Defense Daily International articles from March 2004

Defense Daily International archives from March 2004

Boeing Aims For Large Maritime Patrol Market.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes Boeing [BA], currently competing against Lockheed Martin [LMT] for the prime contract to produce the Navy's future Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA), believes a considerable market also exists outside the United...

U.S. and Australian Navies Reach Agreement On Destroyers, LCS Participation.(Littoral Combat Ship)
March 5, 2004... Australia's Minister of Defence, said last month that its navy and the U.S. Navy had reached an agreement by which the United States will assist in Australia's development of new air warfare destroyers, particularly dealing with the Aegis...

BAE SYSTEMS Tops Multiple Bidders To Serve As Polish Mi-24 Avionics Integrator.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Britain's BAE SYSTEMS said recently that it had been tabbed by the Polish government to serve as the systems integrator for two NATO-interoperable prototypes of the Mi-24 attack helicopter. The BAE bid topped offers from South African,...

Fourth Production Eurofighter Makes First Flight.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... The Eurofighter consortium said recently the fourth instrumented production aircraft (IPA4) Eurofighter aircraft made its first flight. According to a Eurofighter statement, the IPA4 is the first single-seat production aircraft to come off...

C-130J Wraps Up PD&E Tests.(procedures development and evaluation )(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Lockheed Martin [LMT] said Monday that the Air Force had completed procedures development and evaluation (PD&E) tests on the C-130J transport recently with a seven-plane low-level formation flight using night vision goggles (NVG) over Little...

Australia's Collins-Class Subs Receive Operational Release.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) recently accepted operational release of its six Collins-class submarines. According to a statement issued by Australia's Ministry of Defence, operational release acknowledges the subs' ability to achieve...

NATO, U.S. Reach Agreement For European GPS Program.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... By Amy Butler NATO said recently it "welcomes" an agreement with the United States to proceed with building a GPS-like constellation of precise timing and location satellites. Officials reached an agreement on several technical points...

Australia To Upgrade Over-The-Horizon Radar.
March 5, 2004... Australia plans a $48 million upgrade to its Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN), the defense minister said last month. "After the enhancement program, the radars will have a greater range and will be able to detect even smaller...

EADS To Produce SAMOC Air Defense Management System.(European Aeronautic Defence)(Surfaceto-Air Missile Operations Centre)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.'s (EADS) Defense and Communications Systems has signed a contract valued at about $26 million with the German Procurement Agency (BWB) to start series production of the Surfaceto-Air Missile...

Raytheon, Diehl Form Joint Venture For Sidewinder Missile.
March 12, 2004... Raytheon's [RTN] Missile Systems business unit, based in Tucson, Ariz., and The Diehl Stiftung & Co., based in Nurnberg, Germany, said Wednesday the two have established a joint venture to modernize and market legacy versions of Sidewinder, a...

General Dynamics Tanks To Outfit Australian Army.
March 12, 2004... Australia has chosen General Dynamics' [GD] M1A1 Abrams Integrated Management (AIM) main battle tanks for its army over Germany's Krauss-Maffei Wegmann's Leopard 2 and the British Alvis-Vickers Challenger tanks, the government said yesterday....

Spectralink Planning Next Generation SAR Systems.
March 12, 2004... Israel's Tadiran Spectralink, a designer and manufacturer of search and rescue (SAR) products, said it is planning for the next generation of SAR systems, including a version that will be compatible with the Galileo satellite network. The...

Marines To Receive Rugged PDAs.(Personal Digital Assistants)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Israel's Tadiran Communications this week said its wholly-owned Talla-Tech military computer and amplifier subsidiary in Florida, recently won a contract worth more than $2.9 million to supply the Marine Corps with Rugged Personal Digital...

CAE Says Canada To Select Bombardier Team For F/A-18 Training Program.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Striking a "Buy Canadian" chord, Canada's CAE [CGT] yesterday said it believes the Canadian government has unofficially selected a competing Canadian firm, "offering primarily U.S. equipment," for a $170 million upgrade training upgrade program...

Australia Kicks Off SEA LION Amphibious Exercise.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Australia said recently it had begun its first amphibious exercise of 2004, Exercise SEA LION. According to a statement issued by Australia's defense ministry, the exercise includes over 500 personnel from the Royal Australian Navy, Army...

DARPA Director Announced New Focus On Urban Operations.(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency )
March 12, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger In light of the continuing attacks on the U.S. military in places like Iraq, the head of the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced yesterday that urban combat operations are being added...

Navy League Aligns With Defense Daily For Sea-Air-Space Exposition Partnership.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... The Navy League of the United States has joined forces with Defense Daily to establish a partnership for the annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition, including the publication of a show daily newsletter during this year's show in April. The SAS...

General Dynamics Executive To Direct BAE System's Astute-Class Sub Program.(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... Britain's BAE SYSTEMS, which is developing the Astute-class nuclear attack submarine program for the Royal Navy, has named General Dynamics [GD] executive Brian Wilson as project director-Astute, GD said yesterday. Wilson will remain an...

GD Agrees To Acquire Alvis.(General Dynamics )
March 19, 2004... By Calvin Biesecker General Dynamics [GD], the largest U.S. combat vehicle supplier, yesterday announced it has agreed to buy British combat vehicle maker Alvis Plc for about $556 million in cash, a deal that would position it to capture a...

JSF Production To Stay The Same; STOVL Stays Second In Line.(Joint Strike Fighter)(short takeoff vertical landing)(aircraft)
March 19, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger Although the Pentagon had been considering options to change the production plans for the three different versions of the Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the current plan is to keep the original...

Singapore Signs On To JSF; Last Partner To Join.(Joint Strike Fighter )
March 19, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger Singapore this week said that it had signed the formal document required to join the Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, making it the last of 10 countries to join the international fighter...

Analyst: Spanish Elections Accelerate Drift Toward European Defense Technologies.
March 19, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes Last weekend's victory by the Socialists in Spain's elections will likely accelerate the trend of that country buying defense technologies from European companies, according to an analyst. Spanish defense spending was...

Thales Group Wins Contract To Produce K-SAM Tech For South Korea.(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... The Samsung Thales group was awarded a contract recently by the South Korean government worth $573 million to produce the second batch of search and tracking system (STS) orders for Korean Short-range Anti-Air Missiles (K-SAM). The Samsung...

Deepwater Team Goes With Turbomeca For New HH-65 Engines.
March 19, 2004... By Calvin Biesecker The Coast Guard and the industry team charged with modernizing the service's capital assets have decided to reengine the fleet of twin-engine HH-65 Dolphin search and rescue helicopters with powerplants built by...

Romania, Northrop Grumman To Pursue Defense, Domestic Activities.(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... Romania signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Northrop Grumman [NOC] to pursue a variety of defense activities, the company said March 12. The memorandum, signed by Ioan Mircea Pascu, Romania's Minister for National Defense and...

Air Force Has Positive Impression From Cope India 04 Exercise, Plans Training Changes.
March 26, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes The Air Force's recently completed Cope India 04 exercise with the Indian air force (IAF) was a positive experience for the service that will likely result in changes to certain training procedures, according to the...

Interagency Group Concept Successful In Multinational Experiment.
March 26, 2004... By Ann Roosevelt The Coalition Interagency Coordination Group (GIACG) concept was a major success in the U.S.-led Multinational Experiment 3 (MNE3), the game director said. The CIACG concept sets up operational connections among...

Elbit To Get $183 Million For Turkish Armor Upgrades.(Brief Article)
March 26, 2004... Israel's Elbit [ESLT] Sunday said it had signed a contract worth $183 million with Israel's Ministry of Defense (MoD) for its portion of the Turkish army's General Dynamics [GD] M60A1 Tank Modernization Program. "This major program...

EADS To Restart Campaign For U.S. Tanker Market.
March 26, 2004... By Sharon Weinberger Encouraged by the initial findings of the Pentagon's Inspector General and comments from Air Force Secretary James Roche, the head of North American operations for the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS)...

More U.S. Participation Expected At '05 LIC Conference.(Low-Intensity Conflict)
March 26, 2004... By B.C. Kessner TEL AVIV, Israel--As the first international Low-Intensity Conflict (LIC 2004) conference concluded here yesterday and a date was released for a planned second annual conference, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman...

Navy Decides To Extend Source Selection For VXX.
March 26, 2004... By Lorenzo Cortes In a reversal of the accelerated process of selecting a replacement (VXX) for aging Sikorsky [UTX] VH-3D presidential helicopters, the Navy has decided to delay its plans to pick a winner later this spring. The...

India Signs MoU For BAE SYSTEMS Hawk Jet Trainers.(Brief Article)
March 26, 2004... Britain's BAE SYSTEMS said recently that the Indian government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the acquisition of 66 Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJT), along with accompanying support and pilot training. "I am delighted that...

Euro-Art Consortium Delivers First COBRA To France.(Counter Battery Radar)(Brief Article)
March 26, 2004... The Euro-Art consortium of France's Thales, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) and Lockheed Martin [LMT] said yesterday it delivered the first Counter Battery Radar (COBRA) system for the French armed forces in February. ...

Lockheed Martin Demos Tiger Compatibility With M299 Launcher.(Brief Article)
March 26, 2004... Lockheed Martin [LMT] said recently it had demonstrated compatibility of its M299 launcher equipped with its Hellfire II anti-armor missile for the Tiger attack helicopter being procured by Australia. "This testing series reflects the...

Australia Establishes Joint Operations Command, Opens Headquarters Tender.
March 26, 2004... To streamline and simplify the Australian Defence Force's (ADF) command and control structure, a new Joint Operations Command will be set up, the defense minister said yesterday. At the same time, Robert Hill announced the start of a...

IAI Sales And Profits Lag, Backlog Soars.(Israeli Aircraft Industries )(Brief Article)
March 26, 2004... Calling 2003 the toughest year since the three-year economic downturn began, the head of Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) last week cited commercial market weakness and deep domestic defense cuts as reasons for decreased sales and earnings but...

Australia Plans $33.8 Million Investment In Jet Trainer Services.(Brief Article)
March 26, 2004... Australia's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said yesterday it awarded Sydneybased Pel-Air Aviation a $33.8 million contract to perform jet trainers services at the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN) Air Station at Nowra. "The contractor's aircraft...

BAE SYSTEMS Picks Up $13 Million Army Contract For AAFARS.(Brief Article)
March 26, 2004... The North American branch of Britain's BAE SYSTEMS said yesterday it was awarded a $13 million contract from the Army to deliver 54 second-generation Advanced Aviation Forward Area Refueling System (AAFARS) units. "This rugged system is...

South Korean Air Force Begins Engine Tests For T-50 Trainer.(Brief Article)
March 26, 2004... Lockheed Martin [LMT] said recently the South Korean air force began engine air start flight-testing for the General Electric [GE] F404-GE-102 that powers the T-50 training aircraft Lockheed Martin builds with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI)....

Australian Firm Adacel To Supply JSF Software.(Brief Article)
March 26, 2004... Australia's Ministry of Defence said recently that Melbourne-based Adacel Technologies would supply speech recognition software for Lockheed Martin's [LMT] Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. According to a statement issued by the...