, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet will take part in the Ladoga exercises," the general added. According to Makarov, over 60,000 military personnel will participate in the exercises. Russia's Ground Forces are deployed in six military districts: Moscow, Leningrad, North Caucasus, Urals, Siberian, and Far Eastern. The central focus of the current reforms is the reorganization of the military command and control system from a four-tier (military district - army - division - regiment) to a three-tier structure (military district - operational command - brigade).
05 June 2009

Oshkosh Defense, a division of Oshkosh Corporation, received two contract modifications from the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) that extend current refurbishment efforts of heavy and line haul vehicles at the company’s Kuwait facility. The contract modifications, valued at more than $17 million, are for work that will be completed by the Oshkosh Defense Theater-Provided Equipment Refurbishment program. The TPER program is the result of an urgent requirement to repair tactical vehicles worn from extreme conditions and return them to full mission operability, which enables soldiers to accomplish their missions using the best available equipment. Vehicles covered by these two contracts include the Palletized Load System (PLS), Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT), and Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET), which are all produced by Oshkosh as part of the Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles (FHTV). Additionally, HET trailers and M915 Line Haul family of vehicles are included in the contract, which were not originally produced by the Oshkosh Defense.
04 June 2009