SEPTEMBER 2021 News Global Defence & Security Industry - Military |
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The British Defence Ministry announced at DSEI 2021 that it had awarded contracts for the development and demonstration of experimental directed-energy weapon (DEW) systems, Israel Defense reports. The contracts awarded to consortia led by Raytheon UK and Thales UK are collectively valued at 72.5 million British pounds ($100 million). The systems, which are part of the ministry's weapons program, will be integrated onto existing platforms for experimentation from 2023.
Elbit Systems on September 22 announced further to the Company’s announcement of October 22, 2020, that its U.S. subsidiary, Elbit Systems of America LLC, was awarded a second production order in the amount of approximately $54 million to supply Enhanced Night Vision Goggle – Binocular (“ENVG-B”) systems, provide spare parts, logistics support and test equipment for the U.S. Army.
Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) Corporation has partially completed trials of the latest Arctic self-propelled Magnolia artillery gun on a two-section tracked DT-30 Vityaz all-terrain vehicle. The intermediary results were successful. The corporation plans to complete acceptance trials in extreme Arctic conditions in 2022, the Military-Industrial Courier writes.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced on September 22 that Oshkosh Defense has been awarded a $16,708,584 firm-fixed-price contract for M1120A4 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTTs), M977A4 HEMTTs, M978A4 HEMTTs, and M1070A1 Heavy Equipment Transporters.
According to Tasnim news agency, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps is going to establish divisions of front-line robots for ground combat, a commander said. In comments on the sidelines of a ceremony held to unveil homegrown EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) and bomb detection products, the IRGC deputy commander for operations said the new systems are used for “semi-hard and security” battles.
According to the Izvestia, the Russian Ministry of Defense will buy additional Nerekhta combat robots, which were first used in the Zapad-2021 exercises, and assign them to protect strategic facilities.
Flare Bright Ltd, a leading autonomous drone developer, has been selected for the prestigious United States Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE). Flare Bright is a rapidly growing aerospace company pushing the boundaries of embedded AI technology to develop autonomous drones, specialising in its UAS product: SnapShot, designed to be the lightest and simplest way to get aerial images at the single press of a button.
Calian Group Ltd., a provider of trusted solutions across Advanced Technologies, Health, Learning and IT & Cyber Solutions segments, has won a contract with the NATO Security Force Assistance Centre of Excellence (NATO SFA COE), a multinational entity with Italy, Albania and Slovenia as sponsoring Nations.
The Russian armed forces are operating several new unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) during Zapad-2021 (West 2021) strategic exercise, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD): "The Inokohodets and Forpost UCAVs fitted with guided missiles and reconnaissance and observation systems were operated to support advancing troops for the first time," said the MoD in a news release.
Rheinmetall has been awarded a Bundeswehr (German army) contract to modernize the tried-and-tested Fuchs/Fox armored NBC reconnaissance vehicle. A total of five A6A1 versions of the vehicle will be upgraded to the new highly protected A8A7 configuration. The Bundeswehr will thus have at its disposal an NBC reconnaissance and analysis capability that is a match for modern operational threats. Work begins in September 2021 and is expected to be complete by July 2024. The first vehicles are due to be transferred to the German military starting in 2023.
As reported by Military Leak, the Russian army tested for the first time a new tactic of using in tandem the ISDM remote minelaying engineering system and mobile groups of heavy flamethrowers TOS-1A in the main phase of the joint strategic exercise Zapad-2021 at the Mulino proving ground in the Nizhny Novgorod Region.
According to Novosti, after the withdrawal of the US and other armed forces from Afghanistan, the situation in Central Asia becomes more unstable. Therefore, in order to strengthen the border with Afghanistan, Russia has transferred a consignment of military equipment to Tajikistan.
Saab has received orders for the recoilless rifle Carl-Gustaf M4 with included ammunition. The combined order value is approximately 900 million SEK (USD 103.145 Mn) and deliveries will take place in 2022.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Blackjack program has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract for Phase 2 development of an advanced, software-defined positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) payload, with options to build units destined for space flight.
The British Army is moving towards electrification of battlefield vehicles, it announced last week at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition. Electrification, the process of reducing dependency on fossil fuels, has become increasingly prevalent in civilian life, with the proliferation of smart home energy, electric cars and clean public transport. But these initiatives have yet to carry over into the military domain.
The German Army (Bundeswehr) has awarded Rheinmetall a framework contract as part of its “Deployed Operations Support” project. The agreement was concluded in August 2021 with the Federal Office for Infrastructure, Environmental Protection and Bundeswehr Services (BAIUDBw).
According to information released on September 9, 2021, Leonardo DRS, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a contract by General Dynamics to provide additional mission equipment packages (MEP) for Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) Increment 1 (M-SHORAD Inc. 1) systems. The contract is valued at $204 million.
On September 7, 2021, the Sikorsky-Boeing team released the following statement on the early submittal of the proposal for DEFIANT X for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), a pre-Major U.S. Defense Acquisition Program (ACAT 1C) that will develop and field the next generation of affordable vertical lift tactical assault/utility aircraft for the Army. FLRAA is the Capability Set 3 of the FVL (Future Vertical Lift) FoS (Family of Systems).
Strelets interfaces with Russian reconnaissance lasers and foreign laser rangers, as well as close-reconnaissance radars. Information exchange protocols can link it with technical reconnaissance means by Ethernet, RS232, and USB interfaces.
Leading world countries have been developing the outfit of the soldier of the 21st century since the end of the last century. Russia has been engaged in R&D to develop the outfit since the late 1990s. Strelets reconnaissance, control and communications system is an element of the outfit, the Independent Military Review writes.
As reported by Defense Studies, during the 2+2 meeting of the Indonesian-Australian Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs in Jakarta, Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said that 15 Thales Bushmaster APCs were given to support Indonesia in carrying out the UN peacekeeping mission.
As reported on its website, the British Army is teaming up with industry tech and data experts from Adarga for a 48-hour Hackathon event to brainstorm the battle-winning digital tools of the future. Teams will develop software and algorithm-driven solutions to address real-world challenges faced by the Field Army.
According to the Central Scientific-Research Institute for Precision Machine Engineering (TsNIITochMash) of the Rostec State Corporation, it will for the first time export the 9x19mm automatic pistol RG120 designed as part of the ‘Aspid’ development project. The first batch of pistols is to be delivered to a European customer this year.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. (Rafael) and Safran VectronixAG (Safran) have signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) for Rafael's Fire Weaver networked Sensor-to-Effector system integrated with Safran’s Moskito TI observation and location unit.
The Russian Defense Ministry held a series of trials of Typhoon-PVO vehicles for operators of man-portable air defense systems (manpads). The vehicle is designed by the Kupol Electro-Mechanical Plant in Izhevsk of Almaz-Antey. Kupol received the task to create the combat vehicle from the air defense of the Ground Forces, which drafted the technical assignment. The plant is financing the R&D at its own expense.
