Lockheed Martin has delivered a 30th updated Merlin Mk2 helicopter to the U.K.’s military during a ceremony at a Leonardo facility in Yeovil, England. The delivery was part of a $985.2 million contract that required 30 Mk1 helicopters to be upgraded in support of the British navy, the company said Thursday. Each helicopter contains new radars, sonar systems, infrared cameras and large flat, […] More

The U.K. military has selected MBDA to demonstrate a capacity to field laser-directed weapons that can potentially urge the country’s navy and other services to utilize similar systems, Defense News reported Sunday. Andrew Chuter writes MBDA leads a bid team called UK Dragonfire that includes BAE Systems, Leonardo-Finmeccanica, Marshall Defense and Aerospace and Qinetiq to develop a solid state high power demonstrator weapon […] More

A team comprising General Dynamics, DRS Technologies and Leonardo-Finmeccanica will build a training facility in Comox, British Columbia if the team wins a $3 billion contract to build search-and-rescue aircraft for Canada. Former Canadian Air Force chief Steve Lucas told a press conference that Team Spartan offers to construct a 73,000-square-foot building to serve as the location for the group’s […] More

MBDA“™s Italian subsidiary will supply Qatar“™s naval units with four corvette ships, two patrol vessels and a landing platform dock under a contract with the country“™s naval force. MBDA said Thursday the contract is part of an agreement that Italian defense minister Roberta Pinotti and Qatar“™s defense chief Khalid Bin Muhammad Al-Attiyah signed in Rome Thursday. […] More

BAE Systems will lead a team comprising General Dynamics‘ U.K. land systems and international mission systems subsidiaries, Leonardo-Finmeccanica, Moog, QinetiQ and Safran Electronics to bid under the U.K. defense ministry’s project to update the Challenger 2 main battle tank fleet. The team will pursue a contract to update the tanks to the Challenger 2 Mark 2 design to feature thermal […] More

An Esterline subsdiairy has been chosen to supply a suite of avionics systems for the C-27J Spartan platform a General Dynamics-led team aims to offer to Canada’s Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue program. Team Spartan comprises General Dynamics’ mission systems business, DRS Technologies and Leonardo-Finmeccanica‘s aircraft division, Esterline said Wednesday. The consortium seeks to integrate Esterline CMC Electronics‘ CMA-9000 Flight Management System, TacView Portable […] More

  Babcock‘s proposed system for the British defense science and technology laboratory’s Laser Directed Energy Weapon Capability Demonstrator program will incorporate the Raytheon-built Phalanx air defense technology, Flightglobal reported Thursday. Beth Stevenson writes the LDEW-CD competition seeks a 20-millimeter laser-equipped Gatling machine gun designed to counter potential airborne threats, including unmanned aircraft systems, to naval ships. The report said the Babcock offering […] More

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded a contract to DRS Technologies to update the company’s ultra-small pixel infrared focal plane arrays under DARPA’s Lambda Scale program. The FPAs work to support the functions of cooled infrared sensors to address pilot situational awareness and visibility concerns, DRS said Monday. The company uses thin-film deposition technology and a high-density capacitance […] More

Finmeccanica has added the Osprey airborne surveillance radar to its portfolio of electronically scanning radars in effort to offer a 360-degree field of view for different types of aircraft such as unmanned aerial vehicles. The company said Thursday Osprey radars are built with a flat-panel design to support installation into small platforms as well as the e-scan technology that works to deliver simultaneous coverage in […] More

Police in Nashua, N.H, have nabbed a trio of men suspected of burglarizing the homes of Facebook users who had posted updates on their pages about being away from home. According to local news reports, between $100,000 to $200,000 of stolen property has been recovered so far after 50 homes in the city were broken […] More