News 86 - 86% News from around the Globe

The British Army has awarded Heckler & Koch a $95 million contract for SA80 rifle upgrade. According to Grant Turnbull from Jane’s International Defence Review, UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is set to receive up to 44,000 upgraded L85A3/SA80A3 rifles over the next four to five years. “A notice was issued on 28 October stating that the MoD intended to award NSAF Limited, a UK subsidiary of Heckler & Koch, a contract worth up to GBP75 million (USD95.6 million) to modify and supply 44,000 upgraded 5.56×45 mm SA80 rifles,” said Grant Turnbull. The A3 variant is designed to be 100g lighter than the SA80 A2 rifle and features a more streamlined foregrip for easy handling. Also A3 upgrade fixes issues with the over-rotation of the selector lever, adds a new upper receiver and refurbishes the lower.  A new custom forend from H&K has been added and a full-length top rail improves optic mounting. The ar...

On 9 November, The Indian armed forces have inducted into service new K9 Vajra self-propelled 155 mm howitzer and M777A2 155 mm howitzer.  According to local media, the Indian Army has received the first batch of its new artillery weapons, in the presence of Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Army Chief Bipin Rawat, at Devlali Field Firing Ranges in Maharashtra on Friday. The defense minister, in a tweet, announced that the state-of-the-art gun system, with heli-lift capabilities even in mountainous region, will be inducted today in Army. The K9 VAJRA-T 155mm/ 52 is a tracked self-propelled howitzer, which has its roots in the K9 Thunder, the mainstay of the South Korean Army. The K9 Thunder platform is made of all-welded steel armour protection material. The design incorporates a Modular Azimuth Position System (MAPS), an automatic fire-control system (AFCS), a powered gun elevation / depression and a turret traverse system. The hydro-pneumatic su...

The U.S. Army Contracting Command has awarded Colt’s Manufacturing an $88,6 million modification (P00008) to contract for M4 and M4A1 carbines.  According to a statement put out by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC, West Hartford, was awarded an $88,607,109 modification (P00008) to contract W15QKN-15-D-0102 for M4 and M4A1 carbines. Work will be performed in West Hartford, Connecticut, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 25, 2020. Also, on 20 September, the DoD has announced that as part of the Foreign Military Sales the Colt’s Manufacturing LLC received a contract for procurement of up to 10,000 additional M4 and M4A1 5.56mm carbine rifles. The new 5.56mm carbine rifles to be supplied to Jordan, Morocco, Afghanistan, Senegal, Tunisia and Pakistan as part of the Foreign Military Sales. The M4 carbine is a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is a 5.56×45mm NATO, air-co...

Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia released the photo of a crashed MQ-9 Reaper multi-role Remotely Piloted Aircraft. According to Scramble Magazine, the terrorist group has released photos showing the wrecked MQ-9 Reaper of the U.S. Air Force, serial 12-4174, and its AGM-114 missiles. Also, Scramble noted that the exact date of the incident is as yet unknown, but a little research shows that the crash most probably took place on 25 October 2018. On October 25, the Taliban’s news agency Voice of Jihad reported that the movement had downed a U.S. Unmanned combat aerial vehicle near the village of Horak in the province of Kandahar. MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems primarily for the United States Air Force (USAF). The MQ-9 is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveil...

An oil tanker and a Norwegian navy KNM Helge Ingstad frigate collided near the coast of western Norway on Thursday, triggering the shutdown of a major nearby export terminal for the North Sea. According to Tu.no, seven people were lightly injured in the collision in the Hjeltefjord near Bergen in the early hours of Thursday. The frigate has been listing dangerously. The KNM Helge Ingstad frigate took on water and was at risk of sinking. Its crew of 137 had been evacuated, rescue leader Ben Vikoeren at the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre for southern Norway said. The KNM Helge Ingstad had recently taken part in NATO’s Trident Juncture military exercise, which centred on defense of Norway. It was not immediately clear what had caused the collision, which reportedly occurred shortly after 04:00 (03:00 GMT), and led to 137 people being taken off the warship. At the time of collision, it was still dark. KNM Helge Ingstad (F313) is one of the Norwegian navy’s five frigates of the ...

The RQ-7B Shadow tactical unmanned aircraft system’s engine roared as it slingshots off a mobile launch ramp at Horsemen Flight Landing Strip in Trzebien, Poland, Nov. 2 and into the bright horizon during another day of training for Soldiers assigned to Delta Company, 91st Brigade Engineer Battalion, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Sgt. Lisa Vines says the “Horsemen Platoon” is creeping closer to its goal of attaining 270 flight hours during their Atlantic Resolve rotation. “We’re coming up on 270 flight hours in Europe, which is significant because that is what the unit previous to us got, so it shows we’re able to keep pace in a challenging rotation,” said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Austin J. Collell, the Shadow platoon leader assigned to Delta Company, 91st Brigade Engineer Battalion, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Just outside of a small village, Soldiers are currently living and working at Horsemen FLS, a camp obscured by camouflage net...

The U.S. Department of Defense has announced that Honeywell received the contract, which covers a repair and upgrade of the C-5M Super Galaxy’s Versatile Integrated Avionics/Avionics Integrated Units (VIA/AIUs).   The contract, announced by the Department of Defense, is worth more than $7,8 million. Also noted that this order subsumes all work on previous order FA8625-18-F-6801, providing for the repair and upgrade of 85 of the existing -903 and -904 configuration VIA/AIUs to the -905 configuration. Work will be performed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is expected to be completed by July 5, 2020. Honeywell’s Versatile Integrated Avionics for C-5M Super Galaxy uses line replaceable units with shared functions to lower weight, reduce wiring and decrease spares inventory. New board Honeywell’s solution is based on key advances that were made by the company in the development and implementation of the advanced avionics architecture. Since i...

The U.S. Army acquiring modern assault bridges that based on tank chassis and called Joint Assault Bridges, according to statement release put out by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The U.S. Army Contracting Command has awarded DRS Sustainment Systems $17.2 million for an acquisition of Joint Assault Bridges (JAB). Work will be performed in West Plains, Missouri, with an estimated completion date of May 11, 2024. The JAB is an armoured engineering vehicle, designed to assist militaries in rapidly deploying tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles across gap-type obstacles, such as (and primarily) rivers. The JAB’s job is to allow armoured or infantry units to cross craters, anti-tank ditches, blown bridges, railroad cuts, canals, rivers and ravines), when a river too deep for vehicles to wade through is reached, and no bridge is conveniently located (or sufficiently sturdy, a substantial concern when moving 60-ton tanks). According to DRS, the new...

Raytheon Co. has secured an $11 million, a contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory for the research and development of Millimeter-Wave Digital Arrays (MIDAS) program, according to a statement put out by the U.S. Department of Defense. Raytheon Co., has been awarded an $11,532,469, competitive, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the research and development of Millimeter-Wave Digital Arrays (MIDAS) Defense Advanced Research Projects Activity program. The contractor will address the MIDAS program goals through innovations in digital tile architecture and integrated, scalable apertures with groundbreaking transmit and receive components. Work will be performed in El Segundo, California, and is expected to be completed by Nov. 4, 2020. The programme seeks to create a common digital array tile that will enable multi-beam directional communications and help solve the adaptive beamforming problem. The program is geared toward finding a common digital array t...

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced on 5 November that it had awarded a $263 million contract to the General Atomics – Aeronautical Systems Inc. for MQ-9 Reaper production. According to a statement by DoD, General Atomics – Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a $263,403,355 firm-fixed-price contract for MQ-9 Reaper production. This contract provides for the production of the MQ-9 Reaper aircraft in the fiscal 2018 production configuration.  Work will be performed at Poway, California, and is expected to be complete by Nov. 30, 2021. Also, DoD noted that this award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2017 and 2018 aircraft procurement funds in the amount of $263,403,355 are being obligated at the time of award. MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems primarily for the...

In a statement made Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that Lockheed Martin Corp. has been awarded a $350,000,000 increase to an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) production support.  “Contractor will provide lifecycle support for all efforts related to JASSM, Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, JASSM-Extended Range, and any JASSM variant in the areas of system upgrades, integration, production, sustainment, management and logistical support,” said DoD in a statement. Also noted that work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by April 17, 2022. According to Lockheed Martin, JASSM is a long-range, conventional, air-to-ground, precision standoff missile for the U.S. and allied forces. Designed to destroy high-value, well-defended, fixed and relocatable targets, JASSM’s significant standoff range keeps aircrews well out of danger from hostile air defens...